Fall TV Preview 2012

Last year, there were 27 new shows on the networks.  Eleven of them got a second season, and four more mid-season replacements (Scandal, Touch, Bob's Burgers, Don't Trust the B--- in Apt. 23) were renewed.

This year, there are 19 new shows.  I think there's room for fewer new shows because there are more two-hour reality competition shows with one-hour results shows.  Even if The X Factor is underperforming, it's still one of the highest-rated shows on Fox.

Let's assume seven of these new shows get renewed.  I'm going to guess The Mindy Project, Elementary, Nashville, 666 Park Avenue, Arrow, Vegas and Go On.

New shows in Bold.

=Monday=

ABC
Dancing with the Stars
Castle

CBS
How I Met Your Mother
Partners
2 Broke Girls
Mike & Molly
Hawaii Five-0

NBC
The Voice
Revolution

FOX
Bones
The Mob Doctor

CW
90210
Gossip Girl

New Shows:
PARTNERS - David Krumholtz (Numb3rs) returns to CBS for this comedy about two longtime friends and business partners where one of them (Ugly Betty's Michael Urie) is gay, and their relationships sometimes intrude on their work.  Brandon Routh (Superman Lives) plays Urie's partner while Sophia Bush plays Krumholtz's girlfriend.

REVOLUTION - Civilization is in tatters fifteen years after all forms of power cease to work.  Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) plays the main villain, and Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost, V) and Billy Burke (Twilight) are among the adults fighting for survival.

THE MOB DOCTOR - Jordana Spiro (My Boys) is a legitimate doctor with colleagues like Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights) and Zjelko Ivanek (The Event), but she also secretly must help the mafia when they call.

Outlook:
Partners has a plum position and appealing cast, but reviews have thus far been uninspiring.  Then again, it could grow into it.  Unless it's downright disastrous, I see it having Yes Dear success.  Revolution could be the geek serial NBC's been looking for ever since Heroes jumped the shark, but Castle and Hawaii Five-0 are proven in their timeslots.  Meanwhile I've heard The Mob Doctor is bad, and so I don't give it much of a chance to last.  I actually don't think any will get a second season, but I'll put Revolution on the bubble just because it looks intriguing.

=Tuesday=

ABC
Dancing with the Stars results
Happy Endings
Don't Trust the B--- in Apt. 23
Private Practice

CBS
NCIS
NCIS: LA
Vegas

NBC
The Voice results
Go On
The New Normal
Parenthood

FOX
Raising Hope
Ben & Kate
New Girl
The Mindy Project

CW
Hart of Dixie
Emily Owens MD

New Shows:
VEGAS - Based on the true story of the Las Vegas sheriff who did his best to keep his city safe while mobsters ramped up their influence.  The timing's right for Dennis Quaid to try TV, and it'll be nice to see Michael Chiklis (The Shield) play a less-than-savory character again.

GO ON - Matthew Perry is a sports-radio host whose life is turned upside-down after his wife dies. This is a comedy about group grief therapy sessions.

THE NEW NORMAL - Gay couple decides to go the surrogate mother route to have their first child.

BEN & KATE - Carefree brother helps single sister raise her daughter.

THE MINDY PROJECT - Mindy Kaling (The Office) gets her own show as an ob-gyn with a shaky dating life.

EMILY OWENS MD - Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep's daughter) gets her own medical show.

Outlook:
I expect a bloodbath for the second hour.  Dancing with the Stars and the NCIS franchise skew older, but they get the total ratings.  Raising Hope was on life-support anyway, so I don't see ben & Kate benifitting from following it.  New Girl however is a legit 18-49 hit, and The Mindy Project should success behind it.

I don't see Go On and The New Normal doing as well as NBC needs them to, but I can see both surviving just because so many of their other sitcoms are on their last year, with Go On more likely to survive than New Normal.

Vegas is getting prime real estate Tuesdays at 10/9 so it should do well.

=Wednesday=

ABC
The Middle
The Neighbors
Modern Family
Suburgatory
Nashville

CBS
Survivor
Criminal Minds
CSI

NBC
Animal Practice
Guys with Kids
Law & Order: SVU
Chicago Fire

FOX
The X-Factor

CW
Arrow
Supernatural

New Shows:

THE NEIGHBORS - A couple (Jami Gertz, Lenny Venito) moves into a new neighborhood and learns that everyone there are actually undercover aliens.

NASHVILLE - Sopay drama about a country star (Connie Britton) trying to keep her career afloat while an up-and-comer (Hayden Panetierre) looks to pass her up.

ANIMAL PRACTICE - Weeds vet Justin Kirk heads an animal hospital. A huge animal hospital I might add.

GUYS WITH KIDS - Three guy friends have kids.  See my review.

CHICAGO FIRE - It's about firemen.

ARROW - Green Arrow: the TV show.

