Early Christmas present

From Deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Good news for Arrested Development fans. The new season of the cult Mitch Hurwitz comedy commissioned by Netflix will be larger than originally planned. I’ve learned that, during production on the 10 new episodes ordered by Netflix, Hurwitz shot more material than planned and also came up with ideas for additional scenes and storylines. Hurwitz, producing studio 20th Century Fox TV and Imagine TV approached Netflix, which agreed to expand the order to what I hear will be 12-15 episodes. As a result, production on the show, originally slated to wrap right after Thanksgiving, was extended for a few more weeks. But, given the complexity of adding material as you go on a show where none of the actors are in first position and filming has to be done around their existing schedules, I hear 20th TV at the end of last week decided to pause production so Hurwitz can review the footage already in the can and take his time figuring out the best way to incorporate the new arcs. Once he is done, the studio will begin working on securing the actors needed. Filming is tentatively slated to resume in late January. The producers have some breathing room as Netflix is targeting a spring premiere date for Arrested Development when it plans to make all episodes available at the same time.

“We are thrilled with the direction of the show, with the footage we have seen and with the relationship between Mitch, Imagine, 20th and Netflix,” a Netflix spokeswoman said. “At this time, we are not confirming or announcing the final episode count but we are sure fans will be thrilled when we do.”

RBR:Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

While few people saw it in theaters, many critics seemed to be charmed by this apocalyptic romantic comedy starring Steve Carrell and Keira Knightly as two lost souls who bond in the planet's last few days. While both leads can be very likeable, I failed to see what enchanted so many other reviewers. The opening part of the film is its strongest. While disturbing at times, it gives a bleak, yet fascinating look at how people would react if there was definitive proof that the planet would be gone in a matter of weeks. Once the main protagonists are suitably introduced the film veers off track as it struggles to find a tonal balance. You get scenes featuring cameos from people like Patton Oswalt and Rob Corddry that are meant for laughs but fall flat. But then you're also supposed to buy into a relationship between Carrell and Knightly that just never worked for me. Sitting through their journey, I was actively wishing for the asteroid to just hit already and put everyone out of their misery. I can appreciate attempts to blend genres, but this is an experiment that just goes horribly wrong. Given that it was written by the same person who wrote the insufferable Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, it's not that surprising that I didn't care for this. If our world is going to end, I wholeheartedly recommend that you don't waste your precious last few hours watching this. Rating: * 1/2

They Choo Choo Choose somebody else

The Indians continue making offseason moves. This time it's a three team trade with the Reds and the Diamondbacks. On the downside, we lose a popular player like Shin Soo Choo. But on the upside, we gain a really great pitching prospect, as well as three other players that could pan out nicely for us. Experts feel like we made out pretty well in this trade, and I'm felling pretty good about it too. For all the details on the move, here's the article from SI.com.

Shin-Soo Choo didn't want to be part of the Indians' future. So they're moving on without him. Cleveland traded the talented outfielder to the Cincinnati Reds and acquired prized pitching prospect Trevor Bauer from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night in a three-team deal involving nine players.

The Indians obtained center fielder Drew Stubbs from Cincinnati and received Bauer, the No. 3 pick in the 2011 draft, along with right-handers Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw from the Diamondbacks. "This is a trade that can impact our team not only for 2013, but for the future," Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said. "Three of the players we acquired we will have under control for at least the next three seasons."

Cleveland shipped Choo, infielder Jason Donald and about $3.5 million to the Reds, while sending left-handed reliever Tony Sipp and first baseman Lars Anderson to Arizona.The Diamondbacks also received shortstop prospect Didi Gregorius from Cincinnati.

Choo, who has been Cleveland's primary right fielder since 2006, will play center and bat leadoff for Cincinnati. "It was very difficult giving up home-grown talent, but we think Choo can fill the missing parts in our lineup both offensively and defensively," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said in a statement. "He is an exciting player, and we expect him to set the table."

Dealing Choo was almost a necessity for the Indians. He was entering the final year of his contract and is eligible for free agency in 2013. The Indians have not been able to work out a deal with agent Scott Boras, who has turned down several extensions in recent years. The 30-year-old Choo batted .283 with 16 homers and 67 RBIs in 155 games last season. He had been considered a core player for the Indians, who collapsed in August and finished finished 68-94 - two games out of last place in the AL Central.

"It was really tough," Antonetti said of trading Choo. "I talked with Shin-Soo tonight and expressed my profound appreciation for his professionalism. He is always one of the first to arrive for workouts, whether it is spring training or just a game." With plenty of power in the middle of the lineup, Cincinnati has lacked a prototypical leadoff man to get on base consistently in front of sluggers such as Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Ryan Ludwick and Todd Frazier. Brandon Phillips, who previously batted cleanup at times, was pressed into leadoff duty last season despite a .322 career on-base percentage.

Choo can also hit the ball out of the ballpark, but his .381 career OBP fits the bill at the top of the order. He also had 43 doubles and 21 steals this year. The speedy Stubbs has played center exclusively for the Reds, helping them win NL Central titles in 2010 and 2012. He batted .213 with 14 homers and 40 RBIs last season, striking out 166 times in 493 at-bats. He has 100 stolen bases over the past three years, including 30 in 2012.

Antonetti said the team hasn't decided where Stubbs will play. Michael Brantley played center for the Indians last season, but has also spent some time in left. "In Drew Stubbs, we received a great defensive player who brings an element of speed and power to our lineup," Antonetti said. "We are happy with the job Michael Brantley did for us in center field, but Drew is one of the best out there. He brings a great deal of athleticism to our team."

Bauer, one of baseball's top pitching prospects, became the first member of the 2011 draft class to reach the majors and went 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA in four starts for Arizona this year. The 21-year-old right-hander struggled with his control, compiling 13 walks and 17 strikeouts in 16 1-3 innings. Bauer spent most of the season in the minors, going a combined 12-2 with a 2.42 ERA in 22 starts at Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno. He had 157 strikeouts and 61 walks while allowing 107 hits in 130 1-3 innings.

"We are getting a young pitcher with a ton of potential," Antonetti said. "He can be a top-of-the-rotation guy with development. He is somebody we have been interested in for a long time, since he was at UCLA." Arizona general manager Kevin Towers said he was sorry to part with Bauer, but "we're fortunate to have a lot of pitching depth."

The 22-year-old Gregorius, considered a defensive whiz, spent last season with Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Louisville before appearing in eight games for the Reds. He hit a combined .265 with seven homers and 54 RBIs in 129 minor league games, adding 21 doubles and 11 triples while scoring 70 runs. The Diamondbacks have been looking for a shortstop to replace Stephen Drew, traded to Oakland in August after returning from a serious ankle injury. They were thought to be interested in Indians All-Star Asdrubal Cabrera, though Towers wouldn't comment on that. Towers said Gregorius reminds him "of a young Derek Jeter." Gregorius will go to spring camp and compete for the starting job in the big leagues. Arizona completed a $15.5 million, two-year contract with right-hander Brandon McCarthy on Tuesday and also acquired reliever Heath Bell from Miami earlier this offseason. Towers said those additions make it "highly unlikely" the team will trade slugger Justin Upton.

Kent keep a good Man down

Tis the season for trailers and this one is the second look at next summer's Superman reboot, which definitely seems to have the whole Batman Begins vibe too it. If it's as good as that film, maybe this franchise has a chance of being successful.

Make your Mark

This isn't a real flashy move, but it seems like a solid acquistion that will attempt to address some of the Indians' key needs.

The Indians' need for right-handed power in their lineup has become glaringly obvious over the past few seasons. If only for one year, Cleveland believes it has found a solution.

On Sunday evening, the Indians agreed to a one-year contract with corner infielder Mark Reynolds, sources told MLB.com. Reynolds will presumably take over as the Tribe's first baseman and will earn a base salary of $6 million, with another $1.5 million available in incentives. Pending the completion of a physical, an official announcement will likely come within the next few days.

Indians general manager Chris Antonetti could not be reached for comment.

This seemingly takes the Tribe out of the running for free-agent infielder Kevin Youkilis, who has a one-year contract worth $12 million on the table from the Yankees to handle third base. It is believed that Cleveland offered Youkilis a two-year deal worth a reported $18 million to play first base, but the Reynolds signing potentially renders that proposal moot.

As things stand, the Indians plan on handing the keys to third base over to youngster Lonnie Chisenhall, leaving first base as the only infield spot in need of a starter. Cleveland does have a vacancy at designated hitter, so it is possible the club could try to sell Reynolds and Youkilis on a rotation at first and DH. At-bats would also be available at third base on days Chisenhall did not play.

The 29-year-old Reynolds -- non-tendered by the Orioles last month -- made $7.5 million with Baltimore last season. Amid a thin free-agent class of first basemen, Reynolds, who would have made around $9 million in arbitration, was willing to return to the O's, but not at a significantly reduced salary.

The Orioles never offered Reynolds any type of deal, and several teams expressed interest in Reynolds at last week's Winter Meetings. One of them was Cleveland, which has its Spring Training facility in Arizona, allowing Reynolds to live at home during big league camp.

