Bond countdown: Dr. No (1962)

We're about 22 weeks away from the newest James Bond film, Skyfall, so I've decided to once again look back at the past Bond films leading up to the new one. I wanted to do something different this time so that you wouldn't feel like I was simply doing a repost of my past thoughts. So I've decided to use Voicethread, which allows you to create audio commentary to images. Simply press play on the presentation below and you'll hear my thoughts on anything and everything that I found to be notable on that particular Bond film. Since this is my first outing using Voicethread in this particular manner, my commentary may sound a little rough, but I'm hoping that I'll improve as I get more comfortable sharing my thoughts in this manner. Certainly I would love to hear anyone and everyone's thoughts on both the films and my opinions on them, so sound off in the comments below. And without further ado, here's my take on the first Bond film, Dr. No

RBR: Haywire

MMA fighter Gina Carano makes her screen debut in this spy thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh. Carano does need to do much in the way of acting here, but shows enough screen presence to suggest that she may have a future in Hollywood. Her cage fighting experience, however, is put to good use here as she has several impressive scenes where she is handily beating up men twice her size. While Carano may not have much experience in front of the camera, Soderbergh certainly has plenty behind it and his style is felt throughout the entire film. His trademark touches work both in the film's favor and to its detriment. The film is very stylish with its beautiful shot locations and omnipresent soundtrack. As far as the film's plot, the minimalist approach taken her is a bit disappointing. Don't expect much in terms of freshness when it comes to this story about a spy who's been burned by their own organization. This is Jason Bourne lite in more ways than one. If you're a person who favors style over substance, you should really enjoy this film. For those who like a little bit more meat on the bones when it comes to story, then you may be left feeling hungry. I like the film's look and its cast (Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, and Bill Paxton all show up in small roles) but I would have prefered a bit stronger narrative connecting all of Carano's asskickings together. Rating: *** 1/2

Don't Treadstone on me

I've been on the fence about extending the Bourne franchise without Matt Damon, but this latest trailer for The Bourne Legacy has me completely sold. From the looks of things they've found a way of successfully integrating the existing storyline while also creating something unique as well. They appear to have enough actors from the previous films couples with some excellent new additions to make this a must see come this August. Have a look for yourself.

Tribe Watch (Week 7)

Record: 26-21

Standing: First in AL Central

This week shows you how difficult it can be to a baseball fan. The Indians begin the week on top of the world by sweeping our rivals, the Detroit Tigers in close, exciting, and competitive games. The fact that the sweep culminated in beating Justin Verlander, who may be the best pitcher in baseball today was about as awesome it gets. And then we get to the weekend where everything that could go wrong, did. Frankly I could use one of those Men in Black neuralizers to forget it even existed. We ended up getting swept by those classless, vile (and many other words I can't use here) Chicago White Sox. Our pitching looked pathetic in all three games. To show you the disparity between the two series, our pitching staff gave up 6 runs total against Detroit and 31 to Chicago. And what's even more troubling is the number of Indians who are now currently hurt. Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Santana, Travis Hafner, Jack Hanahan, and Lou Marson are just some of the names who had to sit out games because of injuries. Let's keep our fingers crossed that most of the injuries are minor and they can return to the lineup sooner rather than later. Otherwise, we may be seeing a complete repeat of next year. The Indians first opportunity to erase the nightmare of this weekend comes tomorrow when they begin a three game set against the Royals. We'll then wrap up the week with a series against Minnesota this weekend. Both of these teams are bringing up the rear of the AL Central, so let's hope they remain our whipping boys and we can start extending our lead in the AL Central again. If we can get back to the way we played against Detroit, it should be a fun season. If we continue to play like we did against Chicago, well...let's not even think about that. Go Tribe!

RBR: Contraband

If you're like me, you probably had the same reaction upon seeing the ads for Contraband last January - how many times are we going to do the 'reformed criminal goes back for one last score' story? And while it's true that this film treads on familiar territory, it also does so in a competent and entertaining way. This particular story focuses on Mark Wahlberg playing a skilled smuggler who has gone clean but gets called back in for a final job after his pathetic brother-in-law finds himself in debt to a sleazy, hyperkinetic drug dealer (played naturally by Giovanni Ribisi). The entire cast is solid here as there is also Ben Foster playing Wahlberg's friend, Kate Beckinsale as Wahlberg's wife, and the always enjoyable J.K. Simmons as the boat captain who thinks he's a step ahead of Wahlberg but is typically two steps behind. The film does a nice job of keeping the action moving and providing enough twists in the story to avoid becoming overly critical. If I had a complaint it's that I feel they played it safe and went with an Ocean's 11 style ending where everything not only works out, but works out very well for the good guys and lousy for the bad guys. There were opportunities in this story for them to take some more chances with the film's outcome, but they opted not to pull the trigger. So while it failed to become something special, it can still be considered quality entertainment. If you had skipped this last winter because it was too cold to go to the movies, rectify this situation now and give it a chance as a rental Rental: ****

60% of the time, a sequel works every time

The Channel 4 News Team is back baby! Check out both the American and international versions of the teaser trailer for the sequel to Anchorman

RBR: Contenders and pretenders

There had been a handful of films that came out at the end of last year, now on DVD, that I had, for various reasons, been putting off renting. Now that some of the early 2012 films are starting to be available to rent, I wanted to take care of them asap. I had a movie weekend and decided to lump all of the reviews together in this one post.

The Descendants Director Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt) always seems to choose products that feature central characters at their very lowest point in life. His latest dramedy is no different as it centers around Matt King (played by George Clooney) struggling with a wife who is near death after a boating accident while also trying to finalize a land deal in Hawaii to could potentially earn his family a lot of money. On top of that he also struggling with being a parent to his two difficult daughters. Like in most of Payne's films, I found the journey we take with the film's central character to be compelling. While not his strongest performance, Clooney does fine work here as he attempts to take on one of his least glamourous roles to date. On the other hand, the two daughters grated on me and I struggled to empathize with the situation they were going through. Furthermore, we're never really given any suitable justification as to why King has such a strained relationship with them. Given how hands-on he is with everything that goes on in the movie, he doesn't strike you as they absentee-father type. I also wish the film had been infused with a bit more humor. It's not that the film is completely downbeat, but in comparison to some of Payne's films, I felt this one lacked the wry sense of humor that is typically infused into his movies. I certainly would not call this my favorite of Payne's films - the terrific Election still holds that distinction for me. This is a good film that kept me engaged throughout. I can easily see why it garnered the number of Oscar nominations that it did. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it's as enjoyable as a Hawaiian vacation, I do feel you'll enjoy watching this one if you give it a rental. Rating: **** 1/2

J. Edgar This was originally thought to be a strong Oscar contender until a series of bad reviews sunk its chances. While I won't go as negative as some with regards to film, it does warrant some of the criticism it received. For me, the biggest problem with this film was its purpose. In detailing the life story of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, Clint Eastwood does not shy away from a lot of Hoover's flaws. His vanity, paranoia, cross-dressing, and possible homosexual lifestyle are all front and center in this depiction. And yet I question why. What is gained by smearing someone who also did a lot of good for this country in establishing the FBI? I felt the film was needlessly exploitative and I took no joy in seeing the salacious side of Hoover's life be such an integral part of this film. I would have much rather seen more of the forensic sciences that Hoover and his crew perfected in order to solve several notorious crimes. Aside from the film's purpose, this simply is not a quality film on par with some of Eastwood's other films. He only managed to get a distant performance from the usually strong DiCaprio. And perhaps most glaring of all is the awful makeup that is on display when the film is set in Hoover's last years. I know aging someone isn't easy, but I'd like to think most major films could do a better job than what was achieved here. This is disappointing all around and probably is not worth your time. Rating: **

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Many people were shocked when this garnered a best picture nomination even though less than half of the nation's critics gave it a favorable review. Watching the film, I could understand why it managed to earn a nom while also seeing the same flaws that most critics did. After losing his father on 9/11, young Oscar Schnell discovers a key in his father's room and sets out on a quest (prior to his death his father loved creating mysteries for him to solve) to learn what the key belongs to. Of course, this quest is more than just finding a lock that fits the key. It's about coping with death, embracing life, and coming together in support of one another. Given that the film centers around the events and aftermath of 9/11, the film is shamelessly manipulative in playing with the audience's emotions. However, I did not necessarily have a problem with that. It exists in order to do just that. My bigger problem comes from the focus being on the boy. While there are allusions made, it's unclear as to whether Oscar is suffering from a learning disability (like Asperger's) or if he's just eccentric. Regardless, the character and the young actor's portrayal of the boy make it difficult for the audience to enjoy going on this journey with him. He doesn't yield the sympathy that the character should. Instead, we sit there wanting to know the answers ourselves, but don't exactly care whether or not the boy gets them. While there are some problems with the child acting, the film does feature several good adult performances including Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock in limited roles and Max Von Sydow doing some great work as a mute who may be the young boy's grandfather. The subject matter is not for everyone, but if you have an interest in it, I think you'll be glad with you did. Just make sure to have the Kleenex box nearby. Rating: *** 1/2

War Horse I struggle with how exactly to review this film. From a technical standpoint, it is near excellent. The camera work, cinematography, the score, and all other facets of the film are just great. They prove once again why Spielberg is in a class by himself. And yet I found myself extemely bored by the entire story. I just could not get myself interested in seeing early 20th century history being told from the perspective of a horse. In fact, in doing so, I actually felt like they trivialized a lot of the major events that they depicted in this film. While a horse may be a majestic animal, it does not make for a compelling character. To make matters worse, with a run time of two and half hours, the film felt endless. The production value is too good for me to give the film a truly terrible grade and yet I can't in good conscience actually recommend it to anyone either. If you truly love horses, I suppose you may get some value out of the film Or if you're looking to get into the film business on the opposite side of the camera, you may find value in looking at quality of the production, but that's about it. Everyone else is better off taking a trip to the glue factory instead. Rating:***

Sky falling, expectations rising

I can't believe this day is finally here. The first teaser trailer for the latest James Bond film, Skyfall just hit the web hours ago. Watch it below. I know I'll probably be watching it another 3 million times between now and when the film actually comes out this November.

