Archive: September 2009 (361-370 of 437)

Sep 4 2009 03:45 PM ET

Twitter on Fox: Why does my TV look like a computer?

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Categories: Tech, Television, Things That Make Me Die Inside

Tweet-peat_lIn a bold new initiative apparently designed to trick relaxed humans into thinking they might still be at the office, Fox aired a special “Tweet-peat” episode of Fringe Thursday night. (I’m pretty sure it was Fox, despite how loudly the “other crap taking up half the screen” motif was screaming “TV Guide Channel!”) Basically, producers and cast members offer/foist their Twitter feeds onto the bottom of the screen, answering fan questions and sharing behind-the-scenes scoop. A similar Tweet-peat of Glee airs tonight at 9. (Here’s how you can participate.)

According to Fox, the Twittervision was intended not to boost ratings but to enhance the viewing experience for fans. Lost has done something visually similar with its enhanced episodes, but those pop-ups struck me as helpful (and much easier to ignore) bits of trivia for newbies or casual fans. The Fringe tweet-peat’s constantly changing text, which often resembled a one-sided conversation, was completely distracting. If I really wanted to follow the Fringe producers on Twitter, I could have just done that. Fox could even have shown the big blue Twitter bird fluttering its wings in a bottom corner the whole time and it would have been less annoying. And that sounds SUPER annoying!

I’m cool with Twitter’s existence, obviously, but never, ever, ever want it on my TV screen again. In the words of PopWatch mascot Valerie Cherish, I DON’T NEED TO SEE THAT! What about you?

Photo Credit: fringetelevision.com

Sep 4 2009 03:32 PM ET

Vote for Entertainment Weekly's Stewart-Colbert cover: It'd mean a lot...to America

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Categories: 100% Pure Cheese, News You Can Use, Politics as Entertainment

oct32008_1014_lgWe realize it’s kinda cheeky to toot our own horn and ask you to vote for us now that our Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert cover from last October has been nominated for not one but two ASME Best Covers of the Year Awards. Sure, our interpretation of the New Yorker’s Michelle and Barack Obama cover is both brilliant and hilarious. But we are aware that pointing out said brilliance and hilarity, and asking you to express your appreciaction with a vote (in both the Entertainment/Celebrity category and the Obama Cover category), could be construed as…well, a bit gauche. But honestly, this isn’t just about silly old EW and our really cool and funny cover. Do it for Stewart and Colbert. Or do it for American democracy! Do it for change you can believe in! Do it for cross dressers! Jon, Stephen, the EW staff, and a swath of Manhattan west of 6th Avenue thank you for it.

Sep 4 2009 03:32 PM ET

J.J. Abrams: Pop-culture polymath

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Categories: EW University, Fringe, Lost

ewu_logoWelcome back to our EW University course on TV Auteurs — a look at some of the people who have had a major role in shaping the medium over the last 50 years. Today, Prof. Dan Snierson offers his overview of the work of J.J. Abrams.

If you had to sum up J.J. Abrams neatly in just one word, it would be …  kinda hard to do. He’s a cross-genre, multi-medium hyphenate who flies a geek flag of many colors. (The boy who grew up on The Twilight Zone, Mission Impossible, Get Smart, James Bond, and Star Wars has crafted a TV resume that boasts credits as diverse as Felicity and Fringe; his movie credits range from Regarding Henry to Cloverfield.) His projects tend to be smart, layered, splashy, angsty, laced with mystery and/or mythology — plus they just might contain an It Girl in the making (see: Keri Russell, Jennifer Garner). He’s also known for delving into virtually every part of the creative process. Not only does he write, direct, and produce, the guy has penned the theme music and designed the opening credits for some of his shows. (Heck, he’s even popped up a few times in front of the camera. Check out his decent acting chops in 1993’s Six Degrees of Separation). Fact is, he’s had Hollywood on the brain for a very long time: The son of TV producer Gerald W. Abrams, he started making little films on a Super 8 camera as a kid; while a student at Sarah Lawrence College, he co-wrote the treatment for what would become the 1990 comedy Taking Care of Business. While these days Abrams is a sought-after talent in the movie world — he recently helmed the critically and commercially successful reboot of Star Trek — we’re going to focus here on his notable television work. Herewith, a look at the four iconic TV creations of J.J. Abrams. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 4 2009 03:00 PM ET

Angelina Jolie's nude breast-feeding sculpture: It's so not hot

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Categories: 100% Pure Cheese, Have You Seen This?, Hell to the No!

That sculpture artist guy Daniel Edwards who’s famous for making sculptures of famous Hollywood types — you know, the Britney-on-bear-skin-rug atrociousness and the Paris-disemboweled disgustingness — has struck again. His target? Angelina Jolie. And her twins. No, not those twins. But, you know, those twins. Well, wait, actually both sets of twins. Oh, just watch the video and you’ll get what I’m talking about:

Sep 4 2009 02:37 PM ET

Misleading trailers: Watch yourself 'Love Happens'!

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Categories: Movie Trailers, Movies

Due to the ability to fast-forward through commercials, I just saw my first TV spot for the Jennifer Aniston-Aaron Eckhart dramedy Love Happens last night. I swear it made it look like it was a romantic comedy about Jennifer Aniston’s character being unlucky in love. My alarm went off because there’s NO WAY a movie could have that simple of a plot. So I came in today and found the full trailer online: I was right! Aaron Eckhart is a widower who channels his loss into a career as a self-help author, and it turns out he’s just as emotionally scrambled. Great idea for a film. But something you may want to know if you’ve, say, recently lost your spouse.

