LilSugar

Do You Know Your Disney Villains?

LilSugar — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:00:01 PDT

lilsugar readers certainly know their Disney princesses, the characters our children love, but are you as witty when it comes to the not-so-pleasant movie villains that our offspring don't always like? Take this quiz and test your knowledge.

Take the Quiz

What Did You Think of The Avengers?

Shannon Vestal — Mon, 07 May 2012 05:30:00 PDT

After its record-breaking opening weekend, The Avengers is already a bona fide blockbuster. The action flick wrecked the box office, but I want to know what you thought of the film itself. Were you into the Tesseract storyline? Was Bruce Banner's transformation into The Hulk everything you wanted it to be? Did you like Loki as the villain? If you were one of the theatergoers who went out to catch The Avengers, let me know your opinion and whether you think it really earned its place in movie history.

Photo courtesy of Disney

The Avengers: Assemble For Awesomeness

Becky Kirsch — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:23:37 PDT

Ensemble romantic comedies are a dime a dozen these days, and let's face it: most of those star-studded flicks aren't even that good. But an ensemble superhero movie? Now that's an idea I can get behind. The Avengers rounds up an all-star group of comic book heroes who must get over their inflated egos and differences to take down a villain and save the world. It's a simple enough concept, and the combination of eye-popping special effects, humor, and a stellar cast makes for one hell of a blockbuster movie.

The cast of characters - and each one is very much a character in their own right - is mostly composed of people you've seen before and are happy to welcome back. There's Chris Evans as Captain America, whose situation as a '50s guy living in a 2012 world is funny to the audience, if not to him. Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Iron Man, and his wisecracks and borderline obnoxious behavior carry the film and much of the dialogue; Chris Hemsworth is back as demigod Thor, though his role feels a bit downplayed in the midst of the rest of the hubbub. Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner return as Nick Fury, Black Widow and Hawkeye, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who kick butt but are never really as much fun as their power-wielding cohorts. The only guy who's new to the group is Mark Ruffalo, who takes on the role of Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk) for the first time, and Ruffalo's so quietly engaging that you won't even remember Eric Bana or Edward Norton in the role.

To see what else is great about The Avengers, just

Taking on this team of good guys is Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor's maniacal brother who's literally plotting world domination. His quick wit and completely deluded view of the world make him a layered villain who's incredibly fun to hate. The fun doesn't even stop there: the film is chock-full of cameos and appearances from characters from The Avengers prequels, which is an added bonus for fans that have been following The Avengers since the beginning. You don't need to be a fanatic to enjoy the movie though; the film has nods to the previous films but it still makes for a nice introduction to each of the characters as they're rounded up one by one.

Writer/director Joss Whedon goes from Buffy to the big leagues here, and he masterfully puts together a film that goes big, but doesn't let action overshadow the script. The dialogue is packed with so many one-liners that you'll likely miss half of them because the audience is still laughing at the most recent joke. Though the humor pretty much writes itself with characters like these, Whedon is wise to make it obvious that the film doesn't take itself too seriously.

The action sequences are also handled with care; the fight scenes don't linger too long, and most of the scenes showcase each of the Avengers, which helps keep the pace moving right along. I'm not usually one to gush over special effects, but I literally gasped when Mark Ruffalo transforms into The Hulk for the first time. The scene, in a way, is like the film's secret weapon. The first transformation is teased throughout most of the movie, and the suspense builds to a moment that feels perfectly constructed to grab the audience by the throat.

The only downside to The Avengers is that with so many characters, you just wish you could spend a little more time with each of your favorites. The good news is that we'll probably be hanging out with them in many sequels to come.

Photos courtesy of Disney

Top 10 Thrilling 3D Moments in The Avengers

Anna Monette Roberts — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:00:46 PDT

Avengers fans, rest assured, you have every reason to be excited for the film's release on Friday. The visual effects in The Avengers are absolutely stunning, and the 3D rendering draws you straight into the action.

With six superheroes to follow, the action scenes are diverse and gripping, with just the right amount of near-death drama to keep you on the edge of your seat. Explosions galore, flying contraptions, rad weaponry, and battles by air and by sea, there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments thanks to the mastery of Industrial Light & Magic's visual effects. Without giving away any pertinent plot details, here are 10 scenes that 3D and effects fans can look forward to.

