Archive: January 2009 (291-300 of 354)

Jan 7 2009 11:07 PM ET

'NCIS' soundtrack: Will you buy it?

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Categories: Music, Television

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NCIS has been an absolute ratings beast this season — the show has been averaging a whopping 17.3 million viewers — so it’s no wonder that CBS is trying to capitalize on all that audience enthusiasm with an official soundtrack album. The two-disc set, which hits stores on Feb. 10, will include new music from Jakob Dylan, Dashboard Confessional, Ministry, and a bunch of random rockers. There’s also a rare Oasis cut and that awesome Bob Dylan song that won an Oscar in 2000, among other things. Woo! Anyway, fans of the procedural will probably be most psyched to see that two of its stars, Pauley Perrette (Abby Sciuto) and Cote de Pablo (Ziva David), are each singing a song.

Now, I love TV, and I love music, but personally, I’ve never really understood the whole TV soundtrack album phenomenon. I can’t think of an example that’s included more than one or two essential tracks. But c’mon and set me straight, NCIS watchers. Are you going to pick this one up? Or have you ever bought and enjoyed another TV soundtrack?

More on NCIS:
Ausiello’s got some hot scoop
Mandi finally gets this show
NCIS gallery: Exec Producer Shares His Cast Dossier
NCIS gallery: Inside an underwater stunt

Jan 7 2009 10:00 PM ET

The Clear Eyes, Full Hearts Must List

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Categories: Friday Night Lights, Must List, Television

Attention late adopters: tired of realizing critically acclaimed shows really are good while watching them on DVD long after they’ve been unceremoniously dumped by the networks? Make like my Must List and stream Friday Night Lights seasons 1 and 2 for free on Hulu before the third season begins airing on NBC next week. Catch up now and you can see The Best Show America Isn’t Watching (and The Best Show I Can’t Watch until Jan. 16 Because It’s Only on DirecTV) while there’s still a chance of a season 4! Seriously, though, FNL is awesome. It’ll always have a spot on my Must List, but it’s at the top this week because I’m getting psyched up for next week’s premiere. Watch the season 2 finale below, or start from the beginning at Hulu’s FNL page.

What’s at the top of your Must List this week, PopWatchers?List up to three items on your Must List from currentTV/movies/music/books/games/online. Don’t forget your e-mail address,in case we decide to use your submission in the magazine. Deadline isThursday, Jan. 8, at 5 p.m. ET.

Jan 7 2009 09:48 PM ET

Mickey Rourke parlays Oscar buzz into...Stallone vehicle?

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Categories: Career 911, Movies, Things That Make Me Die Inside

Mickeyrourkewrestlerchest_lOnce upon a younger time, I honestly wanted to be Mickey Rourke (mostly because of The Pope of Greenwich Village), so I was as psyched as anyone to see him make a comeback in The Wrestler. I was notably less psyched to see that he has now signed on to do a Sylvester Stallone action movie, according to Variety. Not that I didn’t see it coming a mile off. Rourke was great in The Wrestler because he he was able to portray The Ram’s hard-partying, trailer-park brawler as a broken-down, vulnerable man. Rourke did it so well because he’s actually been there himself. The problem, of course, is he can only do that once.

For his next movie, Rourke has to take his puffy lips, crooked nose, and hulking body and find another role that suits him. Pretty-boy leading man is probably not an option, but he could’ve found another well-written and interesting movie, where he plays a villain or, yes, maybe another tough guy, but in a role that allows a bit of subtlety and nuance. And perhaps he will, one day, do just that. Unfortunately, it looks like right now he’s chosen to pay back Sly, who gifted the seemingly washed-up Rourke with a small role in his Get Carter remake, and do the Stallone vehicle The Expendibles, (also starring Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, and Dolph Lungdren with Forest Whitaker and Ben Kingsley said to be "circling the project"), which will most likely be a run-of-the-mill actioner created so that Stallone can again prove to the world that he’s still virile. (When’s the last time Stallone made a truly GOOD movie? Though I admit I would kind of dig it if Dolph utters the phrase "You vill lose" to him at some point.) This doesn’t mean Rourke won’t make his menacing character fun as hell to watch. But it’s unlikely to have us saying his name in the same sentence as Oscar, like we are this winter after The Wrestler. 

Whaddya think about Rourke joining forces with Stallone, PopWatchers? Was it inevitable that he moved on to big money action flicks? What kinds of roles do you think Rourke is best suited for, now that we’ve seen he’s still got the chops in The Wrestler?

Jan 7 2009 04:52 PM ET

Beyonce vs. Beyonce! ('Diva' vs. 'Halo'!) Weigh in!

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Categories: Beyoncé

For the last two weeks, I’ve been attempting to blog about Beyonce’s twin set of new videos, but much to my chagrin, the embeddable versions keep getting pulled from the Internets. (The Crafty Ms. Knowles must want us all to pay for viewing privilege over at iTunes; apparently, when she sings "If you ain’t gettin’ money, then you ain’t got nothin’ for me," she means it.)But today (finally!), I’ve found said videos living legally (I think?) at YahooMusic. So, YAHOO! Let’s discuss which is better: My favorite song from I Am…Sasha Fierce, or the best song from I Am…Sasha Fierce. And no, those are not one and the same.