Outlook:

Animal Practice is a terrible show, and it and Guys with Kids will be cancelled quickly.  The Neighbors seems too silly a show to plant between The Middle and Modern Family, but otherwise, ABC seems to have its Wednesday block figured out. I've heard Nashville's great.  I expect Chicago Fire to go the way of Mercy.

=Thursday=

ABC
Last Resort
Grey's Anatomy
Scandal

CBS
The Big Bang Theory
Two and a Half Men
Person of Interest
Elementary

NBC
30 Rock
Up All Night
The Office
Parks & Recreation
Rock Center with Brian Williams

FOX
The X-Factor results
Glee

CW
The Vampire Diaries
Beauty & the Beast

New Shows:

LAST RESORT - Perhaps the biggest question mark for me. Andre Braugher stars as the captain of a nuclear submarine who ignores orders from above to nuke Pakistan.  He and his 160 crew members start their own little country on an island.  I like the idea of this thriller.

ELEMENTARY - Jonny Lee Miller is a modern-day Sherlock, and Lucy Liu is his really modern Dr. Watson.

BEAUTY & THE BEAST - The "Beast" is a hunk with a facial scar, so...

Outlook:

NBC seems to have given up on getting ratings with Rock Center.  30 Rock, The Office and Parks & Rec are all in their final years.  Beauty & the Beast is getting bad reviews, but Vampire Diaries is a good lead-in, so it could survive that.  Elementary seems like the surest bet of the fall.

=Friday=

ABC
Shark Tank
Primetime: What Would You Do?
20/20

CBS
CSI: NY
Made in Jersey
Blue Bloods

NBC
Whitney
Community
Grimm
Dateline NBC

FOX
Touch
Fringe

CW
America's Next Top Model
Nikita

New Shows:

MADE IN JERSEY - A street-smart Jersey lawyer is the square peg at her uptight New York law firm.

Outlook:

Not a lot of ratings pressure on Made in Jersey.  Reviews are meh, but it fits in to CBS's brand.

=Sunday=

ABC
Once Upon a Time
Revenge
666 Park Avenue

CBS
The Amazing Race
The Good Wife
The Mentalist

NBC
Sunday Night Football

FOX
The Simpsons
Bob's Burgers
Family Guy
American Dad

New Shows:

666 PARK AVENUE - Terry O'Quinn finally gets his post-Lost TV show, teaming with Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty) as a sinister couple in charge of a supernatural hotel.

Outlook:

Good reviews. I think it'll succeed.  Its weakness could be Revenge as a lead-in. How many viewers will follow it to Sunday?

Resident Evil 5 wins box-office

1.  Resident Evil: Retribution - $21.1 million - 1 wk (SG)
 . . . 3012 screens/ $7005 per screen
2.  Finding Nemo 3D - $17.5 - 1 wk (BV)
 . . . 2904 / $6028
3.  The Possession - $5.8 ($41.17) - 3 wks (LG) -37.8%
 . . . 2860 / $2028
4.  Lawless - $4.22 ($30.14) - 3 wks (Wein) -29.8%
 . . . 3063 / $1377
5.  ParaNorman - $3.04 ($49.34) - 5 wks (Foc) -27.6%
 . . . 2326 / $1307
6.  The Expendables 2 - $3.03 ($80.29) - 5 wks (LG) -38.8%
 . . . 2896 / $1046
7.  The Words - $2.88 ($9.16) - 2 wks (CBS) -39.4%
 . . . 2801 / $1028
8.  The Bourne Legacy - $2.88 ($107.82) - 6 wks (U) -27.6%
 . . . 2170 / $1325
9.  The Odd Life of Timothy Green - $2.51 ($46.28) - 5 wks (BV) -31.2%
 . . . 2415 / $1040
10. The Campaign - $2.41 ($82.86) - 6 wks (WB) -28.8%
 . . . 2002 / $1201

Last Ounce of Courage opened on 1407 screens and came in at #15.  In limited release, Arbitrage and The Master did well.  2016 Obama's America passed the $30 million mark.  Hope Springs passed $60 million.

Resident Evil has owned the second weekend of September whenever it's chosen to open in that spot.

NBC's The New Normal - TV Review

This was put forward as one of NBC's better new sitcoms, and based on what I've seen so far, it IS one of the better new sitcoms NBC has to offer this fall.  But it's still not good enough to bother entering my DVR schedule.

KSL-TV said it won't carry it, but no prob, I can just download it on DirecTV.  This show has a gay couple (The Hangover's Justin Bartha and Broadway's Andrew Rannells) going the surrogate-mother route in order to start a family.  The surrogate mom (Georgia King) is poor and raising her daughter (Bebe Woods) on her own now that she's divorcing her dumb-as-doornails husband.  It's almost too feel-good perfect, right?