Reynolds opened the 2012 season at third base, but he committed six errors in 40 chances and was moved across the diamond to first, where he worked himself into an above-average first baseman. Reynolds frequently took some good-natured ribbing for his tendency to leave his feet, but he became adept at picking balls in the dirt and making excellent scoops, resulting in a .995 fielding percentage in 108 games at the position.

Offensively, Reynolds recovered from a poor first half to post a .221 batting average with a .335 on-base percentage and a .429 slugging percentage, collecting 23 homers and 69 RBIs in 135 games.

Sixteen of his homers came in the final two months of the season after he got past the most prolonged slump of his career. Through Reynolds' first 85 games, he hit .211 with eight homers and 33 RBIs and struck out 104 times. He did draw walks throughout the season, leading the team in free passes for a second straight year, with 73, and he helped the Orioles reach their first postseason in 15 years by hitting 15 homers and posting a .517 slugging percentage in his final 50 games.

A well-liked player in the clubhouse, Reynolds played through numerous injuries during the season. He was hit by a pitch six times during the regular season and twice in six postseason games. Health was a question to everyone but Reynolds, who deflected any notion that he might need to miss time.

The Orioles acquired him from the D-backs on Dec. 6, 2010, in exchange for right-handers David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio.

Arguably the best season of Reynolds' six years in the big leagues came in 2009, when he hit .260 with 44 home runs and 102 RBIs for Arizona. The right-handed hitter also set a single-season Major League record with 223 strikeout that year. Reynolds is the only player in big league history to turn in at least two seasons with 200 or more strikeouts, and he has done so three times in his career.

Reynolds makes up for the high volume of strikeouts with solid power, having launched an average of 30 home runs per year in his career. In two years with Baltimore, he averaged 30 home runs, 78 RBIs and 145 games per season. Even in a down year, Reynolds' 23 long balls a year ago would have led the Indians, whose team leader had just 18 (Carlos Santana).

Jack of all trades

Tom Cruise's next movie, Jack Reacher hasn't even hit theaters yet and we already have a trailer for another film featuring him playing a character named Jack. This one is a sci-fi film called Oblivion that is being directed by the guy that did TRON: Legacy. This looks to be pretty epic and will no doubt be on my 2013 movie preview list later this month.

RBR: Moonrise Kingdom

It may surprise some of you, given my love for movies, that Moonrise Kingdom was my first entry into the Wes Anderson universe. The only other film of his that I've seen is Fantastic Mr. Fox, which doesn't exactly fit into the mold of his typical films. If you've seen Anderson's work, then you know to expect a strange, yet beguiling story filled to the max with quirky character. This one centers around a geeky young boy and a disillusion young girl who meet and run off together abandoning their boy scout troop and family, respectively. I found the first half of the film to be wholly enchanting. The relationship between the two protagonists as they go on their journey is sweet and charming while the laughs come from the adults who go on the hunt to find them. This includes Frances McDormand and Bill Murray as the girl's parents, Bruce Willis as the town's sheriff, and Edward Norton as the boy scout troop leader. There's a lot of fun in watching the kids act grown up while the adults have some serious arrested development issues. If the entire film had been the chase for these kids, this would have been a great movie. However, the kids are discovered midway through and the film has difficulty in continuing the story past that point. Things turn even more bizarre and surreal in the second half and a second escape by the kids isn't nearly as engaging. Those who enjoy Anderson's work will no doubt love this latest effort but I think it is worth seeing even if you are a neophyte to his work like I was. It appears I may have to play catch up now and start watching some of his older stuff to see if I've been missing out all of these years. Rating: **** 1/4

Star gazing

Your first look at the new Star Trek sequel has finally arrived. It's not much, but still manages to get me hotly anticipating its arrival next summer. If this isn't enough to whet your appetite, you can see a 9 minute preview of the film in IMAX starting next week with The Hobbit

RBR: Brave

After a rare mistep for Pixar last year with the ill-conceived Cars 2, the animation king looked to right their wrong with this tale about the relationship between a Scottish queen and her rebellious daughter. While Brave has the right look of a Pixar film, there's something off about this picture. This feels like Disney made an unfair trade with Pixar by giving them one of their simplistic princess stories while keeping the genre-bending innovative story (Wreck-It Ralph) for themselves. As a result, this is a film that's hard to hate because it's technically sound and has a nice message, but is also difficult to embrace, especially for someone in my demographic. The first half of the film which deals with Merida, the film's central character, and her problems assimilating to the princess lifestyle are solid. However, the film sort of goes off the rails after an ill-worded wish (how many times are we going to see that trope used) changes Merida's mother and their relationship. It would not have been the direction I would have gone with and it just doesn't seem to provide a lot of humor and/or dramatic tension. This seems to be a movie that will appeal to only a very small segment of viewers who are old enough to not be scared by some of the more tense moments and young enough to still find the story's cliches to be fresh. While I haven't lost my confidence in Pixar, I certainly hope that they have not grown complacent into thinking this is an acceptable quality level for future films. Rating: *** 1/2

Call them, maybe

There's a really insightful and detailed interview with Dan Ackroyd about Ghostbusters 3 and the development hell it's currently in. In it he expresses his (and fans') frustration and also reveals some details about what we can and shouldn't expect if the film actually gets made. The Esquire interview is too long to post here, so I'll just provide a link for you to check out. If you're a fan like me, it's definitely worth a read.

It's the end of the year as we know it

I'm sure there will be a bunch of these coming out over the next couple of weeks, but this is the first I saw and was very impressed with it. Here's a mashup of the greatest moments from the 2012 movie trailers. What's even more impressive is that the creator of the video actually has a purpose behind the organization of his clips. If you visit the actual YouTube page, you can see how he broke the video into three distinct sections, each with its own theme.

Trading louses

From EW.com:

You may now exclaim, “Holy crap! Woo hoo!”: Seth MacFarlane has recorded a guest spot on The Simpsons.

The Family Guy creator and voice actor (not to mention one of EW’s Entertainers of the Year and the host of the upcoming Oscars) will try to romance Marge in an episode that’s slated to air next fall as the season 25 premiere, EW has learned. The two popular animated shows, of course, share a network, a night, an overweight patriarch that falls well shy of role model, and a rivalry as they’ve playfully jabbed each other on screen over the years. “We wanted to come together in a bipartisan way to make Fox Sunday night rock,” sums up Simpsons executive producer Al Jean of the MacFarlane casting. “This was all very fun.”

In the episode, titled “Dangers on a Train,” Marge mistakes an Ashley Madison-type website for a Dolly Madison-type cupcake site, not realizing that it’s a destination for married people to arrange affairs. While on the site, she encounters the charming Ben (MacFarlane), who pursues her as they bond over their mutual love of a Downton Abbey-ish series, Upton Rectory. “A lot of him trying to go after her is over the phone, so it’s a perfect part for someone with his voice,” says Jean, who adds that the smooth-voiced MacFarlane croons “The Way You Look Tonight” in the episode. (By the way, Ben’s wife is voiced by comedian Lisa Lampanelli, “which explains what’s wrong with his marriage,” quips Jean.)

MacFarlane — who lent his voice to Matt Groening’s other animated series, Futurama, in 2009 — welcomed the offer to visit Springfield. “We thought we had a great part that he’d be perfect for, and it would be great to have him on our show, so it worked out just right,” says Jean, noting: “There’s been a little rivalry. We’re both humor shows and we make jokes, but it’s always been friendly.”

In fact, “Dangers on a Train” contains a joke that tweaks both Family Guy and The Simpsons. During one of Marge and Ben’s conversations, says Jean, “they talk about this Downton Abbey show and they say, ‘There’s so much great stuff on Sunday nights… except on Fox.’”

Will Family Guy flip the script and feature some Simpsons talent on an upcoming episode? MacFarlane was unavailable for comment, but Jean says, “I’m hopeful that there will be something of us on their show but that’s up to them. We’d certainly welcome it.” In any case, he adds, “for Seth, it completes the Saturday Night Live/Oscar host/Simpsons triple crown that exists only in my head.”

(UPDATE: Some of you have astutely noted that Dan Castellaneta had a one-line cameo in an October episode of Family Guy. We were asking if Family Guy will return the favor with a prominent guest role like MacFarlane’s.)

