by Linda Holmes

The most important moment in the solid new film Funny People is the opening. As he discussed on Fresh Air, writer-director Judd Apatow (both lucky and smart here, as they say) had old footage of a young Adam Sandler making prank phone calls from when the two were roommates, and that's how the film begins.

It is essentially impossible to duplicate manic comic energy in a written screenplay performed by an actor. Grief is easier to convey, anger is easier, joy is easier, attraction is easier. Nothing Apatow could have written would ever have driven home what this footage drives home about a young guy who prides himself on being funny — how hard he'll work to crack everyone up, including himself. Nothing would have captured the combination of likability and desperate eagerness that makes a giggling clown the kind of guy people are drawn to on one hand, and grow tired of on the other.

That's what happens to Sandler's character, George Simmons, who finds that after a long movie career very obviously modeled on Sandler's own, he's rattling around in his giant house by himself. What's more, he's just been told that he's probably going to die.

Antsy and without company, he goes back to the one place he feels comfortable: the world of stand-up, where he takes a liking to young comic Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), whom he hires to write jokes for him, and eventually to be his assistant.

And from there, like most stories, it's about whether these guys are going to be changed by this experience, and how, and how much.

The abrupt change of direction, the mixed blessing of celebrity cameos, and several people at their least annoying, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Funny People': The More Comedians Change, The More They Stay The Same" >

by Linda Holmes

If you've seen your Facebook or Twitter feed over the last week turn into a patchwork of little cartoon heads, you're probably experiencing the effects of Mad Men Yourself, an AMC-sponsored online application that creates a personal, Mad Men-ized version of you -- or of what you wish you were. (I was honest enough to give myself coffee, anyway, as you can see.)

The site has been very successful; the icons it generates have been popping up all over social media. And it turns out that, to create this terrific online doodad, AMC turned to someone who was already making great Mad Men online doodads: an artist who goes by the name Dyna Moe and has been creating a beautiful set of drawings called Mad Men Illustrated for quite some time.

As she explained in a recent interview, Dyna didn't start out as some ordinary fan of the show; she knew a cast member and so wasn't a total stranger. Still, what she was doing wasn't authorized by anyone. But rather than send her the cease-and-desist she admits she half-expected, the show decided to adopt her and get her to work for them, and now they have one of the most clever and quickly adopted marketing tricks for a TV show that has gone by in quite some time.

It's particularly interesting to see AMC go down this road, because the network got itself into a dust-up about a year ago when it forced Twitter to suspend the accounts that fans had set up in the names of Mad Men characters. The network eventually backtracked, but it was a forehead-slappingly dumb example of alienating your best resource, which is your superfans.

It appears that between last summer and now, somebody has learned something about unauthorized riffs on your show that are done by people who love your show: before you send an attorney's letter ordering them to stop stepping on your toes, consider asking them to dance. They might say yes, and it will be more fun for everybody.

by Mark Blankenship

Most of the time, I use the term "guilty pleasure" as a genre label. Like...I don't feel ashamed that I still listen to Ace Of Base, but I call "The Sign" a "guilty pleasure" because I know that's the cheesy, content-free sector of pop culture where it was born.

But when it comes to HBO's new comedy Hung, about a broke schoolteacher whose large physical endowment leads him to a sideline job as a hooker, my enjoyment produces actual guilt. There's never been a show that makes me feel so mean.

The Man takes a fall and gets very little sympathy, after the jump...

Continue reading "Laughing At The Man: 'Hung' Leaves Me Stung (With Guilt, That Is)" >

by Linda Holmes

Have you ever looked at something and thought to yourself, "Is that a thing now? I didn't know that was a thing."

Perfect example: Cake shows. I'm not talking about figurative cake shows — sweet, airy shows, or shows with many layers. I'm not being metaphorical here. I'm saying: cake shows. Shows about cake.

On Ace Of Cakes, which moves to a new time slot tonight at 10 p.m. on the Food Network, Duff Goldman of Baltimore's Charm City Cakes works with a large crew to create wildly elaborate cakes.

He made one recently for Alaska's 50th birthday, and one for the cast of Lost, which involved sculpting all the cast members individually out of edible paste. (They were, I must say, surprisingly recognizable.)

But Duff is far from alone.

More shows, the good cakes and the bad cakes, and the "logic" of spending this kind of money on something you're just going to eat, after the jump...

Continue reading "Weird Genre Watch: Suddenly, We Are Waist-Deep In Cake Shows" >

by Linda Holmes

It's a little bit of a cheat that Edward Scissorhands, which was released in 1990, is part of an '80s movie series at all. But in the same way that the cultural '60s actually extended into the early '70s, the emergence of Tim Burton with Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Batman and Beetlejuice is a late-'80s phenomenon, and it's not unfair to pull in Edward Scissorhands as a critical step in that process.

Besides, 1990 was Johnny Depp's breakout year -- including both this movie and Cry-Baby -- after a history as an '80s TV heartthrob on 21 Jump Street and a permanent position in the pages of Tiger Beat, so let's go with it.

Edward Scissorhands is so visually intricate and so famous for being so -- not just the way Depp looks, but the sidewalk-chalk color palette of the neighborhood where he's brought down from his ominous stone castle to live -- that it's easy to forget that it's also a very intense story about isolation. The symbolism is so blunt as to be either remarkably guileless or remarkably clumsy, depending strictly on how it strikes you at a given moment.

A man with blades for hands, capable of brilliant blasts of heartfelt creativity but not normal human contact, justifiably afraid of touching anyone, constantly accidentally-on-purpose turning the weapons on himself...it's so simultaneously rich and corny, as a concept, that it's the kind of tenderly simplistic thing that could have been conceived by the most tortured but talented ninth-grader at a creative-writing camp.

Why it still works, and what it might make you pine for, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Summer Of '80s Movies: On 'Edward Scissorhands' And Using Real Things" >

by Marc Hirsh

Funny People comes out tomorrow, and I have to admit, I'm worried.

It has nothing to do with it being a Judd Apatow movie; the guy may have lent his name to some questionable projects (Year One, anybody?), but the things that are definitively his -- TV shows Freaks And Geeks and Undeclared, and movies The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up -- are all good-to-great. And it has nothing to do with it being an Adam Sandler movie, since Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love showed what he can do when not left unchecked.

No, what has me nervous is right there in the title. It's a movie that's about people who make a living being funny and who are presented in the very act of funny-being. That means that the characters have to...you know, be funny.

And that could be tricky. It's the fundamental tightrope walk for any film about the creative process, in whatever field. For it to work, those of us in the audience on this side of the screen usually have to agree with the audience on that side of the screen (or, at the very least, we have to buy into the notion that the fictional audience might plausibly respond as they do).

The problem is, we've been burned too often.

The Mr. Holland's Opus problem, and how Prince went the other way, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Funny People': The Problem Of Creating Fictional Works Of Staggering Genius" >

by Linda Holmes

In news that seems like a rewind from April, HBO is developing a half-hour comedy about an older woman who's a former feminist icon. This one comes from Buffy The Vampire Slayer scribe Marti Noxon and will star Diane Keaton.

Back in April, word was that the network was working on a show called Women's Studies, about a "former feminist It girl" (consider the question: does feminism have It girls?) who's now a women's studies professor. This new one is about a "feminist icon" who decides to "reignite the movement by starting a sexually explicit magazine for women." The other show was to come from Daily Show/Colbert Report producer Ben Karlin and star Julie White.

It's hard to imagine HBO going forward with both of these shows given their similarities, but interesting to see them working on two projects about aging feminists in a period of a little over three months. (One would hope the Noxon/Keaton show will be a little fresher than some of the comments from Noxon about the role of leg hair in feminist theory and how women have become "more sexual" since the Kinsey report in 1953; it's much too early for genuine concern.)

HBO may have believed it was winding up behind the curve of female-led comedy, given that it doesn't really have anything right now that would compete with, say, Weeds on Showtime. But either way, chalk up another film actress finding her way to a regular job heading up a TV show.

by Neda Ulaby

On the Culturetopia podcast, our weekly sampler that excerpts and highlights the very best of NPR's arts and culture reporting, we're pleased to present a couple of extra-fantastic interviews. You can subscribe to the podcast here and get hand-picked arts stories delivered every Wednesday, or you can listen right in this space.

Terry Gross talks with director Judd Apatow, who directed The 40 Year Old Virgin and a new movie, Funny People. Funny People stars Adam Sandler, and Apatow recalls their salad days rooming together when the two were young, hungry, undiscovered...and idiosyncratic when it came to releasing creative urges.

Then you'll hear an unexpected side to Diana Krall in her Morning Edition interview with Steve Inskeep. She's funny, she flubs up and you'll hear a veritable chocolate sundae of a jazz standard — a familiar tune that Krall recasts as "The Boy From Ipanema."

Also: a review of the snappy British political thriller In The Loop, the perils of last-minute obituaries and an aural snapshot of young singer Zee Avi. Born in Borneo, she's been described as "one part Billie Holiday, two parts Doris Day, with a little island, indie pop tossed in the mix." Which seriously doesn't even to begin to capture her allure.

by Linda Holmes

NPR, like lots of other organizations, has interns. They work all over the building in all kinds of capacities, many of which -- in the great tradition of being an intern -- are not glamorous. But they also get the opportunity to do their own work and to showcase it.

A lot of them stick around -- former NPR interns include not only scads of people working in production and editing and (again) all kinds of capacities, but on-air personalities like Guy Raz and Ari Shapiro, and even bloggers like Patrick Jarenwattananon, who writes the jazz blog A Blog Supreme.

And today is the day this season's crop of interns released Intern Edition, their 30-minute show that offers a listen to some of their radio work, which is enhanced with photos and video elements in some cases. And a lot of it, though not all of it, has ties to arts and entertainment.

The show features stories on the famous no-pants subway rides conducted by flashmobs; a look at the D.C. Hip-Hop Theatre Festival; a moving essay on why James Baldwin moved to France (which could have fallen right out of This American Life); a multimedia piece on playing bike polo in D.C. (that one is put together really interestingly); a discussion of a perplexing disorder that causes uncontrollable laughing and crying; a nice piece on charitable donations in the checkout line; and a glimpse of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears as opera fodder (oh, it's real). You can watch it right here (though it's bigger, so the photo stuff is better served, if you go to their site).

Intern Edition Summer 2009 from NPR Interns on Vimeo.

But! Not all of their work is included in the show, and you should make sure to check out all of it -- some is audio, some is writing, and some is neat multimedia stuff.

Even outside the premiere, you'll find an insightful response to David Denby's book Snark, a terrific look at state-fair butter sculptures that warmed my Minnesotan heart, a meticulously researched look at D.C.'s Go-Go music scene, and a very, very funny discussion of battling rats in a New York apartment that, unfortunately, brought back memories of my time in Brooklyn.

by Glenn McDonald

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Agatha Christie is the best-selling book author of all time, with approximately four billion works sold worldwide. Only Shakespeare and the Bible get better distribution. The Bard, of course, pretty much sells himself. As for the Bible -- well, that author has some rather unfair competitive advantages.

