The Spielster » I Can’t Wait For

MAD MEN RETURNS TONIGHT!!!

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:36:13 +0000

Thank you thank you thank you! Tonight welcomes the third season of the critically acclaimed series Mad Men. And if you haven’t been paying attention, I think all of America is just as excited for the return of Sterling Cooper and it’s stylish, yet broken staff. With the second season garnering 16 Emmy nominations for the program, let’s just say there is some high anticipation for the next steps of Don Draper and co.

When we last left the Sterling Cooper crew, Betty and Don reunite and Don learns she is pregnant, Peggy told Pete about the child she gave up for adoption, Joan was stuck in an abusive relationship and the agency was bought out. I can not wait to see where these characters went since we last left them and what path they are on now. To get ready for tonight’s premiere, pour yourself a Manhattan, Mad Men Yourself and take a peek at some of the behind the scenes for the upcoming season.

Well be doing a weekly recap of the program for all you dear readers. Drink up and enjoy!
For more on Mad Men, check out:
Vanity Fair’s piece
Entertainment Weekly’s coverage
Women & Hollywood’s look into the writer of the program

Degrassi Goes to Hollywood!

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:02:56 +0000

For a person who is this close to celebrating her 30th birthday, the excitement I have over the “Degrassi Goes Hollywood” movie might be shocking to you my dear readers. So you’ll just have to get over it and celebrate the genius that is Degrassi. For those of you not from Canada, without premium cable or who have spent the past few years on another planet, Degrassi is the amazing teen program, made popular by CTV and dragged over to the US, via the geniuses at Nickelodeon’s The N. For years, we have watched a few generations of the younger kids growing up, catching STDs, getting pregnant, stabbing each other, cutting themselves, starting rock bands, cheating on each other and all around being awesome. For this special full length feature, The N caught the Hollywood bug and had the gang head down to find some sunshine and typical industry drama. A few of the regulars are trying to become actors, one alum is now an all star emo musician and the other cast members seemed to just hitch a ride to the sunny life that goes with LA. “Degrassi Goes Hollywood”, which premieres tomorrow, will be ushered in with a full fledged 24 hour marathon of “Degrassi: The Next Generation”. So check out the trailer and get stoked for 24 full hours of the latest generation to call Degrassi their home. I can’t wait!

Degrassi Goes Hollywood!

“Paper Heart” Trailer Makes Me Fall Further In Love With Charlene Yi….

admin — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:56:36 +0000

Charlene Yi, best known for stealing screen time in the Apatow film “Knocked Up”, is one of my favorite up and coming comedians. And after seeing the trailer for her new movie “Paper Heart”, I can’t help but think you will all fall in love with her like I have. The movie, which is part unscripted comedy and part documentary, is focused on Yi’s non belief in true love and a trip all over North America to figure out if it actually exists. It was “co written” by the director Nicholas Jasenovec and received a Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival.

This refreshing approach on romantic comedy costars Michael Cera, Jake Johnson (playing Jasenovec), Martin Starr and countless other comedian friends, who all help Yi in her quest for actual true love and its definition to many. Its also filled with interviews of regular folks and cute kids, who describe their own love stories, leading to some of the more adorable scenes in the film. Yi and Cera, who are a couple in real life, seem adorably awkward while having their growing relationship filmed for the movie and this brings even another sense of realness to the film.

Now check out the trailer and support this very funny female comedian. The film opens in select cities on August 7th and nationwide on the 14th. Hopefully, I can get some time to sit down and discuss with Charlene what she gained out of the film and where she sees herself next.

“The Hangover” Gets the Red Band Trailer Treatment

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:41:50 +0000

First things first, any movie with Bradley Cooper and Zack Galifinakis would have to be literally terrible for me not to love it. And while this seems like another “guys go crazy in hotel/casino/etc for a bachelor party weekend”, the early reviews for “The Hangover” are proving that it definitely brings the funny. And really, who isnt a fan of raunchy bachelor party films?

Just from the looks of this ridiculous trailer, I know that I will see it in the theaters, love it whole heartedly and will run out and purchase it the minute it comes out on DVD and watch it on repeat, much like I did with “Old School”. See I am one of those chicks who adores raunchy, nonsensical comedies, but I wish that they were based around women every once in awhile. “The Hangover”, follows the hilarious and unfathomable weekend of four friends in Las Vegas for a bachelor party. And when drinks and unconsciousness became so prevalent these dudes wake up to a tiger, a baby AND Mike Tyson in their hotel room, you know the path they were on will not only not be pleasant, but will be filled with hijinx.

Someone stop Perry Farrell before its TOO late!

