Fox's New Girl - TV Review

Just wanted to say this show has steadily improved and is now one of the funniest network sitcoms on the air.  Zooey Deschanel's her usual quirky self, but the three guys have really grown into their roles.

The Hunger Games - Movie Review

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, Alexander Ludwig, Amandla Stenberg, Willow Shields and Paula Malcomson. Directed by Gary Ross.

★★★½

I went to see this with my wife. I'd read the books; she hadn't. The movie provided equal enjoyment.

Based on Suzanne Collins's best-selling dystopian YA novel, this movie takes us to a distant future where the rich and powerful live in a central Capital City in the country of Panem, while the 99% toil in districts under extreme poverty and working conditions. We learn that 74 years ago there was an uprising, and the might of the Capital slammed back hard. From that point on, each of the twelve districts, once a year, must send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12-18 to compete in a fight-to-the-death reality show called The Hunger Games. 24 go in, and 1 comes out, and that winner is able to bring extra food and rewards back to their district for the year. It's a way to keep those peasants under control.

In many ways, the movie hinges on the central performance of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the resourceful girl from District 12 who volunteers to "play" in the Games after her younger sister is drafted. She's in almost every scene, and she's great. She had a similar role in Winter's Bone that garnered her an Oscar nomination.

The movie does keep its PG-13 by not being gratuitous with the violence, but it doesn't skimp on it either. Blood splatters and kids get killed, all for the entertainment of the colorful Capital dwellers, following the natural digression of reality TV.

Fans of the book can rest assured it's about as faithful to it as any adaption can be (no Avox though), and for those who haven't read it, you won't be lost.

Hunger Games #1, Wrath of Titans #2

1.  The Hunger Games - $61.1 million ($251.03) - 2 wks (LG) -59.9%
 . . . 4137 screens / $14,769 per screen
2.  Wrath of the Titans - $34.2 - 1 wk (WB)
 . . . 3545 / $9647
3.  Mirror Mirror - $19 - 1 wk (Rel)
 . . . 3603 / $5273
4.  21 Jump Street - $15 ($93.1) - 3 wks (Sony) -26.7%
 . . . 3148 / $4765
5.  The Lorax - $8 ($189.6) - 5 wks (U) -39.3%
 . . . 3264 / $2451
6.  John Carter - $2 ($66.21) - 4 wks (BV) -60.5%
 . . . 2397 / $836
7.  Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - $1.27 ($3.17) - 4 wks (CBS) +81.3%
 . . . 483 / $2638
8.  Act of Valor - $1.01 ($67.75) - 6 wks (Rel) -50.7%
 . . . 1239 / $812
9.  A Thousand Words - $.92 ($16.52) - 4 wks (Par) -53.1%
 . . . 1007 / $909

The phenomenon continues.  The Hunger Games will have no problem getting to $300 million domestic.

Wrath of the Titans opened lower than the original Clash and is receiving even worse reviews than the first one. Last I checked it was a 25% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Mirror Mirror opened lower than Relativity would've hoped for.  Part of the problem may have been it's a kids-aimed comedy, and the grittier Snow White & the Huntsman has a stronger marketing campaign.

Carnage - DVD Review

Starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly.
Directed by Roman Polanski.

★★★

I imagine this is a very entertaining play to watch.  It's a variant of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, except both couples have their problems bubbling under the surface that may explode out once the alcohol gets pouring.

Foster and Reilly play one couple, she a liberal-cause writer and he a hardware store owner.  They've invited over another couple, Winslet and Waltz, she an investment broker and he a lawyer, because their boys got in a fight that resulted in one hitting the other in the face with a stick.  At first, the couples engage in the polite niceties of four adults trying to work out a problem, but Foster is the victim's mother and she keeps reaching for an apology that never quite comes.  As the day wears on, the politeness takes an edge, and eventually the happy public faces are stripped away.

It's a dark comedy about eroding manners, and while I liked it, I never forget it was based on a play.  The whole thing takes place in a claustrophobic apartment.  The four actors have a blast in their roles, and while the women having showier scenes, I thought Waltz stole the movie.  His shark-like smile and dark eyes make him predatory.  He'll be nice if he has to, but don't push his buttons.