RBR: Lawless

Somewhere buried inside Lawless, the true story of the Bondurant brothers who ran the biggest moonshine outfit in Virginia during prohibition, is a really good movie. It's unfortunate that director John Hillcoat is unable to get that on screen. For everything going for this film, there seems to be some sort of counteracting element. Tom Hardy, who more people saw as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises this summer, actually gives a more compelling performance here as Forest Bondurant. He is a man of few words and yet you hang on to everything he says. But then there's Shia Labeouf who is completely out of place here. Too much of the film centers around his petulant character that becomes more grating as the movie goes along. Labeouf's hacky performance though is not the only problem with this film. Gary Oldman who plays a Chicago gangster is excellent as always but is severely underutilized. I expected him to play a much larger role, yet by the film's climax he's completely gone. There are also some major pacing issues with the film. The first half of the film feels very choppy and unfinished. Scenes are strung together with no real coherency. At times I felt like I had been drinking moonshine and kept blacking out. The second half of the film turns into a traditional shoot-out that felt needlessly bloody and violent without giving a completely satisfactory conclusion. While I've focused on a lot of the negatives, I don't want to give the impression that this is a film without merit. The flaws of this film are only more apparent because of how close it was to being a great movie. I think if the subject matter is of interest to you, I would definitely recommend checking this film out now that it's available to rent. Though it's not a 100 proof, there's still enough here to give you a decent buzz. Rating: ****

Bonehead appetit

Courtesy of The Soup, I give you the "charismatic", "culinary expertise" of Steven Reed who helps the students of Weber State with all of their food needs. This guy needs his own Food Network show right now! Below, Steven offers viewers some insight on how to make a delicious dish of rice, or something.

Sullying his good name

The last time director Robert Zemeckis made a film involving live human beings was 2000's Cast Away. That was the story of Tom Hanks trying to go through life after surviving a plane crash. In his latest effort, Flight, Zemeckis once again gives us a tale of a plane crash survivor and his life in the aftermath. The focal survivor in this film is the airplane's pilot, Whip Whitaker, played by Denzel Washington.

In this case, the events leading up to the crash are just as important as the ones that proceed it. We learn quickly that Whip has a problem with alcohol and drugs. He not only drinks prior to the flight, but on the plane as well. During one flight, a mechanical problem with the plane occurs and Whip is forced to flip the plane mid-air in order to land the plane with minimal damage. Without the maneuver the plane would have crashed and killed everyone instantly. But thanks to his efforts, there was minimal loss of life and Whip becomes a hero

It is only when the crash comes under investigation that Whip's problems with alcohol come to light. From there, the film examines in detail Whip's demons and the effects it has on those around him. Whenever a film tackles the subject of addiction, the results can be vary wildly from overblown melodrama to sobering realism. For the most part, Washington is very effective in his performance. What makes his portrayal so fascinating is the way he is able to be so functional in most aspects of his life despite his crippling dependency on booze. Given the subject matter, it would not surprise me in the least if this earns Washington another Best Actor nomination come Oscar time

But for as strong of a performance as Washington gives, I couldn't help but feel cheated that the film chose to strictly focus on it. I would have preferred the story to be more mystery-centered, leaving the audience wondering if Whip had been drunk while flying the plane and if that was the result of the crash. That aspect gets thrown to the side in favor of an uninteresting subplot involving Whip forming a relationship with a fellow addict (Kelly Reilly). More time should have been spent with either Don Cheadle, who plays a lawyer representing Whip, or John Goodman who plays hippie who helps supply Whip with drugs. These are characters that Cheadle and Goodman have played before, but they are so good at what they do you can't help but want to see their screentime maximized.

As with Cast Away, the story ultimately lets down what would have otherwise been a good movie. Clearly Zemeckis knows what he's doing when it comes to visual effects. The scenes involving the plane crash is harrowing in the way it is depicted. Those who are uneasy with flying to begin with will likely want to stay away from this movie. However, seems to have trouble sticking the landing, no pun intended, when it comes to finishing his movies. With Cast Away, he opted to go for a realistic, ambiguous finish when that story desperately needed a feel-good Hollywood ending. In Flight, he delivers the exact opposite problem. Up until the ending, this movie is a grim, realistic portrayal of an alcoholic. Then in the closing minutes things gets wrapped up in a tidy, saccharine manner that would be more fitting of a movie made for Lifetime.

There's a lot to like about Flight, but like its protagonist, it is deeply flawed. On the weight of the acting performances and visually stunning crash scenes, I'd say this movie is worthy of a recommendation. It helps, though, to come into this movie knowing what you can expect to see so you can better appreciate what the film is trying to accomplish. Even if he failed to soar to new heights, Zemeckis manages to keep the movie cruising at a consistent level of entertainment. Grade: B

Back to the Future

From movies.com

Once it was revealed that the sequel to X-Men: First Class would be an adaptation of the very popular story arc in the comics called X-Men: Days of Future Past, people immediately began speculating about how much this new, prequel franchise would integrate with the first X-Men trilogy. The comic's story involves two different timelines merging, which certainly opens up the possibility of characters and actors from Bryan Singer's films once again reprising their roles. And lo and behold, that's exactly what's happening.

Singer, who recently took over directing the project from First Class director Matthew Vaughn, confirmed today on Twitter that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were joining Days of Future Past as Professor X and Magneto. He also confirmed that James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult would be returning as well, which is pretty damned awesome news, if you ask us.

Of course this early on we don't know how much of the film will take place in the McAvoy/Fassbender past and the Stewart/McKellen future, but if the director of the film is comfortable announcing the veteran actors now, it's safe to say they're not just going to be cute little cameos. And all this timeline blending will surely also server as a clever way to address some of the continuity issues that our own John Gholson pointed out when First Class released.

So what say you, X-Men fans? Are you excited to see the new and old school on the big screen together? Who else from Singer's X-Men films do you hope shows up here?

RBR: The Raven

A movie that looked like it could be a scarier version of the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes; franchise turned out to be nothing more than a derivative bore. The plot centers around a series of murders that are all connected to stories written by Edgar Allen Poe. John Cusack plays Poe, who assists the police in trying to find this serial killer. Typically a fine actor, Cusack seems to be borrowing from too many other quirky characters to make Poe truly feel unique or interesting. Alice Eve plays the obligatory love interest/damsel in distress. It was hard to evaluate her acting here since I was too busy staring at her glaringly bright white teeth that stood out like a sore thumb in dirty, dingy mid 19th century Baltimore. A major problem with the film is that there isn't much mystery to the story. The whodunnit becomes fairly easy is you simply use process of elimination amongst the cast of characters who have received any screentime throughout the film. Even worse, the person who is responsible is so forgettable and lacking in any true menace that when the reveal is made is feels like even more of a let down. Stripped of any sense of mystery, the movie becomes a grim feature that barely held my interest. I was hoping for a lot more here but they just could not deliver. To those who wonder if I'll ever watch this again, my response is simply - nevermore. Rating: **

Hip to be Square

GQ made the wise choice of honoring the cast of Parks and Recreation in their Man of the Year issue and to commemorate the honor, the gang from Pawnee made this awesome video playing a game of Hollywood Squares. Enjoy it below!

Covert tops

Picture it...the year was 1980. I was a mere speck in my parents' eyes as the world was in turmoil thanks to unrest in Iran that led to several U.S. embassy employees to be taken hostage. A few select Americans managed to avoid capture and fled to the nearby home of the Canadian ambassador. Though free, these individuals have no was of getting out of the country without being recognized as the missing embassy workers. Realizing this, the CIA must find a way of safely bringing them back home.

This sets the stage for Argo, the terrific film by Ben Affleck who is turning into quite the polished director despite only having three films under his belt. He has managed to turn a story that most people already know the outcome into one of the most thrilling, gripping stories in a long time. Part of that is due to the stranger than fiction approach that the CIA used in order to extricate these people

Affleck also stars as Tony Mendez, the man who comes out with the wild rescue plan. Mendez works with a producer in Hollywood (Alan Arkin) in order to create a fake movie. Mendez then travels to Iran under the guise of wanting to shoot scenes in the country. He then pretends that the embassy workers are members of his crew in order to bring them back with him. Argo refers to the name of the fake movie.

With the way the film is constructed, you really get three films in one. One story involves Mendez's time in Hollywood trying to put all of the pieces together for this fake movie. Along with Arkin, these scenes also feature John Goodman playing a visual effects expert who serves as a sort of liason between Washington and Hollywood. Being a film lover, I truly enjoyed these scenes and the ability to see some of the inner workings of the film industry. It turns out it's pretty easy to earn buzz for a film, even a fake one.

The second story involves the drama and political maneuvering taking place in Washington. We see a lot of hesitation from some of the political bigwigs to go along with Mendez's plan. They even pull the plug on the whole plan at a critical point, which provides some great tension. Bryan Cranston, who plays Mendez's boss is simply terrific here. You feel the dilemma he goes through between appeasing the higher ups and supporting Mendez.

Finally, we get the scenes in Iran. One of the most impressive things about this film is that Affleck does not simply paint them as the 'evil foreigner'. We understand their perspective on this matter. In that way, we see how tenuous of a situation the Americans were in. These were people who felt very strongly about their beliefs and wanted an injustice (from their perspective) rectified. I have no doubt that some creative liberties were taken when depicting the effort to get these Americans back home, but when the end result is such a captivating film, you don't really mind.

