Archive: December 2009 (71-80 of 461)

Dec 24 2009 08:45 AM ET

Christmas cable marathons: Which one will you use to avoid interacting with your family?

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Filed under: Television and tagged: , ,

Thank goodness that despite all the suckage 2009 has wrought, one thing remains dependable in this godforsaken world: Cable marathons on Christmas. Yes, the holidays once again bring us the greatest gift of all, hit after hit of addictive movies to watch instead of actually sharing the spirit of the season with other human beings.

The beauty of the movie marathon is that you don’t even have to look at a schedule to know when you have to turn on the TV to catch the likes of A Christmas Story and Night at the Museum — because they’ll be playing on endless loop on TBS and FX respectively. (Though the true beauty of the movie marathon actually goes beyond that — it means you can watch A Christmas Story over and over throughout the day. You know you want to.)  Fox Movie Channel will run Home Alone; AMC will repeat National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; Spike TV’s got Bad Santa.

As for TV show marathons, A&E will help to make the season bright with, um, Criminal Minds. MTV — the master of the guilty-pleasure vortex — will suck viewers in with Parental Control and Teen Mom. VH1 and CNBC, meanwhile, will induce seasonally appropriate guilt with Celebrity Fit Club and ‘Til Debt Do Us Part.

So, PopWatchers, which of these marathons will you be unwrapping for Christmas Day?

Photo Credit: Criminal Minds: Danny Feld/CBS

Dec 23 2009 05:27 PM ET

Happy Festivus, PopWatchers!

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Filed under: Television and tagged: , ,

Forget those Christmas Carols for a few more hours — Dec. 23 (today) is Festivus.

Anyone ask for the day off work, Kramer style? Who is gathered ’round the Festivus pole? Tell us in the comments how you celebrate!

Dec 23 2009 03:00 PM ET

Videogame face-off: 'Super Mario Bros. Wii' vs. 'Mario and Sonic'

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Filed under: Videogames and tagged: ,

There’s no way around it: Wii has reinvigorated the entire group-gaming concept. But how to feed multiplayer Wii fanatcisim at any age? Face-Off has you covered. Today, two entries in the classic Super Mario franchise go head-to-head. Check back tomorrow for another match-up.

In this corner… New Super Mario Bros. Wii
“It’s-a-me” has become “It’s-a-mes.” Up to four players can take part in this update of the 2D side-scrolling franchise — like its predecessor for the Nintendo DS, New Super Mario Bros. Wii is more Super Mario World than Super Mario Galaxy. Bowser’s once again captured the defenseless Princess Peach (you’d think she’d start packing heat by now), and it’s up to Mario, Luigi, and two Toads to get her back. Familiar landscapes and enemies dot the levels, with plenty of new twists: the power-up roster has expanded to include a propeller hat and ice-savvy penguin suit, and players can pick up and throw one another to help with obstacles. Mario games are always fun on their own, but this is the first franchise title to get exponentially more addicting as new plumbers join the mustachioed fight.

In the other corner… Mario and Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games
Mario Kart proved racing Nintendo characters could be a hell of a lot of fun (who knew Yoshi could burn so much asphalt?), so Mario and Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games once again replaces athletes with princesses and giant monkeys to great effect. Gameplay shakes out — literally — like its summer Olympics counterpart: duck and weave your Wii-mote to help your avatar place in events like curling, skiing, and bobsled. Though the game’s fairly grounded in the actual sports, it incorporates a “Dream Events” mode, where games venture into cartoonish Mario and Sonic land with fireballs and enemies abound. It’s the only game in existence that allows for the words “Bowser Jr.” and “luge” to be used in the same sentence.

And the winner is… READ FULL STORY »

Dec 23 2009 03:00 PM ET

'Knight & Day' trailer: Could one movie redeem Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz?