It has a quick running time, which makes its lack of an ending more jolting.  I enjoyed it, but the studio made a mistake positioning this as a limited-release late-December Oscar-bait movie.  I would have made it a spring or fall release on at least 1000 screens.  As is, when the Oscar nominations didn't materialize, it fizzled out at $2.5 million.

Random Movie Stuff - 3/27/12

- Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass, Hugo, Dark Shadows) has been offered the title role in MGM's remake of Carrie, based on the classic Stephen King novel about a shy girl with telekinetic powers who has the worst prom ever.  Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) will direct.

- Chloe Moretz has also joined the cast of The Drummer, a biopic about Beach boys drummer Dennis Wilson, who died in 1983.  It stars Aaron Eckhart, Vera Farmiga and Rupert Grint (Harry Potter).

- Kenneth Branagh (Thor) will direct the next Jack Ryan movie.  The reboot would star Chris Pine, who'd star after filming on Star Trek 2 is complete.  Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck have played Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan in movies past.

- Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis have been offered the leads in Jupiter Ascending, the next sci-fi movie from Andy & Lana Wachowski (The Matrix).

- Melissa Leo (The Fighter) has joined the cast of Oblivion, a sci-fi thriller from Joseph Kosinski (Tron Legacy).  It stars Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones).

- Greg Dean Schmitz's Upcomingmovies.com was one of my must-visit sites about 10 years ago.  Yahoo bought his site awhile back, and now he's the main news guy for RottenTomatoes.com, a site I currently can't go a week without visiting.  Here's some news tidbits from his Weekly Ketchup column, which gives his top ten movie stories of the week (be they fresh or rotten):

1.  Michael Bay's producing a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, now titled Ninja Turtles, as the plan to have them actually be aliens.
2.  Brett Ratner's name has been attached to direct Midnight Run 2, a sequel to the 1988 hit with Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin.  DeNiro's expected to return but not Grodin.
3.  Jessica Biel will play Vera Miles in Alfred Hitchcock & the Making of Psycho, starring Anthony Hopkins (Hitchcock), Helen Mirren (his wife), James D'Arcy (Anthony Perkins), Scarlett Johansson (Janet Leigh) and Michael Stuhlbarg (agent Lew Wasserman).
4.  Ron Howard's production company Imagine Entertainment is developing another big-screen treatment of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Daily Show on the Trayvon Martin shooting

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Brilliant handling of the story.

AMC TV Shows

THE KILLING starts up again next week. Wasn't the season finale just six months ago? Regardless, I'm glad it's back soon enough. My wife watched season 1 with me but she decided she has no interest in season 2. I'll watch season 2, but I really hope it's not as morose as season 1. One can only take watching grieving parents for so long.

Still haven't watched the season finale of THE WALKING DEAD. I just hope the writers get a hold of themselves in season 3. Season 2 was full of bad dialogue and confusing character motivations. Still love the show; I just hope since we're getting the Governor in season 3 that it picks up. Was sad to see Dale go, but I liked how they had Shane exit. It had to be him or Rick.  I know they leave the farm and I assume a couple more characters get killed, but it'll be good for them to be on the road again.

I loved the season opener of MAD MEN. So nice to see Don Draper and company back. Now we're in 1966, and times are a-changing even as the characters wish they weren't. I liked the power struggle of SCDP, where Pete's exploring his powers as junior partner. He can pull in the unglamorous work, and now Roger Sterling finds himself trying to hide his uselessness. I like how Pete's a petty jerk except when he's around his wife. She brings out the best in him.

The underlying theme of Mad Men continues to be people looking for what they want, and when they get it, they're still not happy.  Don impulsively proposed to Megan at the end of last season.  Now they're a few months into their marriage and they already have cracks showing.  Roger and Lane are clearly unfulfilled in their marriages as well.

By the way, I tried about half an episode of COMIC BOOK MEN, the new reality show from Kevin Smith. I lasted about half an episode. Picture all the friends you had in college. Now picture the four geekiest who never grew up. Now picture them with their own show. What you are now picturing is more engaging than the reality of the actual show.

[Update: I watched the finale of The Walking Dead tonight.  I like how the group's on the run now.  I would have guessed that Patricia and Jimmy would have become zombie-food; they were the least developed characters on the show.  The show is at its best in action-mode.  When it got into dialogue, it entered shaky ground, and some actors are better at making it work than others.  I also like that Andrea is separated from the group, and now we have this cool hooded sword-lady with armless walkers as pets.]

