Archive: February 2009 (281-290 of 448)

Feb 11 2009 08:40 PM ET

Carol Burnett to superfreak for 'SVU'

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Categories: Television

Carol Burnett will be guest-starring on the March 17 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Holla! She’s set to play "a former dancer caught up in the murder of a young couple," which…Okay. Burnett has played scary villains before — anyone else still haunted by Miss Hannigan nightmares? — so we’re expecting her icy best, especially because SVU luh-luh-luh-loooooves having famous guest stars play superfreaks. Highlights include Martin Mull as a mean doctor who tells his patients that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, Mark-Paul Gosseleaar as a reluctant porn star who’s the victim of a gang rape, Bob Saget as a creepy possessive husband who microchips his cheating wife, Matthew Modine as a rapist/murderer who escaped the strong hand of justice years ago, and Fred Savage as a slimy neighborhood rapist. And those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my SVU-filled head. I think my favorite might have been Robin Williams, who played a disturbed anti-authority activist. He represents himself at his trial, and I particularly enjoy his "don’t be a sheep" closing argument:

After the jump, easily the dumbest scene in SVU history. The monkey’s in the basketball! Which ones did I miss, PopWatchers?

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Feb 11 2009 08:17 PM ET

'Angels & Demons' full trailer debuts

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Categories: Movie Trailers, Movies

Angelsdemons_lToday, MSN debuted the new full trailer for The Da Vinci Code followup, Angels & Demons, due out May 15 and directed by Ron Howard. I was never a fan of Code but Demons looks solid. Best of all, Tom Hanks, once again playing Robert Langdon, is no longer rocking that heinous hairdo from Code. The plot appears to be yet another conspiracy involving the Catholic church which leads to lots of shadowy shots of religious statues. And Demons looks to be much faster paced than the sodden Code, which felt like it went on and on for days. What do you think Pop Watchers? Will you go see Angels & Demons?

Feb 11 2009 08:04 PM ET

'Privileged': Save it (if Robert Buckley can stay)

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Categories: About Last Night, Inappropriate Crushes, Sexytimes, Television, Whining

Robertbuckleyprivileged_lI had somehow missed the news that Lipstick Jungle‘s (and Flirty With Forty‘s) Robert Buckley was guest-starring on The CW’s Privileged last night, so you can imagine the rewind! I hit when I saw his name flash at the start of the episode. He was introduced as David, the smart, hot (but fully-clothed) new editor-in-chief of the magazine that Will’s dad is starting. Like David — who had to hire Will as his senior photography editor, per papa — I am over the Will and Megan drama. David told Megan that he couldn’t hire her because a start-up magazine staff doesn’t need the added stress of having to stroke Will’s ego every time he thinks Megan values someone’s opinion more than his. (Seriously, how whiny was Will last night?) While I’m now ready for Megan to call it quits with Will, if the writers managed to redeem him, I could totally get into a love triangle. I’m loving that David doesn’t seem too impressed with Megan yet, which means the tension could be a nice slow build. That is, if the series doesn’t end with the season finale on Feb. 24. (Reaper returns March 3 to take the Tuesday at 8 p.m. time slot, bumping 90210 back to Privileged‘s 9 p.m. hour.)

So, do you want a second season of Privileged? Is your order, like mine, contingent on Buckley sticking around for a bit? And do you vote for a love triangle, for Will and Megan to break up but work together, or for Will to man up, quit the job daddy got him, and leave town?

Feb 11 2009 07:30 PM ET

'Dollhouse:' Will you come out to play?

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Categories: Television, To Care or Not to Care

Dollhouse_lWe’ve seen the promos. We’re read the reviews. We don’t need convincing that Eliza Dushku is gorgeous and talented enough to headline her own show. So why does the outlook for Dollhouse, the latest mythology from Joss Whedon (debuts this Friday), seem marginal at best? It’s the timeslot, stupid: Fox typically averages an anemic 5.5 million viewers on Friday, and given Whedon’s niche appeal, Dollhouse may only generate an audience half that size. Plus, there are fears that a dense drama based around a protagonist who appears to have no free will could self-destruct by the third week. I mean, where do you go with a kooky conceit like that?

Then again, let’s not forget the upside: Since expectations are soooo low for Fridays (heck, look at the staying power of Ghost Whisperer!), Fox may be patient with Dollhouse and give Whedon plenty of time to work out the kinks. After all, the even-denser Fringe had its fair share of naysayers last fall (many of whom work in our own offices), but Fox rolled with the punches, and now the series from the brilliant minds of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman has blossomed into one helluva thrill ride (and damn ,that Joshua Jackson is truly sublime). 

So will you join the millions (thousands?) of Whedon-ites this Friday at 9 p.m. ET (8 central!) to watch Dushku (pictured) kick some ass? Are the promos a turn on — or off?

