Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Shia's A Giant, etc.

- Anne Hathaway will play Fantine in the big-screen treatment of the musical Les Miserables. Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) will direct. Hugh Jackman will play Valjean and Russell Crowe will play Javert. According to IMDB.com, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter are rumored to be up for the Thenardiers. Rush played Javert in the 1998 non-musical movie.

- On the day TMZ released footage of Shia LaBeouf getting beat up outside a Vancouver bar, Universal has announced he'll play a 20-foot giant in Gil Kenan's A Giant.

- Forest Whitaker and Johnny Knoxville has joined the cast of The Last Stand, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Cable TV Ratings Oct 10-16

For the week of October 10-16.

Show (Channel) Day - Viewers in millions

1. NFL Bears-Lions (ESPN) Mon - 16.38
2. Walking Dead (AMC) Sun - 7.26
3. Jersey Shore (MTV) Thu - 6.47
4. NLCS Cardinals-Brewers 6 (TBS) Sun - 5.94
5. NLCS Brewers-Cardinals 4 (TBS) Thu - 5.65
6. NLCS Brewers-Cardinals 5 (TBS) Fri - 5.46
7. WWE Raw (USA) Mon - 5.37
8. NCAAF Michigan-Michigan St. (ESPN) Sat - 4.78
9. NFL Post-Game/Sportscenter (ESPN) Mon - 4.65
10. NLCS Brewers-Cardinals 3 (TBS) Wed - 4.28
11. NCIS (USA) Wed - 4.26
12. Make Your Mark (DIS) Fri - 4.2
13. Wizards of Waverly Place (DIS) Fri - 4.1
14. BET Hip Hop Awards (BET) Tue - 4.08
15. Keeping Up w/ Kardashians (E!) Mon - 3.98
16. Jessie (DIS) Fri - 3.92
17. Spongebob (NICK) Sun - 3.88
18. NCAAF Arizona St.-Oregon (ESPN) Sat - 3.87
19. NCAAF Florida-Auburn (EPSN) Sat - 3.57
20. Sons of Anarchy (FX) Tue - 3.56

I eliminated titles appearing more than once (Make Your Mark twice in the top 25, Spongebob four times).

Real Steel #1 again

Weekend box-office for October 14-16.

1. Real Steel - $16.3 million ($51.74) - 2 wks (BV) -40.3%
. . . 3440 screens / $4740 per screen
2. Footloose - $16.1 - 1 wk (Par)
. . . 3549 / $4536
3. The Thing - $8.7 - 1 wk (U)
. . . 2996 / $2904
4. The Ides of March - $7.5 ($22.15) - 2 wks (Sony) -28.4%
. . . 2199 / $3411
5. Dolphin Tale - $6.35 ($58.67) - 4 wks (WB) -30.5%
. . . 3286 / $1931
6. Moneyball - $5.5 ($57.71) - 4 wks (Sony) -26.2%
. . . 2840 / $1937
7. 50/50 - $4.32 ($24.33) - 3 wks (Sum) -23.7%
. . . 2391 / $1805
8. Courageous - $3.4 ($21.38) - 3 wks (TrS) -30.2%
. . . 1214 / $2801
9. The Big Year - $3.33 - 1 wk (Fox)
. . . 2150 / $1547
10. The Lion King 3D - $2.71 ($90.45) - 5 wks (BV) -41.1%
. . . 1970 / $1375
11. Dream House - $2.51 ($18.43) - 3 wks (U) -43.9%
. . . 2172 / $1155

Footloose had a respectable opening, but Real Steel, Lion King, and Dolphin Tale are all showing this is a family-film fall. The Thing had about as much luck as Fright Night in the R-rated 80's-remake department. The Big Year had a late, muddled marketing campaign, as though the studio forgot it was coming until two weeks ago.

Decent holdovers for the top ten, which bodes well for a big opening for Paranormal Activity 3 and probably a half-decent one for Three Musketeers 3D. (Remember when Orlando Bloom was the Next Big Thing? So quickly he warrants a "with" credit in a Paul WS Anderson movie.)

I'm actually surprised the marketing isn't making sure people know Christoph Waltz is in this one. I get highlighting Milla Jovovich doing stunts in her giant dress, but it's not as clear to me why they're not pointing out Waltz and Bloom are your main villains.