Regardless of how familiar you are with this story, I whole-heartedly recommend that you check it out. Affleck does a great job of transporting you back to this period of history. The costuming and music are authentic. Actual news footage is also expertly interwoven into the film. You will find yourself just as captivated with this film as you were with the actual events back in the day. And given the Oscar buzz that this movie is receiving, I'm clearly not alone in thinking this. This is one history lesson you'll have no problem staying awake through. Grade: A

RBR: That's My Boy

Watching an Adam Sandler film is a lot like eating Taco Bell after midnight. When you're young, you enjoy it even if you realize doing so offers you no nutritional value. But as you get older you continue to do it only to instantly regret the decision and realize how disgusting it is. Though I may be maturing, it seems as if Sandler is regressing with each film. His latest effort continues his recent run of disappointingly unfunny films. That's My Boy sees Sandler attempt more R-rated fare and it doesn't help matters. Sex jokes and bodily function humor are used with wreckless abandon in hopes of covering up for a flimsy plot. Sandler plays a deadbeat dad who impregnated his teacher when he was in junior high. Now that his son (Andy Samberg)is grown up and ready to get married himself, he tries to reconnect with him in order to get some money from him. Of course, in staying with him he learns what it means to be a good father (sort of) and everyone lives happily ever after. While the plot slogs along from one obvious point to another, the humor is so crass and off the wall, that no one could see it coming a mile away - primarily because it requires a sick mind to think incest jokes are ever a good idea. At this point, it seems like the best thing for Sandler is for me and everyone to stop watching films like this to help him see he needs to put a better effort into what he's offering the viewing public. Otherwise, audiences will continue to suffer through 'fouth meal' entertainment like this. Rating: * 1/2

Illusions of grandeur

Heist movies are a personal favorite of mine and when you throw in a litle magic, plus a killer cast, well then you've got the recipe for a movie that will likely find its way on my 2013 preview next month. Until then, you can enjoy the trailer for Now You See Me here below.

Chevy bolt

From EW.com

Community will be losing a cast member, and it’s… the one that you were thinking: Chevy Chase. The 69-year-old actor, who stars as the wealthy, grumpy and bigoted Pierce Hawthorne, is exiting the NBC ensemble comedy by mutual agreement, sources close to the show confirm. (Deadline first reported the news.)

It’s not exactly shocking news, as Chase has endured a rocky relationship with the series that he does not always speak warmly about. He engaged in a feud with series creator Dan Harmon that went public last year over an expletive-laced voicemail message that Chase left Harmon. (Harmon was dismissed from the show last spring.) Last month, production was interrupted when Chase, reportedly unhappy with the material he was shooting, used the N-word in an outburst while trying to make a point about the direction of his racist character.

After having its Oct. 19 premiere date postponed, Community finally returns to the air on Feb. 7 to kick off its fourth and possibly final season with 13 new episodes. Chase will appear in all but two of them — which have yet to be filmed — and he will be seen in the season finale, which has already been shot.

The new showrunners, David Guarascio and Moses Port, had sounded optimistic when talking about Chase earlier this fall. “The truth is we’ve had a very easy working relationship with Chevy, maybe just because it was so volatile before, there’s no fight left,” Guarascio told EW with a laugh. “We sat down, had a real nice lunch… And so it’s been really easy for us. He also says what he wants to say and does what he wants to do, and you just can’t control any of that aspect of it.”

A Hitch in time

This trailer has been out for a while now, but I'm just getting around to post it. There may be a late entry into the Oscar race as this film about famed director Alfred Hitchcock's effort to get Psycho made seems to be just the type of film that the Academy loves. The fact that it stars award winners Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren only helps. Anyways, you can check out the trailer below.

RBR: The Amazing Spider-Man

The fact that I waited until home video to watch this movie shows you the lack of urgency I had in seeing a reboot of this franchise. Despite having the story told to us a mere 10 years earlier, we once again sit through the origins of young Peter Parker getting bit by a spider and losing his uncle leading to his transformation into Spider-Man. This time around he's played by Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) who gives us a more rebellious than nerdy take on the character. One deviation from the previous origin story is that this one focuses on Peter's romance with Gwen Stacy. She's played by the always charming Emma Stone. Both she and Garfield give good performances although I don't necessary buy them as high schoolers. The biggest problem for me is that my familiarity with the story left me focusing on smaller details that irked me. For instance, the film takes place in New York, yet you would think that this is some post-apocalyptic version of the city considering how few people we actually see in the city outside of the primary characters. I also noticed the financial cheats the movie takes by having so much of it filmed in the shadows. You don't need a whole lot of CGI detail when everything is pitch black. Apparently all of the money was spent on the cast and it was not money well spent. You get distinguished actors like Sally Field and Martin Sheen to star as Peter's aunt and uncle and then waste them. Sheen unsurprisingly is killed off early on and Field more surprisingly disappears halfway through the film only to make a token appearance near the end. Director Marc Webb attempts to bring some gravitas to the franchise with his indie filmmaking style, but frankly it just wasn't needed. Flaws aside, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films actually felt like a comic book come to life. For all the realism that this adaptation offers, it equally saps the fun out of the story. This is a wholly unnecessary film (except for the people at Sony who needed to make it in order to prevent the rights from going over to Disney/Marvel) that doesn't need to be seem. It's harmless enough as a rental, but not a film that you need to go out of your way to see. Rating: ** 1/2

Fool's Gold

I try to pride myself on being a Bond expert, but apparently there was a "lost" James Bond film that is now only coming to the light of day. From Funny or Die, I present to you To Have and To Gold

Lost Bond Film with Chris Kattan from Chris Kattan

Falling upward

There are other movies I have yet to review, but there was no way I was going to wait on this one. Waiting it seems is all I have been doing when it comes to James Bond lately. Fans like myself have eagerly anticipated the 23rd film, Skyfall. At the very least, we've been waiting at least four years since Quantum of Solace, but given the failures of that film, it's felt even longer since we've had a true Bond film.

Since taking over as 007, the Daniel Craig era has been a time of transition. Beginning with Casino Royale the origins of Bond and how he became the spy we've come to know have been developed. In this latest film, which also marks the 50th anniversary of the film franchise, there are questions as to the relevancy of this man. Has James Bond become too old or out of date in a new world of terror and threats? I think it's clear by the end of the film that while there is always a need for adapting to changing times, there is also something timeless about this character that is not only capable of still saving the world by giving audiences what they want.

As I mentioned earlier, the last film was a disaster in many ways, so I had a checklist of items that I wanted to see in this film in order for me to be satisfied that this franchise wasn't in trouble. Thankfully practically all of those items were accomplished. For example, Daniel Kleinman was brought back to create a proper title sequence after the visual eyesore that was seen in the previous movie. We also have a more traditional title song which actually includes the title in it thanks to British songstress Adele. And we also begin to see some longtime characters receive re-introductions. Ben Wishaw gives us a fresh take on Q, the man responsible for all of Bond's gadgets. I liked the back-and-forth he and Craig have in this film and while no one could ever replace the great Desmond LLewelyn, I look forward to see this Q in many more films to come.

Now in his third try, Craig gives his most comfortable and developed performance to date as Bond. He seems to have a clear sense of what he wants to do with the character. His take is uniquely his own while still being respectful of the character and the men who have played him before. While there's always going to be that damaged aspect of his character, I was so pleased to see him infuse more humor into the performance as well as reignite his appetite for women after pining over just one for the past two films

While Craig has a standout performance, this film is as much about M (Judi Dench) as it is about Bond. Her character, and mi6 as a whole come under heavy scrutiny after a hard drive containing a list of all agents, their current locations and real names is stolen. The amazing Ralph Finnes plays Mallory, a man who's asked to watch over M and help her clean up this mess.

We learn that the man responsible for the stole hard drive is a former agent named Silva, played by Bardem. Bardem, who won an Oscar playing the villanous Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, creates a wholly different, yet still highly memorable bad guy here. He's equal parts crafty and creepy. The monologue he delivers upon first meeting Bond is one of the best scenes in the entire film.

There are several great scenes in this film though thanks largely to the great direction by Sam Mendes. He, along with cinematographer Roger Deakins, give us one of the most beautiful Bond movies ever. The use of rich colors, beautiful landscapes, and well choreographed action scenes make this film a visual delight. I would gladly have Mendes return for another entry if he's interested (Just as long as they never contact Marc Forster ever again).

If I have a complain about this film, it is that at times it does not necessarily feel like a Bond film. For instance, the story is rather insular. The villain's attacks are aimed at mi6 rather than toward the world at large. It doesn't really feel like Bond is saving the world this time. Also, the franchise still feels compelled to thematically and narratively borrow from other franchises. Not only are there traces of the Bourne franchise again, but this time I also felt that they were trying to replicate the success of The Dark Knight. Certainly there is worse material that they could be borrowing from, but with that said, I'd still like for them to be confident in their own franchise and stay true to what has made them successful for so many years.

I think most importantly is that the film has a terrific finish that is not only moving but without giving too much away, puts some key pieces in place that ends this transition stage and allows Bond to finally get back to business. The final scenes have me extremely excited for the next installment. Thankfully, we know that 'James Bond will return' and this time it will only be a two year wait.