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:15:10 +0000

One can only imagine how difficult it would be to reunite with a band you had broken up with nearly 20 years ago. And I can believe it would even harder if the lead singer of said band was Perry Farrell.

Unfortunately, it seems that the bitterness and arguments that tore Jane’s Addiction apart on their Lollapalooza tour in 1991 is rearing its ugly head once again. Farrell, who performed this past weekend at Coachella, has gone on record that things are not so shiny in the JA world. The band, who recently reunited and began working on new music with the four original members, has apparently found themselves back where they started, with another issue brewing between bassist Eric Avery and Farrell as the main cause of the issues. Trent Reznor has attempted to mediate the issues, while he has been producing the bands’ latest musical endeavors, and since his band, Nine Inch Nails, will be touring with Jane’s this summer, there is a lot at stake to the squandering of the twenty year old beef.

Perry told Reuters this weekend that, “I’m not going to tell you it’s been all smooches and hugs, but it shouldn’t be because that would be a bore. I just talked to Eric man-to-man. We’re different people, that’s okay. I’m overjoyed that we’re working together. I don’t care that we butt heads as long as when we hit the stage we blast on people.” Farrell also said that the band will be following Reznor’s lead and offering new material, such as “Embrace the Night”, for free download on their site in upcoming weeks.

As a fan and a ticket holder for a few of Jane’s upcoming shows, I hope that they can keep it together long enough to perform the music that helped usher in a change for the music industry and assisted in creating the alterna-nation in the 1990s. Even if a show ends up in a fist fight, which has been known to happen, I will be happy to see this electricity on the stage.

It’s Here! The “Where The Wild Things Are” Trailer

admin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:52:11 +0000

Apparently Spike Jonze overheard me last night at MOMA when I was discussing how I can not wait for the trailer to come out so I can get a first look at “Where the Wild Things Are”. Well seek and ye shall find apparently, since Trailer Addict posted the first of what we can assume will be many trailers for the upcoming live adaptation of the children’s classic this afternoon. We caught a glimpse of the monsters last week when posters were leaked, but here we can finally confirm why we have all been way too excited for this film to come out.

What do you think?

“Where the Wild Things Are” Poster Hits The Web…

admin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:47:05 +0000

If this poster doesn’t get you excited for the upcoming live action version of “Where the Wild Things Are”, I don’t know what will. A Spike Jonze fan site has been on the lookout for images for the adaptation of the beloved children’s novel and they found this poster within Nickelodeon’s Nick Magazine. The announcement of the movie last year had sparked many a pop culture junkie and movie fanatic to wonder how the brave Spike Jonze would tackle the interpretation of an illustrated children’s novel. And from the poster and early photographs floating around the web, it seems he might have been able to get it right. Jonze avoided the overused used CGI crutch in so many movies nowadays and decided to have the famous oversized monsters be created with suits. From the poster, I can already imagine how wonderful this will come across on the screen.
The movie, based on the children’s book by Maurice Sendak, is about a boy named Max who after being punished for his mischievous behavior finds himself lost in adventures where he finds the “wild things”. Jonze is not only directing the big screen adaptation, but he penned the screenplay as well. The movie stars such big names as Forest Whitaker, James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine Keener and Catherine O’Hara. And we will get to see a snippet of the film when the trailer premieres in two weeks, with a place before the highly anticipated “Monsters vs. Aliens”. “Wild Things” is currently set for an October 16, 2009 release date, per Warner Brothers.

Woody Allen’s Return to NYC will begin at Tribeca!!!

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:03:59 +0000

My prediction that “Whatever Works” would premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival was quite accurate. It was announced today that Woody Allen’s latest film would premiere at the TFF’s opening night on April 22nd. It’s quite fitting that Allen’s return to New York on screen would be the same year he premiered a film at Tribeca Film Festival.

The details of the movie are sparse other than it will be a darker version of typical Woody. The film stars Larry David as the typical curmudgeon character, as well as Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Begley Jr. and Patricia Clarkson. Jane Rosenthal, the co-founder of the festival said “I fell in love with New York through Woody Allen’s movies and I am excited we are opening this year’s Festival”, with “Whatever Works”. The festival has been tweaking their format recently in order to compete for bragging rights with Sundance as a powerhouse within the independent and cinematic community. The full schedule for the festival has not yet been released yet and I will be covering the festival as events and schedules develop. I am excited about the partnership between Allen and the TFF. The pairing of the quintessential New Yorker with the ever expanding film festival is genius. I cannot wait to see this movie and think Larry David and Woody Allen together is what neurotic Jewish dreams are made of. Sony Pictures Classics has already picked up the film and it will be released nationwide on June 19th.