Christie wrote short stories, plays and romances for more than 50 years, but is best known for her series of mysteries featuring detectives Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot. Miss Marple is a personal favorite of mine, an elderly spinster and amateur detective who lives in the English village of St. Mary Mead. A devotee of gardening and knitting, Miss Marple possesses a keen mind and a preternatural insight into the darker side of human nature. St. Mary Mead has an alarming homicide rate, relative to its demographics, and Miss Marple is forever solving murder cases that leave the local police baffled.

Miss Marple stories have a reputation, richly deserved, for being delightfully addictive. I once spent a summer with my aunt in Florida, convalescing from a traumatic college break-up, and read nothing but Agatha Christie for three months. Good medicine, by the way. Hard to wallow in self-pity when the Vicar just got stabbed in the tea parlor.

Anyhoo, all of this is by way of introduction to a marvelous new DVD set out this week from A&E Home Entertainment: Agatha Christie: Poirot and Marple. This 17-disc, $135 box set collects more than 35 hours total of various British TV productions featuring the two detectives, with David Suchet and Joan Hickson starring in their signature roles.

How many murders, the prospect of an Agatha Christie video game, and why this is a particularly welcome break from crime procedurals, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Agatha Christie: Poirot And Marple' On DVD: 'CSI' The Old-Fashioned Way" >

by Linda Holmes

In support of the release of This Is Spinal Tap on Blu-ray and their album Back From The Dead (which came out in June), the members of Spinal Tap appeared with Jon Stewart last night on The Daily Show. They performed "Gimme Some Money" and "(Funky) Sex Farm", and in the clip above, they explain to Stewart what they've been up to.

by Glen Weldon

And so, as the sun sinks slowly into the Weird Western Tales back issue bin, we bid a fond farewell to another Comic-Con.

Last week, the geeks descended on San Diego like a forgotten plague of Egypt ("And lo, there shall come long lines of sweaty chunky dudes whose attitude toward deodorizing balms could best be described as ambivalent").

They came, they saw, they whinged about the influx of Twilight fans screaming over Robert Pattinson. (Which development prompted geek-adjacent comedian Paul F. Tompkins to sagely opine, via Twitter: "Listen, nerds: you are living a graphic novel called GLASS HOUSES.")

And somewhere between all the movie trailers and drinking and television pilots and drinking and video game announcements and drinking, they talked about what's new and noteworthy in comic books.

After the jump: A small sample of the comics news from Comic-Con, and why you should care.

Continue reading "Comic-Con: The Post-Mortem " >

by Linda Holmes

The Dr. Seuss environmental cautionary tale The Lorax is being made into a 3D animated film to be released in 2012, according to Variety.

Choosing this book as source material makes a lot of sense, given the enthusiasm kids often have for environmental themes (one of my dear friends reported recently that his four-year-old, wanting not to be tickled anymore, protested, "Don't tickle me...it's bad for the environment!"). The writers, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, also wrote the 2008 version of Horton Hears A Who, which was a perfectly respectable adaptation, given the difficulty of taking a little book and trying to make it into a feature-length movie.

There are multiple layers of irony to sort through in the notion of a gargantuan, expensive Hollywood production mounted to tell a story that rests on its grave reservations about consumerism and industrialization. But WALL-E struck some of these same notes, certainly, and as you may have heard, that one did all right.

One of the big questions, it would seem, will be how to treat the book's rather bleak, tiny-ray-of-hope ending. "Only you can prevent this post-manufacturing dystopia" is a hard message to put on a Happy Meal, and nothing will bring down the wrath of devoted Seussians faster than ending the movie with a lush, regrown forest of Truffula trees or a production number in which all the animals return, hand in hand, singing about how it's great to see your old pals again. It's not going to be an easy balance to strike between palatability and preservation of the point.

by Linda Holmes

On last night's Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien, William Shatner showed up to provide an interpretation of the opening of Sarah Palin's farewell speech, which (intentionally, I think) embraced a lot of Alaska-specific imagery that, if you're not from Alaska, sounded rather mystical. You could certainly give the same treatment to many -- if not most -- speeches delivered in grand settings, but here, the collision of the natural wonder of Alaska and William Shatner and bongos does make for an effective moment of poetry.

by Linda Holmes

Those who were infatuated with the very charming first episode of Fox's Glee, which premiered in May, have been anxiously awaiting the show's return this fall. And now, this preview clip emerges, showing Mercedes (Amber Riley) performing "Bust Your Windows." It's catchy and flashy, but I find myself wondering...is it corny enough?

My concern about Glee has always been whether it will be able to maintain its adorably cheesy tone for any period of time. In order to be able to sell a bunch of people nerding out over "Don't Stop Believin'," you have to stay in the zone. It works for an hour, but what about a full season? I worry that this is too straight-faced; that it verges on going for actually cool, instead of geekily cool. Perhaps I'm worrying too much; what do you think?

by Linda Holmes

There are times when something comes across my desk, and while I don't necessarily have anything to say about it, I feel compelled to pass it along. Without comment.

This book, How To Be A Hepburn In A Hilton World, is by Jordan Christy, a Warner Brothers publicist who "lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, Drew, and their beautiful baby girl, Paisley." The book is out August 13. Try to stay away from purse dogs and late-night trips to the pokey until then.

by Linda Holmes

Mary McNamara, television critic for the Los Angeles Times, argues today that television offers women better roles than film, making it crazy for a actress — her example is Katherine Heigl — to leave TV and make movies.

An artistic reason to remain in television? It's a world gone mad!

Problem with the thesis? A look at the evidence, after the jump...

Continue reading "Are Roles For Women Really Better On Television Than They Are In Film?" >

by Linda Holmes

On top of what's discussed in the dangling-monkey post below, another piece of redesign news is that we have a new media player that, among other things, makes many stories embeddable, meaning you can pop them into your own blog -- look! It will look like this!

Given that, and given the temporary disorientation as folks get used to the new setup, it seemed like as good a time as any to offer some reminders of some of the radio coverage that goes on around here all the time that might pique your interest if you have an interest in popular culture and entertainment. Let's take a spin through some of what aired just today.

Morning Edition

One company thinks it has an inventive answer to digital music pricing, but how will consumers react when the price of a song changes from week to week?

You may have heard a little bit about Comic-Con in the last week or so. Nina Gregory reports for NPR, including a chat with a Comic-Con veteran by the name of Ray Bradbury.

A very dark vision of D.C., a remembrance of choreographer Merce Cunningham, the writer-director of In The Loop, and lots more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Listen Up: Comic-Con, Two Remembrances, Spaceland, 'In The Loop'" >

by Linda Holmes

You have probably noticed things looking slightly different around these parts as of today. That's because there's an entirely redesigned NPR.org -- not just the homepage, but here on the blog as well.

Most things haven't changed too much -- we're not altering the content or introducing a live webcam of my desk (how horrifying) or anything like that. You'll see little things: the headline has a little more room, the column is a little wider, things like that. And the monkeys have gotten smaller at the top. (To paraphrase one of the greats, Monkey See is big. It's the monkeys that got small.)

The biggest change, though, is that the comment and recommendation information is at the beginning of the post instead of the end -- you can still open the comments from the bottom of the post, but the counts are at the top left, if you're wondering whether there's already chitchat going on.

Some other things to keep in mind:

• We're making more use of the Twitter feed these days, and some things I don't get around to mentioning on the blog show up there. (Nathan Rabin's book made it to the Twitter feed well before it made it to the blog today.) We'd be happy to have you in on the discussion.

• Don't forget the newsletter, which you can subscribe to from the link over to the right (right under the no-longer-stylized photo of me). In addition to giving you an easy daily reminder to check in, the newsletter is also a great way to get a heads-up if we unexpectedly have something popping on a weekend or something like that.

And don't forget that there are lots of places on NPR for pop-culture and entertainment coverage besides this page. NPR Music is always humming (I highly recommend the new Sarah Siskind Tiny Desk Concert -- I was there to see it, and it was wonderful).

And there are books (currently featuring Summer Science Books -- where but NPR will you see a promo for "mysteries of the human stomach," I ask you), and there are movies (if you haven't read Ella Taylor's review of The Ugly Truth, please check it out; it is devastating and dead-on), and there are lots of other things to enjoy in Arts & Life -- even Jeremy Piven.

And by all means, find your local station (you can do that from right next to the NPR logo at the top), which will then sit nicely at the top of the page so you can go back and forth between what's national and NPR-driven and what's special to your particular part of the country.

So look around, but then -- obviously -- come back.

by Linda Holmes

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, known colloquially as GLAAD, puts together something it calls a Network Responsibility Index -- a yearly report that measures how the various TV networks represent gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trangender people on the various networks. This year's report just came out, and it's an interesting bit of reading.

Of the broadcast networks, ABC and the CW received "Good" scores. Fox was marked "Adequate," while NBC and CBS earned a "Failing" grade.

A note about methodology: The report takes into account the substance of portrayals, but only up to a point. Much of a network's score, it turns out, is based on the simple visibility of LGBT characters.

So ABC gets credit for the story of Callie, Grey's Anatomy's bisexual doctor, while the CW gets credit for the transgender contestant on America's Next Top Model. It's not an award for heroism, necessarily, is all I'm saying.

On the cable side, HBO was the clear winner (vampires count!), emerging as "Good." Showtime earned the same ranking, though with a lower score, while networks including Lifetime and FX were "Adequate" and A&E and TBS were "Failing."

Dig deeper, and you'll find an analysis of the racial composition of the gay and lesbian characters, as well as the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender breakdowns. (Which leads, in the text of the report, to repeated pleas for more "lesbian impressions," which just means more lesbians on television, not ... lesbian impressions, if you see my point.)

The report also looks ahead at where there are opportunities for each network to improve its score. CBS, the authors point out, could have some gay people on scripted shows, rather than just on reality series like Survivor and The Amazing Race.

Want to know more? There's a summary here, or you can download the whole thing in a PDF.

See the bangs? See the shirt? 500 Days Of Summer (starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel) is a good movie, but some of these indicators of oddity have to go. ( Fox Searchlight Pictures © 2009)

by Linda Holmes

As movies about quirky people multiply (such as 500 Days Of Summer, to name one), there comes a moment when it can no longer go unsaid that certain things have been used so excessively in the portrayal of quirky people that they have utterly ceased to be quirky. It may be that at this point, the quirkiest person in a Hollywood movie would be someone who wore clothes from The Gap and listened to the Dave Matthews Band. The following things are among the things that simply are not quirky anymore, if they ever were.

An unusual transportation method (scooter, tricycle, Segway, roller skates)

Being followed around by an omniscient narrator

Obsessive fear of the government

Having a strangely hypnotic way with children

Engaging in stalking behavior

Blunt-cut bangs

An addiction to sugary junk food

Inappropriate headgear (football helmet in church, etc.)

Wearing headphones a lot

Numbness to social cues

Being looked at through a fisheye lens

Blank-staring through several montages

Being moved to tears by divas (e.g. Edith Piaf)

Having a cat/dog/ferret/rat/bird

Ironic T-shirts

Band T-shirts

Ironic band T-shirts

An obsession with silent movies

An action-figure collection (see also: superhero underwear and/or bedding)

A scruffy beard

A bow tie

Being unhygienic

Being overly hygienic

Stammering

Reading

Knowing basic facts about science

Walking around to the coo of a breathy female singer

Excessive blinking

Being pale (exception: Edward Scissorhands)

Compulsive list-making

by Linda Holmes

Things have not been going well for NBC's prime-time schedule — not well at all. That's part of why they're undertaking the Great Jay Leno Experiment in the fall to begin with.