Tribe Watch (Week 6)

Record: 23-18

Standing: First in AL Central

Closer Chris Perez gained some press yesterday by chastising the Cleveland fans for not supporting this team more and he has a point. Despite a loss today, this team won 5 out of 7 games this week and remain in first place by three games. However, I'm not going to be too hard on the fans since the Indians do having a losing record at home (we've been tremendous on the road for some reason) and I still don't think the team has played as well as it could be playing. The frustrating thing is that we're not seeing multiple guys get hot at the same time. It seems like one person each game has a breakout performance while everyone else struggles. If we can be more consistent, who knows how far this team can go. As happy as I am with their success this week, I know that this upcoming week is going to be a major swing week. We get an off day tomorrow and then play the two teams right behind us in the standings - a three game set against Detroit at home and then a 3 game series in Chicago against the White Sox. If we play well this week, we could give ourselves some real distance in the standings heading into June. If we struggle, we could easily see ourselves out of first place by next Sunday. For now though, let's listen to Chris Perez and support this team. Let's show them that this truly is Believe-land and that we love our Indians. Go Tribe!

2012 Fall Television Schedule Announcement (CBS)

This will wrap up the fall TV posts. I won't bother with the CW's lineup since I don't watch anything on that network and hardly anyone else does either. But if you're dying to see what they have in store, you can check it out at this link.

2012 CBS Fall Lineup

CBS has sat atop the ratings throne for several years now and the moves they made for the fall suggest they don't plan on losing that crown anytime soon. They cancelled the few deadweight shows that they had (adios CSI: Miami) and kept most of their hits in their same timeslots. The biggest change was moving Two and Half Men to Thursday nights and pairing it with The Big Bang Theory. Given that Men is getting a bit long in the tooth, it's a shrew decision to not rely it as the Monday anchor and instead have it along side the very popular Bang. That will no doubt further solidify CBS's hold on Thursday night programming. While I gave up on 2 Broke Girls, it's clear the CBS has enough confidence in it to make it the new anchor on Monday nights. Given how successful CBS has been, they really don't have too many new shows coming out. Of the ones that did make the fall lineup, the most intriguing one for me is Elementary - a modern day take on Sherlock Holmes with a female (Lucy Liu) in the Watson role. It'll take some time for me to wrap my head around the gender switch, but otherwise it looks like it could be another solid procedural for CBS.

How to build a better mouse game

Here's the trailer for the sequel to the Epic Mickey video game due out later this year. The first game was inventive, but not perfect, so here's hoping they improve upon the unique game in this second effort.

2012 Fall Television Schedule Announcement (ABC)

Moving on down the dial (or up depending on where you live I suppose), we come to ABC's fall schedule.

2012 ABC Fall Lineup

This past year, there wasn't one regular primetime show that I watched on this network. For whatever reason, the shows they create don't seem to cater to me. That may, and I stress may change next year as based on the trailers for their new shows, there are a few that seem like they may have potential. The best of the bunch is Last Resort, a submarine drama that involves a U.S. nuclear sub being attacked by its own country and the ensuing cover-up. I don't know if it has the legs to be a decent series, but I'm intriguing by the premise alone. This may be the show that finally helps fill the void left by Lost. Speaking of which, John Locke aka Terry O'Quinn will be back on ABC in a new show called 666 Park Avenue. From the look of its trailer, I can't tell if this will be a cool, supernatural thriller or a campy mess. As for ABC's returning lineup, almost everything that got renewed is staying in its current timeslot, which should make fans of those shows happy. The biggest move came from them shuttling Revenge over to Sunday nights to fill Desperate Housewives' old slot, which seems like a sensible move, even if it means Revenge will be facing some stiffer competition.

Fern Baby Fern

I neglected to post this last week after it aired on TV, but in case you missed it, here was the special 30 minute version of Zack Galiafianakis' web series Between Two Ferns featuring guests Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, and Sir Richard Branson.

2012 Fall Television Schedule Announcement (FOX)

I know I'm a little behind on these, so shoot me.

2012 FOX Fall Lineup

Fox decided to play it safe and boring this year apparently. There most dramatic changes, like moving Glee to Thursday night don't particularly affect me. I'm thankful that they renewed Fringe so that it can get a proper sendoff. It's also nice to see that there's no shakeups to the Animation Domination lineup. Although given how most of those series are starting to get long in the tooth, perhaps some fresh blood would have been nice. Their bigger concern though will definitely be the block they have devoted to The X Factor/American Idol for fall/spring. X Factor did not become a breakout hit like most expected it would be and Idol's ratings dominance is beginning to fade. If either or both of those shows go down the tubes, FOX will be left with a lot of timeslots to fill up in a hurry. What will be most interesting to see is how their Tuesday comedy block will fare. I never got the appeal of New Girl, but it's clearly going to be responsible for serving as the anchor to that night of sitcoms. As for FOX's new shows, watching the trailers the only ones that had moderate appeal to me were both shows (The Following and The Goodwin Games) that won't be premiering until midseason. So unless the Indians make the playoffs, it looks like I won't be watching too much on FOX in the fall.

Win Lose or Draw director's cut

Here's an extended version of the fantastic season finale of Parks and Recreation

2012 Fall Television Schedule Announcements (NBC)

I could post all of the news here if I wanted the post to take up the entire length of the blog, so I'll instead make it easy for you guys and direct you to all of the information in the link below from Comingsoon.net:

2012 NBC Fall Lineup

I'll instead spend this space giving my thoughts on NBC's moves. Of all the major networks, I probably watch the most shows on NBC, yet for the past several years they have languished near the bottom of the ratings. I commend them for saving some of the shows that they did, despite less than stellar ratings. Namely keeping Community and Parks and Recreation Parks was given a full season pickup and remains on Thursdays, while Community gets a 13-episode order and gets shunted to Fridays. The Friday move is fine, but I question why they paired it up with Whitney. Those two shows seemingly have nothing in common other than they were both lucky to get renewals. In fact, that was a trend throughout most of NBC's schedule. They slotted several sitcoms, but I thought some of their pairings were odd. For instance, I felt they should have paired Up All Night, which focuses on being young parents with the new sitcom Guys With Kids, which also deals with parenthood. Meanwhile the show that they did pair it up with, Animal Kingdom seems better suited with the single-camera, laugh track free comedies on Thursday nights.

On the drama side of things, the only new show that caught my eye was Revolution, a drama dealing with people living on Earth 15 years after a blackout hit the entire planet. While the premise was intriguing, I feel like we've seen this type of 'event' drama over and over again ever since the success of Lost and none of them have been successful. I've become jaded, but I feel like this one may suffer the same fate: sizable audience for its premiere that vanishes in the subsequent weeks when impatient fans get frustrated when the show doesn't give them answers to the central mythology quickly enough.

Finally, with their reality slate, the biggest news is that NBC's one new hit The Voice will already be returning in the fall. I personally don't watch the show, but I don't blame NBC for wanting to schedule another season so soon given that it's about the only thing in their schedule that consistantly pulls in viewers. Let's just hope that they don't create an overkill backlash like they've done with some of their other hits like Deal or No Deal. If it can remain a hit, hopefully viewers will be willing to stick around and watch some of their other shows as well.

Our Gang

Fall is shaping up to be as strong as the summer movie slate seems to be. After previewing Argo here earlier this week, here's the first trailer for The Gangster Squad featuring an all-star cast and directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland)

Tribe Watch (Week 5)

Record: 18-16

Standing: First in AL Central

It was a week that kept looking like it was going to turn out better than it actually did. We began with a great sweep of a doubleheader against Chicago on Monday and then proceeded to lose the next two games to them. Then we started our series against the Red Sox by beating them up, only to see us lose the next three games to them. Up until this week most of the losses we've had, were close, competitive games. This week, however, we had games where all parts of our team faltered. Pitching and clutch hitting need to improve. In terms of roster moves, that too produced a mixed bag. Starter Josh Tomlin went on the DL with a sore wrist, but we finally got rid of some dead weight in the bullpen by designating Dan Wheeler for assignment. Looking ahead to this week, we begin with a short series in Minnesota against a Twins team that has just been awful so far this year. They may just be the perfect team to face to help us get our confidence back and in a good groove. It's then back home to place the Mariners, which is another team that is not very good. Finally we head into the weekend to begin interleague play against (ugh) Ozzie Guillen and the new look Miami Marlins. Here's hoping this will be a good rebound week so that we can maintain our hold on first place in the division. And as always, I'll be there watching each game and rooting my team on. Go Tribe!