Last Night's TV Ratings

Title - Viewers in millions / 18-49 demo

THURSDAY
CBS
The Big Bang Theory - 13.58 / 4.6
The Big Bang Theory (r) - 12.1 / 3.7
Person of Interest - 12.04 / 2.8
The Mentalist - 12.39 / 2.5

ABC
Charlie's Angels - 5.91 / 1.3
Grey's Anatomy - 9.97 / 3.6
Private Practice - 6.51 / 2.3

NBC
Community - 3.78 / 1.7
Parks & Recreation - 3.99 / 2.1
The Office - 6.08 / 3.3
Whitney - 4.25 / 2.0
Prime Suspect - 4.6 / 1.3

FOX
The X-Factor - 11.24 / 3.7

The CW
The Vampire Diaries - 2.89 / 1.4
The Secret Circle - 1.89 / 0.8

CBS had better luck with a Big Bang Theory rerun than How to Be a Gentleman, which is essentially cancelled. ABC has also announced the cancellation of Charlie's Angels (which further illustrates how the 18-49 demo is more important than total viewers.

Other cancellations: CW axed H8R, and NBC nixed Free Agents.

Kurt Russell, Don Johnson join Django Unchained

After some largely ignored supporting roles (Machete, Bucky Larson), Don Johnson has joined the cast of Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. This pits the original Miami Vice's Crockett in a movie with the new Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) in a movie. Johnson will play an evil plantation owner. It also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, and Samuel L. Jackson. Kurt Russell recently replaced Kevin Costner in the role of DiCaprio's malevolent right-hand man, and Dennis Christopher (Breaking Away, It) has also signed on.

Scream 4 - DVD Review

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Starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Hayden Panetierre, Emma Roberts, Alison Brie, Rory Culkin, Anthony Anderson, Marley Shelton, Adam Brody, Erik Knudsen, Mary McDonnell, Marielle Jaffe, Nico Tortorella, Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell. Directed by Wes Craven.

The Scream movies are fun, but they have diminishing returns. This movie is so self-aware and so self-referential, so "meta", that you half-expect Neve Campbell to say, "And look, my name isn't Sidney, it's Neve, and see that camera over there? That's Wes Craven filming this."

It's been a while since Ghostface slaughtered the citizens of Woodsboro, but now Sidney has returned to promote her new book, all about surviving the different people who wanted to dress as Ghostface and kill everyone around her before monologuing and then somehow getting killed themselves. There's a mix of old and new generation, and a distinct feeling that the only three to survive all three movies (Courteney Cox's Gail and David Arquette's Dewey being the other two) may not be so safe this time around.

There's a breezy energy to it, but the extreme predictability, high body count, and neverending winking at the camera don't add up to a whole movie. I'd rather see Scream 5 than sequels to most other horror franchises floating around, but there's only so much of its own tail the Scream team can eat.

Friday's Box Office

1. Real Steel - $8.55 million - 1 day
2. The Ides of March - $3.45 - 1 day
3. Dolphin Tale - $2.4 ($42.31) - 15 days
4. Moneyball - $2.23 ($43.98) - 15 days
5. 50/50 - $1.78 ($13.61) - 8 days
6. Courageous - $1.4 ($12.69) - 8 days
7. Dream House - $1.36 ($11.35) - 8 days
8. The Lion King 3D - $1.2 ($82.62) - 22 days
9. What's Your Number - $1.03 ($8.28) - 8 days
10. Abduction - $.85 ($21.32) - 15 days
11. Contagion - $.84 ($66.93) - 29 days
12. Killer Elite - $.65 ($20.09) - 15 days
13. Drive - $.55 ($28.81) - 22 days

Random Movie News 10/7/11

- Robert Downey Jr. will produce and star in the big-screen adaptation of Perry Mason. The 1950's TV courtroom drama starring Raymond Burr was based on a series of books, and the movie is going back to those source materials for the characters.

- Johnny Depp will star in a biopic about Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel).

- Dominic Purcell (Prison Break) has joined the cast of Paradise Lost. Directed by Alex Proyas, it's based on John Milton's classic about the battle between Michael (Benjamin Walker) and Lucifer (Bradley Cooper). Casey Affleck, Djimon Hounsou, Camilla Belle and Callan McAuliffe co-star.

- New Regency, in its deal with Fox, has picked up distribution rights to Broken City, starring Russell Crowe as a mayor who secretly hires a P.I. (Mark Wahlberg) to see if his wife's being unfaithful, but then she turns up dead.

Last Night's TV Ratings

THURSDAY

CBS
The Big Bang Theory - 13.92 / 4.5
How to Be A Gentleman - 7.58 / 2.5
Person of Interest - 11.57 / 2.6
The Mentalist - 13.15 / 2.7

FOX
The X-Factor - 11.67 / 4.0

ABC
Charlie's Angels - 5.93 / 1.2
Grey's Anatomy - 8.70 / 3.1
Private Practice - 6.06 / 2.1

NBC
Community - 3.35 / 1.5
Parks & Recreation - 4.15 / 2.0
The Office - 5.82 / 3.2
Whitney - 4.89 / 2.3
Prime Suspect - 5.04 / 1.5

The CW
The Vampire Diaries - 2.63 / 1.2
The Secret Circle - 1.96 / 0.8

After losing so much of Big Bang Theory's lead, CBS announced that How to Be a Gentleman will be moved to Saturdays, and Rules of Engagement will take its place on Thursdays.

