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February 13th, 2009

Valentine’s Day, a bloody affair for movie fans

Posted by: Alex Dobuzinskis

Valentine’s Day is here, inspiring feelings of warmth and fondness for loved ones. Or, could it be good day to see a psycho killer in a hockey mask decimate cowering victims.scarlett-johansson

On a day when many couples mark the year’s big romantic occasion with dinner and a movie, industry watchers expect the horror film “Friday the 13th” to cut down the competition and rule the box office on the picture’s opening weekend.

Romantic movie offerings are limited this Valentine’s Day weekend. There’s the irony-laced romantic comedy “He’s Just Not That Into You” with an all-star cast that includes Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore and Scarlett Johansson. That movie enjoyed a big debut last weekend with $27.5 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices. At the other end of the spectrum is romantic comedy “New In Town” with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr., which has faltered at the box office since its Jan. 30 opening, making only $14.4 million worldwide. And after those two movies, the only other wide-release movie likely to interest the date crowd is “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” which mainly centers on a young woman’s relationship with her credit card, but also weaves her romance with a wealthy man into the storyline.

As it turns out, horror could be a good option for Valentine’s Day dates. Online ticket seller Fandango surveyed customers and found that 53 percent of those interested in seeing “Friday the 13th” say they would take a date to the movie.

It brings new meaning to the term Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.

February 10th, 2009

Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams top movie romance list

Posted by: Alex Dobuzinskis

ryan-gosling-rachel-mcadamsWith Valentine’s Day coming up on Saturday, many movie fans will be looking for a good romance film to spark their own love life. But not all movie couples can convince fans they belong together, either on-screen or off.

Online ticket seller Fandango conducted a poll of customers buying tickets for February movies, asking people about their favorite and least-liked romantic movie pairings. On Tuesday, Fandango released a top 10 and worst 10 list.

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams lead all couples for their performance in the 2004 movie “The Notebook.” They won 14 percent of the vote, four percent more than runner-ups Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the 2005’s “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” The other couples on the list were, in order: Richard Gere and Julia Roberts (”Pretty Woman”); Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey (”Dirty Dancing”); Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet (”Titanic”); Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore (”Ghost”); Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (”Twilight”); Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal (”Brokeback Mountain”); and at No. 10, Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche (”Chocolate”).

Pitt and Jolie became inseparable after their on-set meeting in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”  and the two have since become a Hollywood supercouple with six children, including three adopted kids.

But Harry Medved, spokesman for Fandango, said that off-screen romance only counts for so much. “When it comes to classic mismatches, like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in ‘Gigli,’ the fact that the two stars may have been a couple off-screen didn’t make the on-screen chemistry between them any more convincing,” Medved said.

ben-affleck-jennifer-lopezBut JLo and Affleck, who since their 2003 movie “Gigli” have separated and are married to other entertainers, are not the most mismatched couple, according to Fandango customers.

Leading Fandango’s top 10 most mismatched couples were Jessica Alba and Mike Myers in 2008 movie “The Love Guru,” which was panned by critics and made only $32.2 million worldwide. That couple got 9 percent of votes, followed in second place by Woody Allen and Charlize Theron in “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,” a 2001 movie that came out when the acclaimed actor and director was 65 and she was 26. The other names on the list in order were: Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen (”Knocked Up”); Adam Sandler and Kevin James (”I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry”); Anne Heche and Harrison Ford (”Six Days Seven Nights”); Kate Winslet and Jack Black (”The Holiday”); Julia Roberts and Woody Allen (”Everyone Says I Love You”); Nikki Blonsky and Zac Efron (”Hairspray”); Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes (”Maid in Manhattan”); and at No. 10, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck (”Gigli”).

This Valentine’s Day, movie goers will have a couple romantic comedies to choose from. “He’s Just Not That Into You” opened on Feb. 6 with an A-list ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston and Scarlett Johansson, and had a strong opening weekend of $27.5 million, while “New In Town” starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. has earned a disappointing $11.9 million worldwide since its Jan. 30 opening.

August 21st, 2008

Jennifer Garner can’t hide her baby bump

Posted by: Bob Tourtellotte

benandjen.jpgFor months, it has been speculated in celebrity magazines that film and television star Jennifer Garner, who is married to Ben Affleck, is pregnant with the couple’s second child. Although she or her representatives have never confirmed her pregnancy, Garner was in Los Angeles doing interviews for Disney’s “Baby Einstein” products and it was obvious just by looking at her that she was.

Wearing a short, floral print sun dress during an interview with Reuters, Garner could not hide her baby bump.

jen2.jpgShe and Affleck already have a daughter, Violet, and when we asked Garner which of the Baby Einstein products – a collection of DVDs, CDs and toys that introduce babies to art and classical music — that Violet favored, she declined to answer, saying she would not discuss her family or daughter.

Later in the day, entertainment news show Access Hollywood reported that she confirmed the pregnancy to them, saying she and Ben were “excited, obviously.” But even then she was coy at first, joking with the Access reporter that she “just had a lot of carbs for breakfast. It’s just - what do they call it? A breakfast pouch? Bunch?

Come on, Jennifer. We’ve seen your well-toned body in action roles such as Agent Sydney Bristow on TV’s “Alias” and as superhero Elektra in the films “Daredevil” and “Elektra.” We know the difference. 

(Reporting by Jennifer Martinez)

July 19th, 2008

More baby news for Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck

Posted by: Steve Gorman

garner.jpgJennifer Garner, who last appeared on screen as an adoptive mother in the teenage-pregnancy comedy “Juno,” is said to be expecting her second real-life baby with husband and onetime co-star Ben Affleck.

There’s no official word from either star’s publicists on recent online gossip about a Garner pregnancy, which has been fueled by recent photos of the actress in loose-fitting tops. But Usmagazine.com reports that her close friend and former “Alias” co-star, Victor Garber, confirmed that Garner is with child. And the magazine quotes an unnamed source as saying, “She is five months pregnant. They are very happy.”

Garner, 36, and Affleck, 35, who battled each other on screen in the 2003 superhero action film “Daredevil,” are parents of a 2-year-old daughter, Violet.  The Hollywood couple announced her first pregnancy and their marriage simultaneously in June 2005. Her pregnancy ultimately was written into the story line of the character she played on the ABC espionage thriller “Alias.”

Garner, who recently appeared on Broadway in a production of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” was quoted last fall in the British magazine Marie Claire as saying she looked forward to having a second child. “We definitely wonder what it would be like to have another — hopefully, knock on wood, someday,” she said then. “My job is great to have as a mom. I get to take breaks and then work in a really concentrated way. During that concentrated time, it sucks, but whatever.”