First, my favorite, "Diva," a track that’s already No. 64 on the Top 100 Most Played list on my iTunes, because in all honestly, I have a mental illness that makes me hit the repeat button on this track, then annoy friends and loved ones by randomly (and sometimes inappropriately) asking (in my best Beyonce drawl): "Where yo BOSS at?" The video has the production values of the clearance bin at Family Dollar, and yet somehow it works. Ever since I first heard the hypnotic chorus — "Diva is a female version of a hustler. Of a hustler. Of a, of a hustler." — I fully expected to see a trunk full of mannequins, Cylon-y fringed sunglasses, and angry-lady dancing on display in the accompanying video. (Good thing B provides the dictionary definition of "Diva," too, since her own take on the word is beautiful nonsense.) Where yo BOSS at, people?

Then, there’s "Halo," an absolutely glorious and perfectly produced track that should be as big a hit as "Irreplaceable" and "Crazy in Love." Still, it’s a little odd to me that the highest-quality track from …Sasha Fierce gets a video that’s lit so aggressively, I can barely make out whether B’s paying homage to Flashdance or trying to give me a seizure. Still, I’m not mad at Solange’s sister. Once that chorus kicks in for the final time, with its sweeping strings and percussion and B’s glorious vocal, my innards turn to processed maple syrup, and I lose the ability to constructively criticize. Does this woman ever make a musical misstep? (I smell pancakes!)

Anyhow, check out the videos for "Diva" and "Halo" for yourself, then vote in our handy poll about which you like best!

Jan 7 2009 04:00 PM ET

Clip du Jour: 'The Soup"s 'Real World' Guide to Girls

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Categories: Clip du Jour, Reality TV

"The real New York is on the other side of the bridge." Or at least that’s what the producers of The Real World: Brooklyn want me to believe. If by "real New York" they mean the Ikea, I’ll buy it. Either way, the reality series responsible for bringing Eric Nies‘ abs, Puck’s snot rockets, and something called "The Miz" into the public consciousness kicks off its 21st season tonight. In case you haven’t watched television since the early ’90s, here’s a reminder from The Soup‘s Joel McHale about what you can expect from the show’s looney ladies, starring Real World: Denver‘s Brooke and Colie.

Jan 7 2009 03:27 PM ET

What episode is saved on your DVR for a pick-me-up?

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Categories: PopWatch Confessional, Television

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It’s been a year since I confessed that I had an episode of October Road (and four Hee Haws) saved on my DVR for whenever I needed a pick-me-up. I’m happy to report that those have long been deleted. Now, I’m holding on to an episode of Bones (because Booth cowering in front of a demonic clown in the Dungeon of 1000 Corpses reminds me that stress can be funny), the series finale of Boston Legal (because seeing Alan and Denny on that balcony reminds me that love isn’t just for people sleeping together), and two installments of NCIS (because Tony slapping his ass and asking Ziva to rate it, and Ziva falling on top of Tony to shield him from a ricocheting bullet and lingering, pictured, is just…kinda hot).

Your turn.

More on your DVR/life partner:
Does your DVR ever make you late for work?
When DVRs attack! (Your most painful mishaps)
PopWatch Dictionary: Exhaustivo
Wow, DVR, thanks for all those options
TV shows you DVR each week but don’t actually watch (Update: I had a Chuck marathon last weekend, so we’re good.)

Jan 7 2009 02:00 PM ET

Laura Bush...the book?

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Categories: Books, Politics as Entertainment, To Care or Not to Care

Georgelaurabush_lSo word on the street (and by street, of course, we mean Google news feeds) is that, after much speculation, Laura Bush has finally sold her memoirs to the highest bidder, Scribner. If the publishing house has indeed won what was purported to be a fairly spirited competition for the rights to the soon-to-be-former First Lady’s story, what will we get from it? Trenchant, blow-these-doors-wide-open analysis of her husband’s dramatic and heavily divisive eight years in office? Or a breezy, let’s-just-keep-those-doors-nice-and-closed tour of White House place settings, Easter-egg hunts on the Great Lawn, and evening strolls with First Pooch Barney?

One could argue that her story has already been told via Curtis Sittenfeld’s recent bestseller, American Wife (though one would also need to attribute super-duper powers of omniscence to Sittenfeld, who has never met Laura). One could also argue that the First Lady, determinedly private and almost unilaterally uninvolved in the day-to-day policy-making of her husband’s administration, neither needs nor wants to produce the kind of memoir that a former FW like, say, Hilary Clinton — who got a cool $8 million for her post-White House memoirs — did: a doorstop-weight work of score settling, you-are-there politicking, and other tales from the near-center of the Oval Office storm. On the third hand (because I have three arms, naturally), Laura is a lifelong reader, passionate about both literature and literacy, so she’s quite possibly in a better natural position to pen her own story with the sort of eloquence and insight that G.W., alas, has never been known for.

What’s your take, readers? Do you long to know more about this mysterious woman with the Mona Lisa smile and the Dorothy Hamill haircut?  Or would you rather eat this book than read it?