ABC has to be looking seriously at how much longer they're going to let Charlie's Angels plummet. Not sure what they'd have in the queue to replace it. Maybe they should look at debuting Once Upon A Time on Thursday instead of Sunday.

Looks like this'll be the last season of Community. Enjoy it while it lasts. NBC also must not be happy with Prime Suspect.

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Movie Review

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Starring the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, David Cross, Lucy Liu, James Hong, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Haysbert. Directed by Jennifer Yuh.

Saw this at the $1 theater. Should come out on DVD pretty soon, actually.

I really enjoyed Kung Fu Panda, and I was worried the sequel might diminish the memory off the original. My fears were unfounded, although I will say this isn't as good as the first.

Jack Black voices Po, the Baby-Huey of a panda who's now really good at kung fu, to where he can stand tall with the furious five. A new threat is sweeping across China. Turns out China's emperor family are peacocks, and the evil prodigal son Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) has returned to reclaim his throne. He's raised an army of assassins and brought a secret weapon to help him conquer the country. But the subplot is that Po, adopted by a goose, wants to learn about his biological parents, where he comes from.

There's more fighting and a bit darker tone this time around. It's also left wide open for Kung Fu Panda 3.

Last Night's TV Ratings

TUESDAY
Channel - Title - Viewers (in million) / 18-49 demo

8/7
CBS - NCIS - 19.35 / 4.2
FOX - Glee - 8.42 / 3.6
NBC - The Biggest Loser - 5.72 / 2.1
ABC - Dancing with the Stars Encore - 9.13 / 1.7
CW - 90210 - 1.29 / 0.7

9/8
FOX - New Girl - 8.65 / 4.3
- - - Raising Hope - 6.36 / 2.9
CBS - NCIS: LA - 14.78 / 3.4
ABC - Dancing with the Stars Results - 15.28 / 2.9
CW - Ringer - 1.5 / 0.6

10/9
CBS - Unforgettable - 11.58 / 2.5
ABC - Body of Proof - 9.95 / 2.0
NBC - Parenthood - 5.05 / 2.0

I list in order of the 18-49 demo because that's the number that matters more to advertisers. NCIS may be a total-viewers juggernaut, but New Girl won the night with where it counts.

Poor NBC. If it weren't for Sunday Night Football and The Office, they'd be on life support. They can always point to the complete inability of CW to expand its audience. The combining of UPN and WB into CW hasn't worked out. I can see The CW disappearing in the next few years.

I'd been following Ringer but judging by its ratings trajectory, probably best get out now before my curiosity increases.

NBC's Free Agents - TV Review

Watched the first two episodes, and it would've been a lot better if Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn whipped out machine guns and slaughtered their co-workers before hitting the road. Granted, this would improve half the shows on TV, but my point is, it's an office romance comedy where all the co-workers have walked off some hellish stock-character conveyor belt.

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In other news, NBC has cancelled The Playboy Club.

ABC's Suburgatory - TV Review

Jane Levy is the new Emma Stone. She could be her twin-sister/stunt-double/All About Eve replacement. She and her single dad are New Yorkers, moved to the suburbs. Fish-out-of-water hijinks ensue, but this feels exactly like someone combined Mean Girls and Easy A for TV, and that's not a bad thing. It fits in nicely between The Middle and Modern Family. It's also nice to see Alan Tudyk (Firefly) and Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) land on a good show.

NBC's Prime Suspect - TV Review

Never saw an episode of the Helen Mirren series. This US version still has the same basic premise of a tough female cop being good at her job while dealing with the boys-club mentality at the precinct. It has a great cast (Maria Bello, Aidan Quinn, Brian F. O'Byrne, etc.) but it suffers from the female lead actually, yeah, being one of those aggressive types that I can see why others don't want to work with her. Add to that the department rumor that she got to her position by sleeping with a superior, and there you have it. By the end, she starts to recognize she needs to earn their respect, but there's not enough here to make me want to watch episode 2.

And lose the hat.

Cinematically Speaking 9/26

Old Movie I Finally Saw

WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY? (1966) - Figured I needed to see Woody Allen's directorial debut. And it's dated, very dated. I'm sure it was pioneering for its humor in 1966. But MST3K has since refined what this movie is going for, so let's just say it's of its time, and it has a couple funny spots, but I'd rather listen to Crow and Tom Servo riff this movie. I was also interested to read afterwards that the inserts of the Lovin' Spoonful's songs were against Woody's wishes.