So it's no surprise to anyone that NBC Entertainment is parting company with co-chairman Ben Silverman, who's headed off to create a new production company with IAC, Barry Diller's media company. (Diller has had a very long broadcast-TV career at ABC, Fox, and USA.)

The new head of the entertainment division will be Jeff Gaspin, who's been running the cable side.

Silverman's tendency to say silly-sounding things has made him far more of a gossip fixture than most network executives — check out the fun they've had with him at NYMag.com over the years. Gaspin is going to have to start putting his foot in it very quickly if he's going to continue the tradition.

by Linda Holmes

It's admittedly a little unfair to refer to Nathan Rabin's The Big Rewind and Quinn Cummings' Notes From The Underwire: Adventures From My Awkward And Lovely Life as pop-culture memoirs, because neither is really about popular culture, though both are swimming in it.

Rabin is the head writer for The Onion A.V. Club, and Cummings is a one-time child actress (as much as you'd like to not mention that, and as much as you sense she'd like you not to, she's an Academy Award nominee for her performance in The Goodbye Girl, which is a hard thing to overlook). Their books are very different -- Rabin's sense of humor is substantially darker (...than anyone's), and Cummings offers more a series of essays than a real memoir. (She's a longtime blogger, so she's familiar with the format.)

But what they have in common is the rarest and most precious quality of people writing about their own lives, which is the ability to talk in a way that's genuinely warm and funny about both good things and bad things, so that stories that often involve a lot of pain don't devolve into either vein-opening agony feasts or self-aggrandizing Here's-To-Me volumes that might as well be subtitled "The Many Ways In Which, If You Think About It, I Am Kind Of A Hero." You know the ones.

Writing with a lot of drums, whimsy, paisley, and the surprising rarity of a good cat story, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Pop-Culture Memoir: 'The Big Rewind' And 'Notes From The Underwire'" >

by Linda Holmes

Brace yourself for the coming guinea-pig boom: Disney's G-Force had a surprisingly strong opening weekend, making a little over $32 million and bumping Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince down to second place.

In third place was The Ugly Truth, an attempt at romantic comedy for those who found He's Just Not That Into You too cerebral and evolved. The Ugly Truth pulled in $27 million, despite a Rotten Tomatoes score of 15%, which borders on the grotesque. (One point lower than Year One!)

It's also worth noting that several smaller releases are performing well in limited or very limited runs: the political satire In The Loop started strong but tiny, while The Hurt Locker and 500 Days Of Summer are chugging along as both head for wider release.

So even if you are (shockingly) not a fan of either adorable talking animals girded for battle or men and women calling each other names and then making out against the most fake-looking sky you have ever seen in your life, there's reason to believe some movies you might like will continue to creep closer to your town.

by Linda Holmes

Some Friday afternoons are not easy. If you find that your Friday afternoon falls into this category, just watch.

by Marc Hirsh

Normally at Monkey See, we don't talk much about sports, which is another world entirely from pop culture. But yesterday's perfect game pitched by White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle wasn't just a rare feat in baseball history (only 18 have ever been thrown in the majors), it forced one band to rewrite one of its songs.

The band is The Baseball Project, an America's-Pastime-obsessed supergroup of sorts featuring Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon, who in various combinations can be found in the lineups of R.E.M., the Minus 5, the Young Fresh Fellows, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, the Dream Syndicate and Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3. The song is "Harvey Haddix," which I've previously discussed on NPR's Song Of The Day.

In the song, Wynn rattles off a list of every player who threw a perfect game -- a list that was complete 48 hours ago but out of date as of last night. It's one thing to have a mildly obsolete song on the band's album. But in a problematic/fortuitous bit of timing, the Baseball Project is about to head out on tour, where songs tend to stop being frozen in time and instead become living things.

Not to worry! Because I am a music nerd, my first instinct was to send a light-hearted email to the band's label to ask if Wynn would have to rewrite "Harvey Haddix" before the upcoming shows to account for Buehrle's achievement. Because Wynn is a baseball nerd, he was way ahead of me, according to Yep Roc Records publicist James Bailey, who informed me that "In typical Wynn fashion, he's already put his name in the song!"

So there you have it. Writing songs based on sports records that could very well change on any given day is a risky business, but the Baseball Project has met the challenge head on. If you happen to catch the band live in the upcoming weeks, you can rest easy knowing that they made sure to give you the most accurate song they could.

Mad Men: Wannabe ad men are among those submitting photos to AMC for its walk-on contest. AMC

 

by Linda Holmes

Think it's easy to look like the fancy people on Mad Men? Think again.

AMC is currently running a contest in which fans of the show can submit their photos and try to win a walk-on role in Season 3 (premiering August 14).

Some of them are pretty close: This lady could pass for a Mad Men wife. Other ones don't make a lot of sense: Who is this guy, in the Sterling Cooper universe?

Current contest leaders (as of this writing) include Leather Sofa Joe, Va Va Va Voom Joie, and Mr. Hart, who definitely looks like the repressed decade in which he lives is getting the better of him. Congratulations also go out to Cupcake Vanessa, who went all out with props.

by Linda Holmes

As you review the back-and-forth over the late-night television battleground, you might wonder: What's the point? For me, when it's fun, a late-night show is like last night's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, where he and Blues Traveler's John Popper played a little harmonica. There's nothing to it, really, except that if you have John Popper on your show, you should want to play harmonica with him, and it's that weird, warmly game quality that's really working for Fallon right now.

Also great from last night? Fallon's bit where members of the audience throw hot dogs through the mouths of cutouts of famous people in the news. You kind of had to be there.

Incidentally, if you had told me six months ago I'd be waving the flag for Jimmy Fallon, I would have had you checked for psychosis-inducing spider bites.

by Marc Hirsh

If you grew up in the 1980s and had cable (or a friend with cable), then there's a good chance that you spent your afternoons with a Canadian actor whose name you almost certainly didn't know. But you knew Barth, and you knew El Capitano, and you knew Senator Lance Prevert, and you knew Ross Ewich.

In other words, you knew Les Lye, who died yesterday at the age of 84. Lye may have started out as the only cast member of You Can't Do That On Television whose age didn't start with a 1 (at least until Abby Hagyard was brought in to play the female characters), but he fit in perfectly. In a show ostensibly run by kids, adults were hypocritical, disgusting, tyrannical and just plain ineffective, and Lye jumped into his role with gusto.

It's not something just anyone would have gotten right.

A weird show, just the right approach, that young Canadian in the clip above, and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Les Lye of 'You Can't Do That On Television' Dies At 84" >

Jay Leno: The excitement of his construction webcam is something to behold. NBC

 

by Linda Holmes

The Jay Leno Show premieres on September 14, and NBC has rolled out the inevitable web site to support it.

So far, the original content consists primarily of a blog from a band member who's trying to lose ten pounds before the show starts and a blog from Leno's stand-in. But by far, the greatest thing about the site is the live webcam of the giant studio that is in the process of being built.

Now, rather suspiciously, as I was preparing to post this entry, the thing went offline entirely. This means that their plan for a 24/7 feed has gone awry, OR something started happening that they couldn't show (striptease?), OR they are secretly tapping my computer and were aware that I was about to blow the lid off the webcam's greatness and overload their servers with eager eyeballs. Either way, I will not be dissuaded. I'm sure it will be back soon. Even when it's offline, it's mesmerizing -- for a brief moment, it was showing what was clearly someone's computer screen, as the mouse was moved around. Bizarre! Satisfying!

Based on what was showing when last it was available, the webcam has been placed in what appears to be an unassuming corner, behind a broom handle and a bunch of junk. Yesterday, there was sound: specifically, there was a constant, high-pitched, ear-splitting chirp, as if a cricket had ingested three gallons of coffee and then been run through a paper shredder over and over again. It seemed vaguely hostile, as if NBC were saying, "Oh, you want to see the studio, do you? How about this? EEEEP! EEEEP! EEEEP! Did you like that, smart-aleck? Now go away, we are working."

Today, the chirp has apparently been resolved, or the cricket eaten by a lizard, or something of that nature.

What can you see on the webcam? Well, you can see a large cart of some kind. And you can see some motorized doohickeys that could be floor polishers or small, sentient robots. Now and then, there is a burst of excitement as a person ambles into view. And then out of view. And you cry out softly, "Come back!" But he does not. He has important things to do.

The show claims that on Monday night, it will premiere what it is calling "our 'live' streaming show" -- with the "live" in quotation marks, as if it will be not actually live, but a thing that many people like to call live. It will be "live," in the same way that certain "bands" play "rock and roll."

I will give the show credit for unfailing optimism, however. At the bottom of the page, it says, "Because it's a shared connection, every 15-20 minutes you'll be asked to confirm that you're still watching." They just want you to know this, in case you feel inconvenienced as you enter Hour Seven of your viewing marathon of the Mostly Dormant Construction Site Webcam And Prescription-Strength Horse Tranquilizer.

iStockphoto.com

 

by Linda Holmes

If you increasingly find yourself irritated by the number of commercials airing during your favorite broadcast show, you may not be imagining it. In 2008, the number of minutes of commercials shown on the broadcast networks during prime time increased 3.5 percent over 2007.

Granted, 3.5 percent may not be a huge number. But that's 3.5 percent in one year.

According to this chart, there has been an increase of almost 20 percent in total prime-time commercial minutes on broadcast networks since 2000. Since 2000! Not since Texaco Star Theater or The Honeymooners -- we're talking about 20 percent more broadcast commercial minutes just since the year Survivor premiered.

[IMPORTANT CAVEAT: These are totals across all networks, not per-hour averages. That means that the simple fact that MyNetworkTV, which is counted here, didn't exist in 2000 could affect the numbers -- although at that time, what's now the CW was split into the WB and UPN. What I'm saying is that what constitutes "broadcast television" shifts in various ways that make longer-term comparisons tougher to interpret than they seem. Averages -- especially per-hour network-specific averages -- would be be more meaningful.]

For people who watch their TV live, this means (naturally) that you're sitting through more ads than you used to. But even if you watch everything on a DVR and fast-forward through the commercials, the increased minutes given over to advertising aren't available for content.

Cable is getting squeezed as well -- witness Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner's recent dust-up with AMC over its desire to cut show length by two minutes to fit in more ads. (Weiner won, kind of, though the network got its extra two minutes of ads anyway.)

Just another lovely day in the economic life of broadcast television in 2009.

by Michael Katzif

This week on Culturetopia, our weekly roundup of arts stories via podcast, you'll hear Sandman and Coraline author Neil Gaiman on his latest Batman project, Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader.

And then hear from Emmy award-winning actress Barbara Hale -- who played Perry Mason's capable assistant, Della Street -- as she describes the only case that Mason lost.

We'll hear Kenneth Turan's review of the latest Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and we've got a great chat with author Aravind Adiga, who talks about his new collection of stories set in a small town in Southern India. Plus NPR's Bob Mondello finds out how Pepsi became known as "Pecsi" in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

And finally, you'll hear hardrocker Andrew W.K., who explains why he thinks the music of Bach -- that's Johann Sebastian Bach, not heavy metal singer Sebastian Bach -- stands among humankind's greatest accomplishments.

by Linda Holmes

When Katherine Heigl was on The Late Show With David Letterman in support of The Ugly Truth this week, he asked her about her return to Grey's Anatomy, and she told him (it's at about the 1:25 mark in this clip) that her very first day back was a seventeen-hour day. "Which I think is cruel and mean," she said with exaggerated somberness, before moving on to talk about how it was great to be back, she misses former co-star T.R. Knight, and so forth. If it were anyone else, mentioning that she thought seventeen hours was a rather long first day, it would have gotten no attention whatsoever.

