The latest buzz at this year’s Sundance Film Festival centers around Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming movie, “The Girlfriend Experience.” The film has gotten tons of attention since it was announced, for two reasons. It’s a peek into the exclusive, mostly unseen world of high-end escorting. And, its star is Sasha Grey, a 20-year-old adult film star. This week, “The Girlfriend Experience” made its debut at the festival, and the reviews range from positive to mixed. Defamer reports: “[A]s Soderbergh films go, it’s in the austere league of ‘Bubble’ and ‘Che,’ likely to confound the average moviegoer and irritate the eager pornhound Grey-ophile—which is kind of how we like him.” Even though it stars a porn star, the movie features no explicit sex, nor, opines Defamer, “any sexiness whatsoever.” Other critics describe “GFE” as “not-half-bad,” “a nuanced character study,” and “fascinating.”

“Dinner and a movie” may sound like the most boring, clichéd date ever, but I think movie dates are hot. When you go to the movies with someone, you learn a lot about them: what kinds of films they like, whether they pay for the tickets, how they behave in the theater. You may not be talking during the movie, but there’s a lot to be said for body language.

Movie studios know we will eat up pure sap around Valentine’s Day. As cheesy as it’s probably going to be, I can’t wait for “He’s Just Not That Into You,” which comes out a month from tomorrow. I laughed out loud watching this new trailer, mostly because there are some valid points. Like Drew Barrymore’s character says, “I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home. And then he emailed to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell. And now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to be rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting!”

Jennifer Aniston may not be married with six-million children like her ex Brad Pitt, but now she has something on him. Aniston’s movie “Marley & Me” took home an estimated $37 million this weekend, while Pitt’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” made $27 million, less than Adam Sandler’s “Bedtime Stories”! Amelia thinks “Benjamin Button” lost because it was about “a gross old man baby” (see photo at left). I think it’s because the dog who played Marley is way better looking than Brad Pitt. Did you see either movie this weekend? [Reuters]

It’s no secret that movie endings can make or break the audience’s reaction. After we’ve been sitting there for a couple of hours, completely engrossed in the storyline, we want an ending that gives us resolution and satisfaction. The film industry recognizes this and that’s why they offer pre-screenings of films to gauge people’s reactions. When they respond unfavorably to a particular aspect, such as the ending, the movie is sent back to production for retooling. Or sometimes what seems great on paper doesn’t work on the big screen. Having to alter the ending actually happens more than you’d think, even to movies that have become legendary. Would these films be so popular or famous if the creators had stuck with the original endings?

MSNBC’s resident sexpert, Brian Alexander, who writes the site’s “Sexploration” column, sits down for a chat with the lady execs of the adult movie industry and discovers that when it comes to the business of porn, men and women see things differently. “‘There is still this perception that [the porn industry] is all run by men, and not very nice men,’” says Joy King, an adult movie studio exec at Wicked Pictures, one of the industry’s biggest production companies. Other women executives working in the sex trade include Digital Playground’s Samantha Lewis, California Exotic Novelties’ Susan Colvin, and Femme’s Candida Royalle. “Surprisingly,” Alexander reports, “many women who work in the business say they don’t like porn.” So who’s to blame for porn’s low quality? These women say it’s men, of course! “[W]hile more women are calling the shots, they have to respond to a market of primarily male consumers, many of whom find plots simply a waste of time.” Hence, all that fast-forwarding. The women of XXX don’t get much support from anti-porn feminists either, who posit the sex industry exploits women. Adult star Nina Hartley has been called “brainwashed.” What do you think? Is porn just one more business—or the business of exploiting women?

Last night, I got to sneak a peak of the movie “Milk”, which opens in theaters on November 26th, and James Franco naked, swimming in a pool. I’m not sure which one was more life changing, the booty or the biopic,  but they were both even better than I had dreamed. “Milk,” about the life and times of Harvey Milk, the first gay man elected to public office back in the 1970s, seems unbelievably relevant today with the passing of Prop 8 earlier this month. While the film was shot long before the recent rallies, eerily enough, Milk was largely responsible for stopping California’s Prop 6, which would have made it legal to fire any employee and deny them housing simply because they were gay. The interwoven documentary footage from Milk’s protests look almost identical to that of this past weekend’s Join The Impact nationwide march—same cause, different decade. 

