day 3.90

movie review: beastly

beastly is the perfect title for this mess of a movie. after being pushed back from last summer, the vanessa hudgens vehicle finally made it to theaters. too bad they didn't take that extra time in the edit bay - or with reshoots. beastly is a modern retelling of beauty and the beast, so you'd think the creative team would attempt to add some twists and turns to make beastly a little less predictable. guess what? they don't. while i think the actors do the best with what they were given - especially neil patrick harris and lisa gay hamilton - the movie is an hour and a half of one uncomfortable moment after another. though it was nice to see mary kate olsen on the big screen ... i've missed her since new york minute. the movie won't hurt anyone's career - alex pettyfer and vanessa hudgens both have multiple projects in the works - but i don't know if this was a film screaming to be made. from the wikipedia description of the book beastly was based on, the book sounds a lot more interesting. maybe skip the theater and head straight to barnes and noble?

day 2.250

nicole scherzinger can sing

and vanessa hudgens can't. nicole and vanessa are part of the hollywood bowl's weekend-long production of rent, directed by neil patrick harris. check out nicole's performance above and vanessa's attempt below. sound and picture quality aren't great on either, but you'll get the gist.

day 187

no stories

i don't really have anything to talk about today, but i thought i'd post a ton of youtube videos.  how does that work for you?  first up, the trailer for vanessa hudgen's new movie, though it seems like the studio thinks aly michalka (of aly and aj) is the bigger star - she's billed first and featured more heavily in the promo.  it actually looks semi-good; like an age appropriate almost famous meets a battle of the bands competition.  

and, if you wanted a taste of the cw's new shows, clips from them have been released.  these are most likely the same ones the network showed at their upfront presentation earlier this week.  first up, the beautiful life - mishca barton's new drama.  yay! she's working again. though, it seems like the show is going to focus more on sara paxton (that blonde you recognize from various disney projects and children's movies).  i'm surprised no clips have been released that feature corbin bleu, since this is his first project away from the mouse house.  i'm surprised that in the theme of recycling old fox shows (90210, melrose place) that the ceedub didn't choose to title this models, inc, a short lived program that was spun off from melrose.  

and, speaking of melrose place, here's clips from it.   this show doesn't look to be as polished as 90210, which isn't a good thing.  it basically looks like a soap opera for primetime, instead of a primetime soap (and, trust me, there's a difference).  for example, desperate housewives = a  primetime soap.  hopefully they'll improve it a little between now and september when the show premieres.  things that bother me about this relaunch is that it won't take place in the same universe as the current 90210, even though the original series was a spin-off.  why?  because rob estes, now the dad/principal on 90210, was an original cast member on the fox version of the show, but now plays a different character in the zipcode show.  second, jessica lucas is a main cast member on the new show, but played a different character (drug detective kimberly) on 90210 in the middle of the first season.  oh well, it will probably still hold my attention for an hour.  and spoiler alert - laura leighton (as sydney, one of two returning characters to the rebuilt place) is getting killed off in the first 10 minutes of the series.  yes, they brought back an original cast member (they even brought her back from the dead - sydney was killed off in the first go around) just to kill her.  but, leighton will still be a recurring guest star, seen in flashbacks throughout the season.  okay, now that you've read my babbling, you can see the clips.

and, finally, the cw is getting on board with the twilight trend and launching a vampire series, based on the so-called "bestselling" (i hadn't heard of them until the series was being developed) vampire diaries books.  the network dived back into the canadian/degrassi casting pool to find their star nina dobrev, who most recently starred in mtv's high school musical rip off american mall (shenae grimes, who plays annie on 90210 is also a former degrassi star). dobrev is joined by former lost star ian somerhalder as the seemingly evil vampire and by paul wesley (the robert pattinson of this series), who you might know from his army wives role as the soldier who emmalin falls in love with.  here are the clips - the show looks like it's filmed really cinematically.  probably should have been a movie, but wouldn't have survived in a post-twilight world.  