But she is not anyone else. She is Katherine Heigl.

The big dogpile, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Strange Case Of Popular Punching Bag Katherine Heigl" >

Coraline: In the new DVD release, 3D technology works right at home. LAIKA Inc./Focus Features

 

by Glenn McDonald

New to DVD this week in a unique 2-disc, 3D package, Coraline is an old-school stop-motion animated feature from director Henry Selick and writer Neil Gaiman. It also marks a historical first in the retail market, so far as I know: Guaranteed nightmares in a shrink-wrapped DVD case for $19.99.

Well, at least that was my experience. I'll be frank: This movie freaked me directly out. Coraline is as close to a dreamlike experience as you can get, with animation, music and story all moving to strange subconscious rhythms. It doesn't feel like a kids' movie -- it feels like a fairy tale. Not the sanitized modern fairy tales, mind you -- the older original tales, where ghosts steal your breath and witches eat children.

The DVD, the 3D, and whether this fairy tale is suitable for kids, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Coraline' On DVD: Sophisticated, Arty And Seriously Creepy" >

iStockphoto.com

 

by Linda Holmes

Sure, there's a presidential press conference about health care tonight that will be covered by most of your major broadcast and news networks (but not Fox). For TV viewers, this is notable mostly because it's bumping Wipeout from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Oh, the humanity.

(Fox, incidentally, has decided to stick with So You Think You Can Dance. Perhaps the president should have tried a cha-cha.)

But why stop at several broadcast networks and several news networks? I don't want to tell basic cable how to live, but I have some humble advice if they'd like to get in on the health-care-debate action. And they wouldn't have to venture far from the shows they make anyway.

TLC
The Effect Of Insurance Regulation On The Woman With Eight Arms

Discovery
Deadliest Catch: Goriest Gaffer-Hook Injuries

USA
Burn Notice: The Copay

Lifetime
Mother, May I Sleep With A CPAP Machine To Combat Apnea?

Bravo
Top Chefs' Reattached Fingertips

E!
E! True Hollywood Story (any episode)

VH1
Scott Baio Is 47 And Pays Unmanageably High Premiums

TNT
Law & Order marathon

We
Bridal Bloodwork

Food Network
Semi-Homemade Elective Surgery

Nickelodeon
Leftover Surgical Spongebob Squarepants

Webcomics: We like 'em. iStockphoto.com

 

By Glen Weldon

Not much in the way of comics news this week; the industry's gone silent as everyone who's anyone — along with thousands of no-ones dressed as Ewoks — decamps to San Diego for Comic-Con.

So now seems as good a time as any to spend some virtual ink on the webcomic, a relatively new medium that fuses classic comics tropes to the virtual infrastructure of buggy Powerpoint presentations.

After the jump: A webcomics primer, and a sampler of the best and brightest. And weirdest. Let's not forget the weirdest.

Continue reading "Webcomics: An Annotated Guide for the Understandably Perplexed" >

iStockphoto.com

 

by Linda Holmes

While perusing the credits for the upcoming G-Force (sometimes when there's no big breaking news, I like to read up on who's appearing in the next CGI movie about anthropomorphized guinea pigs), I was struck by a particular actor's resumé and the many colorful characters he has played -- or at least the many colorfully named characters he has played.

So here's the quiz -- and you may have played something similar before. We're certainly not the first to fasten on the idea in the age of The Internet Movie Database, without which it would not be possible.

Each question is a list of characters that have been played by a particular actor. You name the actor, and for bonus points, see how many of the movies you can name. (Note: Some may be voice credits.)

1. Smokey, Amos Odell, Seth, Jacob Marley, Speckles

2. Goon, King Koopa, Deacon, Feck, Billy

3. Amanda, Marla Singer, Elizabeth, Lucy Honeychurch, Jane Hatchard

4. David, Adam Sorenson, Andy, Josh, Brian Fantana

5. Paulette, American Designer, Sherri Ann Cabot, Amber Cole, Stifler's Mom

6. Billy, Stefen Djordjevic, Vincent, Jack, Cadet Captain David Shawn

7. Miss Jane Porter (voice), Iris Gaines, Gertrude, Gutless, Vice President Kathryn Bennett

8. Dink The Clown, Robbie, Henry Roth, Michael Newman, Barry Egan

9. Stephanie Zinone, Brenda Landers, Sukie Ridgemont, Lurene Hallett, Beth Cappadora

10. Craig, Judge Leonard White, Detective Lt. William Somerset, President Beck, God

Check your answers, after the jump...

Continue reading "Can You Name These Actors Based On Characters They've Played?" >

The Ugly Truth: Men and women are different! Get it? Sony Pictures

 

by Linda Holmes

If you've seen any of the publicity for the upcoming Katherine Heigl/Gerard Butler vehicle The Ugly Truth, you may have seen this poster, which is a variation on this poster. Because, see, the woman feels love with her mind, while the man feels love...eh? Eh? Get it? I knew you would. (To get a better idea of where this movie is going, you may want to watch the trailer, but rest assured: the poster gives a good idea of where it's going.)

It seems a shame, though, to waste such compelling art on a dull title like The Ugly Truth. And so, we present the following speculative list of the titles that were apparently rejected.

Am I Right, Fellas?

The Man Who Loved With His Colon

Dairy Cattle Acquisition In The Context Of Free Milk In Urban Non-Agrarian Economies: The Movie

Marry That Misogynist!

He's Just Not That Into You From The Neck Up

Come Back To The Five And Dime, Abrasive Jerk, Abrasive Jerk

Men Are From Mars, Women Are Crazy

28 Dresses: The Last One Is A Straitjacket!

Listen Up, Ladies!

Growing Old With An Angry Cable-Access Host, And Other Happy Endings

The Humiliatrix Reloaded

That's No Lady, That's My Boss

The 30-Year-Old Spinster

Come For His Abusive Insults, Stay For His Hidden Emotional Wounds

I Want To Be Your Lady, Shouty McGee

Self-Loathing: It's Nothing To Be Ashamed Of

Big Brother: Horrifying and offensive rants like the recent one from Braden Bacha (center) have become par for the course -- and it's hard to believe that's an accident. CBS

 

by Linda Holmes

CBS's Big Brother is never the kind of show anyone feels particularly good about watching. It's dumb, it's dull, and unlike Survivor or even American Idol, it focuses on a group of people genuinely lying around doing nothing. But as disreputable as it is most of the time, it's rarely been quite as disreputable as it is right now.

The first contestant to go home was evicted on Thursday night. Surfer Braden Bacha looked, if you watched the TV show, to be a guy who was tossed out because he wasn't terribly well-liked, because he was perceived as shifty, or just because power was being thrown around somewhat haphazardly as it so often is.

What you would never have known from watching the show -- you would never have known it at all -- is that shortly before he was booted, Bacha went on an intense and racially driven tirade in which he hurled slurs at two other contestants and told one of them -- who's half-African-American and half-Japanese, incidentally -- to "go to back to Mexico."

No, this is not something they are actually trying to hide. We'll talk about why, after the jump...

Continue reading "CBS Censors A Racist Rant" >

by Linda Holmes

So, this isn't good news for NBC.

For the last few weeks, the NBC line on Conan O'Brien's takeover of The Tonight Show has been that, while he had lost some total viewers as compared to Jay Leno, he was doing better in the younger demographics that the networks prioritized -- he had lowered the average age of the audience by about ten years, they pointed out.

Now, things are getting worse.

How it looks, and whether it really matters, after the jump...

Continue reading "Late-Night Wars: Is Conan O'Brien's 'Tonight Show' In Trouble?" >

Two And A Half Men: Is this just like what happened to The Dark Knight? We think not. CBS

 

by Linda Holmes

My jaw absolutely dropped when I read this analysis of the Emmy nominations, which begins like this:

When cult cable series "Flight of the Conchords" snags a best series Emmy nomination and the most-watched comedy in America, CBS' "Two and Half Men," loses out, TV academy voters are willfully thumbing their noses at mass appeal.

It seems the Emmys have adopted the TV equivalent of the Academy Awards' smaller-film fixation that has lifted critical darlings to Oscar glory over such box-office hits as "The Dark Knight."

I'm sorry to appear momentarily gobsmacked, but: WHAT?

Is the argument here that the failure to nominate Two And A Half Men -- while, it should be noted, still nominating its two main actors (Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer) -- is the equivalent of the near-shutout of The Dark Knight, one of the best-reviewed movies of last year, in every major category except one?

REALLY?

It's true that Flight Of The Conchords is a lower-profile comedy. So is Weeds. Entourage is kind of in the middle -- yes, it's pay cable, but it's very much an established brand. But there are seven nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series this year, and the other four are The Office, 30 Rock, Family Guy, and How I Met Your Mother. This is hardly a snubbing of mass appeal in favor of the television equivalent of Kate Winslet's illiterate Nazi adventures in The Reader.

Comparing the "snub" of Two And A Half Men to the Oscar snubs of The Dark Knight and WALL-E last year is entirely absurd. Those weren't considered snubs simply because the movies were popular. Nobody is going to write this year about the Oscar snubbing of the second Transformers movie or Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

We look more closely at the nominations, after the jump...

Continue reading "This Just In: 'Two And A Half Men' Is Not 'The Dark Knight'" >

Wil Wheaton: Just one of the feeds you can follow without grinding your teeth. David Livingston/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

When NPR ran a piece a couple of weeks ago in which it was suggested that Twitter "tweets" (sorry, that word still gives me hives) should be punctuated and written in sentences, there was some suggestion from commenters that this was a rather bizarre notion, perhaps suggestive of OCD or "unacceptable prescriptivism."

It got me thinking about the fact that Twitter's reputation for abbreviated "thx 2 U" messages doesn't reflect my use of the service at all. Almost no one I follow writes like that. Of course, a lot of the people I follow are writers. Nevertheless, it seemed like a good time to point out that lots (and lots and lots) of Twitter feeds are, for the most part, punctuated, properly spelled (absent the occasional typo), and in sentences. (Obviously, there are exceptions, particularly when people are retweeting from others, playing games, or trying desperately to squeeze into the character limits.)

You can see the list of feeds I officially follow through the blog here (and, of course follow the Monkey See feed here), but here are some of the ones that won't make you feel like you're invading a sixth-grader's list of text messages.

Wil Wheaton

Last night, Wheaton -- once of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Stand By Me, of course -- wrote about his shock upon being followed (on Twitter, on Twitter, people) by William Shatner: "Head: exploding. Mind: blown." This bit of staccato nerdhood aside, he generally only uses expressions like "OMG" when quoting his cat. You'll see.

Michael Schur

Schur is one of your major Renaissance men of the 21st century: he's a showrunner for Parks And Recreation and a writer on The Office, he plays Dwight's Cousin Mose, and for a surprisingly long time, he managed to write incognito as "Ken Tremendous" on the much-missed sports blog Fire Joe Morgan.