Taken hostage

Ben Affleck has turned himself into quite the director it seems based on this first trailer for Argo, a film based around a true story involving a rescue effort to save Americans taken hostage by the Iranians in the 1970s.

The Sum of All Cheers

With The Avengers blowing out box office records left and right, it may be a little pointless to do a review for the film now. But given that I haven't done a full movie review in a long time and the fact that everyone still wants to talk about this movie, I don't think anyone will mind.

There were certainly a lot of high expectations going into this film. You have the rabid fans of the comics, eager to see this super team on the big screen. But you also have all of the movie fans who have sat through several individual comic book movies that primarily served to set up this film. The good news is that despite those high expectations and the task of juggling such a large cast of characters, this film is a success
Credit to director Joss Whedon for taking on such a difficult task. He has shown though that he was more than capable of the job. He does a great job of not only giving each of the main characters sufficient screen time, but gives them individual opportunities to shine. Whedon's presence is also felt throughout the film as he peppers the script with several humorous one-liners and moments that are a trademark of his work. Despite a story that deals with the possible destruction of our planet, he finds plenty of chances to keep the feel of the film light and fun.

I will say that while this movie is a pure blockbuster thrill ride, it's not a perfect film. In many ways the creation of this film mirrors the path The Avengers take themselves to come together. The first half of the film feels a bit disjointed. Like the titular team, it consists of several individually great scenes that don't really build on each other. I began to get anxious waiting for something to happen and it felt like the plot was treading water - something I did not expect given how much time was spent with character development in the heroes' individual films.

However, things finally start to gel once we move into the final battle featuring the Avengers taking on Loki (brother of Thor) and the evil alien race that is set on destroying Earth in hopes of obtaining the Tesseract, the cosmic cube containing immense energy. This final act is just pure geek heaven as you watch each of these superheroes that you have come to love and enjoy team up and kick ass in a collective effort. Finally, we get the payoff that we've all waiting for and it delivers in spades.

Yes, this movie is all about being a team, but I would be remiss if I did not take time to point some indivually great performances in the film. Of course, Robert Downey Jr. is once again terrific as the brilliant, pompous, and sarcastic Tony Stark/Iron Man. He manages to be a star without upstaging anybody else in the movie, which is no easy feat. However, the true MVP of this film may be Mark Ruffalo, who steps in to play the Hulk/Bruce Banner. In the past, Marvel has failed at trying to find someone to play the green giant, but they finally got it right here. Ruffalo gives a nuanced performance as Banner and Whedon and co. do the rest in making the Hulk the awesome, destructive force that fans want him to be. Some of the best moments in The Avengers come from watching "Hulk Smash".

Again, no one is waiting on my recommendation to see this film, but I heartily endorse it nonetheless. This is what the summer movie season is all about. This film manages to blend humor and action seemlessly and create a movie that anyone can enjoy, despite the fact that it features a guy in a metal suit, a giant green monster, and the God of Thunder. So if you're the one guy on this planet who hasn't seen it yet, go out and do so. And for the rest of you, check it out again and catch the things you may have missed (especially the two post-credit scenes - one which happens after the main credits and the other which comes after all of the credits. Each are interesting in their own unique way). Just as the Avengers assemble here united in a common goal, we too can put aside our differences and unite in support of such an enjoyable film. Grade: B+

Political dogfight

Leslie Knope and the folks at Parks and Recreation aren't the only ones involved in comedic political campaigns. Later this summer, Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis will be squaring off in the political comedy, The Campaign. Here's your first look at the film via two fake political ads.

RBR: Hop

I'm sure when it was originally pitched, Hop sounded like a great idea. You take the winning formula of films like The Santa Clause and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and you apply them to the underutilized genre of Easter films. It's a sound strategy in theory, but this film fails in every possible way. This is a dumb, poorly conceived, unfunny film that makes me feel sorry for all who were involved. The plot involves the Easter Bunnny's son, E.B., uninterested in taking over the family business, leaves his home on Easter Island and ventures to the U. S. in hopes of being a famous drummer. On his journey, he meets Fred O'Hare (these Easter puns doing anything for you yet?), who also is a slacker in need of direction. Together they encounter several plot holes, lame jokes, and annoying characters before eventually learning a weak lesson in responsibility. Clearly the film is aimed at children, but if this is what passes for serviceable entertainment for young ones, our future society will be in severe trouble. The only thing notable about this film is that it now gives us the Easter equivalent to the lump of coal in the stocking at Christmas time. Parents can threaten bad kids that they'll find a copy of this film in their Easter basket if they don't behave. In case it wasn't clear, skip this one at all costs. Rating: *

Bus Tour Producer's Cut

Here's another episode of Parks and Recreation to receive the supersize treatment. Enjoy this week's episode with three minutes worth of new content.

Tribe Watch (Week 4)

Record: 15 - 11

Standing: First in AL Central

A very positive and successful week for the Tribe. It was a week that I was fearful of given our opponents, but the Indians managed to take 2 out of three from both the White Sox and the Rangers. Our pitching was strong, particularly the bullpen, and our offense came up with some timely hitting. Beating Chicago was important to give ourselves some distance from them in the standings and playing well against Texas may have been an even bigger deal as it gives us the confidence that we can play against them if we were to meet up in the playoffs. This week also saw the debut of Johnny Damon, who still needs to shake some rust off but managed to already contribute a few hits. Right now though the man of the hour is Jason Kipnis who is got an impressive hitting streak going on and came up with a big home run in today's win. We'll need these young guys to really produce if we want to be competitive throughout this season. While the Tribe can be pleased with their performance against Texas, they can't take it easy as they'll have another tough week beginning with another series against Chicago (this one is at home, but included a doubleheader on Monday) and then heading to Boston to play the Red Sox this upcoming weekend. While neither team has played particularly well yet this season, both of those teams can give the Indians problems so we'll need to stay aggressive and make sure we keep on winning. It's fun time to be an Indians fan. Go Tribe!

Excitement Rises

I should have posted this sooner, but I held off watching this latest trailer for The Dark Knight Rises until I could see it in theaters. Since I got to see it with The Avengers yesterday (review forthcoming), I can now put it up here. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a look below.

RBR: We Bought a Zoo

To watch and enjoy this film, you have to know what you're in for. We Bought a Zoo makes no bones about its sentimentality. It's a film aimed to tug at your heart strings and does a good job of doing so. Loosely based on a true story, the film centers around a single father, named Benjamin Mee (played by Matt Damon), who decides to move him and his kids to a house that doubles as an actual zoo. Along the way, Mee learns how to relate to both the animals and his kids. It helps that he's a got pretty zookeeper (Scarlett Johanson) there to help him out. A lot of the credit goes to Damon who continues to turn in one fine performance after another. He expertly gets across the varied emotions that Mee goes through during the film without ever coming off as corny or pathetic. The animals serve as a nice backdrop, but this is really a story about people. Director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire) once again finds a pair of talented kid actors who do a nice job as Mee's children. A film like this should have a wider audience, but our cynical times just won't allow it, which is a shame. I know this movie will not be for everyone, but if you want a nice, wholesome film that can be watched and enjoyed by the entire family, you could do a lot worse than this movie. Rating: ****

The Debate director's cut

Here's an extended version of last week's new Parks and Recreation episode.

Tribe Watch (Week 3)

Record: 11 - 9

Standing: First in AL Central

While far from perfect, I'd have to say that this was a net positive week. While we only managed to go 3-3 on this homestand, things could have been a whole lot worse. The offense still continues to scuffle, but we kept finding ways to score runs. More importantly, almost every started had a good outing this week, which meant we were competitive in every game even if we ultimately lost it. There were two key factors working against our offense this week. The weather in Cleveland was miserable so there weren't a lot of balls flying off the bats. And we were without Shin Soo Choo, who was dealing with a hamstring issue. Both of those problems will hopefully be eliminated this week and this team can start producing more runs. Perhaps more important of all is that fact that while we only played .500 ball, we managed to move into first place thanks to the struggles of the Detroit and Chicago. Speaking of those nasty White Sox, we begin a three game set with them on Tuesday, followed by a trip right back home to face off against the Rangers next week. This likely won't be an easy week since stupid Chicago always plays us tough and the Rangers looks to be heads and tails above everyone else in the American League. We'll need all facets of our game playing at top quality if we want to stay atop the AL Central. I likely won't have any nails by the time the week is over, but that's ok because I love watching my Indians. Go Tribe!

