And your ogre can sing: "Shrek: The Musical" takes the next giant, flatulent step towards Broadway tonight with its out-of-town world premiere in Seattle.
The adaptation of the DreamWorks children's movie stars Broadway vets Brian D'Arcy James ("Sweet Smell of Success," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels") and Sutton Foster ("Young Frankenstein" and the VH-1 show "Flight of the Conchords"), with a book by David Lindsay-Abaire, is expected to siphon tourist dollars away from "The Little Mermaid" and other family faves, even if it falls flat on its green face. But the out-of-town tryout is crucial to developing the buzz that will fuel ticket sales--something "Young Frankenstein" never built last fall in its previews in Chicago.
"Shrek" runs through September 21 in the Emerald City and opens in New York in November. If you happen to be a Washingtonian who can get there, won't you drop us a line?
We went to see the movie Transsiberian this weekend on the name alone, and it was totally awesome. We're hardly the first to compare it to a Hitchcock thriller, but the parallels couldn't be more apparent.
Woody Harrelson does a tremendous job as the overly loud, not-quite-with-it American tourist and Emily Mortimer ("Lars and the Real Girl") is wonderful as his more worldly wife. Shortly after the pair boards the train from Beijing to Moscow, a mysterious young couple joins them in their cabin. It's not much longer before things get super creepy. (Ben Kingsley shows up later as a Russian detective.)
The Brad Anderson film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and so far is in a very limited release in New York City. We tried to get distribution info from the studio, but haven't heard anything back just yet. For now, you can check updated showtimes at Moviefone.
Fans of big-screen musicals like "Hairspray," "Sweeney Todd" and the forthcoming "Mamma Mia!" may be both delighted with and frustrated by the Bollywood style of movie-making. The films native to India, which produces more movies each year than Hollywood, often top three hours and feature extended musical numbers and singers unknown outside of Asia. But India plans to show off its innovations with a Bollywood world tour led by two of its biggest actors.
Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan may not be household names Stateside but they are giant stars--say, Martin and Charlie Sheen without the divorce drama--in their native India. Son Abhishek is married to former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, whom Westerners may have seen in the Jane Austen-meets-Bollywood flick "Bride and Prejudice." (She'll also be appearing in next year's "Pink Panther" sequel with Steve Martin.)
The trio, along with several other Bollywood stars, will hit Trinidad, Atlantic City, London and more with "The Unforgettable Tour," which kicks off July 18 in Toronto.
"Knocked Up" must have seeped into our sub-consciousness more than we'd like to admit. While re-watching it on a flight to LA this weekend, we were shocked to realize our lunch and dinner reservations for the next day were at the same two restaurants the protagonists visit in the film: hip sushi joint Geisha House and cheesy classic Miceli's.
While both restaurants served their very mainstream purpose, this coincidence left us feeling waaay too unoriginal and in search of something off the beaten path. Near the end of the movie--after Katherine Heigl kicks Seth Rogen out of her car in a fit of pre-labor rage--he yells in outrage "I had to walk through half of Koreatown!" We didn't want to walk through half of it, but we were intrigued.
Critics gave a jaded eye-roll to Adam Sandler's latest flick in which he plays an Israeli assassin-slash-hairdresser, expecting it to garner half-hearted protests for its outsized characterizations. But "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" found an unlikely audience in Israelis, the very people Sandler's character spoofs.
Forget an oversized pillow or a lucky horseshoe--when actress Sienna Miller travels far and wide for movie roles, she always takes with her a pair of men's pajamas. Not just any pajamas, though. Sienna's sleepwear was a gift from late actor Heath Ledger from back when they were shooting the period romance "Casanova."
Miller and Ledger, who play unlikely lovers in the film, were caught out in a rainstorm and had to rush back to his apartment, where he lent Sienna the dry clothes from under his pillow. She later passed them back to him when he couldn't sleep. Ledger's dad returned them to her after his death in January.
We all have that luxury item we won't leave home without; what's yours? Don't laugh; we swear by our silly eyeshade for catching some z's in a light hotel room or on a daytime flight.
When President Bush is your neighbor, local barbecues are never the same: A new documentary explores the relationship of Crawford, Texas to its most famous resident, currently he of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Nearly half of the town's 705 residents turned out for the film's outdoor premiere.
Bush moved to Crawford in 1999 and brought the eyes of the world with him. Opponents of the president also used the town to influence public opinion, like when soldier's mother Cindy Sheehan took her antiwar feelings public with a protest across from Bush's ranch.
Hilariously, the IMDb summary for "Crawford" is hidden because of "spoilers," just in case you've been under a rock for the past 8 years.
On Tuesday, Paramount Pictures unveiled plans to open a theme park in South Korea, a country that's already crammed with movie studio resorts. Six months ago, Universal Studios announced its intent to open a similar venture. The trend started back in 2006 when MGM revealed plans for their Studio City theme park and film academy. All three theme parks will be located within an hour of Seoul.
The movie studios see South Korea as a "fast-growing and attractive market" because it's popular with Chinese tourists. The execs also cite the almost magical hold Korean pop culture has on the rest of Asia. Paramount expects to host over 5 million visitors during their first year in South Korea with attractions based on movies like "Mission: Impossible" and "Tomb Raider."
Paramount's "Movie Park" and MGM Studio City will both be neighbors in Incheon, a city that's about a half-hour west of Seoul. The Universal Studios park will be headquartered to the South in Hwaseong, which is connected to Seoul by subway. When all of the construction is completed in 2012, South Korea will offer visitors a world-class combination of theme park entertainment and barbecue the likes of which has not been seen anywhere in the world since Dollywood opened its doors in Nashville in 1961.
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by egw