Enter great-grandmother Ellen Barkin (did she not notice they were making her a great-grandmother?)  She's a racist, homophobic, Fox News-watching judgmental monster who has those one-liners supposed to be Archie Bunker-esque, I suppose, but they go so over the top with her that I never wanted to see her character again.  Racist homophobes can be funny, but they miss the mark here.

Maybe if they tone her down and find new ways to spice up the guys (first episode's too soon to have them embracing their "boring married couple" phase) it can grow into being a good show.

NBC's Guys with Kids - TV Review

Anthony Anderson (NBC's Law & Order), Jesse Bradford (Swimfan), and Zach Cregger (IFC's The Whitest Kids U Know) star as three friends with babies who cart them around in those front-backpack things.  Tempestt Bledsoe (NBC's The Cosby Show), Erinn Hayes (The Watch), and Jamie-Lynn Sigler (HBO's The Sopranos) are the mothers, with one a workaholic, one a shrew-ish ex, and the other is... played by Sigler and I'm waiting to see what her character is.

It's a laugh-track sitcom, and of the three guys I liked Cregger the most.  Bradford and Hayes play a divorced couple, and he was so henpecked, and she was so selfish that I couldn't stand either.  Bledsoe and Sigler... who knows.  You know what you're getting with Anderson (though I personally prefer him in dramas).

It won't make my reviewing rotation.

HBO's Game Change - TV Movie Review

Finally got a chance to see HBO's movie based on one-fifth of the best-selling book from Heilemann/Halperin about the 2008 election.  And it did play like one-fifth of the book, where I wished we could get the other four-fifths.  You know, since the book's main plot was how Obama beat Hillary in the Democratic primary.

But this focusses on three characters. The main character is Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson), one of McCain's closest advisors and likely one of the main sources of the book.  Just as it looks like Obama's sealed the Democratic nominee, McCain's thinking of who his running mate should be.  He wants his pal Joe Lieberman, but internal polling shows it would be disastrous, so they have to look for a high-risk high-reward candidate.

Enter Sarah Palin, played with juuust a little too much Alaskan twang by Julianne Moore sometimes, while other times she's lost in the role and I forgot I was watching Moore.  Sarah is this enigmatic figure, smart on some things and unbelievably stupid on other things. (She really didn't know that England's run by the Prime Minister, not the Queen?  She really thought Saddam was in on the 9/11 plot?)  But lest you think we're seeing a caricature, we see the scenes of her children crying due to the press treatment they're receiving, and we see her putting on a brave face while her son's deployed in Iraq.

John McCain's role isn't as big as I thought it might be.  Ed Harris does a fine job, and for the most part, McCain's portrayed as a good man bewildered by his friends in the press turning on him.  Schmidt is the moral center, and Palin by the end is Willie Stark as Greg Stillson in The Maleficent Story, and it's Schmidt's willingness to be candid in interviews afterward about just how unprepared she was that put the brakes on the printing of Sarah Palin 2012 bumper stickers. (So that's how he got his job at MSNBC.)

So if HBO was willing to go warts-and-all with the Palin parts of the book, why not do the rest and be a mini-series?  Politics, obviously.  If Palin had decided to run, what a deliciously opportune time for the movie to come out.  But we won't go into the Hillary/Barack/Bill/John & Elizabeth Edwards sections of the book.  Might make the Democrats look bad.  It's from Danny Strong and Jay Roach, the same team behind HBO's Recount, which retold the 2000 election through Gore-colored glasses.

But I do hope Woody Harrelson wins the Emmy for his work here.

Weekend Box Office - 9/9/12

1.  The Possession - $9.5 million ($33.35) - 2 wks (LG) -46.4%
 . . . 2834 screens / $3352 per screen
2.  Lawless - $6 ($23.52) - 2 wks (Wein) -40%
 . . . 3138 / $1913
3.  The Words - $5 - 1 wk (CBS)
 . . . 2801 / $1785
4.  The Expendables 2 - $4.75 ($75.42) - 4 wks (LG) -47.4%
 . . . 3260 / $1457
5.  The Bourne Legacy - $4 ($103.7) - 5 wks (U) -44.7%
 . . . 2766 / $1446
6.  ParaNorman - $3.83 ($45.1) - 4 wks (Foc) -41.7%
 . . . 2856 / $1341
7.  The Odd Life of Timothy Green - $3.65 ($43.01) - 4 wks (BV) -42%
 . . . 2717 / $1343
8.  The Campaign - $3.53 ($79.47) - 5 wks (WB) -38.2%
 . . . 2542 / $1389
9.  The Dark Knight Rises - $3.29 ($437.85) - 8 wks (WB) -46.3%
 . . . 1987 / $1653
10. 2016 Obama's America - $3.28 ($26.09) - 9 wks (RM) -41.5%
 . . . 2017 / $1627

Predicatbly slow weekend saw last week's top two keep their spots.  The Words had bad reviews and no buzz, and The Cold Light of Day opened to more screens than planned (1511) but had even worse reviews. The Words and Hit & Run are two Bradley Cooper movies that won't make much but their budgets were low enough that they'll still be profitable.