Old Movie I've Never Seen

BRUBAKER (1980) - I've been curious about this Robert Redford flick. I enjoy the corrupt-system melodrama the 1970's produced. This has Yaphet Kotto, Jane Alexander, Morgan Freeman, David Keith, and bonus points for character-actor icons M. Emmet Walsh, Wilford Brimley, Noble Willingham and Everett McGill. (If J.T. Walsh was in it, that would've sealed my deal to see it a decade ago.) I know it's from the director Cool Hand Luke. Is it worth hunting down now?

Moneyball - Movie Review

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Starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright and Chris Pratt.
Directed by Bennett Miller.

First we got a very long Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trailer. There's a 3 min-45 second one floating around the internet now, but the one we had was at least 5 minutes long. Looks very well done, more alive and expensive than the original.

But then we get the movie. It's an interesting twist on the sports film, in that it's not about the usual lessons that need to be learned. It's doesn't end in the ninth ending of the Big Game. It's about Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), a former baseball prodigy who never lived up to his potential and went into management. He's GM for the cheapest team in MLB, the Oakland Athletics. In 2001 they came close to toppling the mighty rich New York Yankees, and that off-season they lost their three best players. They can't afford to keep them. What is a team to do?

They're to try something different. Enter Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), an economics major who's developed a system of calculating the worth of a player. They find those players they believe are undervalued and affordable, and so, statistically speaking, this hodge-podge of misfits should make a winning team.

Billy is a driven man. He's kind of a jerk, but still one where we want him to succeed. I can see why Pitt fought so hard to get this movie made. It's a great script from Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, and I really enjoyed many of the decisions director Bennet Miller (Capote) made.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is an effective grump as Art Howe, the manager who completely disagrees with Billy's approach. Robin Wright has one good scene as Billy's ex-wife.

Billy's A's may not have won the World Series, but his approach changed baseball forever.

AMC's Breaking Bad - 'Salud'

This season is really expanding the universe. We earlier got to see more of Gus's backstory, and now we see him, Mike and Jesse flying to Mexico to face the Cartel, the giant organization that Gus cannot defeat. Or can he? This episode was full of tension, and as much as I love Aaron Paul's work this year as Jesse, I'm falling in love with the calculating, menacing Gus as played by Giancarlo Esposito.

So Jesse flies down south to teach the Cartel how to cook the crystal blue. Jesse's been helping Walter long enough that he should know how to do it by himself. When the Cartel's cook find out he's not even a chemist, I like how Jesse shifted into cocky bad-guy mode, confidently staring the guy down and telling him how it's done. And the shot of Gus's ever-so-subtle proud smile was priceless.

Yes, but what about Walter? He's recovering from the beating he got from Jesse, and Walter Jr. shows up, worried. Here we see Walter break down and apologize for everything, even if the "everything" is his "gambling." But the next morning, Walter hardens up, puts on the Heisenberg mask, and relates to Junior how he does not want to be remembered as weak. Junior however points out that it had been the first time in a year he'd felt real.

Will Walter take the lesson? Even in the first season, if there's one thing Walter had, it was pride. He may have been a mild-mannered chemistry teacher, but he was offended at the thought of taking money from his rich friend to pay for his medical bills. He'd rather cook meth, make a ton of money, and provide that way. Now that Walter's cancer is in remission, does it slow him down? Will he realize his family is the most important thing to him, or will he realize his family is not the most important thing to him? He's resigned to staying separated from Skyler; his double-life is easier to live when she has no idea when he is or isn't home. But where is he on his kids?

TV Reviews - The Secret Circle, New Girl, The Playboy Club

CW's THE SECRET CIRCLE - It really is a lot like The Vampire Diaries with witches. It's strictly aimed at teens. Britt Robertson is the new girl in town, a small town in Washington. She eventually learns a group of teens there are witches, and she's a witch too. All fine and dandy but it had no cross-over appeal for me.

FOX's NEW GIRL - Zooey Deschanel has found just the right vehicle for her first series. She plays a dorky free spirit who's been crushed by guys one too many times, mostly because she has no idea how they operate. She moves in with three guys in need of a roomate who decide to give her a chance. I'm hoping the guy character flesh out as promisingly as Zooey's Jess.

NBC's THE PLAYBOY CLUB - Ratings-wise, I know this show's only going to last a couple months, but I wanted to see one episode to see what attitude it struck. Its soapy-sixties set is fine, but Eddie Cibrian does this hilarious Jon Hamm impression. Can you really center a series around a guy doing an impression of another guy? If Hamm's Don Draper met Cibrian's Nick Dalton, he'd punch him in the face and tell him to grow up.