Movie posters have a very simple yet very critical task: Make people go see the movie. With such a singular objective in mind, you wouldn't think the studios would futz it up so very badly so very often. Yet, there they go again. Please witness the new one-sheet for the new remake of the all-female '30s classic The Women.

Unlike the film's teaser poster, this one actually features the key cast in this tale of wife (and her friends) versus mistress. Sure, on its surface nothing seems terrible here; but just like staring at a Monet, things start to come out of focus with closer inspection.

First, what's up with Annette Bening's face? Seriously, not to become the crazy lady who can't stop complaining about the horrors of Photoshop, but — hello — horrors of Photoshop. She looks at once smooth and puffy. Also I can't believe she would ever actually wear a shade of eyeshadow that flirts so perilously with '80s powder blue. Banish the thought. … continue reading

Ah, 1994. I remember it well. Sandra Bullock was America's sweetheart after she drove a bus and flirted with Keanu Reeves in Speed; who could've predicted that the pair would reunite to absolutely zero acclaim 12 years later in The Lake House?

On TV, Friends began its long run on NBC, while on ABC, These Friends of Mine, later re-titled Ellen, featured Ellen DeGeneres as a bookstore owner who had a comically tough time dating men. I think we all know how that ended.

And little me kept repeating, "I’m getting verklemmt!" "You're terrible, Muriel!" and “La Croix, sweetie, La Croix,” to anyone within earshot.

Elsewhere in Hollywood ’94, writer-producer Diane English, who was riding high with Murphy Brown (remember?), was shopping a script for a remake of the 1939 camp classic The Women. Well, 13 years, a couple of directors, multiple casting changes and several false starts later, the movie is finally set to go into production this summer, with a cast that includes Eva Mendes, Jada Pinkett Smith, Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing and Candice Bergen — quite a star-studded assemblage.

The original bitchfest starred an array of its era’s best female actresses — including Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine and many more — as catty high-society ladies. … continue reading

Next Thursday on USA, the miniseries The Starter Wife premieres. Based on the Gigi Levangie Grazer novel of the same name, it stars Debra Messing as a woman named Molly whose Hollywood husband dumps her for someone younger. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be drawn to this at all, but in NYC, it has been difficult to ignore the giant ads on the sides of buses. They look like this, only with a white background:

Here's my question about those ads: Since when can you just declare something "a major television event"? Isn't that reserved for epic dramas like Roots or The Thorn Birds? (An aside: The first time I typed that, it came out The Thunderbirds. Sigh.) Can you just create an event with an ad campaign? … continue reading