Skyfall is a must see for both Bond fans and novices alike. For the purists, this is a great installment that more than makes up for Quantum of Solace and for the newbies out there, this works equally as well as a straightforward action flick that is likely to send your adrenaline soaring Sky high. Grade: A-

Bad medicine

The subject matter of Side Effects doesn't exactly seem like it would be the type of film that I would gravitate toward, but given that this is being directed by Steven Soderbergh, I'm inherently interested in it. Here's the first trailer to watch and see what you think.

RBR: Safety Not Guaranteed

Quirky is an understatement when it comes to Safety Not Guaranteed a small indie film about a trio of magazine workers going to investigate an odd ad in the personals from a man looking for a companion to time travel with him. The film's title comes from a line included in the ad. Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation stars as one of the curious trio and quickly becomes fascinated with Kenneth (Mark Duplass), a man who is both odd and ernest in his belief of being able to go back in time. With a runtime of barely 80 minutes, the film is brief and yet still offers some fully developed characters. I was engaged by both the central story, as well as the subplots involving the other two magazine workers and was really curious as to how they would resolve this story. Unfortunately the ending is rather disappointing. They wanted a magical ending to this offbeat love story, but I feel they would have been better to opt for something more down to Earth. If a strong ending is important to you, you're best to skip this insignificant film. But if you enjoy being charmed and appreciate good performances, then you may find yourself seeing this as a small treasure. Rating: *** 1/2

Stand up guy

One of my favorite comics right now, Louis CK, hosted Saturday Night Live. As usual, the show was a mixed bag of duds and highspots. But the clear winner of the night was the parody of Louie, CK's hilarious show on FX, with the comic playing Abraham Lincoln instead of himself. If you didn't see it, check it out below and if you did see it last night, still watch the video because this is the special director's cut version of the skit.

RBR: Dark Shadows

Certain movie stars seem to gravitate towards particular directors. This is certainly true for Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, who have collaborated on a number of great films. But with their latest effort, Dark Shadows, there are signs that they may be due for a break from each other. Based on a cult favorite horror soap opera from the 1960s, Dark Shadows revolves around Barnabas Collins and his family. Collins is turned into a vampire after spurning the advances of a witch. Buried for nearly 200 years, Collins is dug up in 1972 and has to deal with living in a new world while trying to bring his family back into prominance. My description of the plot barely scratches the surface of what's going on in this film and that's one of the problems. There are a ton of subplots, none of which are the least bit interesting. The film meanders from one plot to the next only to try and cram resolutions to all of them within the last 15 minutes. I kept wondering what the point to all of this was. The humor falls flat, the scares are mild at best, and the sexual escapades are more cartoonish than enticing. If there's a strength to the film, it is its look. Of course, with Tim Burton directing, that's almost always going to be a given. In this outing, however, it's all style and no substance. I fail to see how this movie appeals to anyone. Fans of the original show will no doubt find this to be an injustice and the film offers nothing that would attract new fans. If you're a fan of the Depp/Burton team, skip this disappointingly dull effort and rewatch one of their earlier films instead. Rating: **

That's Despicable

We're getting more and more previews these days for movies coming out next year. This time it's a teaser for the sequel to the surprise animated hit, Despicable Me.

When you wish upon a death star

It's the news that has all the Jedi Knights in a frenzy. From EW.com...

The force is strong with Mickey Mouse.

In one of the most momentous entertainment industry acquisitions of the last 30 years, the Walt Disney Company announced on Tuesday that it is purchasing Lucasfilm in a stock and cash deal valued at $4.05 billion. The sale includes plans for Star Wars: Episode VII, which is in early development, aiming for release in 2015. Walt Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger announced in a shareholder conference call that the studio also intending to release Episode VIII and Episode IX. “Our longterm plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years,” he added, noting that the deal came with “an extensive and detailed treatment for the next three movies.”

“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said Star Wars creator and Lucasfilm CEO George Lucas in a statement. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime.” Iger said Lucas began considering retirement four or five years ago, and the two began informally discussing Disney acquiring Lucasfilm a year and a half ago, although they only got serious more recently.

Veteran producer Kathleen Kennedy, who recently became co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the studio’s president, reporting to Disney studios chairman Alan Horn. She will executive produce the future Star Wars films, with Lucas serving as a creative consultant. In a video released by Disney (and embedded below), Lucas says he and Kennedy have already been working on future Star Wars films with unspecified writers. “We have a large group of ideas and characters and books and all kinds of things,” Lucas said. “We could go on making Star Wars for the next 100 years.”

The deal also includes plans to incorporate Star Wars into Disney’s TV, parks, and games businesses, as well as acquisition of Lucas’ companies like Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, and Skywalker Ranch. Standing distribution deals with Fox and Paramount will play a factor for Disney in monetizing the previous six Star Wars films and last four Indiana Jones films, respectively.

The purchase marks a clear desire by Disney to expand further into the tent-pole feature film business, with Pixar Animation Studios and Marvel Studios moving into the Mouse House over the last decade.

Crossing Paths

A few years ago, In Bruges, a humorous take on the hitman film gained cult status with viewers and high marks from critics. Now director Martin McDonagh has reteamed with Collin Farrell (as well as an even wilder supporting cast) to once again mine comedic gold from the action thriller genre. In his latest, Seven Psychopaths, McDonagh throws a lot at you and even when if it's not always coherent, it's consistently entertaining.

This is not the type of film that can easily be summarized in a simple sentence. What you should know is that there are a pair of two-bit crooks (Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken) who kidnap dogs in order to return them and cash in on the reward. The scam is effective until they steal the Shiz Tsu of an unbalanced mob boss (played by Woody Harrelson) who will stop at nothing to get his precious pooch back. Farrell, who is also friends with Rockwell, is a struggling screenwriter who's working on a new film, conveniently named Seven Psychopaths. His efforts to write that film provide a meta-narrative throughout the movie as we discover which of these characters are actually psychopaths. Here that may sound confusing, but discovering who the psychopaths are in the film is a lot of fun

A movie like this is truly a film lover's dream. On one level you've got a lot of terrific actors hamming it up here. Rockwell has played this loose cannon character before, but still finds way to make it feel fresh and engaging. And it's a joy to see Christopher Walken just be his usual self on the big screen again. The man's acting style though often parodied and imitated, is uniquely his own and he once again steals the show here.

These actors are also able to give fine performances because of the script that they are working from. In addition to having a lot of funny lines, the screenplay is filled with incisive commentary on the screenwriting process. At one point, the characters talk about the difficulty in writing decent roles for women and then we see throughout this film that the female characters are underwritten and barely have a presence in the film.

Being in the mindset of a psychopath does have it drawbacks when it comes to story construction. The film's narrative can often be as schizophrenic as the characters it represents. The film goes off on a lot of tangents that never really seem to fully connect to the central story. For as funny and or engaging as these tangents are, they can also be equally frustrating as you try to make sense of everything.
Quentin Tarantino's success with films like Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction produced a lot of check knock-offs that could not match the sheer bravado he displayed on the screen. With this film, however, McDonagh has succeeed whether others have failed. This is quite the gonzo trip of wisecracks and gore. I can guarantee that if the film sounded at all intriguing to you that you will be highly entertained by this.

Seven Psychopaths may not have mass appeal, but is nothing short of a success. I never thought I could associate myself with anyone who could be known as a psychopath, but I would gladly enjoy watching more adventures with this group of psychos anytime. If you're looking for a bloody good time, then Seven is your lucky number. Grade: B+

Scientific Myth-od

I neglected to post this a few weeks ago when it first debuted online, but felt it still deserved acknowledgement. This is a pretty dead-on parody of Mythbusters from the folks at College Humor. It also manages to take a jab at religion as well. Check it out.

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

Beat the clock

The words 'time travel' can evoke a wide array of emotions in people. Some marvel at the thought of being able to into the past or future. Others who have seen movies depicting such science fiction know the narrative and linear headaches such an undertaking can produce.

In Looper, the latest film from director Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), both the wonder and frustration associated with travelling through time are on full display. The plot is not the easiest to explain, but I'll give it my best shot. The film is set in the not so distant future where time travel hasn't been invented but eventually will. In the film's future where time travel does exist, murder is forbidden, so people are sent to the past to be 'eliminated'. They are killed by 'loopers', a hired group of individuals who are informed of where their time travelling target is set to arrive so that they can be immediately killed.

One of the interesting things about the film is that eventually all loopers will kill off their future self. The film centers around one of these loopers named Joe, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Problems arise when he is unable to kill his future self, played by Bruce Willis (Gordon-Levitt went through extensive makeup in order to come off as a reasonably younger version of Willis). Willis' escape not only creates the possibility of timeline alteration, but puts Gordon-Levitt's life in danger as his mob boss (played fantastically in a small role by Jeff Daniels) wants him killed now as well.

At this point, the film appears to set itself up as an interesting chase picture. However, instead of going that conventional route, we learn that Willis has some big plans now that he is in the past that send the film in a whole new direction. Without going into too much detail on it, it creates a plot twist that I wasn't expecting and one that I'm not entirely sure I appreciate.