2016 Obama's America is now the second highest-grossing political documentary of all time.

Ice Age: Continental Drift - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, Peter Dinklage, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Keke Palmer, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Josh Gad, Nick Frost and Chris Wedge.
Directed by Steve Martino & Mike Thurmeier.

★★½

This is the fourth installment in the series, box-office-wise, there's no indication it'll be going extinct anytime soon.  Ice Age 5 & 6 will happen.

Manny, Sid and Diego are living happily ever after, or at least have been since escaping the middle of the Earth where dinosaurs still roamed.  Manny's daughter's growing up and he's overprotective (no references to the wife and child he lost before the first Ice Age).  Sid's family shows up long enough to drop off Granny and abandon him again.  Diego's just hanging out.

The best part of all of the movies is Scrat, in fruitless pursuit of the perfect acorn.  This time he falls to the Earth's core, causing the plate shifts that rip apart the continents.  Manny, Sid, Diego and Granny happen to be on one piece of land that drifts out into the ocean, cutting them off from everyone else.

I welcome an excuse to narrow down the cast, and Wanda Sykes is a perfect fourth-wheel as the cranky, wrinky granny sloth.  The four eventually encounter pirates, led by a malicious baboon named Captain Guts. (I couldn't place the voice, but ah, it was Peter Dinklage).  Naturally there's a sabre-tooth hottie (Jennifer Lopez) among the crew that Diego can pine for.

It's an okay time-killer.  I still enjoy John Leguizamo's Sid the Sloth, and some of the visual gags are funny.  The teenage-daughter subplot is typical Nick Jr. stuff.

Possessions wins box-office weekend

1.  The Possession - $17.73 million - 1 wk (LG)
 . . . 2816 screens / $6294 per screen
2.  Lawless - $9.67 ($11.82) - 1 wk (Wein)
 . . . 2888 / $3350
3.  The Expendables 2 - $8.8 ($66.16) - 3 wks (LG) -34.4%
 . . . 3334 / $2639
4.  The Bourne Legacy - $7.25 ($96.25) - 4 wks (U) -22.4%
 . . . 3131 / $2315
5.  ParaNorman - $6.55 ($38.03) - 3 wks (Foc) -24.2%
 . . . 3085 / $2124
6.  The Odd Life of Timothy Green - $6.06 ($35.9) - 3 wks (BV) -15%
 . . . 2635 / $2298
7.  The Dark Knight Rises - $5.88 ($431.2) - 7 wks (WB) -18.6%
 . . . 2187 / $2689
8.  The Campaign - $5.45 ($73.02) - 4 wks (WB) -27.1%
 . . . 2941 / $1851
9.  2016 Obama's America - $5.1 ($18.2) - 8 wks (RM) -21.6%
 . . . 1747 / $2921
10. Hope Springs - $4.7 ($52.06) - 4 wks (Sony) -17.9%
 . . . 2441 / $1925

Late August to mid September are typically slow, and The Possession did about a good as could be expected.  I can't help but think if Lawless had someone else as the kid brother besides Shia LaBeouf, it would have opened better.

As far as political documentaries go, 2016 has passed Capitalism: A Love Story and is on pace to pass Bowling for Columbine.  If it can catch Sicko's $24.5 million, it'll be the second highest grossing political doc of all time.


The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure also opened, and it now has the dubious distinction of being the worst opening in history of any movie over 1000 screens.  It debuted at #26, averaging $207 per screen on 2160 for a total of $448,000.

CBS's Big Brother 14 - TV Review

Wow.  It's been a pretty good season so far, but Wednesday night's episode may have been one of the greatest performances ever on that show.  Ever.  You can argue who the best player is in BB history.  They had the All-Stars season, and they've had past guests creep back in for this reason or that.  Some winners lucked into it; some earned it big time.  Dan earned his the first time around when he won it.  And what Dan did this week put him at the top of the pantheon of BB players.

Dan and three other past players (Mike Boogie, Janelle, Britney) came in as coaches, picking a team from the houseguests and helping them get to the end.  Dan's team was narrowed quickly to just Danielle, but then a twist came where the coaches were allowed to join as players.  Dan was in an alliance of five on one level (Britney, Shane, Ian) and an alliance of six on another.  Janelle was blindsided.  After the alliance of six blew up to send Mike Boogie home, the next target was Frank, but Frank won HoH.  He nominates Dan and Danielle.

There are two vetoes available, and Ian won the first one.  So if Britney or Shane can win the veto, both alliance members can be pulled off.  Trouble is, Frank's ally Jenn won the veto.  Dan's toast.