Relatively new to Twitter, he's noteworthy for obsessing over sports and being an obvious product of many writers' rooms: once he bites on one of the little games that travel around Twitter, like today's "Things Heard During A Fight," he won't just contribute one -- he'll throw out four or five jokes at a time, rat-tat-tat.

Dave Holmes

Once an MTV personality and now a sort of general entertainment news guy-about-town, Dave Holmes (no relation) writes one of the most eclectic, weird, and enjoyable Twitter feeds I follow. He shares Schur's fondness for Twitter joke-telling games, but he also has a keen eye for short-form culture writing, as when he simply wrote, "I'm Obviously In My Early Thirties, Beth Cooper."

Your Battlestar Galactica source, Ken Burns humor, and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Great Twitter Feeds Written Mostly In Punctuated Sentences" >

Well, it's about time: How I Met Your Mother nabs an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. CBS

 

by Linda Holmes

For me, the most surprising Emmy nomination of the day (here's the list of major nominations) is Simon Baker for The Mentalist, who nudged James Spader out of the Lead Actor In A Drama category. It just goes to show you, I think, how much networks are struggling right now and how much of a premium there is on headlining a new network show that's actually successful. Other than that switcheroo, the other five nominees were, indeed, exactly the same as last year.

Also: No Piven! No Piven! Jeremy Piven lost his spot in Supporting Actor In A Comedy, and both Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan were nominated for 30 Rock. I never, ever would have guessed that Piven's spot would be lost before Kevin Dillon's, but that's why I don't put down money on these predictions. Perhaps the "mercury poisoning" publicity didn't reflect well on him.

Other surprises?

Surprises, my Category Of Shame, and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Emmy Nominations: Did Inevitability Jinx Jeremy Piven?" >

Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters: Can lightning strike twice? Quirk Books

 

by Linda Holmes

Quirk Books has announced the follow-up to the wildly buzzed-about Pride And Prejudice And Zombies: Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters. No, really.

The press release calls the book, which will be out September 15, "a new tale of romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem." But I must admit that my favorite part is the description of the book's author -- well, co-author with, you know, Jane Austen. It says, "BEN H. WINTERS is a writer who lives in Brooklyn with all the other writers." Indeed, indeed.

Quirk is promising a different formula for the book -- they claim "60% Austen and 40% additional monster chaos," rather than Pride And Prejudice And Zombies' 85-15 split. And editor Jason Rekulak says that the use of sea monsters allowed them to draw on more sources of inspiration: "Jaws, Lost, Pirates of the Caribbean, even SpongeBob Squarepants."

Of course, not every novel experiment (no pun intended) should be repeated, let alone amped up. We shall see, come September, whether we find ourselves in a pop-culture sea-monster revival.

by Neda Ulaby

This week on Culturetopia, our weekly roundup of arts goodness via podcast, you'll hear the insightful author Jeff Yang on Asian-Americans and comic books.

And that immortal "Yoo-hoo!" echoing through your headphones emanates from rediscovered radio icon Gertrude Berg, who can fairly claim to have invented the sitcom with her serial The Goldbergs starting back in the late 1920s.

We'll hear Bob Mondello's review of the new Sacha Baron Cohen movie, Brüno. Plus, we've got a great movie chat with director Mark Webb, who talks about how making music videos influenced his new romantic comedy, 500 Days of Summer.

Best of all? You'll hear David Lynch, director of Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, sing. And he talks about why the world isn't doomed, not just yet.

Now with more Boogaloo: We've reached one of the most notorious sequels of the '80s: Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Courtesy of the AFI Silver Theatre.

 

by Linda Holmes

This is, I am telling you sincerely, the thought I had during Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, the latest entry in our Summer Of '80s Movies series: "Boy, the quality really slipped from the original Breakin'."

Several things happened between the original and the Boogaloo. The first is that somebody decided it would be better to have less acting and more dancing. In theory, this is a good idea, because the acting in the original was of a caliber usually reserved for seventh-grade plays. Written by seventh-graders. For seventh-graders. The dancing, on the other hand, was Shabba-Doo-lightful.

But for some reason, instead of seeing intense, quasi-realistic break-dancing smackdowns in clubs, as in Breakin' Classic, there are a lot of large-scale production numbers. You know how "Dancing Queen" was performed in the movie of Mamma Mia!, where all the townspeople gathered and gradually migrated to the docks in order to celebrate togetherness through the dance? This is more like that.

Overall, the production numbers have gone over the Oklahoma! barrier, if that makes any sense to you. Oklahoma! often gets (only moderately accurately) described as one of the early musicals that became really successful in spite of totally defying reality -- in other words, in many prior musicals, people danced and sang in dancing-and-singing situations, which is why you had so many musicals about stage performers and so forth. But in Oklahoma!, people will just start randomly warbling and leaping about right in the middle of, say, a serious discussion about fidelity.

What I'm saying is that Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo is kind of like Oklahoma!.

[deep bow] Thank you. This shall be my contribution to the culture.

The dance-off, the draw of Paris, girlfights, and saving the community, after the jump...

Continue reading "Friends, Romans, Electric Boogaloovians: Lend Me Your Ears" >

Natalie Portman: She's joining the Thor movie. But Thor? Still a jerk. Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

 

by Glen Weldon

On Monday, Marvel Studios announced that Natalie Portman has been added to the cast of the upcoming big-budget Thor flick, scheduled to begin production early next year. She'll play "an updated version" of Jane Foster, a character who served as love interest for both the God of Thunder and his earthly alter-ego, Dr. Don Blake, back in the Thor comic's early years.

Portman joins Chris Hemsworth (who appeared briefly as Kirk's hot dead dad in this summer's Star Trek film) as Thor, and Tom (lots of British TV) Hiddleston, who'll play Loki, God of Lies.

Never been a Thor fan, I confess. And not just because of those little winglet-things on the side of his helmet, which never stop screaming Head Showgirl at Bally's.

No, it's his attitude. The guy's forever yelling at someone or other, and always with a puss on his face.

We review the prospects for a successful movie about the God of Thunder and Snippiness, after the jump.

Continue reading "The Upcoming Thor Movie: Tho What? He's Still A Jerk." >

Jeremy Piven: You'd better start preparing yourself right now. Michael Buckner/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

Lead Actor, Comedy

Just like Lead Actress in a Comedy, this category is not crowded, simply owing to the fact that it's not a boom time for comedies like it is for dramas. There just aren't that many guys clawing for these six nominations, and there are even fewer who have realistic hopes.

Alec Baldwin: Obviously. Steve Carell: Definitely. Tony Shalhoub: Given that he's been nominated every year since 2003, you'd think so. Charlie Sheen: Probably. So that leaves two.

There seems to be a growing consensus that Jim Parsons is likely to be nominated for The Big Bang Theory, which, as we discussed on Monday, is one of the few comedies that seems to have some spark of life at the moment. Even people who dislike that show often like Parsons in it (that was my reaction to the pilot back when the show started -- I hated it, but thought he was by far the least bad thing about it), so it certainly seems plausible.

Lee Pace was nominated last year for Pushing Daisies, but that show slipped so far under the radar this year -- and since it's canceled, it no longer has the "root root root" factor that may have led people to support Pace as a way to support the show -- that a nomination for him would really surprise me.

If the two guys from Flight Of The Conchords, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, could be nominated as a pair, they might be a good pick, but I'm not sure there's enough momentum behind either of them individually.

Zach Braff? Eh, maybe. Zachary Levi in Chuck? Ideally, yes. Realistically, no. No, the most likely outcome, to me, is David Duchovny for Californication. Not a very exciting nomination, but a pretty safe one.

Actors in dramas, after the jump...

Continue reading "Emmy Preview: Jeremy Piven Is Inevitable, But So is Jon Hamm" >

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince: A lot of people will be seeing this movie over the next couple of days. How can you make sure one of them punches you in the eye? Warner Brothers Pictures

 

by Linda Holmes

1. "Does that guy die? How about her? Does she die? Hey, what about the main guy, does he die?"

2. "If they can do magic, how come they're on brooms? I mean, you'd obviously make yourself a car."

3. "When's the part with the Muppets?"

4. "I think 'half-blood' sounds racist. Don't you think it sounds kind of racist?"

5. "That's the girl from Little Miss Sunshine. Yeah it is. Yeah it is. Yeah it is." [repeat]

6. "Yippie-ki-yay, [expletive deleted]! Because that's that guy! You know, 'Find my detonatahs!'"

7. "This part's fake. Where they're flying, you can tell this part's completely fake. It's totally CGI."

8. "It was different in the book. See, in the book he doesn't say that, like, at all, that's such a rip-off. In the book, there's this great part where he says..."

9. "He is so hot OH MY GOD he is totally so hot he is SO HOT."

10. "Spells. Yeah, I'm so sure."

Emmy actresses: Is a thoroughly goofy ghost/cancer story enough to bring Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl back into the Emmy fold? ABC

 

by Linda Holmes

Our peek at the Emmys continues today with a look at the actresses. As you'll see, some of these are pretty easy to call, while others just make you scratch your head.

Lead Actress In A Comedy

The thing about this category is that there just aren't that many plausible contenders, compared to other categories. The number of high-profile comedies has shrunk, the number with female leads is relatively low, and as a result, there's not a huge amount of realistic competition.

Last year's nominees were Tina Fey for 30 Rock, Christina Applegate for the (now-canceled) Samantha Who?, America Ferrara for Ugly Betty, Julia Louis-Dreyfus for The New Adventures Of Old Christine, and Mary-Louise Parker for Weeds. Given that there's another slot opening that will let one other person into the race, it's hard to imagine any of those women -- all of whom, in different ways, have pretty distinguished reputations -- being bumped.

So who's getting the sixth slot? Could be a Desperate Housewives lady. People like Felicity Huffman. I don't sense that Amy Poehler made enough of an impression on Parks & Recreation, but she's got an awful lot of goodwill built up, so I wouldn't rule it out.

But my guess is Toni Collette of The United States Of Tara. She's playing a person with multiple personalities on a show written by Diablo Cody, and I think the show may well get nudged out of the running for Comedy Series. Movie actresses who come in and helm pay-cable shows are the big guns in this kind of category, and Collette is exactly the kind of person who tends to be nominated.

Looking at some of those who are on other folks' lists, Sarah Silverman is a possibility, but it seems like if she were going to be nominated, it would have been last year. Debra Messing has been inexplicably haunting the Emmys for years, but The Starter Wife doesn't have the steam to get her back in the game, I don't think. And nobody is getting nominated for In The Motherhood.

The drama leads and the supporting actresses, after the jump...

Continue reading "Emmy Preview: The Movie-Actress Advantage And The Sharon Gless Hail-Mary Pass" >

The State: Even if you think you don't know these guys, you know these guys.

 

by Linda Holmes

The State, the MTV sketch-comedy show that ran from December 1993 to July 1995, became a bit of a legend for not being available on DVD. There were rumors, and then nothing happened, and there were theories about what the holdup was, and then there were times when it appeared that nobody knew what the holdup was, including the people involved.

Well. At last, The State has made it to DVD in a full-series set released today. And it was worth the wait.

The aging of MTV, after the jump...

