Wednesday, December 10, 2008

TV News, Twilight update, Elfman cometh!

OK, two nights of Holiday parties in a row didn’t leave me much time to watch TV this week. I was planning on watching The Dark Knight last night (came out on DVD yesterday, for those of you who didn’t know), but got home a little too late.
I can, however, highly recommend it. I saw it in the theater and, judging it’s enormous box office take, most of you probably did too.
dark knight Pictures, Images and Photos
And speaking of The Dark Knight, the late Heath Ledger received a posthumous award over the weekend from his homeland’s Australian Film Institute for his role as The Joker. Ledger’s family was on hand to accept and paid a teary tribute to their loved one. “It’s been without a dbout the most difficult year, losing such a loved family member,” said sister Kate Ledger.
Ledger’s performance in the Batman blockbuster is regarded as having a solid chance for a posthumous Academy Award for best supporting actor.
The Dark Knight Pictures, Images and Photos

For those of you wanting to catch up, Lost: Season 4 (last season) hit the shelves on DVD yesterday.

top chef Pictures, Images and Photos
On TV Tonight: Don’t forget, it’s another fast-paced episode of Top Chef on Bravo at 10 p.m. Tonight the cheftestants are being pimped out to cook for judge Gail Simmon’s Bridal Shower. Should be interesting …

On Fox at 8 p.m. is the second episode of Secret Millionaire. I missed the first episode, but have since caught up and believe me, watch it with a stack of tissues. If you don’t produce tears watching this show, you’d better get to your cardiologist because your heart’s obviously turned to stone.
Along the same path as ABC’s Extreme Makeover, Secret Millionaire features a different millionaire each week, spending a week living in poverty with regular folks that have fallen on hard times – i.e. Hurricane Katrina survivors. After having their life-changing moment, the millionaires choose some lucky person at the end to award $100,000 out of their own pockets to help better their situation. Sounds cheesy, but it’s truly tear-jerking. You can watch last week’s episode and get more info here http://www.fox.com/programming/shows/new/secret_millionaire.htm

On Bravo last night, on the Real Housewives of Orange County (Bravo’s original Real Housewives show), Lauri decided to stop participating in the hit show. Lauri’s son, who has been battling drug addiction for the past two seasons, was sentence to 8 months in prison and Lauri decided to take time to concentrate on her family. Good luck Lauri.
Don’t fret, Bravo has already replaced her and a new “housewife” will make her debut next week.
The OC Pictures, Images and Photos
Lauri's on far right

In other news: The stage has been set at ABC for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and this year’s show will feature co-host Ryan Seacrest with performances by Taylor Swift, Lionel Richie, Natasha Bedingfield, Fall Out Boy, Jesse McCartney, Ne-Yo, Pussycat Dolls, Solange, Robin Thicke, and … hold on to yourselves …. THE JONAS BROTHERS!!!! (yeah, that was meant to be sarcastic)
Jonas brothers Pictures, Images and Photos

Oprah’s back up to 200 pounds …

jay leno Pictures, Images and Photos
And Jay Leno, who will say good-bye to The Tonight Show this spring, will be back before you know it … at 10 p.m. with The Jay Leno Show – WTH? Poor luck Conan … he’s supposed to be taking the helm of Johnny Carson’s late night extravaganza after Leno exits. With Jay on at 10 p.m., doing basically the same format, why bother to stay up after the news to see Conan?
Of course, this is only good news for David Letterman … his show on CBS in the same 11:35 p.m. time slot will undoubtedly rocket to No. 1.
Anyway, Jay’s new show will air five nights a week, just like his old one. Looks like Law & Order’s numerous serials may be taking the hit.

new moon Pictures, Images and Photos
And in movie news: Summit Entertainment has parted ways with Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, thereby leaving the spot wide open to direct the already slated sequel New Moon.
(Yeah, just another excuse for me to blog about Twilight, and include a sweet photo or two.)
twilight movie Pictures, Images and Photos
Anyway, no one’s saying who dumped who, but Hardwicke said, “I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct ‘New Moon’.”
But those supposedly in the know seem to think that due to larger budget and increased special effects needed for the flick – this one has the werewolves, afterall, Summit might have wanted to get someone with more visual effects experience. And, if you’ve seen Twilight, you have to admit, the visual effects weren’t very good. Except for the glittering Edward in the meadow, which Summit actually ponied up the money to hire George Lucas’ special effects wizards at Industrial Light & Magic to handle.
No offense to Hardwicke, I personally think she did the best she could with the budget that was afforded her.
As of last night, director Chris Weitz had been rumored to be offered the coveted job. Weitz directed last year’s holiday flop The Golden Compass. Yeah, I saw it on DVD and wasn’t impressed by the film … however, the special effects, which featured a giant polar bear fight, were top notch.
I’m a little more worried that Summit has chosen Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to write both New Moon and Eclipse. Personally, while the movie adaptation of Twilight did follow the book (there are always changes when adapting page-to-screen), I really don’t think it hit the same emotional mark. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see …
twilight Pictures, Images and Photos
The good news is that both stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are both signed to reprise their roles as vampire Edward Cullen and his human paramore Bella Swan.