The veto competition had punishments tied to points.  Frank racked up a lot, but one of Dan's was to be in solitary confinement for 24 hours.  Dan had a full day to be by himself and plot.

When Dan came out, he dressed in black, and he welcomed everyone to Dan's funeral.  He generated tears from a few people, as Dan's a very likeable guy.  He said he knew he was going home but had nice things to say about everyone.  He left Frank and Danielle for last. He said he'd said some things about Frank he wasn't proud of and he wanted to explain and apologize in private later.  For Danielle, he said he knew she betrayed him and she was dead to him.  Dan and Frank left, and Danielle sobbed.  If Dan had kicked a puppy, it would have come off as less cruel.

Dan confesses everything about the alliance of five to Frank, and he makes sure Frank knows that Ian is the one who betrayed him last week.  He gets Frank to agree to a new alliance of four if Jenn would use her veto to save Dan and vote out Britney.  Michael Corleone and Walter White would marvel. Machiavelli would make some new notes to the special edition of The Prince.

Now Dan pulls Danielle aside.  She says "You broke my heart" but he explains it was all an act.  He lets her know the plan, and that Britney has to be the new target.  Instead of an alliance of five, he saved them both and now has them in an alliance of four.  "Couldn't you give me a heads-up?" "No because the tears had to be real."  "You would use my emotions to advance in this game?" "To get you to the end of this game, yes." And you could see the newfound respect for his means-justified ends wash across her face.  It took a few minutes, but in the end, Danielle was smiles.

And so, Ian didn't use his veto, but Jenn did, and now Britney's on the block with Danielle, her spirit broken.  Britney is the casualty, and as nice as Dan can be...

...don't ever back Dan into a corner.

Thursday's live show was almost anticlimactic.  We got to see Ian not fold at all but be determined and angry.  We saw Danielle doing a good job of pretending she and Dan were still on the outs.  And we saw Britney get in her digs before she was voted out.  And at this point, I don't think it matters who wins HoH.  I know Dan will always find a way to survive.

Newsroom, Game of Thrones, Hell on Wheels, Breaking Bad - TV Reviews

Got HBO Go for a month.  Wahoo!

THE NEWSROOM
Season 1 Episode 2 - I've heard more bad than good in general about this show.  I saw the first episode a while back and found it to be what Aaron Sorkin figures he was born to write.  Grandstanding, speechifying, etc., etc., but hey, SorkinLand can be a fun place to play.  The email gag was too obvious. (How do you accidentally type an asterisk in front of an email address twice?)  The relationshippy stuff was very Jim/Pam/Roy, and I expect it to remain like that.  The actual broadcast part of the show was hilarious, centering on Jan Brewer's signing into law the new immigration bill but them scrambling to find a pro-bill guest at the last second and failing miserably.


GAME OF THRONES
Season 2 Episode 2 - Love it love it love it.  Except for the gratuitous nudity.  We get it; you're HBO.  The TV show has added a little more humanity to some of the characters that come off as more two-dimensionally evil in the books.  I'm really liking the new cast additions.  Brienne, Stannis, Davos, Margary


Also this week:

AMC's HELL ON WHEELS - When the episode started with pigs being fed entrails, I knew at some point, we were going to see a human wind up as pig food.  That's another parallel to Deadwood, and it's not really a good idea for this show to keep reminding us of that better show.  But it was a model of building dread and suspense.  Every time the butcher wipes a bloody weapon, we know that might be the tool that does the deed.

AMC's BREAKING BAD - Walter White's descent continues.  There was something particularly boss about the way he handled the rival meth gang and managed to get them to work for him.  Then his weaselly approach with Jesse reminds how manipulative and petty he can be.  Walt's welching Jesse out of his $5 million?  I caught part of the Dean Norris (Hank) interview on Conan where he said a fan told him, 'It's hard to know who to root for." And Norris said, "Are you kidding?  Here's Walter White; I'll root for anyone else on the planet."

Expendables 2 is #1 again

For the weekend of August 24-26.


1.  The Expendables 2 - $13.5 million ($52.31) - 2 wks (LG) -52.8%
 . . . 3355 screens / $4024 per screen
2.  The Bourne Legacy - $9.3 ($85.5) - 3 wks (U) -45.5%
 . . . 3654 / $2545
3.  ParaNorman - $8.55 ($28.27) - 2 wks (Foc) -39.3%
 . . . 3455 / $2474
4.  The Campaign - $7.44 ($64.54) - 3 wks (WB) -43.3%
 . . . 3302 / $2253
5.  The Dark Knight Rises - $7.15 ($422.19) - 6 wks (WB) -35.1%
 . . . 2606 / $2744
6.  The Odd Life of Timothy Green - $7.13 ($27.08) - 2 wks (BV) -34.2%
 . . . 2598 / $2742
7.  Premium Rush - $6.3 - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 2255 / $2794
8.  2016 Obama's America - $6.24 ($9.08) - 7 wks (RM) +401.2%
 . . . 1091 / $5718
9.  Hope Springs - $6 ($45) - 3 wks (Sony) -34.1%
 . . . 2402 / $2498
10. Hit & Run - $4.68 ($5.87) - 1 wk (OR)
 . . . 2870 / $1629
11. Sparkle - $4.2 ($18.9) - 2 wks (Tri) -63.9%
 . . . 2244 / $1872
12. The Apparition - $2.96 - 1 wk (WB)
 . . . 810 / $3648

