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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:30:00 -0700

Tuesday means that new DVD releases hit up Netflix, so I've checked out the offerings to let you know which movies deserve a spot on your queue.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Though last year's Transformers was a fun surprise hit, I thought this Summer's sequel failed to deliver the same laughs or thrills. Reprising their roles are leading-man-in-training Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox as long-distance couple Sam and Mikaela when Sam goes off to college, only to be followed by his robot-taming legacy.

It's Decepticons vs. the Autobots again, and many things blow up - but I'd rent this only if you're a fan of thin plots, deafening explosions, and Megan Fox's body parts.

The special features include a behind-the-scenes feature chronicling the making of the film with cast interviews and a retrospective of the Transformers toys to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

19%

See two more new releases when you read more.

Chéri

Michelle Pfeiffer stars as a courtesan and older lover of Rupert Friend in the romantic drama Chéri. Set in the 1920s (before the term "cougar" was coined and it was just known as awesome), the movie mostly focuses on Friend's character after his relationship with Pfeiffer is over, who "educated him in the ways of love." Yowza. Stephen Frears directs (who also directed Pfeiffer in the classic Dangerous Liaisons), and Kathy Bates has a role as Friend's meddling mother. The DVD includes deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.

53%

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler

SNL's been a pretty bleak place this season, and I partially blame the exits of Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph. Fortunately, this DVD of Amy's best moments on the show comes out today, and I for one can't wait to cue it up to see her impersonating the likes of Dakota Fanning and Nancy Grace. There are also skits with my favorite Poehler characters, the one-legged, flatulent Amber, Bronx Beat's Betty Caruso, along with a highlight reel of her best Weekend Update moments. Also, it must be noted that this Best of DVD is one of the few devoted to a former female cast member; only Gilda Radner, Molly Shannon, and Cheri Oteri share the honor.

Box Office: Bruno Has the Last Laugh

BuzzSugar — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:15:28 -0700

It was an odd little lineup of possibilities at the box office over the weekend: a racy and squirm-inducing adult comedy, an animated prehistoric adventure for kids', some robot cars, slick gangsters, teens with crushes, some family drama, a proposal, a hangover and more. The racy comedy, Bruno, took in the most in box office sales for the weekend with $30.4 million, though Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (in its second weekend) was close behind with $28.5 million. Bruno also experienced a 39% drop from Friday to Saturday, "indicating that most fans turned out on opening day."

Still, co-chair/co-CEO of Media Rights Capitol (which financed and produced the film) Modi Wiczyk is pleased with the opening weekend results: "Not bad for a movie that doesn't have talking robots."

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen continues to transform everything in its path into dollar signs, coming in third place not far behind Ice Age with $24 million. Public Enemies and The Proposal took the fourth and fifth spots respectively.

Photo courtesy of Universal Studios

Ice Age 3 and Transformers 2 Fight to Be No. 1 at the Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:30:09 -0700

Both Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen had stellar holiday weekends at the box office, with Ice Age taking in a record amount internationally for an animated movie and Transformers becoming "the year's domestic B.O. champ." The dinosaurs just edged out the robots, however, as Ice Age took in an estimated $67.5 million over the five day holiday weekend and Transformers ended up with $65 million. At the end of the weekend, both movies claimed the same total for the normal three-day weekend take: $42.5 million. Still, Transformers is now officially the most profitable movie of 2009:

Revenge of the Fallen lit up the holiday box office frame by becoming the highest-grossing pic of the year, with a domestic cume of $293.5 million in its 12th day in release. The only film to have amassed a higher gross in such a short time is The Dark Knight.

Johnny Depp's gangster movie Public Enemies opened last Wednesday and brought in $41 million domestically over its first five days, landing in third place at the box office. The Proposal and The Hangover took fourth and fifth place respectively.

Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Transformers Has a Massive Opening Weekend

BuzzSugar — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:30:22 -0700

Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned a five-day opening gross of $201.2 million, easily taking the top spot at the weekend's box office. The sequel nearly beat the best five-day opening of all time, The Dark Knight, which earned $203.8 million. Second place went to The Proposal, followed by The Hangover in the third spot.

Pixar's Up came in at No. 4 and became the year's highest grossing movie. Finally, My Sister's Keeper starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin had a modest debut, earned about $12 million and coming in at No. 5.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Megan Gets a Little Help Finding Her Rose Boy

PopSugar — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:26:26 -0700

Megan Fox stood out in bright colors as she stopped by Live With Regis and Kelly today to film her appearance airing tomorrow. Transformers 2 is already raking it in at the box office and for better or worse Megan's sexy portrayal in the film is sure to help, even if most of you don't think she's the next Angelina Jolie. Her costar Shia made a fan's day this morning, and Megan might have a chance to do the same. Kodak is offering $5,000 to the first person who finds the boy she accidentally snubbed so that they can arrange a reunion.

To see more of Megan in her purple and yellow outfit just read more.

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Guess Which Transformers 2 Actor Said It?

SavvySugar — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:30:12 -0700

My dad and my mom were both artists who never found an audience for their artwork. And so I lived in poverty. Now that I'm not poor, I know that is what it was. Like Hemingway said, you can't write anything if you've never been shot at or been gorged by a bull, you know? So I look back at that stuff and I'm grateful. It's like scars. You become proud of them.

