MalinAkerman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

happythankyoumoreplease falls under the very small niche of traditional Sundance romantic comedies, which isn't necessarily a bad thing ... if the movie is good. A small indie movie with great performances, the film was helmed by Josh Radnor, best known for his role as Ted Mosby on the CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother. This is Radnor's first feature film as writer and director, and it's playing in Park City this week.

One reason this film charms is because of the excellent performances he got out of his leading actresses Malin Akerman, Kate Mara, and Zoe Kazan. We sat down with these lovely ladies to talk about the film, and to find out more about their characters. Head on after the break for the video interview.

Its strange title isn't the only reason why people have been buzzing about happythankyoumoreplease. Josh Radnor's (How I Met Your Mother) directorial debut is extremely accessible and relatable with its cute, hip New York vibe and believable, well-written dialogue that doesn't force out stupid MySpace/Twitter/Facebook jokes in order to remind young audiences of how relevant it is. The premise, which follows three New York couples trying to navigate their way through professional and personal entanglements, isn't very fresh or unique (Woody Allen and Eddie Burns have driven down these roads plenty of times before), but the sharp-witted script -- combined with a watch-out-for-this-guy performance from Radnor himself -- will easily win over young, contemporary audiences desperately seeking a little more down-to-earth from their romantic dramedies.

While on his way to an important meeting with a publisher, Sam, an aspiring novelist (and serial one-night-stander), notices a young boy get separated from his family on the subway. But when Sam tries to help the boy by bringing him to the police station, the kid cautiously refuses, and instead decides to follow Sam to his meeting, to his apartment, to pick up a girl (Kate Mara) and to a friend's party -- eventually creating a situation where neither Sam nor the boy want to leave each other's side. Meanwhile, Sam's friend (they call each other "cousins" because their families are close) Mary (Zoe Kazan) and her boyfriend Charlie are at odds over a potential move to Los Angeles for his newfound business opportunity -- a riff that grows even wider when Mary thinks she might be pregnant. Finally, both Sam and Mary are friends with Annie (Malin Akerman), a sweet hippie-ish ex-party chick with a rare form of cancer who's trying to decide between the crazy, edgy ex-boyfriend and the quirky gentlemanly co-worker (Tony Hale in a surprisingly understated and genuine performance).

Sundance is so close you can almost smell the slush-stained Uggs. Even if you can't make it to Park City - although you can watch some of the Sundance features on VOD! - we've cobbled together a handy guide to the movies that look the most interesting, have the most buzz, and are the most drool-worthy for us film nerds. For all your Sundance needs, you can hit up any of Cinematical's conveniently tagged articles here.

HOWL
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Stars: James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn

This might be one of the hottest tickets at Sundance. Jam-packed with big names, including that body-pillow loving rapscallion Franco, HOWL zeroes in on one of America's most famous poets, Allen Ginsberg. With episodes from the poet's early life and his blossoming as a poety, from the trial itself, to the dramas he faced afterward, the story of HOWL sounds engrossing and illuminating. Plus, director/producer Gus Van Sant (Milk, Paranoid Park) is one of the exec producers.

Sometimes it feels good to get your buttons pushed. Couples Retreat shamelessly trots out a stable of tired old nags and magically transforms them into shining young thoroughbreds by the time they reach the finish line. To stir more creaky metaphors into the mix, Couples Retreat reminds me of an Old World grandmother, happily offering up the same old recipe with gentle but insistent persuasion, urging you to "eat, eat!" And you end up eating far more than you ever thought you would, because old recipes taste really good when fresh ingredients are used.

With Couples Retreat, the filmmakers gently but persistently prod, saying "Laugh, laugh!" and you end up laughing far more than expected. The set-up feels familiar: four couples, all at different stages of their relationships, go on an island retreat intending to have fun in the sun, but instead are forced to undergo counseling. In the process, they discover new truths about themselves, everyone laughs, everyone has "a moment." The End. Roll credits. Except that this time, the premise doesn't give away the major pleasures of the movie.