Age is but a number

I wasn't expecting this so soon (given the films that will be coming out sooner that we don't have trailers for yet), but here's your first look at Judd Apatow's next directorial effort, his quasi-sequel to Knocked Up, This is Forty

RBR: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I actually saw this film several weeks ago but held off doing my review because I had hoped to watch it again before writing my critique of it. Now I'm not sure when or if I'll see it again, so before it completely evaporates from my memory, I figured I better take care of it now. This is one of those dense films that rewards patient moviegoers who enjoy paying close attention to what they are watching. Based off of a John LeCarre novel, the film focuses on an ex-British spy named George Smiley (Gary Oldman) who's tasked with trying to find a mole. Set during the Cold War, paranoia runs high as anyone and everyone is a likely suspect. From a narrative perspective, this is not an easy film to follow. It plays loose with its timeline and it takes you a long trying to figure out who each character is. Those who aren't willing to put in the effort will likely get frustrated with this film quickly. But if you stick with it, you'll be rewarded with several good performances by the cast. The film also creates an effective moody tone that enables a lot of the scenes to crackle with tension and thrills. Still the inaccessible nature of the film makes it tough for me to completely love the film. If you want a challenge, I would recommend you give this film a try, but this is not a movie for everyone. Right now I feel that this film falls just short of my top ten list, although I may be open to reconsideration if I get a chance to rewatch it again at some point. Rating: ****

Making a good first Depression

Check out the preview for Lawless, a Depression-era drama set to come out this summer. It's an effective trailer for a film that has an impressive cast, even if Shia LeBeouf feels woefully out of place here amongst the rest of the talented actors. This may serve as some effective adult counter-programming among the rest of the blockbusters aimed at younger audiences.

Give me all the bacon and eggs you have

From CNN.com

Beer lovers, rejoice. Whiskey drinkers, celebrate. Pork fat fans, this is your moment. All the things you thought were unhealthy can actually help you lose a ton of weight.

Well, not exactly. This isn’t an ad in the back pages of a sketchy magazine. All these things are still not good for you when you eat and drink them in large quantities. And don’t stop eating your blueberries and strawberries if you want to boost your brainpower.

Still, there’s some surprising good health news for anyone who wants to wash down their lard-topped popcorn with a beer and a shot of whiskey.

Beer: The Problem-Solver Question: Who’s better at solving brainteasers, men who are sober or men who have drunk two pints of beer? According to research from the University of Illinois, the drinkers are the winners. (That sound you hear is every guy I know cracking open a beer right now in self-righteous satisfaction.) Not only did the drinkers solve 40 percent more problems than the nondrinkers, they solved their problems faster: 12 seconds compared to the nondrinking 15.5 seconds.

Pork Fat: The Bad Cholesterol Fighter "Pork fat is not only useful, but it is also good for us," says my new hero, Jennifer McLagan. She’s the author of the James Beard Award–winning "Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient". To back up her claim, McLagan's book includes a chart showing that 45 percent of pork fat is monounsaturated, which can help raise your HDL, or good cholesterol, and also can help lower your LDL, or bad cholesterol.

She also extols the benefits of frying in lard, because food absorbs less fat than if you fry it in oil. Lagan piles on the good news, arguing that "Diets low in fat, it turns out, leave people hungry, depressed and prone to weight gain and illness." To ensure readers' happiness, she includes recipes in "Fat", including one for euphoria-inducing bacon fat mayonnaise.

Whiskey: The Good Cholesterol Booster If you’re looking for other celebratory ways to increase your good cholesterol levels and potentially decrease your risk of a stroke, grab a bottle of your favorite booze. And then drink in moderation. According to the Mayo Clinic, studies suggest that if you consume one alcoholic drink per day if you're a woman, or two drinks a day if you're a guy, you can increase your HDL cholesterol levels and also potentially decrease your risk of a stroke. But, cautions the Mayo Clinic, "If you don't drink alcohol, don't start just to try raising your HDL levels."

Popcorn: The Antioxidant Hero You don’t need me to tell you that popcorn is popular with the high fiber crowd. Here’s more good news for anyone who’s trying to justify their next big bucket of (nonbuttered, non-oversalted) popcorn: New research from the University of Scranton suggests that a serving of popcorn is higher in antioxidants than some fruits and vegetables. Those antioxidants, known as polyphenols, are associated with helping to prevent cancer. They’re concentrated in popcorn’s husk, which is something to consider the next time it gets stuck in your teeth and you consider spitting it out.

Live Ammo deleted scenes

Back from the Fringe of extinction

Fringe fans can breathe a huge sigh of relief today as the show has been picked up for a fifth and final season. This means that the show will continue on and also be allowed to get a proper sendoff. For more on the renewal, here's the story from EW.com.

Fringe lives!

Fox has renewed the fan favorite for a fifth and final season.

As we’ve been predicting for a few weeks, Fox has ordered 13 concluding episodes of Fringe despite the show’s ratings being super modest on Friday nights. Though producers were optimistic about a pickup, they reportedly shot two endings of the upcoming fourth season finale just in case a deal didn’t come through.

Fringe averaged a mere 4 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in the adult demo, including DVR. Compare that to a first-year show that Fox cancelled — Terra Nova — which averaged 10.1 million viewers and a 3.6 adult demo rating. Likewise another Fox first-year series, Alcatraz, which like Fringe is also produced by J.J. Abrams, performed better than the Friday night show, yet is considered unlikely to receive a second year.

The key was studio Warner Bros. offering a good deal to Fox on the remaining episodes, while Terra Nova was a very costly special-effects-stuffed project. It just goes to show that renewals and cancellations are all about the numbers … but not necessarily all about the number of people who watch the show.

Want some quotes? We got quotes:

“Fringe is a remarkably creative series that has set the bar as one of television’s most imaginative dramas,” said Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly. “Bringing it back for a final 13 allows us to provide the climactic conclusion that its passionate and loyal fans deserve. The amazing work the producers, writers and the incredibly talented cast and crew have delivered the last four seasons has literally been out of this world. Although the end is bittersweet, it’s going to be a very exciting final chapter.”

“We are thrilled and beyond grateful that Fox – and our fans – have made the impossible possible: Fringe will continue into a fifth season that will allow the series to conclude in a wild and thrilling way,” said co-creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams. “All of us at Bad Robot are forever indebted to our viewers and the amazingly supportive Fox network for allowing the adventures of Fringe Division to not only continue, but to resolve in a way that perfectly fits the show.”

“This pickup means the world (both of them) to us, because we love sharing these stories with our enthusiastic fans,” added Fringe showrunners and executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman. “On behalf of the cast and crew, we applaud our fans and Fox for allowing us to imagine the impossibilities together for so long. Season Five is going to be a conclusive thrill ride for all of us.”

Loco Coco

Thanks to The Big Bang Theory reruns as its lead-in, Conan has seen improved ratings on TBS the past few months. Whether buoyed by those numbers or just finally finding its creative groove, I've felt the show has consistently improved recently and has provided some great comedy moments. Here are just a pair from the past week that I particularly enjoyed.

Tribe Watch (Week 2)

Record: 8-6 Standing: 3rd in AL Central Despite ending on a loss today, the Indians first road trip of the season turned out to be pretty successful as they managed to go 7-2 after taking two out of three from both Oakland and Seattle. While the season is still young, there's already some trends that have been developing, both positive and negative. In the past week, with the exception of Tomlin going toe-to-toe with Seattle's Felix Hernandez, our starting pitching was not great, but typically did enough to keep the Indians in the ball game. Certainly though their performances could be better to give the offense some breathing room. Most importantly is getting Justin Masterson on track. In his past few starts, he's begun the game strong but falls apart typically when seeing batters for the second turn. If he's to be our ace, we need him to remain in the game longer and be dominant in doing so. Offensively, while the Tribe was not as mighty as they were against Kansas City, there was a lot of timely hitting, which I love to see. We frequently got some clutch hits when we needed them. And for the most part the effort is being distributed evenly. There are a couple of weak spots (most notably Casey Kotchman), but they haven't been too detrimental thus far. The good news is that we were able to produce offensively this past week without Asdrubal Cabrera, who was gone on the bereavement list. He'll be back in the lineup when the Indians play again on Tuesday. Tuesday will start a six-game homestand where the Indians will once again play the Royals followed by a weekend series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. We already stuck it to KC once this year, so let's hope we can do it again and the Angels, a team many figured would be a World Series contender, have been scuffling thus far to begin the season, so we might be facing them at an opportune time. Even if the Indians come home to some cold weather (as is forecasted) let's hope they continue to remain red hot. Go Tribe!

Hairy situation

Speaking of Arrested Development, two of its leads, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, are producing and star in Morgan Spurlock's latest documentary, Mansome, which looks at what makes a man. Here's your first look at the trailer for the film.

