Saturday, April 26, 2008

Poll Results - M. Night Shymalan

Which is the best M. Night Shymalan Movie?

Sixth Sense 30%
Lady in the Water 30%
Village 20%
Signs 10%
Unbreakable 10%

Thanks for voting!!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Review - Baby Mama

Baby Mama should have been written by Tina Fey. If it had been, it probably would have avoided some of the predictable and cliched writing that trip it up. Even these slight mistakes though can't rob the movie of its undeniable charm. Like pretty much everything that Tina Fey touches, Baby Mama just works. It works as a comedy, a chick flick and just about everything else that it tries to be. Michael McCullers should be thanking Fey and Poehler for their performances because they save what could have been a terrible movie, akin to other sentimental comedies like Forces of Nature. Luckily for him, Fey and Poehler have enough chemistry between them to make two hours seem like no time at all.
The story itself is realtively predictable. Kate Holbrook (Fey) has devoted her life to her career and now has a one in a million chance of becoming pregnant, despite her intense urges to procreate. Enter the surrogate: Poehler as Angie Ostrowiski, a rude, crude piece of white trash with few other prospects if the rather well-paying surrogacy job falls through. The film evolves pretty rapidly into Odd Couple territory with the two clashing over everything from what foods to eat to what songs to sing in a karaoke video game.
Fey shines especially bright in this picture, having finally realized herself as an actress in addition to her fine writing skills. She fills the movie with awkward pauses, looks and so many one-liners, clearly ad-libs, that the movie can't help but feel like anyone but hers. At the same time, she somehow manages to be a balanced, if somewhat neurotic, satirization of a consumerist society, as obsessed with her organic foods as she is with her ticking biological clock.
Poehler plays the exact white-trash character that she has always played on SNL and she plays it perfectly. She somehow even convinces you to like her character, Angie, even while she pees in the sink and sticks gum under the coffee table.
Even the supporting cast delivers laughs. Maura Tierney channels maternity and serenity as Kate's sister and Dax Shepard is perfect as Angie's commonlaw husband. The only exception is Steve Martin who tries way too hard to prove that he's still funny (he's not).
It's most definitely the performances that carry this movie. The story itself is barely adequate and the direction is not really worth noting. However, the cast of seasoned comedy veterans make everything about twice as good as it should be and Baby Mama will certainly keep audiences laughing. Tina Fey once again proves that she is the funniest woman on screen since Lucy.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Feature - Top 10 Actors and Actresses.

The twenty hottest performers in Hollywood (and their best roles) --the ones to watch!!

Actors:

1. Robert Downey Jr.
Best role: Tony Stark in Iron Man
Harry Lockhart in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2. Ryan Gosling
Best role: Willy Beachum in Fracture
Dan Dunne in Half Nelson
3. Matt Damon
Best role: Jason Bourne in the Bourne Trilogy
Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting
4. Shia Laboeuf
Best role: Stanley Yelnats in Holes
Sam Witwicky in Transformers
5. Brad Pitt
Best role: John Smith in Mr. and Mrs. Smith
J.D. in Thelma and Louise
6. Hugh Jackman
Best role: Robert Angier in The Prestige
Tommy in The Fountain
7. Johnny Depp
Best role: Sir James Matthew Barrie in Finding Neverland
Capt. Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Carribean
8. Edward Norton
Best role: Eisenheim in The Illusionist
The narrator in Fight Club
9. Christian Bale
Best role: Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins
Patrick Bateman in American Psycho
10. Paul Rudd
Best role: Jack Chase in The OH in Ohio
Josh in Clueless


Actresses:

1. Rachel McAdams
Best role: Regina George in Mean Girls
Allie Hamilton in The Notebook
2. Laura Linney
Best role: Eleanor Green in Man of the Year
Sarah in Love Actually
3. Kate Winslet
Best role: Sarah Pierce in Little Children
Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Angelina Jolie
Best role: Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted
Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart
5. Cate Blanchett
Best role: Sheba Hart in Notes on a Scandal
Jude Quinn in I'm not There
6. Rachel Weisz
Best role: Tessa Quayle in The Constant Gardener
Marlee in Runaway Jury
7. Ellen Page
Best role: Hayley Stark in Hard Candy
Juno MacGuff in Juno
8. Tina Fey
Best role: Ms. Norbury in Mean Girls
Kate Holbrook in Baby Mama
9. Natalie Portman
Best role: Anne Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl
Alice in Closer
10. Emily Blunt
Best role: Emily in The Devil Wears Prada
Tamsin in My Summer of Love

Screenshot - - - The Shining

Because sometimes a picture can say it all...