That's because longtime friends Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau collaborated on the sly, brutally frank, and funny script with Dana Fox, creating a solid framework that allows the performers breathing space to do their thing. Vaughn, Favreau, Jason Bateman, and Faizon Love play the men; Malin Akerman (in her best performance to date), Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell, and Kali Hawk are their romantic partners. Jean Reno is a mystical "couples whisperer." Old Vaughn / Favreau accomplice Peter Billingsley makes his feature directorial debut. What really ties everything together is crack comic timing, and a willingness to embrace warmly some of the colder, less pleasant truths about relationships.

The title may be generic, but the cast is not. Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, and Faizon Love accompany their significant others -- Malin Akerman, Kristen Davis, Kristen Bell, and Tasha Smith -- on a vacation to paradise in Couples Retreat. There is a catch, however: intensive sessions of relationship therapy are mandatory and counselor Jean Reno doesn't take "no" for an answer. The first trailer is up at the Fruit Factory (AKA Apple.)

While there's a degree of over-familiarity with the basic premise, the trailer is very promising, edging into the naughty side of PG-13. (According to Erik Davis' post on the movie last year, that's the rating they're aiming for.) Bateman and Bell make for a good, edgy couple of Type A-personalities on the brink on break-up who ask three other couples to come along on their retreat to save money. Old friends Vaughn and Favreau have great chemistry, of course, and have worked with Bateman before. I'm not a huge fan of Akerman or Davis -- they're both lovely and have bright personalities but not a lot of comic snap. Seeing Reno as a buff instructor makes me giggle. Favreau wrote the script, based on an idea by Vaughn, and another old pal, Peter Billingsley, makes his directorial debut.

Couples Retreat is heading for release on October 9, a crowded date on the release schedule: The Informant (drama), Night of the Demons (horror), Whip It (comedy), and Zombieland (horror comedy) are also due out that day. Does the concept or the cast -- or the trailer -- grab you?

What if actress Malin Akerman (who played hottie Silk Spectre in Watchmen) had a roommate who was wayyy behind on rent money? Why, she'd charge a bunch of "nerds" ridiculous amounts of money to take a fake Watchmen tour through Akerman's pad and watch the gal sleep. This latest video from Funny or Die shows exactly that situation ... and as the seconds tick away, the absurdity kicks into high hear ("Okay, then what about lunch with a bunch of thirty-somethings dressed as the Swamp Thing?").

I wasn't a big fan of Akerman heading into Watchmen, but walked away kinda looking forward to what she does next (which will be a co-starring role in the ensemble comedy Couple's Retreat). That said, she was dressed in that Silk Spectre outfit for half the movie and there was a little skin-on-skin action (and I am a dude), so maybe we'll see what she churns out in a film when she's not wearing next to nothing for three hours. Check out the video below, then let us know how much you'd pay for the unofficial Silk Spectre tour.

Prepare to be bludgeoned. Watchmen is sledgehammer entertainment, an action epic with tremendous production values that acknowledges good and evil but is much more interested in things that go boom.

As director Zack Snyder amply demonstrated in his previous adaptations of other people's strikingly original source material (Dawn of the Dead and 300), he is more than up to the task of creating a multitude of dynamic, viscerally-exciting action sequences. As a bonus, there are small moments in Watchmen that prompt warm, unexpected laughter, skillfully-recreated scenes that inspire pure fanboy bliss, and one lengthy flashback segment that is entirely transcendent, as dazzling, thoughtful, and emotionally-stirring as anything I've seen in recent years.

And then there's the rest of the movie, which crams in a remarkably high percentage of the plot points from the original Watchmen series of comic books by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and faithfully includes tiny details, classic panels and a checklist of characters. Yet it skims over deeper reflections about masked crime fighters, superheroes, the essential nature of man, and the future of the world. It's like someone decided the alphabet was too long: most of the consonants are still there, but Watchmen is missing a couple of vowels.