Further Development

Fans of Arrested Development got some big news this week regarding the upcoming 4th(!) season that will air on Netflix. For more details on what we can expect and when we can expect it, here's a report from Vulture.com:

Doubters to the left: The Arrested Development reunion took another step toward reality on Tuesday when creator Mitch Hurwitz and several members of the cast appeared onstage together at a Netflix-sponsored event in Las Vegas (video now available here). Speaking on the floor of the National Association of Broadcasters convention, Netflix chief Ted Sarandos confirmed that all ten episodes of Arrested's long-awaited fourth season will premiere together on a single day sometime next year. Hurwitz also confirmed that production is set to begin this summer, but he also dropped a new nugget of information about what form the Arrested revival will take.

Originally, Hurwitz's plan had been to make the revival like an anthology, with each episode telling a somewhat self-contained story about a specific character. "That is now kind of evolving into becoming more like the old show again," Hurwitz told a packed house of conventioneers, who politely applauded the introduction of other Netflix offerings (such as David Fincher and Kevin Spacey's House of Cards), but exploded at the mention of Arrested and the arrival of cast members Will Arnett, David Cross, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter. The reason for the change: Hurwitz sees a chance to tweak the show's format to take advantage of the fact that the full ten-episode season will debut at once, rather than over two-and-a-half months. "There's something exciting about trying to break the form again," he said.

While Hurwitz didn't elaborate on just how he'll do this, he indicated it might be related to the way the writers deliver red herrings and other surprises to viewers (think back to season one, when Jason Bateman's girlfriend turned out to not be blind). "There's going to be some mystery sprinkled throughout this [but] instead of watching one a week and try to get ahead of it, the hope is [fans] will watch them all together and then go back and look for clues and connections," Hurwitz explained. "We'd also like to use the technology to provide additional material, where you might be able to access another part of the story." As for the fact that any big end-of-season twists will likely be floating around the interwebs within a few hours of the show's Netflix debut, Hurwitz doesn't seem too concerned, noting that movies (such as The Cabin in the Woods) have successfully battled a similar situation. Plus, he said, "It's comedy. The twists really aren't as important as the characters."

Hurwitz and the cast made no mention onstage of the rumored Arrested Development movie that's been expected to follow the TV revival. He did, however, say he'd very much be open to a season five or six on Netflix. "We would love this to be the first first of many visits," Hurwitz said. He also confirmed that Showtime, currently run by former Arrested exec producer David Nevins, had been in serious talks to acquire the show, but that ultimately Netflix offered a more interesting business model, as well as a base of already-loyal Arrested viewers. "The show's audience has grown over the last six years because of [viewers streaming it]," Hurwitz said. "It's been like putting jokes in a bottle and then having them come back years later to say, 'Ha ha.'"

A few other random notes from Tuesday's Netflix and Arrested session:

• Bob Loblaw will return. "We will bring him back," Hurwitz told Vulture when we asked a question from the studio audience. (Per Netflix's insistence, Hurwitz wasn't doing one-on-one chats). "It's kind of a one-joke thing. But if you guys don't mind bringing it back, we'll give it to you." (For the record, the audience reacted with strong applause to the idea of a Loblaw appearance in season four).

• Hurwitz mildly embarrassed Shawkat by reminding her that Cera was her first-ever kiss. "I've kissed a lot of people since then," Shawkat jokingly shot back.

Tribe Watch (Week 1)

Record: 4 - 4

Standing: 3rd in the AL Central

I didn't do a Tribe Watch post last Sunday for a couple of reasons...I was busy prepping for my dissertation defense and they were only 3 games into the season, so there wasn't much to discuss yet. Now 8 games into the season we can begin to pick apart this team's performance and the end result is a mixed bag which is indicative in their .500 record. The first four games things looked pretty bad. We begun the season with two long extra inning games that ended in defeat. No matter how good of a team you are, those type of games will sting. After picking up our first win last Sunday, we continued to look flat in our two losses against the nasty Chicago White Sox. I thought the loss of guys like Ozzie Guillen and Mark Buerhle would soften my stance against them, but it hasn't. I still hate that team with a passion. In those first two series our pitching was pretty good, especially the starters, but our offense looked completely anemic. It really made me think we were in for a long season. That turned around though this weekend with our visit to Kansas City. The Indians' offense exploded and put up the most runs in a three game series since 2000! Seeing the Tribe hit like they did against the Royals has buoyed my spirits some, but I'm going to need to see a larger sample size before I'm convinced. The Tribe will get that opportunity to see if the offense can stay red hot starting on Tuesday. After an off day tomorrow, the Indians will begin a six game West Coast trip that will see us play the Mariners and then Oakland. Both of those teams are playing around .500 ball as well, so these should be competitive matchups. When it comes to baseball, the phrase 'hope springs eternal' is certainly true. It's exciting time for baseball fans and my hope remains high for now as I continue to root on my Indians and see if this year can finally be their year.

Thrown for a Looper

This made my most anticipated films of 2012 list and now here's our first chance to get a good look at what we can expect in this twisty, time-travelling sci-fi film. Check out the trailer for Looper starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis.

The doctor is in!

So as I indicated earlier this week, I had big news and I can now officially announce that I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation and can now officially be known as Dr. Gutschmidt. It is a surreal feeling to say the least. This has taken me a long time and I am so proud, yet relieved that it is over. For all of my readers that personally know me, thanks so much for the support and motivation throughout this whole experience. And perhaps the better news for those of you that follow this blog regularly, this should mean more frequent posting from here on out as my schedule should significantly lighten for the time begin. Once my dissertation is error free and published, I'd be happy to share a copy with anyone interested in reading it. If you weren't aware, my study was on the usage of Facebook as a learning management system in higher education. I won't go so far as to say it's revolutionary, but I do believe it's an interesting read if you're into that subject. Anyways, I don't talk about myself too much on here and I don't want that to change now, but this was one opportunity I couldn't stay quiet on. Thanks for letting me share.

Big things coming...

There's a lot of noteworthy stuff going on right now (baseball is starting, summer movies approaching, tv seasons ending, Brock is back, etc.) but unfortunately I've got some other things happening right now that are preventing me from updating more. I don't want to go into detail on them just yet so as not to jinx them, but if all goes well it could be very good news. When I'm ready to tell more, I will. In the meantime, there might not be much action on the blog for the next few days. Just be patient and I'll be back as soon as I can.

YES! YES! YES! YES!

As if The Rock defeating John Cena cleanly at Wrestlemania wasn't amazing enough, this was sheer awesomeness.

Going for the gold(finger)

From EW.com

Bond’s latest assignment: Kick-start the 2012 London Olympics. According the The Sun, Queen Elizabeth II personally invited actor Daniel Craig (who stars in the upcoming James Bond installment Skyfall) and Danny Boyle (the artistic director of this summer’s Olympic games), to Buckingham Palace to film a 007 mini-movie in honor of the games.

“The Arrival,” which was filmed thanks to unprecedented access to Her Majesty’s private rooms, will be viewed by billions of people around the world during the opening ceremony on July 27. The mini-movie will show, among other things, Bond learning his charge and jumping on a helicopter bound for the East London Olympic stadium where ceremony takes place. In a thrilling denouement, Craig-as-Bond will reportedly parachute into the stadium that night.

It’s all part of a major wave of British patriotism in a year that celebrates the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and Bond’s 50th anniversary on film. A royal spokesperson issued this statement: “Buckingham Palace is involved in a number of filming projects during this special Jubilee year and we would not go into details of any particular project until nearer the time of transmission.”

If nothing else, James Bond’s next transmission to the U.S. will come Nov. 9 when the franchise’s 22nd installment Skyfall hits theaters.

Total remake

Here's the first trailer for Total Recall, a remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi action film.

RBR: Carnage

Directed by Roman Polanski, this is an adaptation of the play God of Carnage. It centers around two pairs of parents who have come together to discuss a recent altercation that occured between their two sons. As their conversations escalate, more gets revealed about their relationships and who they are as individuals. Based on the trailer, this looked like it would share some of the uncomfortable, yet unpredictable fun that is often depicted in bottle episodes of sitcoms. Unfortunately, what worked in a 2 minute trailer becomes unbearable when expanded into a feature length film. Despite a great quartet of actors (Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christophe Waltz, and John C. Reilly) none of them come off looking great here. What might have served as compelling on the stage just comes off as annoying here as you wonder why these two couples continue to be with each other as their animosity for the other grows. As a viewer it becomes futile trying to side with anyone here as none of them are relatable or sympathetic. The only clarity the situation brings is that the incident between the two kids is a clear reflection on their upbringing or lack thereof. That's just a sad social commentary that I took no pleasure in witnessing. I feel bad being so negative toward a film that has a cast of actors whose work I typically enjoy, but this simply is not a good effort from anyone. Do yourself a favor and avoid the Carnage. Rating: **

I'm in a glass case of emotion!!

Great Odin's Raven...could it be? It appears an Anchorman sequel will finally happen. Here's Will Ferell as Ron Burgundy making the huge announcement on Conan Wednesday night.

