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October '08
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August '08
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The Buzz: 12/13/2007
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 I warned everyone, but the reality shows are about to get REALLY painful.
Movies NOT worth $10
I thought I’d give some of our loyal readers a heads up on what NOT to do this holiday season.
 Alvin and the Chipmunks (release, December 14, 2007; click here for preview) – You might as well flush your money down the toilet. In fact I would rather do the following things with my $10 than go see this movie: staple the bill to my hand as a martyr who refuses to buy Hollywood shit, give my eye a papercut, go skydiving with a $10 parachute. Does anyone really care what the movie is about? Even if you did, you probably could not figure out much considering the preview amounts to just showing the chipmunks and Jason Lee. Jason Lee, wow. He keeps trying SO SO hard to ruin his movie career. Not to be left out is Justin Long, who can’t even cash in on the I’m-a-cheaper-version-of-Shia-LeBeuf-and-the-kids-can-pronounce-my-name deal he has going on. Poor kid, he will learn so much from Jason Lee on how to drive your career into the ground. I guess the big question is, are these guys such a bustling commodity that someone took a chance on this movie?
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (release, December 25, 2007; click here for preview) – Hmm…I wonder what this movie is going to be about. Real surprise – this movie about the birth of the Loch Ness monster and old Nessie’s touching relationship with a young boy (gags). Even for a kids movie, how did this get made? Oh yeah, and the movie is by the guy who made that children’s movie powerhouse My Dog Skip (dead silence).
Movies that WILL BE worth $10
Here are some good movies that won’t come out for awhile, so try to remember them.
 Vantage Point (release, February 22, 2007; click here for preview) – this movie follows Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and Forest Whitaker as five people who experience the attempted assassination of the President (William Hurt), from different angles. Sure, the multiple storylines that all come together has been so overdone (I totally hated Babel), but this movie actually looks like it could pull it off, and that it has a reason to tell the story as such. It looks exciting, and puts an interesting group of actors together.
Wanted (release, June 27, 2008; click here for preview) – If there was something close to a sequel to Mr. & Mrs. Smith, I think this would be it. Yes, I know James McAvoy doesn’t have that same, you know, as Brad Pitt, but the movie will still be awesome. It follows a pretty ridiculous storyline of a guy who finds out the father he never knew was the world’s greatest assassin, and now he has to learn how to kill people to follow in his father’s footsteps. Who else to train him (and maybe throw in some narration) but Morgan Freeman. And I wouldn’t be able to compare the movie to Smith if it didn’t have Angelina Jolie. I’ll take a step back and admit that this movie could also be an abysmal failure, but it could also be awesome. At the very least, Angelina makes the movie worth $10.
TV Buzz
The strike is upon us. Run for cover. There isn’t much else to say – most shows are saving their two shows for January and the reality shows are about to pile on. Hopefully this thing will be over soon.
A touch of nostalgia
 I saw Planes, Trains, and Automobiles the other day with Steve Martin and John Candy. While I thought that Steve Martin was pretty much never funny, I still appreciated the fact that he made “real” movies. Now he just pops out Pink Panther movies and Cheaper by the Dozen flicks like there is no tomorrow. He is cashing in, but it is so so sad.
What the papers say
As the last edition of The Buzz showed, I wind up going through those EW picture slideshows when I’m bored. For the mindless they had a pretty “good” one on Jessica Alba’s roles. Seems fitting to ogle her now before she pops a little Alba out. Along those same lines, and appealing to those same folk who eagerly clicked the link above, they also have one of actresses who “played” strippers. They DO have their clothes on, so don’t get too excited. And one more for the road, they also had a slideshow of their ultimate hotties from the 90’s to 2007. Seems kind of a weird list to create. Maybe next time they will do one from 1970 to May of 1982.
 Maybe one more for the road was the wrong phrase. I guess I did move from EW to Empire Online (great site by the way) where I found their list of the 100 sexiest movie stars. This includes men and women (I know guys, give me a break) and has lots of interesting fun facts. Did you know McQueen was going to be Rambo? Did you know Orlando Bloom wanted for be Faramir? There’s more – just read the article here.
Now, some substance. And perhaps, let’s move in the completely opposite patriarchal chauvinistic direction of the picture fest I just heaped on above. This article is about how Juno is Knocked Up from a women’s perspective. I was the first to say that I thought Knocked Up really tried to be a comedy that was not just for men. I thought the flick did a good job of that, but apparently some people like Heigl think the movie is really chauvinistic. So this article talks about how Juno is Knocked Up from women’s perspective because it focuses more on Ellen Page’s feelings about pregnancy than the cliché reality of marriage from an unexpected pregnancy. But people are going to see the movie because of the script and the direction from the guy who brought you Thank You For Smoking.