What I can divulge is that while on his quest to hunt down his future self, Gordon-Levitt comes across a young mother (played by Emily Blunt) living on a Kansas farm. Despite playing a role that you would not expect from her, Blunt delivers a captivating performance and proves to be a great addition to the film. But the role her and her son play in the story is one that I was at best, confused by, and at worst, greatly disturbed seeing unfold.

As the film shifts towards Willis' plan, the film also slows down considerably. This is a move that I don't have a problem with in theory. I can appreciate when a director wants to let their story breathe and allow for characters to develop. The problem with that shift in this film is that it leaves the viewer too much time to begin asking questions and poking holes in the time travel rules that were established in the faster-paced first half of the film.

I will credit Johnson, however, for imbuing the film with a unique visual style. Choosing a location like Kansas to set this film feels fresh and interesting. He also creatively weaves symobolism throughout the film that helps establish what he's trying to say with this admittedly difficult to follow story. I've seen each of Johnson's films so far and while each of them have their flaws, it's clear that he has some distinct talents that separate him from most other directors.

Looper was one of my most anticipated films this year, so I may be judging it harder than it deserves. There's plenty to like about this film and I applaud those involved for trying to create something new and engaging. Ultimately, though I can't help but feel let down by its unexpected narrative shift and unresolved subplots. I may find though that my criticisms may soften if I watch the film again. While time travel doesn't exist for us yet, thanks to the beauty of home video we have the ability to go into the past and watch films like these over and over again in hopes of discovering something new each time. Grade: B+

Tony Express

Hard to believe, but it's already time to start thinking about summer 2013. After the big success of The Avengers this year, everyone's anxious to see what will happen to these characters next. Well, you can get your first glimpse at one of them with the newly released teaser trailer for Iron Man 3.

Fall TV Report: Freshman shows

I am WAY behind on a lot of my blogging. There's several things I could post, but I'll begin with a discussion of the few new shows that have caught my eye.

Elementary - I'm a big mystery fan and there's no greater sleuth than Sherlock. He's very hot right now with the Robert Downey Jr. film franchise and a successful BBC series as well. This latest entry, starring Johnny Lee Miller as Holmes and Lucy Liu as a female Watson has not been the slam dunk that I had hoped for and I think part of the problem is the network its on. CBS has a slew of succesful shows, but they are all very familiar and routine. In the first few episodes, the stories told haven't been anything that couldn't have been used on CSI, or NCIS, or The Mentalist, or... shall I go on? I want more brain-testing mysteries and more idiosyncrasies on display by Holmes. I do have some hope that things can improve as this past week's episode was the first one that felt like Holmes and Watson were an actual team instead of making Liu completely superfluous to the story. True Holmes fans will likely be disappointed, but for everyone looking for another solid crime series, this will do just fine. It's been picked up for a full season so look for this to stick around for a while.

Go On - It's the lone new sitcom that has appealed to me in the least and had any success (moderate though it may be) in the ratings. The premise for the show (Matthew Perry attends weekly group therapy sessions to deal with the death of his wife) is relatively fresh and unique. It's also has an amazingly talented cast of comedic actors including Julie White, Brett Gelman, John Cho, Bill Cobbs, and a few others who you'd likely recognize if you saw them. But for all that this show has going for it, I feel like it really hasn't maximized its potential. Some shows struggle initially until it finally finds its voice. I'm hoping that's the case here. I enjoy seeing these characters, I just don't laugh as much as with some of my other favorite sitcoms. Given the lack of other options, I'll stick with this one for now.

Revolution - I had some serious reservations about this one. I've been burned by one too many Lost clones in recent years and feared I would do the same with this one. Shows like this have great setups and no follow through. Then the audience erodes and the series gets cancelled before the viewers who stuck around can get any answers. Well I'm happy to report that thus far this show has bucked that trend. From a viewer standpoint, it's been a huge hit for NBC and has already received a full season order. From my perspective, the show is far from perfect, but solid enough to have captured my interest. Instead of having everything hinge on one singular mystery, the writers have created a lot of different stories that are each intriguing. I'm also pleased that I don't really hate any of the characters to the degree that I want them killed off each episode. The show has so far also done a decent job of keeping the story moving so that you feel like you learn or accomplish something new each episode. I think the success this show has seen will allow the people behind this show to have the confidence to continue to move forward at an appropriate pace and deliver quality entertainment that can last beyond just one season.

Those are the only new shows that I'm regularly watching. Last Resort is one that I still hope to catch, but I'll have to do so through On Demand because I have too many other things airing at the same time that it does. I watched the premiere of Animal Practice and it is disappointingly awful. Everyone else seemed to agree because NBC has already cancelled it. I've seen parts of The Mindy Project and Ben and Kate, but neither of those seemed to be targeted for me. If you've seen any other new show, feel free to chime in and offer your thoughts.

And Django was his name-o

Here's the latest trailer for Quentin Tarantino's new film, Django Unchained set to come out this Christmas.

RBR: The Five-Year Engagement

Some pairs just seem like a match made in heaven. But as we all know, looks can be deceiving. This is true for the characters in The Five-Year Engagement. Tom (Jason Segal) and Violet (Emily Blunt), are a couple who seem to be deeply in love at their engagement and yet struggle to actually tie the knot. This idea is also applicable to the film itself - a movie that has a great cast and setup and yet can't turn that into something successful. This is certainly through no fault of the casting. Segal is his usual doughy, loveable self and Blunt is consistently charming (As a side note, she is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses who has shown tremendous range in her past few roles). Rather, this movie commits a few of my 'mortal sins' when it comes to filmmaking. One of them is the reliance on cliched characters. I mean how many times do we have to see the 'lecherous older male professor' character. Maybe given my profession, I'm more sensitive to this cliche than others, but it just felt unoriginal and you knew every beat to that character's story arc. The other sin committed here is poor communication. I had expected this film to be about a series of events that conspire against the film's leads, preventing them from getting hitched. Instead, there's really on one primary issue here and it could have been resolved or dealt with in much more succinct manner. It should not have taken five years to arrive at the resolution they come to by the movie's end. It's feels more like a six months to a year issue at best. And while the timeline in the film doesn't feel very long, watching the film feels like five years of the viewers' time has passed. More time was needed in the editing room for this film. Somewhere buried inside is a good film. The cast and everyone else involved is too talented to turn in an effort like this. As it stands, this comes off as a disappointment. Rating: ** 1/2

Yippee ki YAY!

Believe it or not, John McClain is back for another Die Hard adventure. Here's your first look at A Good Day to Die Hard

Fran-tastic news

From SI.com

Terry Francona is getting back with one of his baseball families.

Francona, who guided the Boston Red Sox to two World Series titles, has been hired as manager of the Cleveland Indians, a team that collapsed in the second half this season after a promising first four months. The sides continued working Saturday night on the length of Francona's contract.

The 53-year-old will be formally introduced as Cleveland's 42nd manager during a Monday news conference at Progressive Field.

"I'm really excited," Francona said on the air as an ESPN analyst, his job for the past season. "People who don't know me may have thought I was looking for something different."

The Indians chose Francona over Sandy Alomar Jr., who served as the club's interim manager for the final six games after Manny Acta was fired on Sept. 27. Francona and Alomar, who spent the past three seasons as a coach in Cleveland, were the only candidates to interview for the Indians' opening.

Alomar has been offered a spot on Francona's staff, most likely as bench coach.

The Indians have always held a special place for Francona. After he was fired as Philadelphia's manager, he worked in Cleveland's front office as an adviser in 2001. He also spent a portion of the 1988 season on Cleveland's major league roster and his father, Tito, played with the Indians from 1959-64.

Francona has stayed close with Indians president Mark Shapiro and general manager Chris Antonetti over the past decade. He said the chance to work with them again is what intrigued him most about the Cleveland job, which will have its challenges because of a much smaller payroll than he enjoyed in Boston.

"It's a good story, almost a family feeling," Francona said after his interview on Friday. "I don't think you can take a job because of that, but it still means a lot to me. Because of Chris and Mark and my relationship, I am excited to try to tackle, or attempt to tackle, every challenge that comes our way and do it together."

There are some major challenges in Cleveland, where fans have been waiting for a World Series winner since 1948.

The Indians were a major disappointment this season, going 68-94. They were within 3 1-2 games of first place on July 27, but went 5-24 in August - the worst month in the franchise's 112-year history - and finished 20 games out in the AL Central. Acta didn't get to finish his third season with the club.

"We have better talent than our record shows," Antonetti said earlier this week.

With shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, second baseman Jason Kipnis, center fielder Michael Brantley and catcher Carlos Santana, the Indians have a solid core of young position players to build around. Cleveland's bullpen was the strength of the team this season, but All-Star closer Chris Perez caused distractions with his comments and actions.

The Indians lacked a proven power hitter - DH Travis Hafner was injured much of the season - and it remains to be seen if Cleveland owner Paul Dolan will spend in free agency to add talent.