RBR: Tower Heist

This movie earned some notoriety last fall first for initially being considered as the first movie to simultaneously be released in theaters and VOD (that plan never panned out) and then because its director, Brett Ratner got into trouble for making some inflammatory remarks. But none of that is what made me curious to check this film out. Rather I was interested in the heist plot itself and how well it would work with a cast that featured such funnymen as Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, and Matthew Broderick. The titular heist is a result of a Bernie Madoff-esque corporate criminal (played nicely by Alan Alda) scamming an entire building's staff out of their retirement fund, so the workers band together to rob him as revenge. I found myself enjoying the heist itself as it provided some twists that I didn't see coming, but found that the film was really lacking in the humor department. Considering this cast that is a big disappointment. Any group of actors could have been chosen to pull off the heist, but if you bring in these guys then there better be some sufficient laughs to go along with the action. The film also makes a pretty pathetic attempt at being relevant of our current tough financial times by making this to be a case of the 99% vs. the 1%. There could have been so much more done to make that aspect of the story stronger either through social commentary or biting satire. As a rental, you certainly could do worse. The story moves along at a decent pace and the heist plot is a reliably entertaining story. But if you go in with higher expectations, you'll be disappointed. Like he does with virtually every film he makes Brett Ratner proves once again what a subpar director he really is. And this time, not even his talented cast could help raise the material above his level of mediocrity. Rating: ** 1/2

Good Mood Feud

Check out what happens when management and employees clash in class warfare in this hilarious spoof of PBS' Downton Abbey.

RBR: The Muppets

This is one of the few films from 2011 that I would have actually preferred to see in the theaters instead of waiting for it to come out on DVD, but it just wasn't in the cards. With that said, the wait was worth it as this is a terrific film that people of any age can enjoy. Thanks to Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother) who spearheaded this revival our favorite felt friends have returned to the big screen in a film that feels fresh while staying true to what made Muppet movies so special in the first place. This one centers on Gary (Segal) and his adopted brother Walter, who is a Muppet himself, helping to bring Kermit and the gang back together so that they can save the old Muppet studio from being destroyed by an evil oil tycoon (played by Chris Cooper). Their plan involves throwing together a telethon to help raise money to save the theater. This is a simple, yet effective plot that also helps in allowing for several celebrity cameos (I won't ruin who all shows up, but it is a great cast of famous faces who clearly look like they're having a blast being a part of this movie). There are a few minor quibbles I had with the movie. Of course, the Muppet voices are not what we remember as other people gamely try to replicate the brilliant Jim Henson's work. I also felt there were a few times where songs were forced into the film instead of developing organically. Having said that, some of the songs included are terrific and will likely be stuck in your head for days. Overall, this film is just a pure joy to watch. Few films featuring human actors are able to yield the gamut of emotions I experienced while watching this one consisting mostly of puppets. If you were ever a fan of the Muppets, you won't be disappointed with this revival and if you are new to Kermit and co. then do yourself a favor and become a part of this rainbow connection. Rating: **** 1/2

Sensory D'oh-verload

Here's an odd little experiment...someone has created a video that features the first three minutes of 130 episodes of the The Simpsons. See how long it takes you to find your favorite episode.

RBR: Puss in Boots

I doubt there's anyone out there who was actually clamoring to see the origin story of Puss in Boots, the supporting character from the Shrek franchise, and yet here it is. In this latest computer animated adventure from Dreamworks, we see how Puss became the suave swashbuckler that we've come to know him to be. Along the way, we also run into some new characters including Humpty Dumpty as Puss' childhood friend (voiced by Zack Galifianakis) and Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) who plays a romatic foil for Puss. Despite the complete lack of necessity for this film, I couldn't help but find myself still enjoying it. The film provides a number of solid laughs without relying on cheap pop culture jokes like the later Shrek films did. There were also a lot of smaller touches that the animators did here (facial expressions, body movements) that added some depth to the storytelling. I found myself compelled to see where the story would go and what would happened to the characters. I do wish they would have expanded the central plot of the film. At a short runtime of 90 minutes, there was too much time spent on flashbacks and other ancillary business that, while enjoyable, came off as filler. This certainly works well as a rental. I would have felt ripped off spending money to see this in the theater, but it felt right on the small screen. In fact, I could easily see them turning this into a Saturday morning cartoon franchise instead of continuing on and making more films. If you've been a fan of the Shrek films, but opted to skip this one when it was in theaters, go ahead and check it out now. Adults and kids alike will find something entertaining here. This film may not be purr-fect, but it's a solid piece of animated fun. Rating: ****

How the Mighty have risen

While everyone waits for The Avengers to come out in a little over a month, we don't have to wait as long for the new season of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I caught all of the first season of this excellent cartoon through Netflix, but the new episodes will be airing in April on Disney XD. If you haven't caught this show and you're a fan of the Marvel comic, they're still available to watch on Instant Viewing through Netflix. And if you have seen the first season, here's a trailer to get you excited for Season 2.

RBR: The Adventures of Tintin

This movie had an uphill climb from the very beginning. Despite begin directed by Steven Spielberg and having Peter Jackson along as a producer, this is the adapatation of a Belgian comic book series that very few people in America were familiar with, let alone fond enough of the material to want to see it brought onto the big screen. The story centers around a young journalist named Tintin, who along with his dog Snowy, frequently finds himself caught up in the middle of mystery and adventure. In this case, it revolves around the mystery of a ship named the Unicorn. I'd explain the plot further, but there's really not much more to say. The mystery isn't particularly engaging and the treasure they ultimately find is rather underwhelming. Perhaps, American audiences have been jaded by films like National Treasure and The DaVinci Code where part of the fun is the end game of finally locating something rare and special. That is sorely missing from this tale. Instead, Spielberg pads the thin story with endless action scenes that just wear the audience out. Yes, everything looks amazing in those scenes, but we're given no reason to care what's going on in them. Part of that problem lies in the fact that technology still has not advanced enough to make these stop motion human characters realistic enough. Their eyes are expressionless and each characters' face looks so rubbery that you would think they were all wearing a Mission: Impossible mask hiding their true identity. Many were surprised when this failed to get an Oscar nomination for best animated film, but in this case I belive the Academy got it right. For all the technical achievements that this film has, the human touch is nonexistant here. Tintin may continue to delight audiences overseas, but I have no interest in seeing another adventure from this young investigator. Rating: ** 1/2

Game of throw up

Now this is a movie I would wait in line to see at midnight.

The Hungover Games from Ashley Hinshaw

RBR: The Rum Diary

You would think that adapting gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's novel about an American journalist on a bender in Puerto Rico would make for a wild, thrilling film, but you would be wrong. This film, starring Johnny Depp as protagonist Paul Kemp aimlessly moves from one adventure to the next with no sense of direction or purpose. Along the way, we meet several unique characters including Kemp's editor (Richard Jenkins in a bad wig), a paranoid writer (Giovanni Ribisi), a slimy entrepreneur (the oily Aaron Eckhart) and his attractive girlfriend (Amber Heard). Kemp is down in Puerto Rico because that's the only place that will hire him to write. Of course, he still doesn't do much writing while down there as he's too busy boozing it up and causing trouble. I kept watching waiting for to understand the point of all this, but it never came. I was left feeling as if I inherited the hangover his character should have been suffering from. I understand Depp's affinity for Hunter S. Thompson (he played him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), but even he couldn't make this material worthwhile. I'm not sure who the audience for this film is, and its box office numbers were indicative of that. Just like alcohol, the cast and story of this film may initially make it appealing to you, but if you actually go about consuming it, you'll regret it in the morning. Rating: **

I'm on cloud 9

I picked up Mario Party 9 last weekend and wanted to share some quick thoughts about it. This latest installment features some big changes to the gameplay, some of which work, some of which don't. Here are the big changes:

-Players move around the board together in a vehicle. Each person takes a turn as 'Captain' of the car. The captain rolls the dice and can make other game-altering decisions like choosing which path to take or which minigame to play. - For each game board, there are two 'bosses' that the players must defeat. When battling bosses, you work collaboratively and individually as players receive stars based on their individual efforts. - There are no coins anymore. You just collect mini-stars throughout the game and whoever has the most mini-stars at the end is the winner. This means that there are no more shops to buy items at, which I always felt was a huge waste of time. - This version still is NOT online capable, which blows. However, they have developed the game so that you can choose to only play with human players, if you want. In other words, if you and two other friends are playing, you don't have to have a fourth character controlled by the computer, it can be just a three-man battle.

For the most part, I like the changes that this new version offers. Like the show Survivor it's important to introduce these new twists with each iteration so that it provides an even playing field each time so that the same people don't always win. In this version, I like that there's more strategy involved, however the minigames this time around seem to be more luck-based than skilled based, so that may be a turnoff to some. The graphics are infinitely better in this version than in 8, which was made into a Wii game at the last minute after it was originally made for the GameCube.

While this one certainly could have done a lot more, there has been enough of a break in the series to make this still feel fresh and fun. Given that hardly any new titles have come out for the Wii recently, this is likely the best choice out there for you to pick up. Go out and buy a copy, call over some friends (perhaps purchase a few beverages to up the stakes) and have another good time with Mario and co.