Continue reading "'The State': MTV Sketch Comedy Ages Surprisingly Gracefully" >

Brüno: It's not the authenticity; it's the laughs. Universal Pictures

 

by Marc Hirsh

Comedy can be a funny thing. (See? No? All right.) We laugh when other people laugh, which is why there are laugh tracks on sitcoms and why people insist that you have to see The Hangover in a theater with a lot of other people. It's social dynamics, and to a large extent, it's hardwired into our systems.

That's one of the reasons it's so tough when you think that something is unfunny that everyone around you insists is hilarious. So when it happens, we usually come up with excuses, lest we end up at the receiving end of "Well, you just didn't get it." (The laughers, you see, come up with their own excuses.)

Brüno, Sacha Baron Cohen's similarly-themed but differently-accented followup to Borat, had its detractors even before it was crowned the #1 movie in the country this past weekend. Setting aside those who were offended by the treatment and portrayal of [insert your choice of religious/ethnic/socioeconomic/political/etc. group here], one of the key complaints was a carryover from Borat: a sneaking suspicion that some of the scenes were staged.

Here's the thing: if they were, so what?

This is not a documentary, after the jump...

Continue reading "If You Don't Like Brüno, Don't Blame Your Incredulity" >

by Linda Holmes

Last night, while waiting for Big Brother 11 to come on -- I mean, while waiting for NOVA, which turned out not to be on CBS, much to my surprise -- a friend and I saw this utterly hilarious Andy Rooney rant about fruit at the end of 60 Minutes. We laughed a little, and then more, and then at the end, I said, "Was that just ON?" I swore at the time I would write about it today, and then I promptly forgot.

Fortunately, others remembered, and my memory was jogged by its appearance at the Sling.com blog. So with a hat-tip to them, here is the Andy Rooney Fruit Rant.

Here is my challenge to you: Describe the point of this segment in ten words or less. What point is Andy Rooney making? Discuss.

Richard Hatch: He did not persuade a judge to free him for the purposes of being on Survivor. But he still has his 2000 victory to look back on. Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

So it turns out that original Survivor winner Richard Hatch -- who served about three years in federal prison for tax evasion and is almost done with his sentence -- won't be allowed to leave home confinement early to go to Samoa to be on yet another edition of the show (he's already been on one "All-Stars" version).

The judge had apparently previously noted that Hatch seemed to need, among other things, "mental health counseling." It seems that tribal council with Jeff Probst does not qualify.

For followers of the criminal justice system, this is a data point regarding what is and isn't adequate to earn early release. For followers of Survivor, it mostly has the effect of rather emphatically announcing the format of the season that's about to start filming: they are bringing back past contestants again, as Reality Blurred reported yesterday. (An email confirming as much wound up filed with Hatch's court papers, OOPS.)

Surely, CBS intended some massive announcement of the plan to bring back past players in some format not involving court proceedings, so they must be a little disappointed.

So we are in for another All-Star season, which will occur as only the fourth round of the show after the (very overrated) "Fans vs. Favorites" season that ran in the spring of 2008. It is much too soon for this.

For reality-show gossip-likers, note that this is all being commented on at great length by Survivor: Palau's Coby Archa, who most recently sought attention by sending out a press release announcing that he and a handful of other obscure former Survivors were fasting for Darfur for three entire days. It was a press release I received but somehow managed not to mention, as he was joined entirely by people I barely remembered, including Kimberly Mullen -- most famous for finishing in 15th place in the spring of 2005.

(For those of you who follow the show: Kim was the showmance girlfriend of Coconut Jeff, who rolled his ankle and had to quit. Oh, the good old days.) (If you read Coby's comments about all this -- which Reality Blurred has quoted extensively -- you will note that he is still very angry about not being an "All-Star" himself, despite his missed-it-by-that-much ninth-place finish.)

So, only three seasons after the last time they returned to the Well Of Past Survivors, they will be returning again. But apparently, they will do so without Richard Hatch.

by Linda Holmes

Anthony Bourdain is one of the fairest people you will ever see on television. Sometimes blunt and nasty, yes. But very fair. When he's a judge on Top Chef, he congratulates you if you're good and lets you have it if you're bad. He's not determined to hate everything just so he can make a quip at your expense; he'll give you a decent chance.

You wouldn't think this quality would be particular relevant on his Travel Channel show, No Reservations (which returns tonight), but in fact, it's critical.

The surprisingly fair Anthony Bourdain, after the jump...

Continue reading "Anthony Bourdain Roars Back To TV With 'No Reservations'" >

Emmy season: The Office had an outstanding year and should be a shoo-in for another nomination. Beyond that, things get more complicated. NBC

 

by Linda Holmes

Emmy nominations will be out Thursday, and they'll look a little different this year: in ten major categories, there will be six nominees instead of five. Those categories include the awards for best drama and comedy, as well as lead and supporting actors and actresses in each. Today, we'll take a peek at how the show categories shape up, and over the next couple of days, we'll check in on actresses and actors.

Comedy

The Office and 30 Rock are probably locks. 30 Rock had a so-so year and The Office had an outstanding year, for my money, which is a bit of a reversal from recent seasons, but they both have such solid reputations and well-regarded casts that there's no way either gets locked out.

I also suspect Entourage is in, because its ability to win awards and nominations has been remarkably robust, in spite of a constant apparent erosion of the ratio of people who like it to people who find it insufferable and obnoxious. Award-giving bodies react to change with the blink-and-you-miss-it agility of the three-toed sloth, so I doubt Entourage's souring reputation has caught up with it quite yet.

The rest of comedy and all of drama, after the jump...

Continue reading "Emmy Preview: Can Optimism Sink 'Two And A Half Men'?" >

by Linda Holmes

I have to say, until last night, I didn't even realize that the star of an '80s movie about break-dancing would be a girl who looked like Sheena Easton's Mini-Me and was once the third-runner-up for Miss Kansas.

It's easy to see how it happened: "You know who we need to get for our break-dancing movie in which we defend the artistic importance of the pounding rhythm of the authentic dance of the streets? Shabba-Doo and the woman who was three heartbeats away from becoming Miss Kansas."

Believe it or not, Wikipedia claims that Breakin' is a retelling of West Side Story. I assure you that this is not true. (Just when you think Wikipedia is an impeccable source of information!) I did notice during the movie that Miss Kansas' agent -- we'll get back to him -- had a West Side Story revival poster behind his desk. Given that this movie is so cheap-looking that they clearly wouldn't have paid for so much as a plastic ficus if it didn't have a specific reason for needing to be there, it's certainly not an accident. It's a (rather overly ambitious) hat-tip. But this is not even meant to be a retelling of West Side Story. There is not enough death. At least not enough literal death.

The movie starts with Kelly (played by the aforementioned former almost-Miss Kansas, Lucinda Dickey) working as a waitress in a cheap restaurant, where she runs into a friend. The friend despairs that Kelly isn't dancing at the moment (Kelly is very talented, a piece of information that must be passed along as exposition, as it will not necessarily be self-evident at any point during the movie) and encourages her to get in touch with an agent who can get her some work.

Meanwhile, Kelly is taking jazz classes with Franco, a teacher who looks a little like Luke Perry plus ten years, four divorces and a DWI. Franco clearly is not to be trusted. He wears his super-intense Sexyface all the time, forever leering at Kelly in her classic '80s dance look of a black unitard and what appears to be hot pink underwear worn outside it. He cannot resist her. He says things while they are dancing together like, "Caress me! More passion!" (He says "Caress me." I swear.)

Can Kelly fight off the skeevy dance teacher? What will happen when she encounters street dancing? And what is with the pants in this movie? More, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Summer of '80s Movies: 'Breakin',' Hold The 'Boogaloo'" >

Rick Springfield: Seen here rocking out in 2007, he's still making music -- and now he's making music for kids. Kristian Dowling/Getty Images

 

by Rob Sachs

Over the years my podcast, What Would Rob Do? ,has allowed me to explore daily predicaments ranging from how to eat a hot pepper, to how to handle noisy neighbors, to how to avoid awkward moments while also getting a massage.

It's also afforded me the chance to live out the dreams of my seven-year-old self and talk to the biggest celebrities of the '80s by consulting them as experts. In the past, I've chatted with TV stars like Erik Estrada from CHiPs and Tom Wopat from The Dukes of Hazzard, and bands like Squeeze and Air Supply.

But recently, I managed to top even those mega stars by landing an interview with Mr. Rick Springfield. That's right: the guy behind "Jessie's Girl."

Few can argue with the fact that this is an amazing song, but for me, it's more than that.

Its my FAVORITE SONG OF ALL TIME.

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact I cemented my selections for lucky number and favorite color right around the same time. Call me loyal (or perhaps lazy), but to this day, I remain a stalwart to the number 17, the color navy blue, and the ode to Jessie's elusive lady friend.

Having a strange fixation on a pop song that's more than a quarter-century old didn't seem enough of a reason to interview Mr. Springfield, but then I caught a news flash about his latest album, titled My Precious Little One: Lullabies for a New Generation.

I learned that Springfield had rediscovered an old recording of lullabies he had made for his two sons Liam and Josh, back when they were tots. He decided to re-record them (the songs, not the kids) and release the album -- a happy coincidence for me, a new dad with a precious little one of my own.

So now Rick and I had something to talk about, apart from my odd obsession with his music, fatherhood and the ever daunting task of calming down children.

So what advice did Mr. Springfield give me on lullabies?

Advice, gentle rejection, and the audio of the full interview, after the jump...

Continue reading "Rick Springfield Sings Lullabies Like A Working Class... Er, Dad" >

by Linda Holmes

As you know, I am in the middle of the Summer Of '80s Movies, and this is the weekend when I decide whether to enjoy Breakin' and/or Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.

The question is: How ridiculous is too ridiculous? Do I want to see one breakdancing movie, let alone two? On the other hand, aren't they iconic, in a...well, in a "how ridiculous is too ridiculous" way? Hasn't every sequel made since 1984 been referred to as [Whatever] 2: Electric Boogaloo at some point? Haven't pop-culture writers (including myself) been leaning on the "Electric Boogaloo" crutch for so long that we almost owe it to the movie to actually go?

There's only one solution, and that's to ask you. To attend (and report upon), or not to attend (and report upon), Breakin' and/or Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo?

Feel free to cast your vote. Which I promise to ... take under advisement.

I Love You, Beth Cooper: This is a project that was always doomed not to go well. Twentieth Century Fox

 

by Linda Holmes

If you're following the reviews of movies coming out this weekend, you know that critics have been not only unkind but positively brutal to I Love You, Beth Cooper, a comedy about a nerd who proclaims his love for a popular beauty during his valedictory address.

I went in really rooting for the movie, because the book on which it's based is delightful and charming, and its author, Larry Doyle, wrote the screenplay. It didn't seem like a looming disaster, though if I'd remembered it was to be directed by Chris Columbus (who came up in these pages a week ago), I'd have been more skeptical.

But now, looking back, I understand that it's an unadaptable book.

What makes a book unadaptable, after the jump...

Continue reading "Hopeless Adaptations, or: 'Beth Cooper' Was Always Doomed" >

Rock the Vote: There's a special mayoral race underway, and you can vote in this one. iStockphoto.com

 

by Glen Weldon

UPDATED WITH ELECTION RESULTS: SEE THE (VERY!) END OF THIS POST

This summer, the DC-based New Organizing Institute, which trains aspiring wonks in the ways of netroot campaigning, has introduced a program that's attracting attention outside the two-fisted, thrill-a-minute world of voter data management. Which, of course, is pretty much the idea.