The end-of-August slump has kicked into full gear.  Premium Rush, Hit & Run and The Apparition were the three big releases, and they'll all disappear quickly.  The best per-screen average of the Top 12 goes to the conservative documentary 2016 Obama's America, which expanded this week.  As far as political documentaries go, it's on pace to be the most successful non-Michael Moore doc in history.  Well, it'll be close to see if it passed An Inconvenient PowerPoint.

The Bourne Legacy is going to be the last summer movie to cross the $100 million mark.  The Expendables 2 won't quite pull off what the first one did, despite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis having bigger roles, and Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris being added to the cast. (I picture Mickey Rourke and Steve Austin saying, "It's because we're not in it!")  If the overseas haul is big enough, I guess Expendables 3 is justified, with word floating around they want to add The Rock and Wesley Snipes. (Dang, it sucks that Patrick Swayze is dead.)

NBC's Rock Center- Mormon in America

9:02 - After a good intro, Brian Williams plays a clip from a Mitt Romney interview.

9:04 - Weird to see Harry Smith on NBC.

9:05 - Interview with JetBlue founder. "Why are Mormons so good at business?"  That segueways into how missionary service helps them plan their future.

9:08 - Williams to Smith: "How is this brotherhood and sisterhood different than firefighters, people who were in the service together?" Smith mentions how missionaries and their families pay for the mission themselves.

commercial

9:12 - The history part.  You know the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Osmonds, but now there's South Park and Broadway's Book of Mormon. Cut to a professor who calls it the most successful religion created in America.

9:13 - Nitpick. They said the angel Moroni first appeared to Joseph Smith, but it was the Father and the Son first.  No biggie.  Otherwise, great job nutshelling LDS history into three minutes.

9:15 - Steven R. Snow is interviewed, so it's cool they got a General Authority.  They touch on polygamy and differences between LDS and other Christians.

9:17 - Abby Huntsman, Jon Huntsman's daughter, is interviewed.  She left the church but is there to give insights.  They wonder why non-Mormons can't get into the temple.  She says it's a sacred thing, but hopes in the future that'll change.

9:19 - (Eww. They show undergarment models.)

9:21 - Going into baptism for the dead, the priesthood ban on blacks until 1978, this is really speeding along.

commercial

9:25 - 77% of Mormons say they go to church every week, which makes me wonder how many of the 6 million Mormns in the US still consider themselves Mormon.

9:26 - Cool, a feature on an active interracial couple.  Wow, more garment questions. "Tell me more about your underwear."

9:29 - Cut to Joanna Brooks, author of The Book of Mormon Girl. Raised to believe men and women are equal but they have clearly delineated roles.

9:31 - Mitch Mayne sighting!  Gay Mormon serving in San Francisco ward.  This is doing a good job offering diverse insights into the church.

9:35 - Abby Huntsman again.  Was offended by something her bishop said about her dating a non-member and left the church.  The bishop's either feeling bad right now or saying to the TV, "That's not what I said!"

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9:39 - 13,628 bishops in the US. Mitt Romney used to be one.  Back to Harry Smith and the church welfare system.  Really goes into it in depth.  A walk-thru the bishop's storehouse.  I've needed to use such a warehouse on more than one occasion.  It's a blessing.

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9:51 - The Book of Mormon on Broadway.  Clark Johnson, gay, ex-Mormon, cast member.  Still touched by his experiences on his mission.  Doubts his parents will catch the play when they get back from their own mission in Palau. :)

Overall, good one-hour snapshot.

Safe House - DVD Review

Starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Robert Patrick, Ruben Blades and Joel Kinnaman.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa.

★★½

A Denzel Washington action film is like comfort food.  We know what we're going to get. And sadly I saw this before Tony Scott's death, and I thought the whole time it was directed by him until I looked it up. Which is to say Espinosa does a pretty good job in the Bruckheimer-aping department.

Washington plays Tobin Frost, a rogue agent and wanted man. He's captured and brought to a rarely-used CIA bunker run by young Matt Weston (Reynolds).  We know Frost is going to turn out to be a good guy, so that must mean one of Matt's superiors is the real bad guy, and there's a fine supporting cast playing our suspects.

The action's solid, the depth is non-existant, but it's entertaining for what it is.