RBR: Young Adult

With Juno writer Diablo Cody became the lastest 'it' writer in Hollywood. But after Jennifer's Body flopped, Cody came back down to Earth. Now in her latest collaboration with director Jason Reitman, Cody has proven that she still has the ability to tell an effective story. This one focuses on an entitled, delusional young adult novelist named Mavis (Theron) who comes back to her small Minnesota hometown in an attempt to win back her high school boyfriend. Both the audience and the periphery charcters in the film cringe as we watch her foolishly try to woo her ex who is now married with a kid and shows no desire in infidelity. One of those sideline characters is Matt (played by Patton Oswalt), a former classmate of hers that she never gave the time of day to back when they were in high school. He becomes a partner-in-crime/confidant to her and gives a very good performance in doing so. There are moments in this film that I found riveting, especially in Theron's depiction of her character. However, I feel the film sags a bit in the middle as it becomes unclear where any of this is going or why she's still bothering to cling to this past life. We do get some clarity in the final act - a revelation comes out that is meant to be a surprise but is odd in its placement. It didn't seem realistic that this bit about Mavis' past would not have been mentioned by anybody in the film prior to that point. With that said, I'm glad it was included because it explains a lot about why Mavis behaves throughout the whole film and makes us empathize with her if not like her a bit more because of it. This is a good film, but probably a notch below Reitman's other efforts. Still if you enjoy the people involved with this film or are looking for a quiet drama to offset the noisy action films you typically watch, this one is worth a rental. Rating: *** 1/2

In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream

Every time I see or read something new about Ridley Scott's upcoming sci-fi film, Prometheus I get increasingly excited for it to come out. Case in point, the latest trailer for the film which hit the web yesterday. Check it out for yourself...

RBR: Hugo

Throughout this most recent movie awards season, I struggled to muster up the same excitement I typically have during that time of the year. On paper, this year's crop of award winners just did not appeal to me in the same way that most years' critical darlings do. Hugo, directed by Martin Scorcese, is a perfect example of that. This is the story of an orphaned boy living in a Paris train station in 1930. Before his father passed away, Hugo had been working with him on rebuilding a automaton. Now alone, he's made it his quest to put it back together and unlock its secrets. Along the way he befriends a young girl (Chloe Grace Moritz) and a toy shop owner (Ben Kingsley), who may have some connections to the boy's project. Some of the mystery behind this robot had been spoiled for me, so I ended up not being as invested as I may have been in seeing Hugo get the answers. Without spoiling too much, there is a connection between this robot and early filmmaking. In one of the few really great sequences in the film, we see a montage of how early films were made. In this sequence, you really gain a sense of the creativity and inventiveness those men had to be able to put together their films. While many films today seemed to be made so effortlessly thanks to computers and visual effects, those men used their intuitiveness to convey what they wanted to on the screen. Scorcese remains one of the few guys who still can accomplish that and his direction here proves that. I just wish the story itself had been more engaging. As technically sound as this movie is, I just don't see many people falling in love with it in the same way they have done with other classic children/family films. Ultimately, this movie didn't do enough to make me love it, but it certainly reaffirmed why I love movies in general. Rating: *** 1/2

Lucky deleted scenes

RBR: Jack & Jill

I have often found myself to be an Adam Sandler apologist when it comes to his films. While many of these get lambasted by critics for being crass, stupid, or just poorly made, I will still watch them and find some value in them. I certainly don't feel he makes masterpieces, but I can usually rely on them for providing me with a few solid laughs. But I found while watching his latest film, Jack and Jill that there are limits to the degree I will go to defend the "Sand-man". I watched this film in horror wondering how anyone could have thought this film was good and/or funny. Simply put, putting Adam Sandler in drag to play his twin sister was a bad idea no matter how you look at it. The character is loud, obnoxious, and fails to yield any sympathy no matter how much the film tries to portray her as a victim. Perhaps even more baffling than the idea that it would be funny to have Sandler play a woman is how this film managed to get a great actor like Al Pacino to not only be in the film, but to play a version of himself who is drawn to Jill because she reminds him of his New York roots. The rest of the cast (including Katie Holmes as Sandler's wife) is an underdeveloped group of characters merely there to stand on the side as observers and tell us how wacky and funny Jack and Jill are. They're not convincing and neither is the film. I simply couldn't wait for this one to be over. If I had to point out one positive aspect of the film, its that I was impressed with how seemless the scenes are involving two version of Sandler in the same shot. Often when TV shows or movies try to have scenes involving one actor play two roles, it comes off phony or cheesy looking, but the scenes in this film really made it look like there were two different people in the same shot. Still, this is no reason to give this movie a watch. A strong recommendation to avoid this one. Rating: *

Another Lego-around

Quick story...with the Wii hardly producing new titles these days in preparation for launching Wii U sometime later this year, I decided to purchase the Lego Batman game for Wii to help give me my video game fix. I bought cheap and was pleased with the purchase. While it doesn't provide the same challenges as most video games aimed at adults do, it has provided some solid entertainment for me. I'm nearly finished with the game now and lo and behold I come across news of a sequel to the game set to be released soon. If you've enjoyed these games, you can check out what's in store for this new installment below:

RBR: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

Despite now seeing all three films in the Harold & Kumar franchise, I can't say that I've been the biggest fan of this series. The first one I found to be a novelty that had its moments of fun absurdity, but the second one I found to be a narrative mess that severly lacked in strong jokes. So it was with some trepidation that I watched this third entry that opted to not only tackle the holiday movie genre but also try to capitalize on the 3D craze sweeping films these days. While it may seem like a complete mismash of tone, these guys somehow make it work and create an enjoyable, albeit extremely raunchy, film. One of the themes the film attempts to establish in between gross-out gags is the difficult decision of making that transition from immature man-child into a full grown adult. While this is far from an original concept, it's perfectly suited for this duo as each is a portrayal of both sides of the argument. Harold (John Cho) shows us the successful but lacking in fun adult while Kal Penn's Kumar is the encapsulation of the irresponsible, yet always good time that the man-child represents. This time around their adventures revolve around trying to replace Harold's Christmas tree that accidentally gets burnt. As is always the case with these films, the jokes can be hit or miss. The ones that work are genuinely funny. I liked the addition of Thomas Lennon (Reno 911) as Harold's new straight-laced friend. He's always good for a few laughs. But as always, the film kicks things up a notch with the appearance of Neil Patrick Harris, aka NPH. The short time that he's on the screen is the best portion of the film and his presence creates a liveliness that the film needed. His interpretation of playing 'himself' is of course, legen...wait for it...dary. If you haven't seen it yet (and you're not someone who is easily offended) check this out during the holidays next year. Or if you're weird and like holiday movies all year round, then go ahead and give this a rental now. You'll be in store for 'high times' indeed. Rating: ****

Time stands still

From comingsoon.net:

In some unfortunate news for 24 fans, Deadline is reporting that the big-screen version of the real time television series won't be moving forward this year as originally planned.

Word of a 24 film began last year when star Kiefer Sutherland confirmed plans to bring Agent Jack Bauer back for a feature.

Recently, there was even news of a proposed start date in late April or early May. Plans now put the project on indefinite hold with shooting scheduled for 2013 at the earliest.

Written by Mark Bomback and Billy Ray, the 24 film is allegedly planned to continue directly from the series' finale, jumping forward in time by about six months. Like the show, the film will be set over a 24 hour period but (of course) will not actually play out in real time.

RBR: Dream House

This is another example of talented actors somehow getting bamboozled into staring in terrible, cheesy thrillers. Daniel Craig should know better after the disasterous The Invasion, but I guess he got desperate when Bond went on hiatus. And I also doubt that he regrets this film too much since he got married to his costar (Rachel Weisz) after working with her on the film. If you had seen the trailers for this film about a family man who comes to realize he's just moved his family into a new house where a family was previously murdered, then you may have thought that the film's twist was revealed. In the preview, it appears as if Craig's character was responsible for the murders and has since psychologically blocked the incident from his mind. On the plus side, there's more to the story than what the trailers reveal. On the negative side, the twists that do follow in the film are increasingly stupid and cause the film to crash and burn. Very little makes sense here and the actors aren't even given enough to try and salvage this thing. Both Weisz and Naomi Watts, playing a neighbor with some insight on what actually happened, are not given enough development. Instead, we get scene after scene of misdirection until the underwhelming truth gets revealed. The actors here deserve better. But the only way we can prevent them from making these duds if we avoid seeing them. This is certainly one you can avoid. Rating: * 1/2

School's back in session

After a bit of a hiatus, Community finally returns this Thursday for the rest of its 3rd season. Here's a trailer promoting the return:

RBR: In Time

In Time creates a very unique futuristic environment. In an undeterminate point in the future, the phrase 'time is money' becomes literal. When someone is born, they stop aging when they turn 25. The catch, however, is that you only have one year left to live unless you gain earn more time. Even though minutes have become the currency, class warfare still exists and perhaps is even worse than what we face today. Justin Timberlake, who plays Will Salas, becomes a central figure in the battle of haves and have nots when he is given a 100 years of time from someone who has decided who doesn't want to live anymore. Upon entering into the wealthy part of town, he meets Phillippe Weis, one of the richest men in the world and finds himself at odds with him after pairing up with Weis' rebellious daughter (played by Amanda Seyfried). As much as I liked the film's concept, I found myself constantly asking questions about the rules associated with such a society instead of focusing on the story. Unfortunately, the film opts to hammer home the class warfare metaphor instead of truly exploring this unique world its created. As for Timberlake, he may have a decent acting career, but his effort here suggest he still has a way to go before he can be taken seriously as a dramatic actor. I had high hopes for this film, but it fails to really work for any possible audience. Sci-fi fans will be disappointed that the film doesn't explore its premise enough, yet the film is a bit too complicated for it to be appeciated by a wider audience. There's no need to waste your time or money on this one. Rating: ** 1/2

I see someone seeing dead people

Here's the latest trailer for the stop-motion animated film, ParaNorman set to come out this August.