They've brought 53 college seniors to the nation's capital for a weeklong workshop on online organizing and social media, and given them an exercise: Pick a candidate to run in a simulated campaign for mayor of Washington, DC, complete with website, platform, email solicitations, the whole cyber-electoral schmear.

That's not the bit that's attracting attention. No, what's gotten the geekosphere -- and several DC blogs -- twittering (and Twittering) is the fact that the candidates are superheroes.

But the campaign ends today. This page contains links to the web pages of all eight super-candidates. You can vote for the hero of your choice between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

But you don't have to make that choice alone. Your trusty comics blogger is both a hardcore superhero nerd and a longtime DC resident -- so it's impossible for him to ignore the siren song of this particular exercise in virtual democracy. That's why he's taken a good hard look the platforms of these municipal marvels, these candidates-in-capes, these powered pols.

After the jump: Meet the candidates - strengths, weaknesses, oppo research, and where they come down on DC voting rights.

Continue reading "In 'D.C.,' A Mayoral Race That's Every Bit As Tight As Spandex " >

by Linda Holmes

The director of Beverly Hills Chihuahua is on board to direct the upcoming live-action/animation hybrid movie about the Smurfs.

I'll let that sink in for a moment.

Yes, that's right. Raja Gosnell is in charge of the new film, according to Variety.

We've had such a big week for Very Bad Ideas that I don't feel like I have any more "But WHYYYEEE?" to offer. All I can do is look ahead, right? It is better to light a Smurf than to Smurf the Smurfness.

What is a movie like this even going to be about? Does the fact that it's part animation and part live-action mean that the Smurfs will be animated and will interact with humans? Some kind of Smurfs Take Manhattan business? Are humans going to PLAY Smurfs, or just VOICE Smurfs?

Is there any possibility I am imagining this particular bit of news because I have a fever? I mean, I don't actually have a fever, that I know of, but it does seem like a likely explanation.

Capitalism: A Love Story: Michael Moore's new movie about the financial crisis finally gets a name. Overture Films

 

by Linda Holmes

Michael Moore will arrive in theaters on October 2, and it's finally got a name: Capitalism: A Love Story. In the press release, Moore says that the film will be "the perfect date movie," and adds, "It's got it all -- lust, passion, romance, and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day. It's a forbidden love, one that dare not speak its name. Heck, let's just say it: It's Capitalism."

It will be interesting to see how a Michael Moore movie railing against large corporations and the financial system fares in an environment where everyone's already doing it. It's a swing at a pretty big target at this point -- he's going to be competing with, among others, every other edgy, ironic gadfly who was inspired by Roger & Me back in the day and is now a crusader against all the same things Moore is against.

So I put the question to you: Are you eager to see what Michael Moore has to say about the financial crisis? Did he ever have any charm for you, and does he still? Do you find his description of the movie tantalizing? Wearying? Something else? I sense that the earth has shifted under the guy a little bit, and it will be a different thing to market this movie in late 2009 than it was to market Roger & Me in 1989.

What do you think?

by Linda Holmes

With apologies for the NPH-heavy coverage of recent weeks (hey, it's not my fault he just hosted the Tonys and is making a deal to host the Emmys; I don't make the news), tonight brings Monkey See Favorite Neil Patrick Harris and his love of magic to Bravo's Top Chef Masters.

So far, Masters has been, as Randy Jackson would put it on American Idol, just all right for me. If you haven't been watching, it's a variation on Top Chef where, instead of a large pool of unknown chefs being eliminated one by one, it's a series of groups of four well-known chefs who compete for charity, and the winners of those four-person matches will come together at the end of the season for a sort of Tournament of Champions.

The stakes are very low, because while there's are brief flashes of grasping professional jealousy, for the most part, the chefs who compete have given themselves over to the idea that it's all in fun. And nothing kills the pressure of a competitive reality show like people who are genuinely doing it all in fun. It's intriguing at times to see that even people who are well-regarded geniuses don't always have everything perfectly under control -- their gelatin doesn't jell, or their ice cream doesn't freeze, or what have you -- but it feels awfully mellow and airy for people who are used to the pressure and pacing of Top Chef Classic, and you never really get to know anyone in a single episode.

But a dinner cooked at the Magic Castle? A dinner that, presumably, is going to involve magic in some fundamental way? That sounds very, very watchable indeed.

by Linda Holmes

On this week's Culturetopia, we start off with an examination of all things zombie, and of the splash the undead are currently making in popular culture. It may sound like an examination of culture, but it's also highly practical: I don't want to oversell the piece, but it will enable you to kill zombies. I'm just saying.

On a much more serious note, NPR's David Greene talks to the star and the director of the new film The Stoning Of Soraya M. about the film, the story that inspired it, and what makes it so important.

From the world of music, we look at Latin music migrations and how they're affecting the sound of music in California and elsewhere. NPR arts desk reporter Felix Contreras, who's co-hosting this week's podcast with me, adds a few thoughts about the piece, which he produced.

We visit the growing landscape of 3D film, hearing Bob Mondello's review of the new movie Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, followed by a look at the evolution of 3D glasses. (Which still aren't every kid's favorite thing to wear, as we briefly discuss.)

Finally, we wrap up with a heavy dose of good music as we mark the 20th anniversary of Merge Records, the home of The Arcade Fire, Spoon, and plenty of other artists.

Zombies, great music, and 3D glasses? If this sounds like it's right up your alley, you can listen below, or -- and really, this will save you all kinds of time -- you can subscribe to the podcast.

Mr. Stuffins: Let's put it this way: he knows things most teddy bears don't. BOOM! Studios

 

by Glen Weldon

"You gonna let 'em go, or do I have to start some trouble? Cuz trust me: My kinda trouble, you do NOT need."

".....You're a teddy bear. You know that, right?"

Oh yes. He knows that.

Who is this guy? After the jump...

Continue reading "A Teddy Bear Picnic. OF DEATH." >

by Linda Holmes

This weekend's arrival of I Love You Beth Cooper (based on a clever little book that may be literally the fastest read of all time — it may take you less time than watching the movie) brings us back to a familiar genre: The Out-All-Night Romp.

At least since American Graffiti, they've been making these movies in various forms — from respectable entries like Risky Business to mid-range entries like Can't Hardly Wait to low-rent entries like most of the Corey Haim oeuvre.

Even Sixteen Candles and Some Kind Of Wonderful are at least partly members of the club, and last year's Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist is a very traditional entry.

And they're a lot of fun, as long as you don't think too hard about the fact that they constitute crime sprees.

Think about it. Think about it.

1. Reckless driving. Most movies of this kind involve car chases in which, if there is no fruit cart, there is generally at least a hapless driver screeching and skidding to stay out of the way. You can see plenty of examples of this in the Beth Cooper trailer above.

2. Driving Without A License. Remember Sixteen Candles, when Farmer Ted wound up in Jake's father's car? Oh, sure, it seemed funny at the time, but unlicensed drivers make insurance rates higher for all of us.

3. Assault. To put it delicately, it appears at the end of Some Kind Of Wonderful that Bad Boyfriend Hardy is about to be separated from his limbs by Elias Koteas, the Bad Guy Turned Ally. While there is a promise that Hardy will only be scared and not harmed, my personal belief has always been that Hardy was beaten and reduced to the size of a macaroon the minute Eric Stoltz's back was turned. Inappropriate!

(And while it may not be criminal, have you ever noticed that [22-YEAR-OLD SPOILER ALERT] Stoltz wanders off in a haze of love with Mary Stuart Masterson, apparently abandoning Lea Thompson back at the party where she just turned on all her friends and slapped her menacing ex-boyfriend? How did she get home, exactly? What of Amanda Jones, people?)

The rest of the list, after the jump...

Continue reading "A Partial List Of Crimes Typically Committed In The Whimsical Teenage Out-All-Night Romp" >

by Linda Holmes

With Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince opening next Wednesday, it's time to prove your mettle.

I'm not always a big fan of quizzes, but I like this one, because it backs up the great majority of the answers with relevant clips, and because it boasts a nerd-friendly 25 questions, cutting down on the likelihood that a pretender will manage a strong score by guessing.

(Not that I tried to do this. At all.) (And not that it ended in disaster when I got ten questions right.) (None of that happened. You didn't even read this paragraph.)

Feel free to report your score and claim your bragging rights. Or, in the alternative, show off how good you are at guessing.

The Great American Road Trip: This is host Reno Collier. He looks so happy; how could it not be great? NBC

 

by Linda Holmes

Tonight, NBC premieres The Great American Road Trip, a competition show in which seven families pile into RVs and drive around the country competing in "a medley of humorous challenges."

So basically, if your favorite part of travel is the part where you pull into a Perkins after eleven hours of driving and you can't even order a simple plate of meatloaf without listening to an argument at the next table about whether Frank Junior (also known as "Weasel") did or did not crack a CD case belonging to his broken-hearted sister Madison, who is almost too devastated to continue text-messaging her friends at home? This is the show for you!

The first tip-off about this show's unique "greatness" is that its publicity insists that it is "humorous and relatable." Who ever heard of advertising something as "relatable"? It's the sort of thing you'd see in a pitch -- "Please make this show I thought up; people will find it humorous and relatable!" -- but in marketing materials, it sounds weirdly bullying. "HEY! OUR SHOW IS RELATABLE!"

During the trip, the families will encounter famous (hilarious and relatable) landmarks, "ranging from the World's Largest Chair to a sneaker the size of a car." If you've ever heard the famous Weird Al song, "The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota," you are probably humming it to yourself right now. What could be funnier (or more relatable) than a family standing near a huge sneaker? Ha ha ha, oh, how we will clutch our sides with laughter.

And then there are the families themselves. And that's where it gets terrifying.

Seriously, it gets terrifying, after the jump...

Continue reading "NBC's New Reality Show: Did Sartre Get A Creator Credit?" >

The View-Master: It used reels just like this. Feel the action! iStockphoto.com

 

by Linda Holmes

It's rare to get the opportunity to play Very Bad Ideas two mornings in a row, but what else can you do with the news that DreamWorks is developing a movie based on the View-Master?

If you don't remember the View-Master, it looks like this. You peer in the eyeholes and pull a lever, and you are treated to a series of still pictures in very, very primitive, goofy-looking "3D." When I was a kid, these were largely scenic photos -- you'd look at the Grand Canyon or Great Skyscrapers Of The World or something of that nature. Ooh! Aah! The View-Master!

From what I can see, they just offer licensed characters like Dora The Explorer and Spongebob and other boring extensions of the munchkin-industrial complex. A travesty.

It is an understatement to say that the logic of a movie about the View-Master is difficult to discern. A View-Master is, in its current incarnation, a plastic device that shows a series of still pictures of cartoon characters. Envision about thirty seconds of action followed by scads of children running up and down the aisles of the theater pelting each other with popcorn.

According to Variety, the word is that the movie is supposed to resemble The Goonies and Young Sherlock Holmes. Based on that, I suppose the idea is going to be that a group of...kids? Finds an old View-Master? That has...reels in it that are, to their surprise, not just a pile of promotional higgledy-piggledy for Kung Fu Panda? And those reels lead to treasure, or transport you into another dimension? (Feel free to steal that. You're welcome, DreamWorks!)