Cinematically Speaking - 8/21/12

- An autopsy has been ordered for director Tony Scott, 68, who killed himself Sunday by jumping off a 200-foot bridge. There have been conflicting reports about his health.

My take: It doesn't make sense to me. I don't understand why someone who was still on top of their game, directing hit movies and producing hit TV shows, someone with a family, why he would just suddenly end it.  Tony was never going to get an Oscar, but his movies (Top Gun, Crimson Tide, True Romance, Enemy of the State, Man on Fire, Unstoppable) were successful and usually well-liked.

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- Samuel L. Jackson has joined the cast of Spike Lee's remake of Old Boy, about a man who's kidnapped and held hostage for 15 years with no outside communication, and then one day is set free with no explanation.  Josh Brolin and Sharlto Copley co-star.

My take: Nice to see Jackson reunite with Lee. Jackson was a Lee staple for many films (Mo Better Blues, Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever) and Lee's had success whenever he tries the mainstream thing (Inside Man).

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- Kevin Costner is going to star in two movies based on Tom Clancy properties.  He'll star as Jack Kelly in Without Remorse (directed by Christopher McQuarrie), and he'll play a different character in the new Jack Ryan movie (directed by Kenneth Branagh) starring Chris Pine and Keira Knightley.

My take: Nice to see Costner get some projects lined up after the success of The Hatfields & McCoys miniseries.  I don't know what was behind his dropping out of Django Unchained, but he'll appear as Pa Kent in next year's Superman movie.

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- Todd Phillips, director of The Hangover movies, will direct a remake of 1974's The Gambler, which starred James Caan as a man who keeps losing in betting and winds up $40,000 in debt with the mob.

My take: It'll be good to see how Phillips can do with more dramatic fare, though I must admit I don't know if he can pull it off. William Monahan (The Departed) is writing the script, and I imagine they'll be able to get an A-lister to star.

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- Abby Elliott is joining Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg as a departing Saturday Night Live cast member.  She's been there for four years and was known for her impressions of Angelina Jolie, Rachel Maddow, Anna Faris and Zooey Deschanel.  Jason Sudeikis's contract is up and he's still undecided as to whether or not he'll return.

My take: She was poised to be SNL's Alpha Female with Wiig leaving.  Sad to see Abby go, but maybe she and Fred Armisen broke up and she needs space, who knows. She's sure to get some sitcom deals.  I'd be surprised if Sudeikis sticks around. He's having a successful movie career (Hall Pass, Horrible Bosses, The Campaign) and he has We're the Millers with Jennifer Aniston and Ed Helms, and This Is Where I Leave You with Jason Bateman and Goldie Hawn coming up.  SNL needs some new blood because Sudeikis, Armisen, Kenan Thompson, Seth Meyers and Bill Hader all will likely be gone in a year or two.

Moonrise Kingdom - Movie Review

Introducing Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward.
Starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel and Bob Balaban. Directed by Wes Anderson.

★★★★

Wes Anderson, God bless him, is a quirky director with a distinct style that puts his stories on a tightrope.  His movies can suffer from an overload of whimsy.  As long as human emotion can still break through, that's when he succeeds best.  I loved The Royal Tenenbaums, partly because the three genius kids still felt the pain of having such an unbearably dysfunctional dad.  I felt like The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou didn't quite work because the quirky overwhelmed the humanity.

Moonrise Kingdom succeeds largely because the emotions are real.  Granted, he still has that puppet-show style where most frames are set up like you're in the front row watching something unfold on stage, but the offbeat delivery doesn't hide or blur the humanity.  It centers on Sam, a resourceful khaki scout, and Suzy, an angry girl with binoculars.  They are 12 years old in 1965, and if Stephen King's taught me anything, it's that being 12 is a magical time, when girls aren't just those creatures with cooties who stand on the other side of class.  Sam and Suzy both feel like outcasts and are therefore drawn to each other.  They've hatched a plan, you see.

Edward Norton is Scout Master Ward, in charge of his troop and alarmed when he sees Sam has run away. He notifies Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), the law enforcement in these parts.  They come to learn Suzy's gone too and must notify her parents (Bill Murray, Frances McDormand).  We go back and forth watching the adults frantically, fruitlessly try to find the two lovebirds, and we watch Sam and Suzy survive in the wilderness, for Sam has been training for this.

Jared Gilman (Sam) and Kara Hayward (Suzy) have made their film debuts here, and they simply are their characters. The relationship and chemistry between them is sweet, unforced and natural.  Even in stylized Anderson-ville, everything works.  We want these two crazy kids to be together, even though there's no possible way they can just live in the woods forever.  Gilman has this straightforward nerdiness, and Hayward is like a rebellious Emma Watson.

We caught this at the $3 theater, so I imagine it'll be on DVD in a couple months. It's worth hunting down. Wouldn't surprise me if it gets a couple Academy Award nominations when the time comes.

