Category: Actresses (Page 124 of 258)

Torchwood – Children of Earth (and a new companion for the Doctor!)

May 30, 2009 / Ross Ruediger

It’s been two days of steady announcements for fans of both “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood.” Yesterday came the news that instead of Sci Fi airing the latest episodes of “Who,” BBC America would instead be premiering the final five David Tennant adventures beginning in June with “The Next Doctor,” and then July will see the premiere of “Planet of the Dead.” Granted, it’s a shame that BBC America isn’t in as many homes as Sci Fi, but isn’t BBCA really the proper place for the Doctor?

This morning the BBC issued a press release naming the newest companion to travel with the Time Lord. Her name is Karen Gillan, and she’s Scottish and all of 21 years old. She’ll be time travelling with new Doctor Matt Smith when Season Five gets under way in 2010.

Incoming head honcho Steven Moffat had this to say about Gillan: “We saw some amazing actresses for this part, but when Karen came through the door the game was up. Funny, and clever, and gorgeous, and sexy. Or Scottish, which is the quick way of saying it. A generation of little girls will want to be her. And a generation of little boys will want them to be her too.”

And last, but certainly not least, the latest trailer – clocking in at just over 2 minutes – for “Torchwood: Children of Earth” has been unveiled. It’s still so difficult to tell anything about this miniseries. Will it rock, or will it just roll? Will the ante be upped, or will it flail around on the ground? Chances are this thing’s going to be a solid five hours of entertainment, based simply on the quality of the first two seasons, and yet the whole “kid” thing seems like a huge gamble for this series. Fingers crossed! Take a gander for yourself:

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, News, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi, Video

BBC America David Tennant Doctor Who Karen Gillan Matt Smith Planet of the Dead Steven Moffat Torchwood Torchwood: Children of Earth

Bullz-Eye’s TV Girlfriends, Round Five: Married to the Job

May 29, 2009 / Jeff Giles

You’ve exercised your right to vote through the first four rounds of Bullz-Eye’s TV Girlfriends, choosing your favorites from the Hot and Smart, Pretty, Vacant, Girls Next Door, and Coworkers with Benefits categories…and now it’s time for round five: Married to the Job.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to survey our shapely (and professionally driven) lineup of potential TV Girlfriends — a list that includes more recent hotties like Nancy Botwin of “Weeds” and Veronica Mars, as well as classics like Mary Richards — and pick the one you’d most like to spend your weekends with. Will it be Chloe O’Brian of “24”? Sarah Connor? Elaine Nardo from “Taxi”? Or another of our fine choices? Take a look and cast your vote!

Actresses, TV

24 Bullz-Eye Bullz-Eye's TV Girlfriends Chloe O'Brian Ellen Parsons Marilu Henner Mary Tyler Moore Nancy Botwin NCIS Sarah Connor Taxi Terminator Veronica Mars Weeds

Your Weekend Movie Choice: “Up” in the Heavens, Or Dragged to “Hell”

May 28, 2009 / Bob Westal

Yes, we’ve got a weekend of strong contrasts and a real rarity, two critically lauded films that each have a chance of doing some seriously good business.

Of course, the big movie this week is Disney/Pixar’s “Up” which is already, predictably enough, a huge hit not only with our own David Medsker, but with critics across the board, rating a mondo-boffo-socko 98% “fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes. As I write this, only two critics have seen fit to turn thumbs down — and one of those two is the increasingly mindless contrarian, Armond White, who, I gather, loathes us all. (See David Hudson at IFC for more review excerpts and a concise reaction to the ever-more self-parodying White.)

It seems logical to expect something like the money that past smashes from the studio have made (Variety is saying about $60 million for the weekend), but there is always the possibility of audiences turning contrarian themselves, mindlessly or otherwise. If people were concerned that a gourmet rat or a wordless robot might turn off audiences, then a crochety and rather uncute 78-year-old lead could bring out latent movie ageism. Though, as others have pointed out, it doesn’t seemed to have harmed Clint Eastwood much. In any case, the experts seem convinced that the Pixar name, and the fact that this is the very first 3-D production from the amazingly reliable studio, will ensure that the Emeryville studio’s unprecedented track record of critical and commercial success should continue for one more film. (For more on “Up” you are commended, if not commanded, to read Medsker’s interview with director Pete Doctor — at least until the place where David suggests that maybe you should stop.)