Hunger Games breaks box-office records

1.  The Hunger Games - $155 million - 1 wk (LG)
 . . . 4137 screens / $37,467 per screen
2.  21 Jump Street - $21.3 ($71.05) - 2 wks (Sony) -41.3%
 . . . 3121 / $6825
3.  The Lorax - $13.1 ($177.3) - 4 wks (U) -42.5%
 . . . 3677 / $3563
4.  John Carter - $5.01 ($62.35) - 3 wks (BV) -63.1%
 . . . 3212 / $1561
5.  Act of Valor - $2.06 ($65.94) - 5 wks (Rel) -44.8%
 . . . 2216 / $931
6.  Project X - $1.95 ($51.75) - 4 wks (WB) -51.8%
 . . . 2065 / $944
7.  A Thousand Words - $1.93 ($14.93) - 3 wks (DW) -47%
 . . . 1787 / $1077
8.  October Baby - $1.72 - 1 wk (Gold)
 . . . 390 / $4405
9.  Safe House - $1.4 ($122.6) - 7 wks (U) -48.5%
 . . . 1330 / $1053
10. Journey 2 The Mysterious Island - $1.37 ($97.16) - 7 wks (WB) -42.5%
 . . . 1340 / $1025
11. Casa De Mi Padre - $1.1 ($3.95) - 2 wks (LG) -51.9%
 . . . 475 / $2316

The Hunger Games had the third highest opening weekend of all time, and its the highest non-sequel debut of all time. (It's behind only Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Dark Knight).  Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen should now have her pick of any script she wants.

NBC's Bent - TV Review

I think someday David Walton will find a decent sitcom to land on.  He showed some comedic abilities on 100 Questions and Perfect Couples, and here again he's in what could have been a decent show about a laidback contractor slowly seducing the uptight single mother (Amanda Peet) whose house he's redoing.  But the ratings are so bad, it's going to be gone in about four episodes.  Had it debuted in the fall, it might have been had a chance.

Beneath the Darkness - DVD Review

Starring Dennis Quaid, Aimee Teagarden, Tony Oller, Stephen Lunsford and Brett Cullen.  Directed by Martin Guigui.

★

Too forgettable to be loathed, this little thriller stars Dennis Quaid as small-town mortician Vaughn Ely with deadly proclivities, and Quaid is amusing to watch in the role, but the movie is more interested in following a group of boring teens who suspect him.

Some low points:

- The cop just assumes that one kid dies by accidentally falling down the stairs even though another kid is a witness that he was deliberately pushed, and that Ely then stomped on his neck. No one anywhere wants to even look at the body to see if they wounds are consistant with that story?

- The kids are having a tense conversation at the funeral about Ely and then suddenly he appears out from behind the tree they were standing next to. He was hiding behind that tree the whole time?

Picture intense mystery violins as the soundtrack to a daytime soap opera, and that's how most of the scenes go.

My Week with Marilyn - DVD Review

Starring Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Emma Watson, Judi Dench, Toby Jones, Julia Ormond, Jim Carter, Dougray Scott, Dominic Cooper, Derek Jacobi and Zoe Wanamaker. Directed by Simon Curtis.

★★★

Never saw The Prince & the Showgirl, and I think my enjoyment would have been enhanced if I had. This movie is about the experience of filming that movie through the eyes of the third assistant director (Eddie Redmayne), a young man who enjoyed a week of a flirty relationship with Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) on the set.

Monroe had a rough time on the shoot, clashing with co-star/director Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). Olivier was king of the non-Method, and Monroe had to feel and believe her character's motivations for her star power to shine through.

The reasons to see this movie are Williams and Branagh. Williams captures the vulnerability and allure of Marilyn. Branagh was born to play Olivier and doesn't disappoint. The supporting cast have fun in their roles too, like Julia Ormond as Vivian Leigh. I was a little disappointed that Emma Watson (Harry Potter) didn't have much more to do than play the plain girl that our protagonist neglects.

Williams and Branagh were both nominated for this movie and deservedly so. It just happened to be in the year that Meryl Streep and Christopher Plummer were in the mix.