Jan 7 2009 01:44 PM ET

'The Biggest Loser: Couples' Premiere: Nine 'eliminations'?!

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Categories: About Last Night, Reality TV, The Biggest Loser

Biggestloserjerry_lWhat better time for the start of another season of NBC’s weight-loss behemoth, The Biggest Loser, than the beginning of a new year — a time when many of us are begrudgingly nibbling on chicken breasts and steamed broccoli when we’d rather be downing Cool Ranch Doritos and Phish Food ice cream? And what better motivation than watching a group of 22 contestants drop the equivalent of a pre-schooler every week? So let’s raise our bottles of filtered Brita water and 100-calorie packs to toast a new year and a new season of tough love from Bob and Jillian!

As my colleague Annie Barrett mentioned earlier this week, the series’ seventh season is indeed its biggest ever. The heaviest contestant weighs 454 lbs., and he’s only 19! And the trainers have some heavy lifting ahead of them, too, which became especially evident as Bob and Jillian secretly watched the couples via hidden camera during their first workouts — sans trainers.

After the couples were split into two teams, they found their way to a dimly lit bridge — why do all the challenges on this show seem to happen under the cover of darkness? — for their first challenge. I give this one a 2.3 out of 10 on the creativity scale. Running across a bridge and climbing over a pile of sand? That’s the best the show’s producers could come up with? How about forcing the teams to do it three-legged-race style or with one of them wearing a blindfold? Anyway… Though the sister duo of the yellow team gave it a valiant effort, it was the dude cousins of the black team who won — and got immunity. Here’s how the rest of the episode played out:

Heaviest moment: Undoubtedly, 63-year-old Jerry collapsing after his first workout — before Jillian even sank her maniacal claws into him. Thankfully he’s okay, and lost an impressive 25 lbs.

What the #$*@ moment: I think I’m going to like the feisty girls of the "silver bullet" team, but why did Carla think her workout needed the flourish of a parallel-bars routine? Honey, the Olympics were last year. Leave that crazy Nastia Liukin business at home.

READ FULL STORY »

Jan 7 2009 01:30 PM ET

'G-Force' vs. 'G-Force': Why the new trailer hurts so bad

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Categories: Animals, Animation, Double Vision, I'm Just a Geek, Movie Trailers, Ninjas, Sci-Fi

Ever bite into a Skittle when you were expecting an M&M? It’s not that what you get is bad, necessarily, but entirely not what you were looking for. That’s how I felt when I clicked on a link for the trailer to a new live-action G-Force movie. I expected a big-budget Bruckheimered version of this:

But what I got was this:

movie trailers and clips

I’m sure that if you’re seven (about the age I was when I found Battle of the Planets on afterschool TV), super-powered guinea pigs fighting robots might tickle your fancy. (Though if it was the long-rumored film adaptation of Grant Morrison’s We3, it’d tickle me all over.) But for adult me, seeing that was like a bad hit of…something you get bad hits off of.

When was the last time you were the victim of the ol’ bait and switch?

Jan 7 2009 12:30 PM ET

The Worst Movies of 2008, for real this time

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Categories: Horrifying But Hypnotic, Lists-o-rama!, Movies

Sevenpounds_lJust when you think we’re done with the cumulative joys of year-end lists, another one pops up to remind us that hindsight, along with being 20/20 (yeah, that’s what I meant), is also never-ending. The fine folks at New York magazine have recently posted their poll of the "nation’s top critics," a combination of solicited responses and close-readings of archived reviews that calls out many of the expected offenders — Speed Racer, The Love Guru, The Women – and provides the complete "ballots" of each writer. (This is especially useful so I know who hated the X-Files sequel and can avoid them at parties.)

We’ve all got our own opinions on this sort of thing. (If I were to name my worst, it would be one of those tiny piece of crap indies I was forced had the pleasure of seeing at Sundance that never made it to the multiplex, since I tend to not bother with stuff like 88 Minutes once I’ve been warned.) But to me, the real fun of this list is two-fold. First, I love reading a brilliantly-crafted evisceration, like Roger Ebert on The Spirit: "To call the characters cardboard is to insult a useful packing material." Hee-hee. (Are you reading Ebert, people? Please be reading Ebert.)

Secondly, and perhaps in some way reassuringly to the filmmakers in question, I suddenly find myself wanting to see the badness for myself. And thus do I guarantee you that, before the week is out, I will have purchased a ticket to this list’s No. 1 Worst Movie of 2008, Will Smith’s Seven Pounds (pictured), provided it is still playing somewhere around here. Because anything EW critic Lisa Schwarzbaum deems an "unintentionally ludicrous drama of repentance as an extreme sport" and the New York Times’ A.O. Scott calls "One of the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made," I simply must see for myself.

What about you, PopWatchers? Care to weigh in with your worst pictures from 2008? I also invite you to put on your writing caps and explain your reasoning in the most enticing way possible. I don’t just want to know what’s bad, I want to know why it sucks and if that suckage is in any way magical. Sell those train wrecks!

More on the year’s worst:
Moviefone’s 50 best (and 10 worst) films of the year
I saw it so you don’t have to! archive

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