The massive security center that secures the tesseract cube implodes during a car chase. As tons of concrete rubble is sucked into the earth, its force nearly drags the cars down too.
The whopping 1,500-foot fleet carrier S.H.I.E.L.D. base transforms into a flying space ship. Just when you think it can't get any cooler, its reflective panels engage, making it disappear.
Thor and Iron Man (arguably the best-looking men on the team) duke it out in the woods, destroying a lot of trees in the meantime. I don't know what's more awesome: seeing Thor's thunderous strength match up against Iron Man's tech-savvy smarts, or the hilarious banter between the two.
It's the moment everyone is anticipating: when will Hulk emerge from Dr. Banner? When Dr. Banner's anger hits a climax, it only takes a few heavy, unnerving breaths before the Hulk roars his way into his monstrous size.
Trapped in a glass capsule, Thor clatters around violently as he plunges 30,000 feet into the Earth. The impact decimates the wilderness around him, yet Thor's quick recovery is glorious.

Click here to read about five more awesome scenes.

Minnie Mouse Gets Polished Off

Miriam Lacey — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 01:15:00 PDT

The House of Mouse is generally pretty conservative with its licensing, but with the recent Disney Couture jewelry line and MAC's Venomous Villains collection, it was only a matter of time before the brand got into the nail game. Now, OPI has announced that it's releasing a quartet of nail polishes ($9 each) inspired by Ms. Minnie herself. As you might expect, there's a lot of red (although no black or yellow, surprisingly), plus a cute heart topcoat and a pretty pink to sweeten the deal. We're hoping this isn't the last we hear from Mickey's main squeeze. After all, who could turn down a line of Minnie-inspired bows? See the polishes now.

Willem Dafoe, Andrew Stanton, and Dominic West Dish on Their John Carter Journey to Mars

Annie Scudder — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:45:06 PST

With the help of Wall-E director Andrew Stanton, Disney is bringing a new out-of-this-world hero to the big screen in John Carter. We sat down with the cast and director of the movie, which is based on the classic sci fi book series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Willem Dafoe plays a creature on Mars who helps Civil War vet John Carter when he finds himself on Mars, and we got Willem to speak some Martian for us. Dominic West, who plays the villain, opened up about his days in the circus, and director Andrew Stanton told us why he wanted Taylor Kitsch for the title role. Watch our interview with the talented trio now, and don't miss our chat with Taylor Kitsch or Lynn Collins, who plays the Princess of Mars. You can catch John Carter in theaters March 9.

Who Is the Best Movie Villain of 2011?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 08:00:00 PST

The bad guys of the movies this year came from all walks of life, whether they were comic book nemeses, evil businessmen, literary villains, or enemies of all that's good in the world. The villain usually gets beat on film, but in this poll, one will win. Vote for your favorite movie villain of 2011 now!

Photos courtesy of 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and Disney

Jason Segel Talks Muppets, Amy Adams, and His Next Hollywood Dream

Allie Merriam — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:48:00 PDT

We were able to pay a visit to the LA set of The Muppets earlier this year, and the movie's mastermind, lifelong Jim Henson fan Jason Segel, stopped by to chat about life on the set with Kermit. The project was written by Jason and his partner Nick Stoller, and was brought to life with director James Bobin, leading lady Amy Adams, and a roster of talented puppeteers. Jason spoke about how he and Nick tried to make the film fun for both kids and adults, and revealed how happy he was to land Amy Adams as a costar. Jason, who at the time was finishing the Five Year script with Nick between scenes while logging an almost-regular workweek on the set of How I Met Your Mother, also touched on new Muppets, operating Fozzie himself, and what his next big Hollywood dream is. Jason said:

On people's perceptions of a Jason Segel Muppets movie: "I think maybe there was a moment of wariness that I was doing this with a sense of irony. Like there was a wink-wink about it - 'Oh, cute. R-rated Jason Segel is going to do the Muppets and make fun of it.' But as soon as we arrived on set and everyone saw that that wasn't the case, that this was coming from a very genuine and true place, we were all on the same team very very quickly."
On making a movie for kids and adults: "We're trying to harken back to the original three Muppet movies, The Muppet Movie, Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Great Muppet Caper. I think one of the things the original Muppet movies did amazingly well is that they don't condescend to children by feeling like they have to dumb things down to the lowest common denominator. And when you don't do that, you get a family film in its truest sense. An entire family can sit and watch and enjoy it. The worst equivalent is Barney the dinosaur where parents are having to sit there while their kids watch this and the parents want to blow their brains out. This I think is going to be the exact opposite. I think parents are going to be laughing as hard as kids are going to be laughing. We have jokes geared toward children and we have jokes that are geared specifically toward adults that go right over a kid's head. It's something that The Simpsons does as well. There's something very special about a family sitting down to enjoy something together - that was our goal."
On why Amy Adams is the perfect leading lady: "I wrote it for her. She was in my mind from the beginning, ever since I saw Enchanted. The role is very different, but first of all, she's like the best actress alive. To go from Enchanted to Doubt, and The Fighter, this woman can do anything. She's able to do this wide-eyed naiveté that is not part of her personality in real life - she's one of the most smart, on-top-of-it women I've ever met. But she can do this kind of thing - my character and her character and Walter are true innocents. She's able to do that. She channels it through her eyes, and she can sing. She's totally game. She's up for it. She also really gets the jokes, so she was the perfect choice from the start. I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't gotten her."
On writing, filming TV, and filming movies at the same time: "I spent [ages] 21-25 totally out of work. And so now that I have a chance to do stuff, there's a part of me that thinks I'm not letting this opportunity pass by. You see it go away so quickly. It's so fickle. I like writing, I genuinely do. I get tired and all that stuff, but when you think about it, it's like the alien is going to burst out of your chest. When I get an idea it's kind of hard not to do something because it feels like the alien is going to burst out of my chest. I'm not good at setting it aside and saying I'll get to it eventually. I want to start writing it, even if it means staying up all night. It's tough to complain . . . I bought a house! What do I have to complain about, a little lack of sleep?"

View 5 Photos ›

Photos courtesy Disney

To read what Jason says about the new Muppet, more on the movie, and his one remaining Hollywood dream, just