Francona interviewed with the Indians one day after Alomar, a six-time All-Star catcher for Cleveland and fan favorite. Alomar managed the Indians to a 3-3 record after Acta was dismissed. Alomar will likely be courted by other teams seeking a manager. He interviewed with Boston last year before the Red Sox hired Bobby Valentine.

Francona spent eight seasons with the Red Sox but was not brought back after the club fell apart down the stretch in 2011. This season, Francona worked as a TV broadcaster and said it was while preparing for telecasts that he realized how much he missed managing and being around players.

"We appreciate Terry's great contributions to our baseball coverage and we wish him the best,"? ESPN said in a statement, adding Francona will appear as a guest analyst during the network's World Series coverage.

Francona has managed for 12 seasons in the majors, compiling a 1,029-915 record.

"I played for Tito (Francona) and everybody knows his track record is a good one," said Indians pitcher Justin Masterson, who was with Francona in Boston for 2008-9.

Antonetti said part of Francona's appeal was how he developed young players like Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester as they came up through Boston's system.

"In addition to that, he's a great communicator and an accomplished leader," Antonetti said.

America's scariest home videos

Turn out the lights because here's the latest trailer for Paranormal Activity 4

Adios Acta!

From SI.com:

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Cleveland Indians have fired manager Manny Acta after the team collapsed from contention.

Acta, hired by Cleveland in 2009 after two losing seasons as Washington's manager, couldn't stop the Indians from falling to last place in the AL Central. They were within three games of first place on July 21 before losing 21 of 25 and eventually sliding all the way back to last. It certainly wasn't all Acta's fault, but there were times when the Indians seemed to be going through the motions and a lack of effort isn't a positive reflection on any manager.

Acta went 214-266 in nearly three seasons with the Indians, who are just 21-50 in the second half this season. He had one season left on his contract.

The Indians announced Acta will not return in 2013 on Thursday, an off day before opening their final homestand.

Bench coach Sandy Alomar, a former Indians player and fan favorite who could become Cleveland's next full-time manager, will replace Acta for the last six games of 2012.

The Indians said the search for a new manager will begin immediately. Acta's coaching staff will remain intact for the rest of this season.

Indians general manager Chris Antonetti thanked Acta for his service.

"Manny's passion for the game, positive attitude and tremendous knowledge of baseball helped guide us to a number of high points during his tenure," Antonetti said in a statement. "Managerial changes are never easy or taken lightly, but as we approached the end of the season and turned our attention to assessing the year, we determined a change was necessary."

Earlier this month, owner Paul Dolan said he was not considering a managerial change, but the Indians continued to stumble and left the club with little choice. Dolan indicated the decision was made by Antonetti, who is in his second season.

"I have great respect for Manny and appreciate the effort he exhibited not only leading our team, but also the contributions he made in our community over the past three years," Dolan said in a statement. "I fully support Chris' decision to make this change and am confident that he will lead a tireless search to find the right individual to lead the club to our ultimate goal of winning the World Series."

Acta maintained a stoic attitude during the Indians' freefall and insisted he wasn't concerned about his future but only about developing young players.

It didn't help Acta that several Cleveland players underperformed while others couldn't stay healthy. Former All-Star center fielder Grady Sizemore, who was signed to a one-year, $5 million free-agent contract in November despite missing most of the past three seasons with injuries, never got healthy enough to play. Designated hitter Travis Hafner missed several months with a bad back.

And Antonetti's major acquisition in 2011 of ace Ubaldo Jimenez failed to pay dividends, as the right-hander went 9-17 with a 5.55 ERA.

After winning 80 games in 2011, the Indians entered the season with high hopes. It seemed as if they were in position to compete for a playoff spot before their inexplicable collapse, going 5-24 in August.

Frack attack

There's a late entry into this year's Oscar race, but given the pedigree associated with the cast and crew, it could very well play a role in this year's awards season. Here's your first look at Promised Land starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski (The Office) and directed by Gus Van Sant.

Fall TV Report Card (Thursdays Part 1)

Some of my favorite shows on Thursday got a jump start and premiered last week, so I'll review those now and the ones that debut tonight will be recapped later on.

The Office - After struggling to deal with the loss of Steve Carrell last season, this show promises a renewed sense of focus as it heads into its final season. This first episode nicely sowed some seeds for the end game of several of the key characters like Jim and Dwight, which I appreciated. The humor in the episode though was a mixed bag with a handful of decent lines but still too much wacky, physical humor that has weakened some of the characters (Kevin should be dim, but not THAT dim). This show can never recapture the glory of its early days, but it appears that they are going to do their best to give this cast a proper sendoff that will allow us to still think fondly of the show even after it is gone. Grade: B

Parks and Recreation - Last season ended with Leslie's big victory, winning the race for councilman. So in typical mockumentary fashion, we can't let the characters' wins last for too long as we saw here in the opener. Leslie got a wake up call while visiting Ben in Washington about how much she's been a big fish in a small pond for a long time. The storyline was well done, but didn't produce enough big laughs for me. Meanwhile Ron's attempt at throwing a barbeque went in typical fashion. Oddly enough, Rob Lowe's Chris brought the biggest laughs for me from this subplot. It's so nice to see him really integrate into the world and return to his happy self after being depressed for most of last season. Though their time was brief, April and Andy always bring the laughs and I wish we could have seen more from their time together in the nation's capital. I'm not sure if this worked well as a season premiere, but given the Washington bigwigs that had cameos in the episode, I can see why they went with it. I'll definitely be anxious to see everyone back in Pawnee sooner rather than later. Grade: A-

Bond countdown: The Man With The Golden Gun (1975)

Fall TV Report Card: Wednesdays

Hump day is a slow day for me TV-wise so there won't be much to this post, but things will surely pick up as I go over the rest of the days of the week.

Survivor: Phillipines - Despite the fact that the show once again brought back returning players, there's a freshness to that twist this time. Each of the returning players are individuals who previously left the game for medical reasons, not because they were voted out. This then truly becomes a case of 'what if?' It should be very interesting to see if they remain healthy how far they can go. Thus far, Russell Swan already looks to be in trouble given his bossy nature and weak tribemates. Jonathan Penner isn't too well liked on his tribe either, but he's smart enough to find a way to stay in the game for a while. Plus his tribe looks strong, so they may not be visiting tribal council for a while. Then again, if teammate and former Major League Baseball MVP Jeff Kent's knee is seriously injured, that could dramatically alter the game. Finally, there's Michael Skupin, the infamous Survivor player from Season 2, who severly burned his hands after passing out by the fire. That had been one of the most infamous moments in Survivor history and yet, looking at his performance thus far in this new season, you begin to look at that injury in a new light. In a matter of days, he has suffered a minimum of four minor injuries to himself. I don't want to call the guy accident-prone, but it's looking more and more like that with each passing day. He, however, has the strongest standing within his tribe as he's already been pulled into an alliance. You get the sense though that he would rather be aligned with a different member of his tribe, Lisa Welchel, better known to most as Blaire from The Facts of Life. Though she claims to be a huge fan, it appears that the elements of the game are already getting the best of her. She'll need a dramatic turnaround if she hopes to stay in the game for long.

Overall, while it's way too early to judge how this season will play out, I think they've got a good cast of people who look like they're actually capable of competing rather than just being there because they look pretty or will cause trouble. I also like the Phillipines location, which allows the show to have some more challenges in the water - something that's been lacking in the past few seasons. I also enjoy the three tribe split that they've gone with this year, even if I know it won't last too long if for no other reason then the numbers just won't allow it. Here's hoping to a good season full of outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting. Grade: A-

Bond countdown: Live and Let Die (1973)

RBR: The Lorax

Filmmakers have been relying on the work of Dr. Seuss for several years now as a means of easy children's entertainment. While some of them turned out well, this latest effort from Universal Pictures' Illumination Entertainment is a mixed bag. The Lorax is one of Seuss' best stories and has a comendable message about the environment; a message that undermined by the slick commercialism that surrounds both the promotion and execution of this film. It's hard to pay attention to characters preaching the value of saving trees when you're focusing on which celebrity voice is saying it or how good the Lorax themed pancakes at IHOP are. That's not to say that the film doesn't have its appeals. The filmmakers effectively bring the world created by Seuss to life in rich, vibrant, candy-coated colors and they manage to include a couple of catchy songs in as well. I also enjoyed Danny Devito's performance as the titular creature and wished that he was featured more prominantly in the film. This, though, points out another major issue with the movie - while the central story is solid, it's noticeable how much filler they needed to add in order to turn this into a 90 minute movie. Kids will surely enjoy this film even if they don't quite get the key message in the same way as if they had read the book. Adults, however, will struggle to find much to appreciate here and will be dismayed that someone has ruined another one of their beloved kids' tales. Rating: ** 1/2

Beat this

Actor, meat eater, and the manliest-man on this planet, Nick Offerman, aka Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation shares with us some beat poetry about one of his most favorite things - bacon. Enjoy!

