You remember that SNL Digital short Mother Lover ? Well, becoming romantically involved with your best friend’s mother is no longer just the subject of comedy music videos. It’s also the subject of the new Australian drama film Adore . Check out the new Adore trailer : Adore Trailer The film follows best friends Lil and Roz, played by Naomi Watts and Robin Wright, whose sons are also best friends. When Roz falls for Lil’s son and begins a relationship with him, it forms a rift between the friends and families. Anne Fontaine directs the film, which is based on the novella The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing. Catch Adore in theaters September 6.
Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret is a Lifetime movie of the first-degree, a true crime story ripped from the headlines and sensationalized for your entertainment. But is it any good? Therein lies the problem. Dirty Little Secret reveals scant few secrets, and leaves one wondering if the film was released too soon. Just last month, an Arizona jury found Jodi Arias guilty of killing her former lover, motivational speaker Travis Alexander, in unspeakable fashion. Arias unpersuasively argued that she killed him in self-defense, when police believed she came at him in a jealous rage, stabbing him 30 times. Dirty Little Secret was clearly fast-tracked into production, and was filming while Arias was still on trial for the 2008 murder of Alexander this spring. As such, Lifetime provides us with a straightforward tale of passion gone awry which, while compelling, pales in comparison to the real-life court saga. For 18 days, Arias took the stand and produced gripping TV with salacious claim after salacious claim, making for America’s most talked-about reality show. Yet her arrest, trial and conviction is crammed into the last 15 minutes of the film and feels secondary to a crime of passion story based on conjecture. Which isn’t to say there aren’t still bright spots. You would never call this kind of thing art, or give it credit for making any profound points, but as a primetime soap goes, it ranks pretty high up there. Tania Raymonde (Alex from Lost ) does a nice job of portraying Jodi’s humanity, even as her behavior deteriorates and ultimately turns sociopathic. By and large, Tania sells us on all of the romance, sex, obsession, betrayal and vengeance one would expect in a made-for TV film of this nature. She also bears a remarkable likeness to Jodi, which helps. As for Travis, he’s played by Jesse Lee Soffer in a way that surely won’t leave the family and friends of the real Alexander sending thank you notes. He’s conflicted by his desire to screw Arias on one hand, and his lack of willingness to commit to a real relationship on the other hand. That’s about it. Even when she becomes increasingly erratic and regresses to the point where he should run away scared, he can’t resist the pleasures she provides. He does not come across as a very deep thinker, and trouble brews when Jodi starts to realize she’s playing something of a time-passing role. She’s love struck, but to her, she’s a booty call and nothing more. When he makes this abundantly clear at last, Jodi snaps, and the rest is history. If only we’d gotten to see the best parts unfold.
World War Z stands out from standard Summer blockbuster fare in that it doesn’t simply jump from set piece to set piece in the hopes that the audience will forget what a story is. That’s not to say World War Z has a tremendously compelling story, but it does have the right elements to make it a successful Summer flick: high stakes, clearly outlined objectives, and an awareness of its own flashy destruction. Despite what it may have seemed from the trailer, scores of people don’t die in World War Z simply because it looks cool. They die because the story requires that they die. Compare that with your Star Trek Into Darkness es and your Man of Steel s , and this film is already ahead. The (somewhat controversial, if you’ve been following the production’s history) ending furthers that point, in a way that I actually find quite refreshing given the mass, unaddressed destruction that seems to be a requisite part of every action movie of late. But, let’s start with the opening. The opening set piece is actually exceptionally suspenseful and thrilling. Even if you enter the theater with some knowledge of the story, it is hard not to find yourself tossed directly into the confusion and mass hysteria surrounding the story’s incitement. We see Brad Pitt’s Gerry Lane as a man who knows how to take care of his family, and who can navigate any stressful situation with ease. This ultimately becomes a detriment, however, as Lane seems to be sleep-walking through the most important job any man has ever held in the history of humanity (which also makes us wonder: why him? Is he really the absolute best man for this job?). Lane is a former U.N. employee who, after being rescued with his family from the quickly-spreading disease in Newark, is tasked with scouring the earth seeking a cure for a zombie outbreak that is quickly overtaking the entire planet. As part of his charge, he must leave his wife and children, and a boy they picked up