Does Michael Bay's Portrayal of Women Bug You?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:15:51 -0700

It's no secret that Michael Bay loves to put extremely sexy women in his movies. When it comes to the Transformers movies, though, the gratuitous way he shoots Megan Fox seems a bit over-the-top, even for him.

Bay recently told reporters that it's "for the young boys" and Fox says says the treatment of women as sexual objects in film is part of what must be done "if you want to make movies that people want to see."

So does Bay's portrayal of women ever bother you? Or is it just good sexy fun?

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Transformers 2: Schlock and Awe

BuzzSugar — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:30:13 -0700

The truth is, no matter what I or anyone else says about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, audiences around the globe will flock to see it. I mean, duh - it's big, it's shiny, it goes boom, and it has boobs. It's just what the doctor ordered for audiences looking for some good old-fashioned Hollywood escapism just when it's getting too hot to use our brains. That's all fine and good, and to be honest, I don't blame audiences. Star Trek got this Summer off to an outstanding start, but many of the big-budget movies that followed have failed to deliver a similar thrill ride. We're thirsting for fun at the movies again!

So the question of reviewing Mr. Bay's film by normal movie standards becomes an interesting one. Is there a compelling, science-fiction plot to add some storytelling to the explosions? That would be a no. Are the characters filled out in such a way that you care about them? No, in fact, I find them incredibly annoying. Is it funny? Well, not even a robot humping Megan Fox's leg, or a lingering shot of John Turturro's crotch could get my audience full of tweens laughing much. But let's face it, there are plenty of inane, unfunny movies that are still fun to watch thanks to the special effects. And yet, despite all the hype, the action sequences in this particular movie are better described as "bludgeoning" than "awe-inspiring." So here we go, just read more.

First, the plot description: Autobots are good and Decepticons are bad. Decepticons want to destroy the sun or some such and the Autobots like the humans even though some humans are jerks to them. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox are back as Sam Witwicky and Mikaela, two lovesick kids struggling to keep their romance going long-distance as Sam attends an East Coast college.

Honestly, the college scenes are the best, most hilarious part of the movie. And I mean that half-sarcastically, half-sincerely. For one thing, he's in college for two whole days before he has to go to Egypt to save the world. In that amount of time, he manages to befriend an obnoxious and fast-talking (everyone talks so fast in this movie!) roommate, he gets entangled with every young boy's fantasy blond coed (to the dismay of Mikaela), and he has a total meltdown in his first class. Oh, and Sam's mom eats pot brownies and goes completely insane.

It's two and a half hours of merciless silliness that would be sort of "ha-ha, what is going on in this movie?!" funny if it weren't so loud and visually incoherent. I waited and waited for a slow, lingering shot of a fully formed Transformer glimmering and sparkling in the sun so we could gawk at its scale and coolness. I wanted so badly to see a Transformer come out with a newer, cooler weapon than we've ever seen before and use it in a creative and interesting way mid-battle.

Alas, Michael Bay has no time for that (he only gave himself two and a half hours), and in effect the robots are like trash heaps that roll and tumble across the screen at a rate that makes you want to pop an Advil. You know what Bay does feel the need to present in slow motion? You guessed it! Megan Fox's mega-tanned boobs, butt, and lips. I guess I wish he would have spent some time on Josh Duhamel's chest - at least that would have given me something fun to look at.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Megan Sizzles in White on Shia's Arm at Transformers in LA

Molly — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:00:14 -0700

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen finally had its big LA premiere last night ahead of the movie's release tomorrow. Sexy in white Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf were once again attached at the hip on the red carpet. Michael Bay may have been ready to pitch a fit about the sequel's promotional budget, but Shia and Megan have been making sure all eyes are on them as they brought it around the world. While Shia's raised a few eyebrows with his unconventional quotes, Megan has been busy making sure she doesn't offend any fans.

Last night the costars were typically cozy among a star-studded red carpet including guests like Kristin Cavallari, Emile Hirsch, Kim Kardashian and more. With the Summer box office season heating up there are high hopes for Transformers as it barges into theaters tomorrow.

To see more from the premiere including Kendra Wilkinson, Tyrese Gibson, Isabel Lucas and others just read more.

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Images include: Megan Fox, Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Isabel Lucas, Deryck Whibley, Michael Bay, Josh Duhamel, Ciara, Travis Barker, Jon Voight, Emile Hirsch, Brad Grey, Kristin Cavallari, Kim Kardashian, Kendra Wilkinson, Vanessa Minnillo, Reggie Bush, Sumner Redstone, Bridget Marquardt

Getty and WireImage

Megan and Shia Hit the Blue Carpet in London

PopSugar — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:00:26 -0700

The cast of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen brought their posing skills to London today for the film's UK premiere. Supposedly single Megan Fox cozied up to Shia LaBeouf, while their co-star Josh Duhamel smiled for the cameras solo. The cast has had a packed week as they bring their movie all over the world, from Asia on to Europe, and they'll soon be back stateside before it comes out in the US next Friday.

To see more of Megan and Shia just read more.

View 15 Photos ›

Images include: Megan Fox, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Bay, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel

Getty and WireImage