As if that weren’t enough, this weekend brings that rarest of all cinematic creatures: A PG-13 horror film that not only is not drawn from an Asian hit, but was actually shown to critics in advance, and got a Pixaresque 96% positive RT rating. I speak, of course, of Sam Raimi’s return to his humor-spiked pulp horror roots with “Drag Me to Hell.” Now, this seems to be less of a sure thing in that the conventional wisdom has been that audiences don’t trust the cinematic chocolate of comedy — even in relatively small doses — combined with the peanut butter of actual scary horror, but Raimi’s name and some credible frights will perhaps cause filmgoers to decide these are two great tastes that go great together. All in all, this could be a canny bit of counterprogramming for teens looking to avoid the wholesomeness of “Up” and the still potent “Night at the Museum” sequel. Besides, Bloody Disgusting gave it 4 and a half skulls.

Also, cinema-chicken though I be, emboldened by that PG-13 rating, I personally, as well as world famous, horror-lovin’ cinephile blogger Dennis Cozzalio of Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, and, I’m told, numerous friends and filmic potentates, will be pumping up the grosses of “Hell” in the place where, some say, pulpy horror movies may best be viewed. I speak of the Mission Tiki Drive-In in Montclair, California. If you’re in the area on Saturday, 5/30, there may be more hellish things to do, though if you stay for co-feature “Angels and Demons” all bets may be off.

Actors, Actresses, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, News, Reviews

Armond White Dennis Cozzalio Disney Drag Me to Hell Mission Tiki Drive-In Pete Doctor Pixar Sam Raimi Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule Up

Buffy, We’ll Hardly Know Ye (Updated)

May 26, 2009 / Bob Westal

A veritable geek storm has erupted over an item at the Hollywood Reporter reporting a Star Trek and Twilight inspired reboot, or something, of the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer franchise, only without Buffy creator Joss Whedon, sans Buffy’s erstwhile “scooby” friends (no Willow!!!! Aaaagh!!!!!!), and, if I read it right, without Buffy.

A bit of backstory: Fran Rubel Kuzui, director of the original, pleasantly mediocre, movie version of the franchise once upon a time fashioned a perfectly respectable, pleasantly lightweight autobiographical indie romantic comedy, Tokyo Pop (or that’s how I remember it…I haven’t seen it since it’s 1988 release, when I was but a highly precocious toddler). In typical Hollywood fashion, on her second (and, so far, final) feature as a director, most accounts hold that Rubel and company seriously refashioned Whedon’s original screenplay from a serio-comic actioner to an out and out teen comedy with random changes made to the screenplay from a number of sources, including, according to Whedon, co-star Donald Sutherland (who you will never see in any other Whedon project, it’s safe to say).

Since then, Rubel Kazui has held on to some of the rights, and fans of the Buffy TV show saw her name at the front of every episode…and heard nothing else from her, ever. It’s safe to assume that she had zero input on the television show and received the credit as part of her compensation for the rights. Now, as most of you probably know, a major plot thread of the TV show was Buffy’s trouble-plagued romance with a (mostly) good guy vampire named Angel, setting the hearts of fans of Sarah Michelle Geller and David Boreanaz seriously aflutter. Hence, the Twilight connection — though lips that touched blood never touched those belonging to movie-Buffy Kristy Swanson.

So, with those Trek and Twilight grosses pointing the way, Kuzui and Vertigo Entertainment, which usually specializes in remaking Asian films for the American market, are trying to restart the franchise, apparently using a loophole from the original concept of there being a new slayer in every generation. As a fan of the show, trust me when I say this is nowhere near as clever as the loophole J.J. Abrams and company came up with to stay on (most) Trekkies’ good sides. Overall, this idea strikes me as if the Coca-Cola company had put out New Coke as a non-carbonated non-cola. Buffy without Buffy Summers, and the Whedonverse, without Whedon = box office gold?!? Nah.