It's conceivable in theory, but what is the composition of a target audience for this film that wouldn't be equally drawn in by a story involving an old book? Are adults supposed to go see a Goonies-style kidventure about a View-Master? Are kids supposed to go see a movie because it features what Variety calls a "nostalgia toy"?

I realize the Transformers situation has likely created a Pied-Piper-like effect in which movie executives are following the ghosts of their own warmly remembered childhood toys right out of Sensible Town into the Lost Fields Of Crazy, but...the View-Master? The world's most static toy? This is at least as ridiculous as a Lite-Brite movie.

Not every toy is a Transformer. This cannot be repeated often enough.

Spiritual exploration: Is there a reason one would not use a game show as a way to choose a religious path? Hard to believe. iStockphoto.com

 

by Linda Holmes

It may come as a comfort, if you are poised on the edge of despair about the possibility of a T.J. Hooker remake, to consider that appalling mass-entertainment ideas are apparently something that unites people around the world. Unites them in the spirit of ... you know, despair.

It is in this spirit that I pass along the news that Turkey will soon have a game show that will take 10 atheists and hook them up with four spiritual guides — a monk, a priest, a rabbi, and an imam — who will try to convert them.

If you are successfully converted, you win, and you get the prize of a pilgrimage to Tibet, the Vatican, Jerusalem or Mecca. Depending. Now, I suppose you also win the prize of belief/salvation, provided that you think of belief/salvation as game-show prizes.

My favorite part is this: "A team of theologians will ensure that the atheists are truly non-believers and are not just seeking fame or a free holiday."

I admit to some level of curiosity about how this will be accomplished. I suppose you could try a lengthy interview, but it seems like it would be easier to just abruptly lock the person in a large box with, say, a lion, and see whether they in any way indicate an expectation of, or a hope for, divine intervention.

Public 'grief' on display: A fan writes on Michael Jackson's memorial wall outside the Staples Center, where tomorrow's memorial service will take place. Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

This was a Michael Jackson-free zone all of last week, primarily because most of what was happening was not pop culture, but paparazzi culture. Assorted grotesques related to drugs, child custody, and other things best consigned to the dustbin of None Of Our Business were really all that was happening.

Now, inevitably, we have entered the stage of intense public "grieving," just as happened with Princess Diana, and there's no ignoring the fact that the entertainment news cycle over the next two days will be not just dominated but steamrolled by coverage of the memorial service taking place at the Staples Center tomorrow.

It's highly questionable to use the term "memorial service," of course, because a memorial service is not typically attended largely by strangers. Nor is a memorial service typically an event to which you raffle off tickets. Nor is it an event where the ability to attend is greeted by an excited trip straight to your Twitter feed to say, "OMG OMG OMG OMG i got tickets to the michael jackson memorial service!!!"

Dear Michael Jackson: We got tickets to your memorial service. OMG.

Counterfeit grief and the winners of the raffle, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Staples Center & The Strange Spectacle Of Public 'Grief'" >

by Linda Holmes

As we discussed in late April, ABC has joined up with Fox and NBC to provide content through Hulu.com, and that kicks off today with Grey's Anatomy.

The announcement I saw promises that other shows will follow, although distressingly, the ones mentioned -- which apparently are not an exhaustive list -- include I Survived A Japanese Game Show but not the far superior Wipeout.

(Is there to be no Wipeout? That seems impossible.)

The big question, of course, is whether Hulu is, as it believes itself to be, a consumer bonanza, or whether it's just a force that's now so big and so inevitably harmful to traditional revenue models that it's going to drive cable companies to develop ways to drive online TV right back into the controlling arms of your cable provider.

For the time being, however, you can get all your tumor-hallucinating dead-boyfriend drama without getting up from your computer.

by Linda Holmes

Today's big question is this: As between mid-'80s special-effects monsters and mid-'80s puppet monsters, which are more menacing?

Ghostbusters, of course, has more of the former. While you get some "real" monsters as well (mostly in the "Okay, so she's a dog" depictions of the gargoyle-ish creatures), you get a lot more of the straight-up drawn-on-the-screen guys, like the one Bill Murray encounters around the five-minute mark here.

Gremlins, on the other hand, has primarily puppets. And they're very puppety-looking puppets, too. About half the time that Zach Galligan, who plays Billy (a weirdly ageless character who has a job as a bank teller but still lives at home and acts like he's fourteen), is carrying around little Gizmo, they look quite a bit like a ventriloquism act from Star Search.

It also must be said that the gremlins in Gremlins are a lot meaner than the ghosts in Ghostbusters. In spite of all the damage done to a perfectly nice Central Park West apartment building when the (to put it generously) perplexing plot of Ghostbusters leads to the opening of the pathway between Sigourney Weaver's refrigerator and the Temple Of The Demonic Aerobics Instructor, the ghosts aren't really that malevolent. In fact, it's kind of quaint, the way their opening gambit consists of, "I am a GHOOOOOST! I will go to the library and PULL ALL THE DRAWERS OUT OF THE CARD CATALOG BOOGEDA-BOOGEDA! I will EAT ALL YOUR HOT DOGS NOM NOM NOM!"

The gremlins are worse.

Puppet-on-human violence, a Santa tragedy, giant men made from marshmallows, dogs and cats living together, self-defense with a canister-vac, and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Summer Of '80s Movies: 'Ghostbusters' And 'Gremlins'" >

Ghostbusters: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis will be welcoming us (and you) to The Summer Of '80s Movies. Courtesy of Sony Pictures

 

by Linda Holmes

One of the advantages of living in the D.C. area is access to the AFI Silver Theatre And Cultural Center in downtown Silver Spring. They run current movies, but also old movies, and this summer, they're running a series called "Totally Awesome 3: More Films Of The '80s," which I'm taking advantage of for a summer-long nostalgia explosion called The Summer Of '80s Movies: A Possibly Terrifying Look Back.

Interestingly, this third installment is the first one I'm in town for, but it's also the one I'm happiest to get to see, having looked at the previous lineups. They've now sort of burned through the most overexposed and overdiscussed movies (This Is Spinal Tap, The Breakfast Club, Say Anything, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, etc., all of which many of us have discussed to death) and are moving along to ones that, in some cases, haven't been so ubiquitous on cable.

Tonight, I'll be seeing a double-shot of adorable monsters: Ghostbusters and Gremlins. Over the rest of the summer, I intend to revisit River's Edge, Footloose, Edward Scissorhands, Heathers, Some Kind Of Wonderful, and others.

(I withhold comment on Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, for the sake of my dignity. I mean, even if I were going to do that, you wouldn't want to know now, would you? It might keep you from taking me seriously.)

So come back tomorrow, when I will tell you all about cute monsters and Bill Murray, and will undoubtedly make some seriously ridiculous jokes involving the question, "Who you gonna call?" Because I'm pretty sure that's the law.

by Linda Holmes

After last year's very bad decision to turn the Emmy telecast over to the five nominated reality-show hosts -- all of whom flopped, with the exception of the always-lovely Tom Bergeron -- the show planners seem to have regained their senses: Reports say they're trying to make a deal with Neil Patrick Harris to host the show in September.

While he didn't get to do as much at the Tony Awards as I was hoping -- with the exception of the fantastic closing number, which you can watch above -- Harris was a lovely host and would undoubtedly make the Emmys a whole lot more watchable.

He also probably won't be upstaged this time by a guy who gets clocked by the scenery, so that's good news.

Make that deal, Emmy planners! If I have to liveblog three hours of Ryan Seacrest, I will be very upset.

by Marc Hirsh

It's a slow news day in Cleveland. How slow? Slow enough not only to spend a solid two minutes (out of what, 22 minutes of newscast?) on a non-story about a non-attack by a non-bear, but to take the time to make props and costumes. Who knew that WJW even had an arts and crafts department? Special kudos to Cleveland Metroparks naturalist Carly Martin for her insights into bear scat, and to the reporter who provided such an enthusiastic simulation of ursine climbing.

by Neda Ulaby

NPR's weekly arts podcast takes a turn towards the 1980s this week, with a couple of reflections upon important anniversaries. And you can listen right here.

Spike Lee's seminal film Do The Right Thing turns 20 this summer, and the classic Prince tune "Purple Rain" celebrates a quarter of a century. We take a moment to reflect on both, assisted when it comes to Prince by an appreciation from Maroon 5 members Jesse Carmichael and Adam Levine.

Meanwhile, Nate DiMeo helps us remember why exactly we should respect big cartoony movies designed around Hasbro toys. Sure, little about the new Transformers movie, or the upcoming G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra may appeal to aesthetes, but the two films will probably be among this summer's top moneymakers. The first Transformers movie made nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars at the box office. Boom!

(Linda also mentions a conversation that took place at Monkey See last week about potential new movies based on toys; you can find that one here.)

We'll also learn about a Princeton sociologist's sobering findings about the status of women playwrights in the American theater and hear a review of the gripping new movie The Hurt Locker.

And that tootle you'll hear comes from an instrument made of vulture bones and mammoth tusks. It's the oldest musical instrument ever found.

Finally, there's no denying that the most talked-about pop-culture event of the week was the death of Michael Jackson, and Linda talks this week about finding something to say about a guy who's so hard to talk about.

Check out Culturetopia right here, or subscribe to the podcast, to hear all of the pieces.

Supergirl: Doesn't she look happy about the news that she gets to wear pants now? DC Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

Last week, we learned about a man possessed of a bold and praiseworthy vision. With a single editorial edict, this brave iconoclast dispensed with venerated tradition and blazed a new path, knowing only too well that his decision might unleash a frothing nerdstorm of outrage.

The man in question: DC Comics editor Matt Idelson. The pronouncement he issued was just eight words long, but such is its paradigm-shattering power that it will surely stand one day in the annals of comic book history, alongside "With great power comes great responsibility," "Truth, Justice and the American Way," and "Shazam!"

Thus spake Idelson:

"I never want to see Supergirl's panties again."

And with that, the character of Supergirl — in a stark departure from many years of institutionalized cheesecakery — started wearing red shorts under her skirt.

It's not a big deal, but it's a pretty big deal, and here's why:

1. The decision suggests that superhero comics may at long last stand ready to evolve beyond the adolescent objectification of the female form in which they have so gleefully wallowed for long decades; and

2. Supergirl flies, duh. She hovers over people's heads. In a skirt.

After the jump: Hot pants, headbands, belly-shirts and other petty indignities foisted upon the Maid of Might over her long and storied career.

Continue reading "Let There Be Bike Shorts: A Profile In Comics-Geek Courage" >

by Linda Holmes

On last night's edition of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart spoke to Mike Kim, the author of Escaping North Korea: Defiance And Hope In The World's Most Repressive Country. Kim spent four years helping North Korean refugees who were leaving the country through China, along a "modern-day underground railroad" that stretches 6,000 miles from Pyongyang to Bangkok, Thailand.

It's not uncommon for Jon Stewart to have interesting guests, or guests with great stories, but I think from the show's perspective, this particular conversation was almost a Platonic ideal of a Daily Show interview.

Why getting your news from The Daily Show is more complicated than it sounds, after the jump...

Continue reading "'The Daily Show' Gets Serious About International Human Rights" >