Check out this clip from the upcoming series:

Feb 11 2009 07:07 PM ET

'No Heroics': Are we ready for saucy superheroes?

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Categories: Comic Books, I'm Just a Geek, Pilot Season, Sci-Fi, Television

As a card-carrying member of the Geek Nation — which is much like the Rhythm Nation but with 20 percent less leather — I take a vested interest in anything superheroic in nature. So my spider-sense got a-tingling when I heard that ABC was planning a stateside version of No Heroics, a raunchy British show about third-rate costumed adventurers. To help familiarize you with what we’re talking about, take a look at this slightly NSFW trailer:

Could this be funny? Absolutely. Will American audiences get behind it? Unclear. They didn’t quite rally behind Barry Sonnenfeld’s live-action version of The Tick, which scratched many of the same itches as No Heroics and only went nine episodes. Of course, that was eight years ago, and pop culture might’ve gotten up to speed since then. Here are my two biggest fears: That either the U.S. version of No Heroics will just out-and-out suck, thereby detonating the chance for a good superheroic comedy to get on the air; or that it’ll be awesome and nobody watches it anyway, proving to network executives that there’s no audience.

What about you, true believers — is America ready for this jelly?

Feb 11 2009 06:55 PM ET

'Inglourious Basterds' trailer: Brad Pitt will kill Nazis!

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Categories: Movie Trailers

"Each and every man under my command owes me 100 Nazi scalps," drawls a daintily-mustached Brad Pitt. "And I want my scalps!"

Sir yes sir! Nazi scalps, coming right up. The trailer for Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino’s World War II uh, saga? drama? violence orgy? — I’m not sure yet what the proper term is — aired on Entertainment Tonight last night, and lo, it was dazzling. (And so far available online only in this cruddy bootleg. The entertainment lords giveth; the entertainment lords taketh away.) UPDATE: You can watch the full HD trailer here (still not embeddable, though).

According to ET, Pitt plays the leader of squad of "ruthless Jewish-American World War II fighters who infiltrate Nazi-occupied France, spreading fear through Hitler’s Third Reich." Pitt’s ragtag team includes horror trend-setter Eli Roth (shown bat in hand, ready to bludgeon a kneeling Nazi), former Freaks and Geeks geek Samm Levine, and The Office‘s BJ Novak (looking super-intense).    

Given the staggering number of WWII-set movies that came out in recent months, I thought I’d maxed out for a little while. But Tarantino’s trademark is his ability to reappropriate and reimagine a genre –  samurai movies with Kill Bill, for example, or ’70s pulp horror with Grindhouse — and I’m incredibly curious to see his stroll down this well-worn path. Everything in a Tarantino version becomes more stylized, more outrageous, brighter, bigger, bloodier, sometimes sillier. Sure, the quick blip at the end of a cape-wearing Hitler screaming "mine, mine, mine!" "nein, nein, nein!" seems more "Springtime for Hitler" than intense drama, but count me in either way.

IB is set to open Aug. 21.

Feb 11 2009 05:57 PM ET

Bob Marley licensing deal: Do you care?

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Categories: Deals, Hip-Hop/Rap, Music, To Care or Not to Care

The ink is barely dry on the deal Bob Marley’s heirs have signed with a private equity firm to license clothes, food, and other merch with their patriarch’s likeness — and already some quarters are predictably crying "hypocrisy!" "Bob Marley Now Owned By Wall Street," the folks at Gawker righteously intoned. (Gawker Media, of course, is a radical artists’ collective which eschews all contact with unclean capitalist commerce. Nice T-Mobile ad above your post there, guys!) Look, yes, it’s unfortunate that our culture expresses its love for creative geniuses by slapping their images on things to be sold. I don’t love that aspect of modern life either. But it’s not like cheap, mass-produced Marley gear doesn’t exist already. Millions of people want to buy this stuff, mostly because they like Bob Marley’s music. Am I really supposed to be mad at the Marley family for wanting to get a piece of that action? And spare me the concern for the poor counterfeiters whose business model is going to get destroyed by this deal. Something tells me Hilco Consumer Capital isn’t going to be able to quash every under-the-table manufacturer of Natty Dread-logo rolling papers — the whole point of a black market is that it’s difficult to track and regulate.

Anyway, this licensing kerfuffle isn’t even the most noteworthy piece of Marley-related news I’ve come across this week. Much more exciting: Nas is supposedly recording a full album with Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Bob’s youngest son and a fantastic musician in his own right. Who knows if this project will really come to fruition by spring, as promised. If Nas and Jr. Gong’s 2005 single "Road to Zion" (below) is any indication, though, this is something to start getting psyched for. Don’t you think?

More on Bob Marley:
Legend is one of EW’s New Music Classics
Margeaux Watson took an in-depth look at how Bob’s children are keeping his legacy alive
Happy Birthday, Bob Marley!
Who should play Bob Marley in an upcoming biopic?