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: , , ,

Any trailer that got me past the lamely punny title Knight & Day is worth watching. Any trailer that got me excited about Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise again, even moreso:

I still don’t know exactly what it’s about, and that’s what’s so cool. What’s even cooler? These two superstars reminding us why they’re superstars. Cameron Diaz is playing her trademark likable everygirl in an action-packed premise (half Charlie’s Angels, half My Best Friend’s Wedding). And Tom Cruise somehow seems to be combining his greatest hits — the flirtatious charm of Top Gun, the gun-toting swagger of Mission: Impossible, the self-deprecating (but still sexy!) humor of Jerry Maguire — into one enigmatic character here. I didn’t think about Scientology or couch-jumping for one second of this trailer. I just thought, “Oh, right, this is how we came to like this guy.”

But what did you think, PopWatchers? Are you psyched for Knight & Day after seeing this trailer? Can you think of something else we can call this movie before the title makes us hate it?

Dec 23 2009 02:31 PM ET

New 'Karate Kid' trailer: We can now officially start declaring it not as good as the original

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: , ,

The trailer for the Karate Kid remake starring the adorable Jaden Smith (that’s Will Smith’s son to you) is out:

As noted, the kid is cute. The Chinese setting looks amazing (training on the Great Wall certainly beats standing on a stump on an L.A. beach, no?). And Jackie Chan is always badass. And yet…while a 10-year-old kid doing karate has a certain adorableness factor, and I support being able to defend oneself against bullies, is that enough to hold a movie? Our beloved hero in the original, Ralph Macchio’s Daniel, was trying to prove more than that he could learn the same moves as nemesis Johnny and his pals. He was the scrappy underdog to the entitled Ken doll, he was the poor kid from Jersey among the rich L.A. snobs, he was fighting for the love of Elisabeth Shue! Not to mention that this jacket-on/jacket-off business in the trailer seems more like a cheap rip off of the old wax on/wax off than an homage. On that note, though — loved the joke at the end with the flyswatter. That, friends, is an homage. And, as far as I’m concerned, even Jackie Chan can’t beat Mr. Miyagi.

But what do you think, PopWatchers? Can the new Karate Kid live up to the original? Does Jaden Smith’s cuteness make up for its other deficiencies?

Dec 23 2009 12:47 PM ET

'Sex and the City 2' trailer: 'Fess up! Are you excited for this sequel?

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She’s back! Carrie Bradshaw, that is. The first trailer for Sex and the City 2 has been released. As much as something inside me wants to just hate all over the fact that they’re doing another movie, I sort of died in a big ol’ fashiony mess as I watched this teaser. Which, to be honest, reveals almost nothing about what’s gonna happen in this installment besides the fact that the ladies seem to trek themselves to the desert. But I’ll stop blabbing and let you just watch it here:

A few takeaways: 1) The use of Alicia Keys and Jay-Z’s NYC-loving anthem “Empire State of Mind” is perfect for this. I hope they also use it in the movie. 2) There’s entirely too much footage of Charlotte and her baby already. Snooze! (If Carrie similarly gets one of those little beasts, I WILL DIE. And not in a good way.) And 3) I’m living for Carrie’s gold sunglasses and that “J’adore Dior” shirt, which is just like the one Lucy Liu had when she guested on the series as a client of Samantha’s. The crazy turban—not so much living for that.

What do you all think? What are your three takeaways from watching this trailer? Tell me in the comments section below!

More ‘SATC 2′ from EW.com:
‘Sex and the City 2′ teaser poster: Yay or No way?
‘Sex and the City 2′: Will Stanford and Anthony tie the knot?
‘Sex and the City 2′ extras casting call in NYC. Let the Manolo references begin!
‘Sex and the City 2′: Carrie and Big reuinted on the set!
‘Sex and the City’ sequel: More fashion straight from the set

Dec 23 2009 12:26 PM ET

Kim Kardashian: What can you learn from watching her sensuously devour a Carl's Jr. salad?