Ever since I went to see The Family Stone as an escape when my father was going through chemotherapy — because the trailer neglected to mention that a parent was battling cancer in the holiday comedy — and ended up sobbing in my chair in front of my mother, my sister, and the theater’s clean-up crew, I’ve been very sensitive about movie marketing. I realize you can’t give away major plot points, but even in the short TV spots, you need to at least be honest about the tone of the film.

Anyone else ever watch a film you weren’t emotionally prepared for thanks to a misleading trailer? Vent here.

Sep 4 2009 02:22 PM ET

EW.com Exclusive: The new poster for '2012' -- The monk returns!

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Categories: Advertising, An EW Exclusive!, Dude, THAT's Your Plot?, Movie Posters, Movies

2012-poster_lThe end is nigh, PopWatchers! Again! Or so director Roland Emmerich would like us to believe come Nov. 13, when his latest pyrotechnic explode-athon, 2012, hits theaters. EW.com got an exclusive look at the brand-spanking-new one-sheet (pictured), so let’s examine it, shall we? Underneath the tagline WE WERE WARNED (Hollywood is so great with subtlety!) stands our old friend the Buddhist monk, whom we first met in the earliest teaser for the movie. Now the guy is standing atop the Himalayas, his robes a-blowin’ in the wind as the flood waters come a-barrelin’ in. Better get a move on, buddy, and ring that bell. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 4 2009 02:00 PM ET

Oliver Stone's 'South of the Border' courts controversy

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Categories: Movie Trailers, Politics as Entertainment

Oliver Stone’s sure-to-be-controversial South of the Border documentary debuts at the Venice Film Festival Monday. Here’s the trailer:

Now, I’m all for a more nuanced understanding of South American politics, particularly where foreign policy and economic strategy converge (neeerrrdddd), but I’m not particularly optimistic that that’s what we have here. Should Americans have richer understanding of who Hugo Chavez is, what his policies are, and how his leadership is affecting Latin America? Absolutely. But Stone recently described  the Venezuelan president “open and warmhearted and big,”and I wonder, even among those who agree with Stone that Chavez is “demonized” in the United States, how many want to see him valorized instead.

PopWatchers, will you see South of the Border?

Sep 4 2009 01:53 PM ET

Kathy Griffin's 'as seen on Kate Gosselin' wig raises important question

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Categories: 100% Pure Cheese, Jon & Kate Plus 8, Ridiculata

kathy-griffin-kate-gosselin_lIn a People.com exclusive photo, the normally publicity-shy Kathy Griffin poses poolside for what appears on first glance to be a “Kate Gosselin Wig: Who wore it worse?” contest between Kathy and anyone willing to pay attention, but it’s actually the set for an upcoming Jimmy Kimmel Live! spoof on Jon and Kate Plus Eight also starring…wait for it…George Takei as Jon. Obviously. Which got us thinking: If those two weirdos replaced the real parents every week on cable, we’d be much more likely to tune in…

Photo Credit: Charlie McKnight

Sep 4 2009 01:47 PM ET

'How I Met Your Mother' Exclusive First Look: Neil Patrick Harris and Barney's 'lusty endgame'

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Categories: Exclusive First Look, Sexytimes, Things That Are Awesome!

How-I-Met-Your-Mother_l
This week’s EW features an exclusive First Look at the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother, specifically the awesomeness of Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) — wait for it — together in bed. After the two professed their feelings in last spring’s finale, season 5 kicks off with the pair trying to figure out their relationship…but more importantly, doing a lot of making out. “It seemed a dirty, dirty inevitability, a lusty endgame,” says Harris of the bedroom scene. “I will say that now that we don’t have to hide pregnant bellies, we’re gonna show a lot more skin on HIMYM.” (Both Smulders and co-star Alyson Hannigan spent much of last season hiding pregnancies.) READ FULL STORY »

Sep 4 2009 12:50 PM ET

'Brief Interviews With Hideous Men' trailer: See who’s in John Krasinski’s sack

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Categories: Movie Trailers

The trailer for John Krasinski’s directorial debut, an adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, is out today on Apple (and embedded below). Julie Nicholson plays a woman who, after her boyfriend leaves her with little explanation, dedicates her anthropological dissertation to figuring out what the hell is going on in mens’ brains. Some of the men: Will Arnett, Dominic Cooper, Bobby Cannavale, Timothy Hutton, Christopher Meloni, Max Minghella, and Ben Shenkman. They’ve been embodied by a paper bag in the movie’s poster because all of these men are just too hideous.

IFC bought the film’s distribution rights in July, long after the film premiered at Sundance. Hey, we were at Sundance! Krasinski chatted with Whitney Pastorek at length (in the spirit of DFW) about why he saw strength in Nicholson’s silence during most of her scenes, and how he survived a lengthy existential crisis as the project developed. He acts in the movie, too, and when asked being the “emotional climax” of the film, he freaked: “If I ruin it, I’ll ruin it for everyone!” (Watch their three-part interview, here.)

Aw, tell Jim he won’t ruin anything for anyone.

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