On creating a new Muppet: "Nick Stoller and I did. We wrote the script together, he's my writing partner. We invented Walter! We did not get to design him physically because then they would owe us a lot of money. So we came up with him on paper and then they were very clear that we could not be involved in any aspect in the physical design of Walter. But it is pretty crazy when I saw him and I knew he was born in our brains. It's like Nick and I had a little baby - with our brains."
On whether or not this movie would be a musical: "We knew it was going to be a musical from the start. All the Muppets movies are musicals. When you look back at the great lineage of the Muppet music, like "The Rainbow Connection." I mean that is not a joke of a song. That is a serious song. If a legitimate musician put out that song they'd win a Grammy. We really wanted the music to be great and James (director) was the perfect choice for this movie and it seems like he's been training for this."
On what Muppets we'll see again: "We're bringing out a lot of the Muppets from the archives. A lot of guys from the old Muppet shows, some of the kind of obscure performances make appearances. I can't give too many away, but there's some old favorites of mine . . . there's some really cool weird ones."
On improv from the Muppeteers: "There is! I did not expect that for a minute! These guys know the characters so much better than I could hope to. I could imagine what the character might say, but these guys have been playing them for 20, 30 years."
On operating a Muppet himself: "Yeah I just operated Fozzie a minute ago! I've done Fozzie, Dr. Teeh, and I've done Beeker so far. It's been amazing. That is what knocks your socks off. This is going to sound different from how I mean it - but my hand is inside Fozzie? That's amazing. I never thought that would happen!"
On taking pieces from the set home: "I really want a lot of stuff that I see around here. They're very protective certainly over the puppets, but I've gotten a few bits of paraphernalia that I'll save and treasure forever. Some really special photographs. Me with Kermit, shooting the . . . breeze? What's the the PG version of that? That's the greatest picture I've ever seen. I love it."
On Muppets not being puppets: "In the original script, I was a ventriloquist and Walter was my puppet. But one of the things you find out is that you really don't want to cross the line into mentioning puppet. It becomes very, very complicated because the Muppets and not puppets. Muppets are living creatures in this world, you know what I mean? So as soon as I realized that that made things really complicated to have a puppet vs. the Muppets . . . it became complicated, so we cut that aspect of the story and it actually really simplified the story."
On Walter's personality: "Walter is the sweetest little guy you'll ever meet. He's like Kermit. He's like a very young Kermit. He's naive and he's sweet. Walter's thing is he's never met anyone like him. Like I said you don't use the word puppet, but he's my best friend and we grew up in Smalltown, USA - that's literally the name of the town - and he's never seen anything else like him. Except for the Muppets on television. So his dream is to go meet the Muppets and maybe have a family. It really does have tones of young Kermit."
On the movie's bad guys: "There are some other new Muppets. Villainous characters - they're not specifically Muppets. They're not very nice, so they're not Muppets. But they're adorable. I love them. They're another great creation. I can't give too much away about them, but they're really cool."
On the movie being a lifelong dream: "Once [the studio] said they were going to make it, everyone in my life was like, 'All right! Whatever you need. Let's get this thing made.' Because I've had puppets and Muppet figurines in my house, in my bedroom, since I was a kid."
On making Muppets history: "I'm not an arrogant dude, but to be even the tiniest footnote in the Muppets lineage is nuts to me. That is insane! So I feel very honored."
On Hollywood stars requesting cameos: "I got a lot of calls, especially my contemporaries who have kids all wanted to be a part of it for their kids. The idea of bringing their kids to meet the Muppets, or even to be able to show them the movie eventually. People love the Muppets. There's a lot of Muppet love out there."
On the music: "Bret McKenzie wrote most of the songs, and we have a couple reprises of some of the old songs. I wrote one of the songs, but it's a jokier version. Bret really took the songs and ran with them, and they're awesome . . . but some of the lyrics are definitely adult-based."
On where we find the Muppets: "We've got them in varying states of success and disarray. Some are famous, some are . . . destitute is the wrong word, you're not going to see any destitute moments . . . but some aren't doing what they wish they were doing. Everyone is doing their own thing, and it's a bit of a struggle for all of them to come back and do the Muppet show again."
On his next big Hollywood dream: "I'd like to be president of the United States. No. I've like to play a villain in a superhero movie. I think I'd be really good at it. I'm like 20 percent creepy. I'm really am. I am 20 percent creepy, I exclude it from this movie. But when you watch Sarah Marshall, the Dracula musical is funny but it's 20 percent creepy. I really want to play a villain in a superhero movie."

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Too Long at Sea

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 20 May 2011 00:12:54 PDT

Even though Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has the shortest running time of all the installments in Disney's adventure series, its overstuffed treasure chest of filler makes it feel hours longer than it is. While the plot is solid and makes more sense than those of the earlier Pirates movies, there are too many distractions. Overly long battles, boring action sequences, and unnecessary scenes stretch what could have been a snappy amusement into a bloated, almost two-and-a-half-hour movie.

Johnny Depp is back as Captain Jack Sparrow, this time with a new nemesis: his scorned ex-lover Angelica (Penelope Cruz). Though she's furious that Jack left her years ago after seducing her, she's not the villain of the movie - her boss, the evil Blackbeard (Ian McShane), is. Angelica serves as the first mate on his ship, which she drags Jack onto so he can help direct them to the elusive Fountain of Youth. The mythical place can save Blackbeard from his predicted fate: death at the hands of Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who's on their tail, eager to fulfill Blackbeard's destiny.

To read about the movie's few redeeming qualities, just keep reading.

Javier Bardem Celebrates His Commercial Success Overseas

Katie Henry — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 03:05:00 PDT

Javier Bardem arrived on the set of a commercial in Barcelona on Friday sporting his trademark stubble and a big grin. He's back to work after spending award season on the West Coast with his wife Penelope Cruz and their new baby boy, Leo. Penelope looks heavenly posing with Jeff Bridges for Annie Leibovitz's latest fairy-tale inspired photo shoot, and this Summer she'll play opposite Johnny Depp in another Disney venture, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Javier has a few projects in the works as well with rumors he'll be teaming up with goatee wearing Brad Pitt in the heist flick Cogan's Trade and starring as a villain in Daniel Craig's next James Bond film.