Elfman Alert! Due to his vast TV knowledge and rather large fanbase, I’ve asked the Elfman to do a guest blog entry on his Top 5 TV shows of 2008, and he has graciously accepted. I’ll be offering that before the end of the year, along with my own picks. What have been your faves? or even your Worsts? Let me know along with a brief reason why, and you might see it here …

Also, the Elfman will be offering up his pick for Worst Christmas Movie ever – and believe me, it’s a real stinker – Chochem has spoken …

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

World Series blues, Twilight news

OK, enough with the World Series already!!! Game 5 ended abruptly last night when MLB decided the rain and wind was effecting the play too much ... so here we go again. It's still iffy if it will be resumed tonight and judging by the way its pouring right now (about 10:30 a.m.), with no hope of letting up anytime soon, I doubt it.
Anyway, the Phillies are starting to take their toll on my coworkers. Everybody's a little bleary-eyed this morning, even though the game was called early enough. Someone yawned a bit ago and muttered "Damn Phillies" ... I mean, we're soooo close. Maybe it'll all be over tonight and, after celebrating, we can all get back to our boring sleep schedules.
In the event that tonight's game is postponed, Fox is offering up a repeat of Fringe (it's the creepy speedy baby-delivery one) at 9 p.m. However, House (at 8 p.m.) is still supposed to be a new episode. Check The Mercury's home page, http://www.pottsmerc.com/, after 4 p.m. to see if the big game is back on!
it's the great pumpkin charlie brown Pictures, Images and Photos
Over on ABC, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown celebrates Halloween at 8 p.m., following by the Dancing with the Stars results show at 9 p.m. Don't look for pro-dance sweetie Julianne Hough tonight. She's currently having her appendix removed. Her partner, Cody Linley, will dance with another pro from the show until Hough is well enough to return - probably next week.

Those filthy rich "ladies" will be stirring up more trouble at 10 p.m. on Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta.

bella and edward
Twilight's Edward & Bella/ABC Family tonight
However, game or no game, I'll be firmly planted in front of the tube at 9 p.m. tonight for the finale of ABC Family's Greek. No, I've never before seen an episode, but tonight's finale will feature 2, yes 2, special sneak peaks of never-before-seen-footage from the upcoming vampire flick Twilight! And you all know how much I'm anticipating this one ...
The clips will be personally introduced by the film's stars, yes, girls, you know who I mean - Kristen Stewart (Bella) and the oh-so-hot Robert Pattinson (Edward)! Don't miss your chance to get bitten ...

Halloween Horror Watch: The Sci-Fi Channel offers up a modern classic in Freddy vs. Jason at 7 p.m. This flick is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it's still awesome to actually see two horror superstars mixing it up against each other - Freddy, as in Nightmare on Elm Street's child molesting Krueger, and Jason, as in the-Pride-of-Camp-Crystal-Lake-Voorhees. I must admit, Jason's the reason I never go camping ...

Freddy and Jason Pictures, Images and Photos

Jason and Freddy duke it out

And speaking of Freddy, his real life creator Robert Englund has a new one out on DVD today. Costarring sexy Jenna Jameson, Zombie Strippers revolves around a secret government re-animation chemo-virus which gets released in a - wait for it - strip club! How original (can you believe this flick was made by Sony?)! You can see the trailer here http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/zombiestrippers/

zombie strippers Pictures, Images and Photos

Also bowing on DVD today is Brendan Fraser in the remake of Jules Verne's classic Journey to the Center of the Earth. The story centers on a science professor whose radical theories have completeloy tarnished his reputation. While backpacking across Iceland with his nephew Sean, the two explorers find a cave that leads them deep down into the bowels of the planet ... watch the trailer here http://www.journey3dmovie.com/


Hey, speaking of movies involving caves ... another Halloween fave of mine is the recent horror flick The Descent. It's one of those, I-was-so-scared-I-almost-crapped-my-pants movies! Sure, the creatures encountered in the deep caverns are horrible, but the worst for me was when Sarah becomes stuck in that long narrow shaft and starts to panic - never considered myself claustrophobic before, but that did it for me. View the trailer here http://www.thedescentfilm.com/
guess the movie Pictures, Images and Photos
Descent Creature

TV News: Sunday's season finale of Mad Men (I'm halfway thru it) garnered 1.7 million viewers. That's up 30 percent from last week's 1.4 million. Still not stellar numbers and the show still hasn't been renewed for Season 3.


And finally, say good-bye to CBS' The Ex List. The hour-long comedy about a woman searching for true love among her ex-boyfriends has been pulled from the network lineup. After only four episodes, the show had slumped to only 5.5 million viewers.
carlisle and esme cullen Pictures, Images and Photos
Dr. Carlisle & Esme Cullen
Don't feel too bad for star Elizabeth Reeser, though. She'll next been seen on the big screen as Esme, the matriarch of the vampire Cullen family in Twilight. After that, there's at least 2 more vamp sequels in the works. It all depends on the box office, and judging by all the chat on the Internet, this flick's gonna be huge!
View the latest Twilight trailer here http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

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