along the way, behind on a military aircraft carrier acting as a safe haven. Lane refuses to go, until it is explained to him that if he makes himself unessential, his family will have to leave the ship. While this is a fine back-story for the character, it ultimately feels tacked on as a last-ditch effort to allow the audience connect to Lane. He is very quiet, very inconspicuous, very calculated, for the hero of a horror/thriller. After traveling to two cities deemed important in the collection of information, Lane is no closer to finding a cure. Only while fleeing Jerusalem does he get an idea. Lane’s proposed solution is interesting, but it doesn’t feel exactly like a puzzle that the audience was allowed to solve along with the character. This only adds to the disappointingly introspective nature of our hero. All that said, though, World War Z is full of thrills and suspense. It doesn’t try too hard to be deep, and at the same time it doesn’t throw away all sense of plot in favor of shoving explosions down your throat. It is clean in its choices. Whereas most modern blockbusters get bogged down in overcomplicated plotlines, World War Z is decidedly simple. And that makes it easier to sit back and enjoy. None of the performances were particularly noteworthy, but that should be expected from a film of this caliber. For a suspenseful, thrilling movie-going experience with its share of jumps, World War Z will do just fine. RATING: 3.5/5
Welcome, readers, to another edition of THG’s Caption Contest! This afternoon’s image comes to us from Atlantic City, N.J., where some hot tub revelers recently received a surprise: Amanda Bynes popping in! Sometimes, a picture really is worth 1,000 words. The question for you all now is: What would be the best caption for these? You tell us below! Just leave comment(s) with your best caption(s) for the Amanda Bynes pics below! Go to it! Our winner will be announced Friday . Good luck …
This day shall forever be known as America’s Comedy Birthday. Not only did we get the awesome first trailer for Anchorman 2 this morning, but now we have confirmation that another long-awaited comedy sequel is finally moving forward! After over a year of will-they-won’t-they style wavering, Dumb and Dumber To is a go! The Farrelly Brothers announced that Universal will produce and provide the funding for the film, which may start shooting as early as this fall. The best news? Jim Carrey, who previously dropped out of the project, is definitely back in! For now, at least. Jeff Daniels will also reprise his role from the original film, as will Harland Williams. If all goes according to plan, you’ll be able to see Dumb and Dumber To in theaters next summer.
Tennis great Serena Williams is in hot water over incendiary comments she made in Rolling Stone about the victim in the Steubenville, Oh., rape saga. Williams came under fire this week after saying that “[the Steubenville rape victim ] shouldn’t have put herself in that position” at a high school party. Now Serena is issuing an apology, though she also appears to be deflecting responsibility and implying that she may not have ever made that remark. “I am currently reaching out to the girl’s family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article,” Williams says. “What was written – what I supposedly said – is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame.” So … what she supposedly said was hurtful. What did she say? Follow the link for the Rolling Stone article . You be the judge.
The new trailer for The World’s End revisits the first two films in the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy, which is sadly coming to an end. But not without a murder-robot bang! Watch the new trailer below: The World’s End Trailer – Trilogy Filmmaking partners Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright return to the sci-fi/action comedy genre with The World’s End . This time, five friends go back to their home town to re-attempt an epic pub crawl that they failed twenty years ago. When they get there, they learn that something sinister has happened (it wouldn’t be Blood and Ice Cream if there wasn’t something sinister). Pegg stars, along with Nick Frost, Paddy Constantine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, and Rosamund Pike. Wright directs the film, which hits theaters August 23.
MTV News has exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the superhero sequel, complete with action-packed shots from the film’s new faces. By Brett White
Slap Ry-Go’s face on a poster, and it’s good to go. Really, if studios were smart they’d pay him a thousand bucks to use his face on posters for films he’s not even in. But Ryan Gosling is in this film. And as such, he’s featured prominently in the new Only God Forgives poster . Gosling reunites with his Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn for the new crime thriller. He plays Julian, a man living the criminal life in Bangkok, Thailand. When his brother is murdered, his mom comes to town and makes Julian get revenge. Kristin Scott Thomas plays Julian’s mother, with Vithaya Pansringarm, Ratha Phongam, and Tom Burke also starring. Only God Forgives hits theaters July 19.
