TresSugar

The Top 15 Movies With "Cougar" Characters

TresSugar — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

I loathe the word cougar - used, for the most part, to try to humiliate women who date younger men (their "prey," known as cubs). But for better or worse, it's in the lexicon, which means that the idea that older women can still be sexy - and sexual - is out there, too. The following group of films shows that the cougar's been around in popular culture for a while, that cougar/cub desire is a two-way street, and that these couplings can be good, bad, or downright scary.

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Say What? Spike Jonze's New Film Is Like a Baby Girl

TresSugar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:00:00 -0700

"It's like the studio was expecting a boy, and I gave birth to a girl. And now they're learning to love and accept their daughter."

- Director Spike Jonze on his struggles with Warner Brothers, who wanted his adaptation of the Maurice Sendak children's classic Where the Wild Things Are to be more like Shrek and Madagascar than an avant-garde film. Jonze, however, wanted to stay true to the original book and to make a film that didn't talk down to children. What do you think of his arresting analogy?

Do You Care Who's Had More Sexual Partners?

TresSugar — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:00:00 -0700

An upcoming movie project titled One Night Stan follows a soon-to-be-married young man who gets his ego all bruised up when he finds out his fiancée has slept with more people than he has.

The Hollywood Reporter reports:

Stan plays out a scenario about which many men fantasize on the cusp of marriage. When Stan learns his fiancée, Julie, has had more sexual partners than he, he gets her blessing for one night to play catch-up. Unfortunately, his plans for a sex buffet don't come together quite the way he had hoped."

I asked you yesterday if you thought you should disclose your number of sexual partners. So what happens once you both know?

Which John Hughes Character Did You Crush On the Most?

TresSugar — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:15:31 -0700

We just got the sad news that director John Hughes passed away today at the age of 59. Hughes was the creator of many lovable characters. From the swagger-charged Ferris Bueller to Judd Nelson as the rebel John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Hughes had a knack for writing classic teen characters. Earlier today we discussed which movie character is your dream man, but now I'd like to narrow it down. Out of all the characters credited to Hughes (see a full list here), which one did you crush on?

Do Tell: What Movie Character Is Your Dream Man?

TresSugar — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:00:21 -0700

Westley in The Princess Bride. Blane in Pretty in Pink. Edward Cullen from Twilight, if you're into the whole vampire thing. And of course, Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything, the fictional character who inspired this postcard.

The movies are full of fictional men I'd love to date or just spend an evening with (hello, "blouse man" from A Walk on the Moon!). Sure, they don't exist in real life, but a girl can dream, right? So tell me, which fictional movie character - the character, not the actor - would you most want to date? Or marry? Or have a fling with?

Paper Heart's Charlyne Yi Talks Love and Dating

TresSugar — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:00:00 -0700

In Paper Heart, opening in theaters this Friday, Charlyne Yi plays a documentary filmmaker intent on finding out what people, young and old, feel about love. During her travels and interviews, she falls in love with geek heartthrob Michael Cera. Not only did Charlyne star in Paper Heart with Cera (and Seth Rogen and funny man Demetri Martin), she won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for co-penning the film’s script! We asked the wisecracking Yi her thoughts on modern love and dating. . .

TS: Do you think that cynics are the true romantics?
CY: Before we begin, I'd like to clarify I am no Love Guru (Mike Meyers). I don't think anyone can really define love. It's one wild, wild beast. And I don't think anyone is wrong or right. For this, I'm just gonna share my personal op. That's short for opinion. I don't believe anyone is truly "cynical." I think we all have doubts and question love, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's normal and healthy. To find out what else Charlyne thinks about dating and love, read more.

Perhaps sometimes people are wary of love because they're trying to be smart, don't understand love, or of the fear of getting hurt again, or even hurting the other person . . . after all love is such a fragile thing. It would be awful to say you loved someone when you were unsure. When you're in a relationship, you're responsible for each other's feelings. And that is super scary. And I think there are no real cynics. Because there is a flicker of hope within them, where they wish they had somebody. I think everybody wants to mean something to somebody, even if they are "cynical" or "skeptical."

TS: How would you describe dating for the so-called Generation Y set? What makes dating different for them compared to previous generations?
CY: I'm not sure. I've only lived in this generation. But I've noticed my parent's generation got married really early on, around 19-early twenties. Most people I hang out with don't get married until much much older like mid 30s.

TS: What’s the best thing about dating?
CY: When you've reached the point in the relationship when you don't have to try anymore. And you both can spend time doing the most boring thing, and yet have fun.

TS: . . . the worst thing?
CY: Not being able to read the other person's mind. Uncertainty about how the other person is feeling.