Um…really???
 I found this list of the Top 25 under 25 a week or so ago. It has some REALLY surprising choices and omissions. Screw it, I’ll admit it – it was a pretty boring week for me – nothing really stupid/funny happened on the net that I came across. But that list is interesting, and surprising.
 -- Written by Aaron --
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Bob’s October Movie Preview
By Bob 10/2/2008
 Now that we have gotten through the sludge of September movies, it’s time for some Oscar contenders, and movies that think they’re good but not. Halloween is also this month so there is bound to be a lot of random horror movies going on and of course a Saw film to soak in. Whatever happens though, I’m gonna guess that at least one of the following gets some nods come Oscar time. With that, my October Movie Preview:
Cops, Robbers, and Blah
10) Pride and Glory: October 24th
From the director of Miracle comes one of the most clichéd trailers of ALL TIME. Edward Norton as A COP. Colin Farrell as HIMSELF. What more could we want from a movie? I don’t know, and I will likely never find out because this is not one flick I will be seeing.
9) Max Payne: October 17th 
As I feverishly go through my mind trying to think of a video game adaptation that has actually been a good movie, I’m also reminded of all of the bad movies Marky Mark has made over the past ever (excluding The Departed and Boogie Nights of course). I would be shocked if there is anybody who is actually excited for this, as anybody who actually played the game has probably outgrown the genre.
8) Body of Lies: October 10th
Leonardo Dicaprio. Russell Crowe. Ridley Scott. Something about spies. The trailers really tell us nothing about this film except, “How am I supposed to run an operation when you’re running a side operation.” I don’t really know what that means, but Leo says it in the trailer. This film looks like another lame attempt by Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe to win Oscars. I’m not buying it.
7) Flash of Genius: October 3rd
Greg Kinnear stars as an man who invents the intermittent windshield wiper, and then has it stolen from him buy the major auto manufacturers. This just looks like a boring film that will get a lukewarm response. For some reason, however, it has been getting a huge level of marketing with television and even radio advertisements. I doubt people will buy it.
6) RocknRolla: October 10th
Guy Ritchie is back in the genre he knows best, and this appears to be an English gangster film much in the mold of Lock Stock and Snatch. We’ll see if he still has his stuff, but for now, I’ll just pop in my DVDs of the older films that I can trust, and look to be almost identical in plot to this one.
Movies that Intrigue Me
5) Changeling: October 24th 
Angelina Jolie stars in this Clint Eastwood film about a woman whose son goes missing and is returned with something different. Any film that Eastwood directs (that’s not Flags of our Fathers of course) is worth checking out, and this looks to be no different. It got solid reviews with it premiered at Cannes, and Angelina Jolie is ready for a solid role.
4) W.: October 17th
 A film that is certain to be the years most controversial, Oliver Stone directs this biopic about our current president. While I am sure Stone will exaggerate many of the details, there is no denying that he has put together an awesome cast including Josh Broling (as Bush), Elizibeth Banks (as First Lady Laura), James Cromwell (as his father H. W.), Richard Dreyfuss (as Cheney), Thadie Newton (as Condoleezza Rice) and others as the rest of his cabinet. Whatever happens in this film, it will certainly be interesting.
3) Synecdoche, New York: October 24th
A film that I have been awaiting since last year, this is Charlie Kauffman’s directorial debut. I have loved the films he has written (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Adaptation. ) and this should prove to be equally compelling. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a playwright who attempts to put on a production in a warehouse that includes a scale model of New York. It will probably boggle our minds, but that is Kauffman, isn’t it?
2) Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: October 3rd
Michael Cera and Kat Dennings star as the eponymous Nick and Norah who meet each other one night in New York and have adventures. Something about the trailer really brought this movie to my attention, probably the indie style that I love. Cera is always great, and Dennings was really cool in Charlie Bartlett, so I might make my way to a cinema this week to check it out.
1) Zach and Miri Make a Porno: October 31st 
Seth Rogen and Elizibeth Banks star as two best friends who decide to make a porno together. This is Kevin Smith’s first film since Clerks 2, and I can only hope that it matches that film in hilarity. The only thing I don’t understand, is why are they releasing this film on Halloween? I guess there is probably a Saw film being released anyways.
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