Beyonce has had great success as a singer/songwriter and a modicum of success as an actress—She was great in “Dreamgirls,” but let’s not forget she didn’t win the Oscar. Yet, she’s always willing to heap more onto her plate. Now, she is in talks with DC Comics and Warner Bros. to play the first black Wonder Woman. Beyonce will bring a physical prowess and flexibility unrivaled by the other actresses linked to this role, Jessica Biel, Katie Holmes and Evangeline Lilly. But do we really need to see Beyonce mimic another woman or character? I don’t think so. I say, she should hone her acting skills by taking roles for stand-alone characters. After the jump, check out a list of Beyonce’s movies and the woman or character she impersonated.

The “Sex and the City” movie sequel is all but confirmed—Kim Cattrall says it’s on, Sarah Jessica Parker says a few details still need to be ironed out, but given the success of the first film this summer, I don’t think we’ll be able to avoid another Carrie & Co. chick flick fest. So what do we want out of round two? Entertainment Weekly had their own ideas and, sorry, we were a little bored. Miranda a PTA mom? No thanks. Our brilliant plot line suggestions, after the jump…

Starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Justin Long
Directed by Kevin Smith

Last night I got to see the much-talked-about movie “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” as part of the CMJ Film Festival. Quite honestly, I was not impressed. Maybe it’s because there has been so much media attention surrounding the movie because of its title and the banning of certain posters. Or maybe my sense of humor just doesn’t mesh well with writer/director Kevin Smith’s. Either way, I thought the story was a big cliche, and Seth Rogen really didn’t need to say “f&*k” so many times without reason.

I’m not gonna lie; part of why I wanted to see this movie is that it had my name in it. I didn’t read much, if anything about it, aside from seeing the poster, so I will tell you right off what I didn’t know until the film started: this is not really a chick flick, at least, in the sense of feel-good, “Sex and the City”-style romance. It’s dark and intense, and will make you cry…unless you have a heart of stone. But the humor here is highlighted by the otherwise intense drama (aka, a dramedy). It is a chick flick in that it centers around two sisters, whose bond is intense, combative, and holds lots of longtime hurt.

While I am on this “break” with the man friend (it remains unclear how long this break will last, FYI), I’ve sworn off certain movies, TV shows, and songs out of fear that they’ll make me depressed. A friend of mine went through a breakup recently and all she did was listen to Morrissey, but wallowing is not really my heartbreak style. I like avoidance and denial. Obviously, I can’t avoid these aspects of pop culture forever and will need to work them gradually back into my life, but for now, there will be no “General Hospital”, or Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend”, or Reese Witherspoon movies. See the rest of the list of Pop Culture No-No’s, after the jump.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of “Dead Ringers”—the mega-awesomely creepy David Cronenberg movie which made us vow never to date identical twin gynecologists after we rented it on VHS one rainy day at Blockbuster.  Starring a dashingly young Jeremy Irons as brothers Eliot and Beverly Mantle—who look so identical that they routinely swap girlfriends without telling them that they’re, um, two people—“Dead Ringers” is chock full of hot love and heavy psycho-drama.  We’ve always loved the opening scene, which offers the handy-dandy lesson on human reproduction in the clip above. [Amazon and IMDB]

“Rachel Getting Married”
Anne Hathaway takes an indie turn in this complicated portrait of one weekend, two sisters, and the family’s black sheep.

“The Duchess”
Keira Knightley plays the Duchess of Devonshire in a period drama about the Paris Hilton of the18th century.

“Battle in Seattle”
Charlize Theron riots in a retelling of the 1999 World Trade Organization protests, directed by her boyfriend Stuart Townsend.

MUSIC

• Jessica Simpson Do You Know Simpson’s new country record, Do You Know, begs the questions, do you care?  The change in sound from pop to her Texas roots is supposed to be a fresh new image for this bottle blonde, but she still sounds ready made.

One of our favorite actresses, Audrey Tautou, is starring as Coco Chanel in the upcoming movie Coco Before Chanel, one of a few recent Chanel movies. But as the title hints, the film will focus on Coco’s life before she was known worldwide for her little black dresses and quilted handbags, a time you might not be as familiar with, unless you’ve read one of the many books about her. Here are a few things that might be covered by movie, which begins production September 15 in Paris (with dresses from the Chanel collection and Karl Lagerfeld supervising the re-creation of costumes and accessories!).

Sure, summer is coming to a close, but you still have 16 days left in August. Below, a few of our suggestions for how to fill the rest of your month—if you can pull yourself away from watching the Olympics.