TS: What is the best dating advice you ever got?
CY: I made up my own advice. I figure if I'm my gross weird self in the very beginning, instead of trying to show my best side and impress them, and later revealing who I really am, I would just be me. And this sounds dumb, but if I need to fart, I'm gonna do it. And maybe if they accept all of me early on, they've passed the test. And actually like me.

TS: What’s the biggest “don’t” on a date?
CY: Don't: Punch me in the face.

TS: Describe the worst date you were ever on.
CY: It was sad, the guy started crying at dinner about his ex-girlfriend. I felt bad.

TS: What are the elements of a good date?
CY: I don't think it matters where you are. It could be the dullest of all places or most dreadful. It just matters if the person you're out with and you are having fun and can actually carry an enjoyable conversation. And they can make me laugh.

TS: Should established couples still go on dates, or is this strictly the penance singles must suffer?
CY: I don't understand this question. Maybe because I don't know what penance means.

TS: Is dating obsolete?
CY: Again, don't understand this question. Seriously.

TS: Thanks, Charlyne! We can't wait to see this cute movie. . .

Source

Do, Dump, or Marry? Adam Sandler

TresSugar — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:30:00 -0700

Funny person Adam Sandler is trying on a more serious role in Funny People, which comes out this weekend. From his stint on Saturday Night Live to his string of hit movies after, Adam has always had a well-received and one-of-a-kind brand of comedy. But I want to know - do you find him sexy?

The Plight of the Cat Lady: Documentary Tells All

TresSugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:30:00 -0700

Move over Grey Gardens, there's a new cat-lady documentary in the gah-den. The trailer for the dutifully titled Cat Lady ("when cats mean 'meow' to you than people") opens with a former banker taking stock of the kittens living in her house. (All 123).

Debuting this week at the Silverdocs film festival in Washington DC, the documentary follows four women who fit the cultural stereotype of cat ladies - women of a certain age with one, or 100, too many felines. While it's meant to be an emotionally honest look at women whose self-worth is linked to cats, it's, also, inevitably funny. Because, really, if you're going to put whiskers under your nose and mee-oww to the camera, the world is going to laugh. And laugh.

Brüno: Exposing or Encouraging Homophobia?

TresSugar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:30:00 -0700

If you haven't noticed, a lot of people don't know what to make of Sacha Baron Cohen's upcoming film Brüno. A spokesperson for GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is the latest person to express mixed feelings about the Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt:

"We have very mixed emotions about the movie. Those of us who saw the film agreed that you can't critique it as a single film because it's more like 90 minutes of individual sketches. Some are funny and hit their mark but others hit the [gay] community instead. As someone who sat at the back of a focus group audience outside of Los Angeles, I felt they were laughing at us at times."

Yet one critic thinks everyone needs to grow up and realize Brüno does not represent the entire gay community, but a set of people who "blanket themselves in one aspect of their personality" (their sexuality) just to force a reaction out of people. Another writer sees Cohen's performance of stereotypically outrè gayness this way: "It's not irony, you're just an asshole."

Do you think Bruno will expose or encourage homophobia? Can we laugh at one flamboyant, outrageous (and fictitious) gay man and the possible homophobia this elicits without laughing at the whole community? Could there be a redeeming value to this film?

If you need to see the trailer to help make up your mind, read more.

Humpday: Takes the Bromance to Its Logical Conclusion

TresSugar — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:00:00 -0700

I can't wait to see Humpday, director Lynn Shelton's new film about old college friends who decide to enter an amateur porn filmmaking contest and to have sex with one another on film. Did I mention they're straight men? Shelton has said that the film is about how straight men can turn anything into a competition - even if it means having to do each other.

The film hasn't come out yet, so I'm only going on reviews and the director's comments, but I'm a little disappointed that the sex doesn't arise for the two men out of confused affection for one another, but rather because of a contest. To hear why I think we need more films about men loving each other (or lovin' on one another) and why it's good for women, read more.

I'm convinced that if men were able to admit on some level that they want to be close - not necessarily have sex, obviously, but that maybe an attraction is possible - a lot of macho crap like denigrating women and homophobia wouldn't be so rampant. Why? Because a more open definition of masculinity would mean fewer threats to it. Take gay men - you don't hear a lot of stories about them punching straight people in the face for being straight.

A slew of films about male bonding, or bromances - Pineapple Express, 40 Year Old Virgin, and Superbad - have highlighted the cute and sometimes touching bonds men share. (Although sometimes, as I argued here, it's at the expense of women.) In my favorite scene in Superbad, Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) finally admit to one another during a slumber party that they love each other and will miss one another when they go off to college. It's stupid, says Seth, that men can't say "I love you" to one another.

I couldn't agree more, and whether or not Humpday ends up being a progressive movie about (extreme) male bonding or expands the idea of what straight men can be to each other (and others), I bet we haven't heard the last of this subject.