John Carter - Movie Review

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Mark Strong, Dominic West, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy, Thomas Haden Church, Bryan Cranston and Daryl Sabara.  Directed by Andrew Stanton.

★★★

"Of Mars! Say it!"

After Mars Needs Moms bombed, Disney changed the original title John Carter of Mars to the much blander John Carter.

If you forget all the surrounding noise about how expensive it was to make, and how much money it will lose, it's actually a pretty decent sci-fi adventure with one central flaw. Taylor Kitsch is not that interesting.

It's all about John Carter, a Confederate Civil War vet forced back into active service by the United States of We Yankees Kickedyerbutt. While Kitsch's line-reads rarely stray from the obvious choice, I enjoyed watching Bryan Cranston dig into his expository officer character. I wish his character had been zapped to Mars too.

So yeah, about 20 minutes in, John Carter's on what the natives call Barsoom. The ensuing plot goes through several familiar tropes of the genres. Star Wars, Avatar, Dune, etc. owe a debt to Edgar Rice Burroughs.

This is the live-action directorial debut of Andrew Stanton (WALL-E), and all the money is up there on the screen. The cities and ships and landscapes are all great. I really felt transported to another place. There was an air-battle that got confusing and that made me think of how I appreciate George Lucas the choreographer.

And for me, Kitsch is a notch below Chris Hemsworth's Thor. Maybe after a couple more movies he'll figure it out.  I still would have enjoyed a sequel, as this is essentially an origin story, but we know that won't happen.

Random Movie Stuff - 3/20/12

- Seth Rogen (50/50) and Kevin Hart (Think Like a Man) will star in a period cop comedy. They'll play "the original buddy cops", the first ever pairing of a black cop and white cop in the late 1940's.

- Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat is going to be turned into a 3-D animated movie. (Let's all pretend that live-action Mike Myers 2003 fiasco never happened.)

- Sony Pictures is already planning on a sequel to 21 Jump Street. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are both expected to return.

- Josh Trank (Chronicle) will direct The Red Star, based on the graphic novel about an alternate-reality Russia where magic and technology collide. Trank's name has also been in the mix to helm either the Fantastic Four reboot, or the Spider-Man spinoff Venom.

- No details yet, but SNL co-stars Chevy Chase & Dan Aykroyd (Spies Like Us) are going to reteam for a movie.


I find myself shocked there's not a CG-animated movie of Pippi Longstocking in the works.

And here's the Dark Shadows trailer, starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton.

Prom - DVD Review

Starring Aimee Teegarden, Thomas McDonell, DeVaughn Nixon, Danielle Campbell, Cameron Monaghan, Yin Chang and Nicholas Braun.
Directed by Joe Nussbaum.

★★

Disney is trying to add a little more John Hughes to the High School Musical formula, and maybe tweens will fall in love with this, but Hughes always found a way to find the soul within the cliches.  This movie makes sure the safe choice is always made, and so the ensemble must ride and fall on the skills of their actors, and their skills range from charismatic to Disney Channel sitcom.

It's actually a stark contrast to Myth of the American Sleepover.  That movie had less plot, but the kids felt real enough that it could have been a documentary.  Here we have several characters who are assigned their personality traits and they never stray from them.

The whole thing is pleasant enough, and like I said, I'm sure it'll score with its targeted demo, but there's nothing in here to help it trascend to any other age group.  But I'd rather sit through this than, say, a Suite Life of Zack & Cody movie.

Weekend Box Office - 3/18/12

1.  21 Jump Street - $35 million - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 3121 screens / $11,214 per screen
2.  The Lorax - $22.8 ($158.4) - 3 wks (U) -41.3%
 . . . 3769 / $6049
3.  John Carter - $13.52 ($53.17) - 2 wks (BV) -55.2%
 . . . 3749 / $3605
4.  Project X - $4 ($48.13) - 3 wks (WB) -64.1%
 . . . 2922 / $1371
5.  A Thousand Words - $3.75 ($12.1) - 2 wks (Par) -39.3%
 . . . 1895 / $1979
6.  Act of Valor - $3.68 ($62.4) - 4 wks (Rel) -47.4%
 . . . 2765 / $1330
7.  Safe House - $2.8 ($120.2) - 6 wks (U) -41.7%
 . . . 1920 / $1458
8.  Journey 2 The Mysterious Island - $2.46 ($95.07) - 6 wks (WB) -32%
 . . . 1935 / $1271
9.  Casa De Mi Padre - $2.2 - 1 wk (LG)
 . . . 382 / $5759
10. This Means War - $2.13 ($50.53) - 5 wks (Fox) -43.4%
 . . . 1660 / $1280

Random Television Stuff - 3/17/12

- NBC has renewed Grimm for a second season.