RBR: The Big Year

If you heard there was a movie coming out about bird watching, you'd probably think "boring". But if I told you that same movie featured Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, you may begin to change your tune. I know I sure did. Which is why I decided to check out The Big Year It turns out though that even with those three tremendously talented, funny people this movie still turned out to be a bore. I was astounded that a film that featured not only those three stars, but a whole host of other funny people including Kevin Pollack, Rashida Jones, Joel McHale, Jim Parsons, Angelica Huston, Steven Weber, Dianne Wiest, Rosamund Pike, Brian Dennehy, Anthony Anderson, and John Cleese failed to yield even a chuckle out of me. The movie plays the subject matter straight and practically holds the 'sport' in reverence. I've got no problem with that in theory, but if that's the plan, there's no sense in having this cast do that kind of movie. As we watch the three leads cavort around the U.S. in an attempt to spot as many bird species as possible, we're suppose to see them make personal growth. Personally, I did not find any of their story arcs all that compelling and I felt using the birdwatching as some sort of metaphor for what they were going through at home to be strained. However, since the film feels so compelled to use it as an analogy for the characters' troubles, let me also use it to sum up my feelings for this dull movie - watching The Big Year is like spending all day looking in the sky for a rare falcon and all you ever spot is pigeons. Rating: ** 1/2

Campaign Shake-Up deleted scenes

Time to get Flyered up

Since we've finally moved into the month of March, now is as good of a time as any to start talking some college hoops, specifically my UD Flyers. This year it seems UD stands for ups and downs. For every great win that Dayton has had, they've matched it with an equally confounding loss. As a result, the team finds itself firmly on that tenuous bubble waiting to see whether or not they'll get an invitation to the big dance. They did not do themselves any favors earlier this week losing by 11 at Richmond. However, they recovered nicely by soundly beating George Washington today by 16 (a game I was proudly in attendance for). Now that the regular season has finished, the Flyers will have to use the A-10 tournament to help improve their resume in preparation for the NCAA tournament. We've been seeded 6th and will face George Washington again this Tuesday. Given our performance against them today, I would hope that should be an easy win for the Flyers. If we advance, we would play Xavier in the next round. The Muskateers are not as strong this year as they've been in the past, but when it comes to playing your blood rival, records mean nothing. Beating them would certainly increase our chances of going to the big dance as it would not only give us another win, but also prevent Xavier, another bubble team, from going any further. It's going to be a big week for the Flyer Nation and I hope our fans, as always, soundly support this team along the way. I know I will. We are..UD!

A thing to Marvel

I'm in nerd-vana over here checking out this latest trailer for The Avengers. If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, do so now below.

RBR: What's Your Number

I really like Anna Faris and think she's talented, which makes it so frustrating to see her get attached to one crummy movie after the next. If only she could have a Bridesmaides-esque in which she could truly shine. What's Your Number is yet another familiar rom-com that makes the viewers go through one emotional hoop after another until it finally reaches its obvious conclusion. This time is centers around Ally, (Faris) who puts way too much stock in a magazine article which makes the claim that women who sleep with more than 20 men never find one to marry. Nearing the number herself, Ally begins revisiting past lovers in hopes of finding her perfect match. Credit the casting department for bringing on some funny guys like Joel McHale, Andy Samberg, and Thomas Lennon as some of her beaus, but their comedic talents are wasted here. Oddly enough, a lot of their best scenes were seen in the advertising for the film, yet not included in the film itself. Helping her in her quest is her lothario neighbor Colin (Chris Evans). Evans offers zero on-screen charisma despite the fact that the film attempts to present him as the perfect guy for her. The film offers a few chuckles but is largely a disappointment given the number of funny people here in this movie. Let's just hope for Anna Faris' sake that it will take less than 20 terrible films before she finds the one that will make her a star. Rating: **

Watchmen

Neighborhood Watch once again pairs up Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. Here's the teaser trailer for their new comedy, which also stars Jonah Hill, set to come out this summer.

Back surgery for Sizemore

From SI.com:

Grady Sizemore will start the season in a familiar spot - on the disabled list.

The oft-injured Cleveland Indians outfielder is expected to miss eight to 12 weeks with a back injury, the latest medical setback for a three-time All-Star who once appeared to have a sensational career ahead of him.

The team said Sizemore underwent a "minimally invasive" lower back procedure Thursday in Miami. He required a micro discectomy that was performed by Dr. Barth Green of the University of Miami School of Medicine.

"Grady's obviously frustrated," general manager Chris Antonetti said in comments posted on MLB.com. "He wants more than anything to be out on the field contributing and helping the team win. This is a setback in his timetable for doing that, but I think he understands that, if he sees this process through and doesn't have setbacks along the way, he can still contribute for the majority of the season."

Sizemore, who re-signed with the Indians in the offseason, will return to spring training in Arizona "in the coming days" to further his rehabilitation, the club said.

"It will be an extensive rehab process," Antonetti said. "But we still are hopeful we will get him back for the bulk of the season."

Sizemore was limited to 71 games last year, hitting .224 with 10 home runs, 32 RBIs and 34 runs scored. Hoping to bounce back with a healthy season, he was injured while fielding ground balls early in spring training.

Before that, Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff said Sizemore had been doing well in his rehab from knee surgery and appeared on track to possibly begin the season on time.

"I feel bad for him," manager Manny Acta said. "Obviously, it seems like he can't catch a break over the last couple of years."

Cleveland re-signed Sizemore as a free agent in November after choosing not to exercise a $9 million option on him. But the Indians, perhaps out of some loyalty to Sizemore, decided to bring him back with a one-year, $5 million contract loaded with incentives that could have earned him an additional $4 million.

Sizemore has undergone five operations the past two years and played in only 210 games the last three seasons because of injuries. His full-speed-ahead style may have caught up with the 29-year-old, who once played in 382 consecutive games and endeared himself to Cleveland fans with hustle that could turn a double into a triple or save an extra-base hit with a crash into the outfield wall to make a catch.

Sizemore also started last season on the disabled list. He made three trips to the DL and underwent right knee surgery on Oct. 3, just days after his season ended without a stolen base for the first time in his career.

With Sizemore sidelined, the Indians will likely move Michael Brantley from left field to center. Shelley Duncan, Aaron Cunningham, Ryan Spilborghs and Felix Pie are among the team's options in left.

"There's going to be plenty of at-bats to have out there," Acta said. "You might not have seen it as a big deal during the offseason, but now it looks pretty big when you have a full bag of guys like that who have been in the big leagues the last few years and have experience."

The Indians, ravaged by injuries last season, have 12 other outfielders in camp. Cleveland opened last season 30-15 and played well in long stretches without Sizemore so there's reason to believe it can compete again.

"Our scouts will continue to be out there evaluating other camps," Antonetti said. "We're always looking for ways to improve the roster, but we feel good about some of the guys that we already have in camp, and we're looking forward to seeing some of them compete.

"But, part of our responsibility is to make sure we understand who the alternatives are and if we have an opportunity to acquire them, and improve our roster, we'll certainly look to do that."

Bernie made off

Director Richard Linklater (School of Rock, Dazed and Confused) teams up once again with Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey in Bernie, a dark comedy that's actually based on a true story. Here's your first look at the trailer.

RBR: Killer Elite

Early on this movie feels like every other action film out there as we meet Danny (Jason Statham), a special ops agent who's decided that he's had enough of that life and calls it quits, only to be brought back for...everyone say it with me...one last mission. He's tasked with killing three assassins in a revenge plot. The lack of originality can be somewhat forgiven due to this being based on a true story. The scenes involving Danny's efforts to take down these killers are the best and allow this film to be watchable. This is not just pure brutality; there is some creativity to the way that he not only has to eliminate these guys but also get a taped confession of their crimes as well. Clive Owen shows up midway through as a roadblock to Danny's mission. This is a true battle of tough guys, although Owen's cheesy mustache weakens his machismo to a degree. Robert DeNiro also has a supporting role in here as Danny's partner. Even in a small role, DeNiro gives a strong performance and really elevates the film. Ultimately, I felt the film's ending was a big too drawn out with one too many finishes. For action fans, this is not the flashiest film, but should certainly provide enough bang for your buck to make it worth a rental. Rating: ***