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What to Rent: New DVDs This Week

BuzzSugar — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:30:41 PDT

Seth Rogen gets minted as an action star as protagonist Britt Reid and his alter ego in The Green Hornet. The unexpected death of his father propels the publishing heir to fight crime, and with his sidekick Kato (Jay Chou), the masks come on and the Black Beauty gets revved up. Cameron Diaz also costars as love interest Lenore Case, while Christoph Waltz nails the role of the villain once again. The DVD extras include a gag reel, commentary from director Michel Gondry, and featurettes on the movie's script and the Black Beauty.

45%

The Dilemma

Vince Vaughn stars as Ronny, a man caught in the middle when he catches his best friend's (Kevin James) wife cheating on him. Thus, the dilemma is whether to tell his friend about his spouse's infidelity or keep it to himself. Winona Ryder costars as the cheating wife, Channing Tatum plays her conquest, and Jennifer Connelly plays Ronny's girlfriend. Extras on the DVD include several deleted scenes, a gag reel, an alternate ending, and a making-of featurette.

21%

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Waiting For Forever

British up-and-comer Tom Sturridge stars in this romantic drama as Will, a young juggler and street performer. He's always been in love with his childhood best friend, Emma (Rachel Bilson), and when her acting career fails and she returns to their hometown to take care of her sick father, they reconnect. There are no extras on the DVD.

Box Office: The Roommate Moves In

BuzzSugar — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 03:05:00 PST

January may be a tough month at the box office, but Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly's thriller The Roommate managed to make its mark. It earned $15.6 million, which landed it in first place in the least-attended Super Bowl weekend in 15 years.

In second place was Sanctum, the James Cameron-produced cave thriller and fellow new release, which made $9.2 million. Following it in third was Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher's romantic comedy No Strings Attached with $8.4 million, and Oscar hopeful The King's Speech was right on its heels with $8.3 million. Rounding out the top five was The Green Hornet, which came in with $6.1 million.

Box Office: No Strings Attached Scores the Number One Spot

BuzzSugar — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:00:16 PST

Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher's romantic comedy No Strings Attached had no problems getting audiences to commit to seeing it - the new release won the weekend box office race, earning $20.3 million. In second place was last week's champ, Seth Rogen superhero flick The Green Hornet, with $18.1 million.

Vince Vaughn comedy The Dilemma pulled into third place with $9.7 million, followed by award season favorite The King's Speech, which made $9.1 million (perhaps folks were eager to see Colin Firth's Golden-Globe-winning performance). The Coen Bros. western True Grit completed the top five with a haul of $8 million.

Box Office: The Green Hornet Buzzes to the Top

BuzzSugar — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:05:00 PST

The January box office slump persisted over the Martin Luther King weekend, with the low numbers making it the least attended MLK weekend since the mid '90s. Those who did make it to the theater were looking for some action, because Seth Rogen's foray into superhero territory, The Green Hornet, came in first with $34 million.

The masked Rogen beat out the other new release, Vince Vaughn's comedy The Dilemma, which pulled in $17.4 million to get it into second place. In the number three was last week's winner, True Grit, which earned $11.2. Another success of the week was The King's Speech - between the wide release and awards buzz, it catapulted from the ninth to the fourth spot with $9 million, for the first time in the box office top five! And in the fifth spot was fellow award season darling Black Swan, which earned $8.1 million.

Watch, Pass, or Rent Movie Reviews: The Green Hornet

PopSugar — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:00:00 PST

The Green Hornet: More Buzz Than Sting

Becky Kirsch — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:05:00 PST

If there's one lesson to be learned from The Green Hornet, it's that superhero movies and comic book movies are not one in the same. Michel Gondry's latest film, about a spoiled twenty-something who starts fighting crime for fun, doesn't boast the typical spandex suits or cartoonish villains. It's a comedy first and an action film second, and while it delivers copious laughs and impressive fight sequences, the finished product is missing a crucial comic book element: the kapow! factor.

The film opens on Britt Reid, a pudgy adolescent with a love and respect for superheroes. The carefree image of Britt playing with his action figure comes quickly vanishes when his father, the wealthy editor-in-chief of the respected Daily Sentinel newspaper, berates Britt for getting into a tussle with school bullies and calls him a failure. Fast forward twenty years later, and Britt (Seth Rogen) has grown into his father's image of his son: a spoiled, trust fund party boy who spends his time drinking, skirt chasing, and slacking off. That is, until his father dies in a freak accident, and Britt is finally forced to change his life.

To find out whether or not Rogen has a future as a superhero, just

It may sound like a coming-of-age story, but Britt never actually grows up. Instead, he bonds with his father's servant Kato (Jay Chou), a mechanical genius with killer martial arts intuition and a knack for making lattes. With access to Kato's fighting skills and ability to turn a car into a killing machine, Britt comes up with the idea that he and Kato should become a crime fighting team. Bearing a mask and the name Green Hornet, Britt quickly lands in hot water as he and Kato go out searching for trouble.

Kato is more than just the mastermind behind the Green Hornet's power; he's also the glue that holds the whole film together. Britt's one-liners and buffoonery are even funnier paired with Kato's comebacks and prowess, and as a unit, the two become a sometimes bumbling, sometimes unstoppable force to be reckoned with. The heart and soul of the film lie in Kato and Britt's teamwork, and though Rogen and Chou make for a perfectly hilarious odd couple, their banter casts a shadow over the other characters in the film.

Christoph Waltz's talent is mostly wasted as the local crime boss in the midst of an identity crisis. Though Gondry does his best to give Waltz a personality, he doesn't have nearly enough screen time to be remembered as an evil villain. The same can be said for Cameron Diaz as Britt's secretary and love interest, Lenore. She's used as a catalyst to keep the plot moving, but overall her character is underdeveloped.

It's not that the script for The Green Hornet isn't smart; the film has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and subtle jabs. The problem is that as a screenwriter, Rogen is more focused on the buddy-buddy relationship between Kato and Britt when the film would have benefited from a more fluid plot and developed adventure for our heroes to embark on. In the end, Rogen proves that he can still makes us laugh, but doesn't convince us that he can save the day.

The Green Hornet vs. Green Lantern: How to Tell the Difference

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:12:38 PST

It's just a weird, funny coincidence that two comic-book-hero movies are headed to theaters in 2011, both with the word "green" in the title: Green Lantern and The Green Hornet. The name similarity makes it very easy to confuse them, even for a pop culture know-it-all like myself. The Green Hornet (that would be the Seth Rogen one) opens this weekend, but if you're still confusing it with the Ryan Reynolds vehicle, I've put together a handy-dandy guide to help you keep the two films separate.

Video: Cameron Diaz Dreams of Fueling Up on Fried Food

PopSugar — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:58:35 PST

Cameron Diaz says her dream super power would be to eat bad foods to save the world. Meanwhile, her costars in The Green Hornet couldn't say enough good things about her at the LA premiere.

Video: Cameron Diaz - Another Charlie's Angels in the Works?

PopSugar — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:59:16 PST

Bronzed beauty Cameron Diaz followed up her Hawaiian vacation with a walk down the red carpet at The Green Hornet premiere and told us if we can expect her to star in another Charlie's Angels movie one day.

Video: Seth Rogen Says Fiancée Thought He Was a D-Bag

PopSugar — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:56:28 PST

Seth Rogen had his glowing bride-to-be by his side at The Green Hornet premiere in LA, but his beloved had some harsh words for him after seeing the movie for the first time.