Some Bond Like You

We got confirmation today of something that had been widely speculated for months now - British songstress Adele will be performing the theme song for Skyfall. Here's more on the story from showbiz411.com:

I think I can confirm for you what I said some months ago–Adele is performing the theme song for “Skyfall,” the 23rd James Bond movie. As far as I know the song is called “Skyfall.” I think if anyone else had sung the theme song this year it wouldn’t have made sense. Adele’s sound is the quintessential James Bond sound. She joins Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Rita Coolidge, John Barry, Duran Duran and others on the long list of pop stars who’ve immortalized James Bond in song.

“Skyfall” will be Adele’s first new single since her album “21″ sold 7 billion copies in 13 different galaxies. The movie opens in London the last week of October, right when Adele will give birth to a baby, as well. The good news is, this should be an actual song with a melody and a hook, unlike recent tortures.

Bond countdown: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Wii got a release date

From ew.com:

Nintendo announced the official release date for its new console, the Wii U, which made a big splash when it was announced at E3 and made a smaller splash at E3 2012 — meaning that the device will either be an underdog success story or a hubris-soaked fall from grace. The Wii U will officially begin the eighth generation of console gaming on Sunday, Nov. 18, assuring that your Thanksgiving family reunion will be dominated by your mouthy nephew explaining how to use the touchscreen and then laughing when you talk about the good old days of controllers that only had two buttons, dagnabbit.

There will be two different Wii U packages available. The Basic costs $299 and comes with a GamePad, a console, and a crushing sense of inadequacy. The Deluxe, meanwhile, runs to $349 and comes with more memory, a charging cradle, a copy of Nintendo Land, and the need to assure yourself that Nintendo Land was totally worth the extra cost. Nintendo’s press conference also featured an in-depth look at launch titles like Super Mario Bros. U and LEGO City Undercover, along with official announcements about the release of Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101, which stole our hearts when it was still called Project P-100 at E3. Nintendo also introduced “Nintendo TVii,” an entertainment service which will allow you to watch all your favorite TV shows on your console — certainly the most exciting announcement of 2005.

Presidential order

Here's your first look at Daniel Day-Lewis as Honest Abe in the upcoming Steven Spielberg historical drama, Lincoln

RBR: The Hunger Games

So there's this little movie called The Hunger Games, anybody here of it? Of course you have and seeing as how I'm probably the last person on Earth who hasn't seen the movie yet, it's probably futile to do a review. And yet here it is anyway. I began with a natural aversion to the film given what I felt was undue proclamation of its greatness before it even came out. Like the Twilight franchise, I'm naturally skeptical of the quality of anything coming out of the YA genre of literature. But unlike Twilight, this at least had a core premise that interested me, hence why I actually decided to give it a look.

If I could summarize my thoughts in the film in once sentence, it would be this: This is a good movie, that could have been a great movie. Having not read the books, I'm not quite sure if the film's faults are the result of the director's adaptation of the novel or a weakness in the source material. The film centers around a wealthy, vindictive capital city that forces young representatives from its poor, outlying districts to compete in a battle to the death. The first hour of the film devotes itself to the preparation, training, and theatrics that are associated with these games. Most of this is good, engaging stuff. As the film shifts to the games itself, it becomes an increasing frustrating and unsatisfying film. I sat there befuddled as to why the focus was on the character of Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence). Her story arc feels empty without getting a sufficient perspective from the viewers of these games. Not enough time is spent on either the rich Capital citizens, nor the lowly people of her district to make me invested in seeing her, or anyone else for that matter, succeed in this contest. Instead it's a dull, exploitative exercise in survival of the fittest.

You compare this to a film like The Truman Show, a movie with a similar theme of big brother watching over and profitting from the televising of other's actions. In that film, you really got a sense of the motivations from everyone involved. Here it's unclear as to why the Capital has any investment in who wins. We see people involved manipulate how the game is played with no explanation why. Likewise, we're meant to believe that Katniss winning is significant and will have some ramifications, but this also is unclear.

However, like I said this is a good movie. You get some decent performances from guys like Woody Harrelson, playing a former winner of the Games who now mentors current contestants, and Stanley Tucci, as the disingenuous talk show host overseeing the festivities. I also felt the movie clipped along at a good pace, never feeling slow. Finally, the romantic subplot does not overtake the film as I feared it would. Ultimately, if you haven't read the book, I don't think there's enough here for you to appreciate why this film has become such a huge sensation. And if you have read the book, well then you've already seen this movie, in which case my opinion doesn't matter. I can only hope moving forward, the film discovers where its narrative value is at and focuses on that. Rating: *** 1/2

Bond countdown: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

After some technical difficulties, I'm starting my James Bond retrospectives back up again. In order to get through all of them before Skyfall comes out, I'll be aiming to do about 2 a week, so check back frequently for more retrospectives over the next couple of months.

Cross to bear

Like many, I had trepidations about the continuation of the Bourne franchise without Matt Damon as the amnesiatic assassin or Paul Greengrass as director. But to the studio's credit, The Bourne Legacy is not simply a lazy or spiteful reboot like Sony did with Spider-Man. Instead they created an expansion of the universe created by Robert Ludlum's spy novels and attempted to look at the story from a different perspective.

That perspective comes from Aaron Cross, (Jeremy Renner) an agent of Operation Outcome, a separate group from Treadstone, which Bourne belonged too. A key difference between the two groups is that Outcome agents have been put on a pill regimen to medically enhance their abilities. The film opens during the timeline of the last Bourne film. We see from new footage different government officials reacting to Bourne's efforts to expose Treadstone. Realizing that the operation is blown, the CIA decides to pull the plug on all their operations. A team led by a retired Air Force colonel (played by Edward Norton) is tasked with eliminating all of their agents. Cross is fortunate enough to escape and begins his quest for determining why the government is now trying to kill him.

All of this set-up is terrific. The film nicely weaves the events of the previous film into this story and justifiably establishes a reason why there would now be someone else wanting to exact revenge on our government. The scenes establishing Renner's character are also well done. He's currently training in Alaska, so we get several instances of him battling the elements before dealing with the government, including a fight with wolves that was on par with the action scene earlier this year in The Grey

Unfortunately, the movie loses steam in the second half. Cross' character seems more intent on getting a fresh supply of the pills that give him his abilities than he is about exacting revenge. We get a lot of scenes with him talking about the pills, showing the effects of withdrawl, and looking for the pills and none of it is particularly engaging. Helping him in his quest is a doctor played by Rachel Weisz who originally gave him the drugs. She's being hunted by the government as well after she managed to escape an attack on her lab. Weisz is fine here, but I never saw any chemistry between her and Renner in the same way that I did between Damon and Marie (Franke Potente) or Nikki (Julia Stiles).

Pacing also becomes problematic as the movie progresses. After a series of conversations bog down the middle of the film, we get an overly long action sequence at the very end of the film. Not only should there have been a better balance between the action and dialogue, but the film's final action sequence comes off as anti-climatic. I expected more to come and yet shortly after the chase sequence finishes, the credits begin to roll.

Though frustrating, the film's abrupt ending left many doors open to be explored down the line in yet more Bourne films. I know I am interested in seeing more. Although admittedly, it's more of an interest in seeing the characters established in the first three films, rather than anyone new in Legacy That not only goes for Damon, but also people like Joan Allen and David Straithairn, who have little more than cameos in Legacy As for the new characters, Renner was fine when it came to the action, but he still strikes me as a better sidekick than leader (see The Avengers and Ghost Protocol). Edward Norton is always an excellent actor, but we didn't learn enough about his character here to care whether or not he returns.

The Bourne Legacy is a difficult film to rate because a lot hinges on whether or not anymore films in the franchise will be made. If this is it, then the film feels like an underwhelming and unnecessary capper. If this is a jump start to a new trilogy, then you can appreciate what it was trying to set up. For now I'm giving the film I mild recommendation for its ability to nicely integrate the storyline of the original trilogy and for whetting fans' appetites for the possibility of more adventures with Treadstone, Outcome, Blackbriar and the rest of the shady CIA operations. If fans of the franchise come in with lowered expectations, they'll likely enjoy this latest spy thriller. Grade: B

RBR: Bernie

From time to time, a movie comes along that gets undeservedly ignored by the masses and Bernie is one of them. The movie, directed by Richard Linklater, does a interesting documentary/mockumentary hybrid of a true story about a well-liked funeral director from a small town in Texas accused of murdering a mean old woman he befriended. Jack Black plays the funeral director and gives a terrific performance - probably his best since School of Rock, which coincidentally was also directed by Linklater. Shirley Maclaine is great as well playing the mean widow. You also have a fun performance from Matthew McConaughy, who plays the slick district attorney out to prove that Bernie is a fraud and a murderer. One of the best parts of this film is that they got real citizens from Carthage, Texas to do the talking head segments of the film. In doing so, you get a much greater sense of the true affinity these people had for Bernie and the cognitive dissonance they went through after he's accused of the murder. Between the unique nature of this crime story and the engaging performance, the film sucks you in immediately and you become equally invested in the outcome of this story. Please do yourself a favor and seek this one out at Redbox, Netflix, or on demand. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Rating: ****1/2