- HBO has halted production of the second season of Luck and cancelled the series after a third horse was injured and has to be euthenized during filming.  The Dustin Hoffman racehorse drama didn't have good ratings, but HBO had hoped buzz could build for the second season.

- Did you know Rosie O'Donnell had a talk show on OWN?  Well, it's been cancelled.

- Keri Russell (Felicity) and Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) will star in FX's The Americans.  They'd play two KGB agents who've been undercover in the USA for years in the 1980's.  Noah Emmerich (Super 8) is in talks to play their neighbor.

- Rapper-actor Tip "T.I." Harris (Takers) has joined the cast of Starz's Boss.  He'll play a former gangbanger who wants a career at Chicago's City Hall.

21 Jump Street - Movie Review

Starring Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Ice Cube, Rob Riggle, Ellie Kemper, Jake Johnson, Chris Parnell and Nick Offerman.  Directed by Phil Lord & Chris Miller.

★★★½

When I first saw the trailer a few months ago I thought it looked terrible, like a candidate for worst movie of the year.  And yet, it's the funniest movie I've seen in several months.

Let me first speak to Channing Tatum.  With his body, he has to do action pics, but in such movies like GI Joe and The Eagle, I don't find him that compelling.  He's had success in chick flicks (Dear John, The Vow), but after being the funniest part about The Dilemma, and now this, I'm convinced Tatum's strength is comedy.

He and Jonah Hill make a great team.  We start in 2005, when the two were in high school.  Hill plays Schmidt, the insecure nerdy outcast, and Tatum is Jenko, the dumb bullying jock.  They meet again in police academy and decide to be friends.  Schmidt helps Jenko with studying, Jenko helps Schmidt with physical training.

Flash-forward to 2012, and the two are enlisted in the recently resurrected Jump Street program, where young-looking cops infiltrate high school as narcs.  Thos who remember the show will recognize in-jokes here and there, but those who haven't seen it will never feel lost.

The movie plays on stereotypes and expectations and subverts them over and over.  Directors Lord & Miller, of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs fame, have no problem transitioning their chaotic sense of humor to live-action.  There's also several fun small roles for TV comedy vets like Ellie Kemper (The Office), Nick Offerman (Parks & Recreation), Jake Johnson (New Girl), Chris Parnell (Suburgatory), and so forth.

NBC's The Office - TV Review

We have to talk about The Office.

It's been one of my favorite comedies for years, but I haven't been able to say that is still true.  The show has not recovered from the departure of Steve Carell's Michael Scott.

James Spader's Robert California was great for a couple episodes, but the possibilities with him never really manifested.  And now that we know he's leaving, I can't say those are the big shoes to fill.  Carell's comedic void remains.  Ed Helms's Andy is a good character, but as the boss, he's this earnest guy that everyone is rooting for.  They want him to succeed.  He lacks that self-absorbtion that Michael had that unwittingly made his co-workers miserable.  I caught a rerun of when Jim and Andy were working the New York office.  Anger-management Andy had a lot more edge to him.  I'd like to see a little more of that guy come back.  Maybe we will now that he's been ousted.

Also, we know that not only is Spader leaving, but Rainn Wilson (Dwight) is getting his own Schrute Farms spin-off, and Mindy Kaling (Kelly) will be leaving as well for her own show on Fox.  Does NBC cancel Harry's Law and bring back Kathy Bates's Jo?  May be no need since Catherine Tate's Nelly is joining the cast full-time.  I'm pretty sure that had been the plan last year but there was so much buzz about the job Spader did in the season finale that they brought him on board for a full season.

So I still watch every week, and there are still things that happen that make me smile.  I'll watch it to the series finale and will miss it when it's gone.  It just ain't what it used to be.