NBC's Stars Earn Stripes - TV Review

The latest network reality show has a hook I enjoy.  These "celebrities" will be training with real servicemen (a Marine, a Navy SEAL, a Delta Force guy, a SWAT team sniper, etc.) to go through different exercises and missions.  It was like a cross between Celebrity Boot Camp and Top Shot.

General Wesley Clark hosted (along with ex-Dancing with the Stars host Samantha Harris), and the show had an aura of respect throughout.  Respect for the trainers, respect for those who sacrifice to serve their country in various ways.

It's interesting to see who excels and who falters.  I figured Todd Palin ("4-time Iron Dog champion" is the reason given for his celeb status) would be good with anything gun-related, but who knew The Expendables' Terry Crews would sink in the swimming portion of the competition?

For what it is, it's decent, and I'm glad it beat ABC's Bachelor Pad, that hive of scum and villainy, in the ratings.

P.S. Speaking of Dancing with the Stars, some of the former contestants from that show are on this show, like Laila Ali and Nick Lachey.  Did Dean Cain ever do it? Well, he's here too.

The Bourne Legacy - Movie Review

Starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach, Dennis Boutsikaris, Oscar Isaac, Donna Murphy, Zjelko Ivanek, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Joan Allen and Albert Finney.  Directed by Tony Gilroy.

★★★

At its worst, it comes off as fan fiction of the Bourne universe, with side characters and a side project that is linked but in a way that we don't need to actually see Jason Bourne.  Picture a Star Wars movie that takes place between Empire and Jedi with just the bounty hunters and maybe a Darth Vader cameo.

But if you ignore all the explanations and rehashes and spelling-out the villains do about Bourne and Treadstone and so forth, you have a good chase thriller with Renner as Aaron Cross, a guy in the program who has his memory and has a bit of a sense of humor about himself.  But when his handlers try to kill him, well, this will not do.

I enjoyed it, and yet, it did feel like a hammock movie.  Norton and Keach and Murphy and Boutsakiris are the technocrats who spend the second half of the movie looking at monitors and reminding us of the stakes, the plot points, what this means, Bourne, Treadstone, motivations, implications... Hey, he's on the move!

I think the point was to show an agent who wanted to do the program, who liked it, who didn't have a memory lapse, but who was going to go Flowers for Algernon unless he flew to the Philippines and got the virus.

I liked the Alaska stuff, I liked the lab shoot-out, I liked the showdown in the house that eventually burned down.  The Philippines stuff got long, and the ending was a fizzle, but it seemed it was really just setting up Cross and Bourne to team up for Part 5.

Bourne #1, Campaign #2, Dark Knight #3

Box-office numbers for the weekend of August 10-12.


1.  The Bourne Legacy - $40.26 million - 1 wk (U)
 . . . 3745 screens / $10,752 per screen
2.  The Campaign - $27.44 - 1 wk (WB)
 . . . 3205 / $8562
3.  The Dark Knight Rises - $19.54 ($390.15) - 4 wks (WB) -45.3%
 . . . 3690 / $5295
4.  Hope Springs - $15.6 ($20.05) - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 2361 / $6607
5.  Dairy of a Wimpy Kid 3 - $8.2 ($30.55) - 2 wks (Fox) -43.9%
 . . . 3398 / $2413
6.  Total Recall - $8.1 ($44.19) - 2 wks (Sony) -68.3%
 . . . 3601 / $2249
7.  Ice Age: Continental Drift - $6.75 ($144.06) - 5 wks (Fox) -21.6%
 . . . 3102 / $2176
8.  Ted - $3.29 ($209.92) - 7 wks (U) -41.7%
 . . . 2208 / $1490
9.  Step Up Revolution - $2.85 ($30.17) - 3 wks (Sum) -51.9%
 . . . 1898 / $1502
10. The Amazing Spider-Man - $2.2 ($255.54) - 6 wks (Sony) -50%
 . . . 1585 / $1388
11. The Watch - $2.2 ($31.37) - 3 wks (Fox) -66.3%
 . . . 2461 / $894
12. Brave - $1.87 ($227.32) - 8 wks (BV) -37.4%
 . . . 1259 / $1485

The Damon-free Bourne movie was able to do respectable business with the less-bankable Jeremy Renner as its lead.

One thing that surprised me in looking it up: Bourne's on pace to be only the 12th title of the summer to pass the $100 million mark.  Expendables 2 might get there as well; that'd bring the total to 13.  Now The Avengers has passed $600 million, and TDKR will pass $400 million, and no movie did that in Summer 2011, but it had 18 million pass $100 million.

The Campaign, I believe, is leaving money on the table by going the R-rated route.  August has been a good month for Ferrell (The Other Guys, Talladega Nights) but those are PG-13 efforts.

Hope Springs did fine, I guess, for a Meryl Streep film, but watching two people go through couples therapy is not exactly an inspiring plot for date night.