Assuming it ever happens, of course. Whedon is an extremely savvy third-generation show biz writer who has already pulled off the unheard of feats of retrieving a lost screenplay concept and remaking it as his own TV show, and then turning another quickly-canceled television show into a major, if not immediately profitable, Hollywood film (Serenity). He is usually protective of his properties, to the extent that he has any control. I’m guessing that this one is almost certain to generate very interesting behind-the-scenes maneuvers.

As always, on Whedon-related matters Whedonesque is very much on top of the story.

UPDATE: Michael Ausiello has managed to elicit a four word response from Joss Whedon, whose currently working on his horror film collaboration with Drew Goddard, “The Cabin in the Woods.” Those four words are:

I hope it’s cool.

H/t Whedonesque.

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, News, TV Action

Alyson Hannigan Buffy the Vampire Slayer David Boreanaz Fran Rubel Kuzui J.J. Abrams Joss Whedon Kristy Swanson Sarah Michelle Geller Scoobies Serenity Star Trek Twilight Vertigo Enertainment Willow Rosenberg

Designing Women: The Complete First Season

May 26, 2009 / Will Harris

When you work for a web magazine which has trumpeted itself as “The Guys’ Portal to the Web,” you have to learn that, despite your best intentions of covering a diverse amount of TV-DVD releases, your bosses aren’t always going to be as enthusiastic about your review picks as you are. After having suffered through a slight chastising over my decision to praise “Blossom: Seasons 1 and 2” on Bullz-Eye, it seemed like a wise move to avoid an argument and just do my review of “Designing Women: The Complete Series” over on Premium Hollywood instead. This is, after all, practically the antithesis of what the average Bullz-Eye reader would be watching…and given how many times the episodes have been rerun on the Lifetime Network over the years, one wonders if even the show’s fans really need to own it on DVD. (That’s a joke, of course: “Designing Women” fans have been clamoring for the show to come to DVD for years, so you can only imagine their excitement.)

The back of the box boldly declares that the cast members of “Designing Women” – Delta Burke, Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, and Jean Smart – “brought a new kind of Southern spirit to American television. Smart, ambitious, and outspoken, they embodied the ‘new’ Southern woman.” That’s as may be, but it doesn’t feel terribly groundbreaking…and if you check your ’80s sitcom timeline, it’s pretty obvious that CBS’s interest in picking up the show stemmed from a desire to entice some of the women who were watching NBC’s “The Golden Girls.” To be fair, however, creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason devised the show mostly because she wanted to see the four actresses, each of whom had worked with her in the past, teamed up in a show together.

“Designing Women: The Complete First Season” might as well cause estrogen to come billowing forth from your DVD player, so much is it geared toward the fairer sex. Not that that isn’t to be expected from a show with a title like that, but it really needs to be underlined, lest any guys find their girlfriends or wives asking them if they’d like to check out the set with them. God help you if you end up in such a position, but if you do, then you can at least request that you watch the following episodes, which have solid guest stars: “Design House” (Stephen Tobolowsky), “Grand Slam, Thank You, Ma’am” (Gregg Henry), “I Do, I Don’t” and “Reese’s Friend” (you can never go wrong when Hal Holbrook turns up), and the two-parter entitled “Old Spouses Never Die,” which features Michael Jeter and Scott Bakula. There’s also the occasional saving grace of Meshach Taylor, who pops up as ex-con Anthony Bouvier once in awhile, but he’s not a regular in this season, so he’s certainly not around every episode.

Lastly, if you are a fan of the show but you can’t imagine any need to actually own the set (seriously, every episode must’ve been aired on Lifetime at least a thousand times), you might be swayed into a purchase by “Designing Women: A Reunion,” a 36-minute retrospective of the show which took place at the Paley Center for Media in 2006. Taylor is conspicuous in his absence, but it’s nice to see Burke, Carter, Potts, and Smart together again, along with Bloodworth-Thomason, as they discuss the legacy of the show.

Click to buy “Designing Women: The Complete First Season”