day 56

all about the globes

last night kicked off the first of many real award shows of the new year, the 2009 golden globes.  after last year's canceled ceremony (because of the writer's strike), it seems like hollywood was ready to jump right back in the saddle - especially rumer willis, who got to be "miss golden globe" after she lost the chance last season.  there were upsets, unsurprises, and welcome winners to the show.  one of the biggest upsets of the night was mickey rourke's taking home the best actor trophy.  rourke, who has been a trainwreck since the 80s and hasn't worked in all that many noteworthy roles, took the trophy for his work in the wrestler, a semi-autobiographical tale of his time spent in the pro wrestling circuit, against nominees like leonardo dicaprio, sean penn, and brad pitt. while rourke is sure to get some film offers, i don't think he's all that bankable as a star or will have another big role in his career.  another "upset" was kate winslet's double win; the titanic star was expected to win the best supporting actress (drama) trophy for her work in the reader (funny story - winslet was originally cast in the winning role, had to drop out because of conflicts with revolutionary road's filming, and the role went to nicole kidman, who had to drop out because of her pregnancy, and, with the time delay, winslet was able to take the role once more), but the revolutionary road winning best actress (drama) win was a surprise.  anne hathaway was expected to take home the win for her work in rachel getting married, especially after her critic's choice awards win and the glitch on the award show's website this past week.  one of the biggest, welcome wins of the night was slumdog millionaire's best motion picture (drama) award.  the film, which features a completely unknown (at least to american audiences) cast took home the big trophy, along with 5 others (including best director). the young cast is sure to be welcomed into the world of hollywood and given opportunities they couldn't even dream of.  it was also good to see some of hollywood's shy faces, including colin farrel and sandra bullock, both of whom were looking good; colin even took home the trophy for his work in the "comedy" in bruges.  and multi winner tina fey even got to call out a few of her message board haters, telling the likes of dianefan and babsonlacrosse to "suck it."  dianefan took to the boards today to say she's happy for the fame and that she's still not supportive of the "smug smiling" star.  now it's just onto the oscars. most likely, the same people who took home the globes will not be the exact same - mickey rourke, in my opinion, is probably the least likely to take home the little gold man, let alone nab a nomination.  

new moon's new star?

with news that taylor lautner will be taking the role of jacob black once again in the twilight sequel breaking recently (lautner will have put on 30+ lbs for the role and is excited for the chance to not have to wear the ridiculous wig he sported in the first movie), eyes are turning to who will be filling the shoes of other characters in the second film.  one of those spots, that of werewolf leah clearwater, may have been cast in the form of high school musical star vanessa hudgens.  the actress who plays alice cullen in the series, ashley greene, told mtv news at the golden globes that the actress auditioned for the role and will make a great addition to the cast.  it will be interesting to see if vanessa will be able to take on the "dramatic" material, but that ability will be tested when hudgen's dramady bandslam (formerly will) hits theaters in july.  will she be able to pull of something without boytoy zac efron? we'll just have to wait and see. 

hilary duff makes a barely legal deal

former disney star hilary duff, who has been faltering in films since her lizzie days ended in 2004, has decided to return to the medium that made her a household name - television. after she made her lucrative nbc-universal development deal last year, speculation has floated as to what kind of project would she attach herself to? it looks like the star will star in barely legal,  a half-hour comedy/drama about california's youngest lawyer, 18 year old kathleen holtz. no word on whether or not the project will simply just take the idea of kathleen or actually use her name and life. the people behind brittany murphy's little black book are penning the project is slated for next fall. the show sounds like a winner, but will it take off? nbc hasn't exactly been a winner in the ratings since it lost its number one show friends in 2004, consequently the same year hilary left the tv game.  is hilary a big enough name to pull in an audience? it seems like the people who grew up with lizzie mcguire are now the right age for this show so it has a very good chance of taking off.  duff was last reportedly offered the lead in 90210, which went to shenae grimes.  barely legal definitely seems like a better fit.  

mid season shakeups

here's what's going on this half of the season on some of tv's hottest shows.  first up grey's anatomy.  while tr knight's departure is still in limbo, it seems like the show may be losing another cast member. melissa george, who plays intern sadie, won't be returning after this season.  the brit actress was originally signed up for 4 episodes, which was expanded to 8 after critical and fan reception was good.  however, abc wasn't willing to show george the money (which is interesting due to her history with the network - she was a regular in one season of alias) and she's decided to move on ... dan and serena are headed for some love woes on gossip girl. the twosome, who share a half brother somewhere out there, will have to deal with the idea of being "related." then they'll deal with not being related when news breaks of their half brother's death. but, what happens when the dead brother is still alive? that'll be resolved, most likely, at the start of season 3 ... another departure is headed to the ugly betty set. along with christina's (ashley jensen) depature, it looks like daniel's new object of affection (molly) will bite the dust before the end of the season.  how will it happen? my bet is on her ex-fiance accidentally killing her while trying to kill daniel over the split.