Feb 11 2009 05:52 PM ET

Brad Paisley leads ACM noms, Carrie Underwood up for Entertainer of the Year

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Categories: Country Y'all!, Music

Paisleyunderwood_lBrad Paisley led the field this morning with six nominations for the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which will air April 5 on CBS and once again be hosted by Reba McEntire. Paisley is pitted against Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Keith Urban, and Carrie Underwood for the top prize, Entertainer of the Year. Though I’m backing Urban in the fan-voted category (voteACM.com), it’s worth noting that Underwood would be only the 7th woman to take the title — and the first since the Dixie Chicks in 2000. This year, fans will also weigh in on the three newcomer categories (female, male, vocal duo or group) by voting on GACTV.com. The winners will then move on to a new category, Top New Artist. George Strait, who received three nominations, was also named Artist of the Decade, and will be honored in a CBS special airing later this year.

See the full list of nominees after the jump. (Note: Album of the Year contenders will be announced in March.)

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Feb 11 2009 05:46 PM ET

Jennifer Westfeldt: The EW Pop Culture Personality Test

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Categories: Celebrity Couples, EW Pop Culture Personality Test, Grey's Anatomy, Television

Beforeyousayido_lIt’s a good week to be Jennifer Westfeldt, the actress best known for Kissing Jessica Stein and ABC’s Notes From the Underbelly, and envied for her 11-year relationship with Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm. She’s in the midst of a three-episode arc on Grey’s Anatomy (Thursdays, 9 p.m.), guest-starring as a pregnant woman who accidentally ran over her husband, then had a seizure in the hospital while he was in surgery, and now awaits an operation for an aneurysm. She stars in the Hallmark Channel movie Before You Say ‘I Do’ (Feb. 14, 9 p.m.), playing a divorcée whose current love (Gilmore Girls‘ David Sutcliffe) travels back in time to stop the wedding that turned her off of marriage forever. And, she got to phone PopWatch and graciously answer questions like, “What does Jon really smell like? Please say frosting.” Yes, she’s one lucky lady….

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was it that drew you to Before You Say ‘I Do’?
JENNIFER WESTFELDT: I don’t know if you saw my second film, Ira and Abby, but it was a comedy about the dysfunction of marriage, and whether or not it’s an outdated institution since so many end in divorce. So I thought it was just a funny synchronicity that [Before You Said 'I Do''s] theme was similar to theme I’d written about. And certainly, being in an 11-year relationship unmarried gives me a good perspective on that character.  [Laughs] We get this question all the time. “When are you gonna get married?” We’ve seen so much divorce in our lives — both in our families and in our friends circle, honestly — that we’ve always kind of thought of ourselves as married and thought if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, you know. But who knows what will happen down the road.

What’s your idea of a great romantic comedy?
Obviously, all the early Woody Allen films are among my favorites, and The Apartment, the Billy Wilder film, is probably my favorite of all time. I love romantic comedies where you have depth underneath the funny. I think all good comedy comes from pain and serious situations. I think about Rushmore and As Good As it Gets. Tootsie, which was so, so brilliant. It’s so funny and so screwball in so many ways, and then there’s just real, real heart to it….

When do you yell at the TV?
I have an issue, in general, with a lot of reality TV. I watch American Idol, but I literally can’t get through the audition stuff. My stomach turns. It makes me so upset, the relentless “Look at how awful and untalented this person is.” Like, I can’t bear it. I always say to Jon, “Fast-forward! Fast-forward! I can’t! I can’t! I can’t!” I don’t do well just watching humiliation.

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Feb 11 2009 04:37 PM ET

What's your Must? We're (still) loving the Black Cab Sessions

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Categories: Must List

If you, like me, watched Fleet Foxes perform on SNL a couple weeks ago and thought, Gee, I wish that they could find a much smaller space, say a moving vehicle, and play that song acoustic while riding around London, then you, my friend, are in luck. My Must List this week is completely consumed by the latest installments of the Black Cab Sessions, in which artists sit in the back of a taxi and play a song. I know Whitney Pastorek wrote about this site last year, but you have to check it out again — the sheer awesomeness of the late-’08 performances deserve a second (or third) look.

Acts of the singer/songwriter persuasion translate the best (see: Bon Iver, Ryan Adams, Jens Lekman), but it’s fun watching Man Man squeeze a full keyboard (powered via cigarette lighter adapter), horn, and saxophone in the back seat, or Brian Wilson pile in five back-up singers (not to mention the sound guy and camera man) to harmonize ”That Lucky Old Sun.” I’m currently digging the aforementioned Brian Wilson extravaganza, complete with an impromptu rendition of ”California Girls,” which I’ve embedded below.

Now tell me — what are the latest pop culture items on your Must List? List up to three items from current TV/movies/music/books/games/online. Don’t forget your e-mail address, in case we decide to use your submission in the magazine. Deadline is Thursday, Feb. 12, at 10 a.m. ET.

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