The film features a bewildering assemblage of performances, with juicy turns by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jackie Earle Haley, wildly uneven, uncertain performances by Malin Akerman and Patrick Wilson, and sleepy monotone pronouncements by Billy Crudup and Matthew Goode. Some of the actors sound as though they're delivering their lines for the first time, reading off cue cards.

In 2008, the biggest movies of the year were superhero movies: The Dark Knight and Iron Man. In 2009, another superhero movie looks to be equally huge, and that's Watchmen, Zack Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel.

First published as a serial comic book in 1986, Watchmen was immediately heralded for turning the notion of a "superhero story" on its head. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, Watchmen depicts a group of vigilantes who band together to fight crime; they have costumes, but no unusual powers ... save Doctor Manhattan, a scientist who acquires supernatural abilities after being caught in an experiment gone wrong.

There's been a lot of talk (maybe too much talk -- OK, sorry, antiquated U2 reference) about Zack Snyder's involvement in the project, which has taken eons to get off the ground. Would he be faithful to the book? Too faithful, not faithful enough? How would he handle all the side stories, and such a large ensemble cast?

Now you can get the answers straight from the horses' mouths, as Moviefone's Unscripted interview series is bringing several of the stars of Watchmen together to talk about the movie. Now's your chance to grill Patrick Wilson (Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl), Billy Crudup (Dr. Jon Osterman/Doctor Manhattan), Matthew Goode (Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias) and Malin Akerman (Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre) about their geek knowledge of the comic book, about what it felt like to wear all that rubber or play a ginormous blue man ... or whatever else your fanboy/girl heart may desire.

Submit your question in the comments section below for Crudup, Goode, Akerman or Wilson by Tues, Feb. 17, and be sure to include your first name and the city where you live. Then check back here on March 2 to see if your question made the cut. Thanks, and good luck.

There have been notable women in the world since that first apple-curious gal was made from an extra rib, and Hollywood has even covered many of their stories. But it just can't seem to allow that bubble to burst fully into the X-X spectrum. The lack of female directors has been well chronicled: We've seen the challenge in following the Bechdel Rule, and the list goes on and on. Most recently, we've watched as Catherine Hardwicke earned the best box office opening for a female director ever, only to be axed and replaced by Chris Weitz for the Twilight sequel, New Moon. Not exactly the best way to wrap up 2008 and kick off 2009, but life goes on and so do we.

Hollywood also moves on, and luckily there are still women to watch for. Some are older, and some are quite young; a few have the pressures of sophomore features, and one isn't even real. But they're all women who will mold the face of Hollywood in 2009. Read on and make sure to comment with the woman (or women) of Hollywood that you're waiting to see in the new year!

It's a Watchmen week! New photos and posters are hitting the Internet this week, presumably in anticipation of the second trailer that's attached to Quantum of Solace. Yesterday Erik posted a new Rorschach-themed poster that had popped up on Yahoo! Movies over the weekend, now we have six new ones (including an extra Rorschach) to accompany it.

Warner Bros. released the six character posters all across the Internet -- and we were able to collect most of them here in our gallery, except for the one the boys most want to see. Silk Spectre is over on your left, watermarked to MTV's Splash Page, but if you click her, you'll be taken to her full length version. I'm as straight as can be, but even I can't take my eyes off her latex. Wow.

Please give a visit and a nod to the other sites that were graced with these cool images -- my personal favorite of the bunch, The Comedian, was posted over at the always awesome Hero Complex (who will have more Watchmen images later today). Dr. Manhattan was posted in a tiny, low-res version at Entertainment Weekly. (Come on, where's the big version, guys?) The really cool Ozymandias poster, costarring Bubastis, debuted over at Wired. Nite Owl comes by way of Access Hollywood, accompanied there by an automatic video of Patrick Wilson. And everyone's favorite vigilante, Rorschach, got his second poster of the week courtesy of USA Today.

They really are pretty glorious to look upon. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to furiously exercise in order to wake up resembling Malin Akerman.



[via Superhero Hype, who did the collecting]