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Filed under: Food and Drink and tagged: , , , , , ,

PopWatchers, I’m a new woman! Kim Kardashian’s commercial for Carl’s Jr.’s Cranberry Apple Walnut Chicken Salad is so damn alluring that just like that, my role model has switched from Loser Lemon in a Slanket to Apple Bottom in a Cream Sheath. I’ve learned so much from Kim, and in only 32 seconds!

My chief takeaways:

–Neat freaks eat messy salads on their beds.
–If you clutch your sheets and arch your back while planning your next bite, maybe the salad won’t ravage you first.
–Forks are lame.
–If you take more than a few bites of food, it’s high time you washed those sins away in a bubble bath.
–The clean, crisp, and tasty salad baubles with which your finger plows your mouth should be dripping with extra dressing.
–Right after your your voiceover says “The best things in life are messy,” be sure to share a secret glance with the camera. This is your money shot. He knows you are speaking in riddles!

Now I just need to learn how to modify my voice to sound exactly like Paris Hilton and I’ll be Classy for the Holidays. What lessons did you learn from Kim Kardashian’s second sex tape, P-dubs?

Follow Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

Dec 23 2009 11:28 AM ET

First 'Eclipse' still, as in 'Edward and Bella still enjoy coordinating their outfits with nature'

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Filed under: Movies, To Care or Not to Care and tagged: , , , ,

Summit has released the first photo for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Drink up all those cool colors and leave comments about ‘em, because I’m not a Twilight expert and the only thing I can think of to say is that it looks like the sun might be about to peek through so they better watch out! They better not cry. Or — also in song form — “You belong among the wildflowers….You belong somewhere you feel free. [HARMONICA SOLO].” Sorry, guys, Mandi is on vacation and when I asked Slezak if he would please blog this, he pretended he only spoke French, like Tyra.

Image credit: Kimberley French

Dec 23 2009 10:35 AM ET

Your DVR: Which new fall series are you now going steady with?

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Filed under: Glee, Modern Family, Television, The Vampire Diaries and tagged: , , , , , , ,

‘Tis the season to be jolly despondent that the forecast for brand-new network fare looks relatively bleak from now until the New Year. But then again, my DVR could use a little vacation, considering it’s been worked harder than an Anna Wintour assistant for most of 2009. Back in September, I publicly announced my intention to break up with Grey’s Anatomy and Masterpiece Mystery, but while I indeed made good on my promise to axe those series from my DVR’s “series recording” list (as well as The Mentalist), I ended up adding a whopping seven new series to my regular rotation — which either says something about the high quality of the networks’ fall development slate, or the increasingly low threshold of what keeps me entertained.  (I choose the former theory, obvs.) Anyhow, without further ado, here’s the rundown of freshman series that have made the cut at Casa Slezak:

* Cougar Town: One of the very best ensemble casts on television today on a show where the writing grows more confident, funny, and randomly raucous with each passing episode.
* Modern Family: Hilarious/Beautiful. Does anyone not love this show?
* Glee: Yeah, I have the occasional night terror that this frothy rollercoaster is headed straight off the rails, but when Glee is good, it’s fantastic. And any weekly forum for the genius of Jane Lynch gets my “must-watch” stamp of approval.
* V: Quite possibly the worst set design on television — that church front is seriously supposed to look like New York City? — and the teen romance is 1-800-killing-me, but the first four episodes have hooked me nonetheless. Of course, Elizabeth Mitchell could get me hooked on anything — except maybe CSI: Miami. And Heroes. Oh, and Raising the Bar. — and that Mark Hildreth ain’t too hard to look at either.
* FlashForward: I dallied with the idea of deleting ABC’s Lost-in-training after ending up with a backlog of six episodes by mid-November, but even though Joseph Fiennes and Courtney B. Vance occasionally deliver their lines like they’re reading off a grocery list, the rest of the cast is strong enough to help the show get past its occasionally clunky dialogue.
* The Vampire Diaries: I am a rare Twilight virgin (shhh…don’t tell my bosses!), and I’m also one of those weirdos who actively dislikes True Blood, but thanks to The CW’s angsty little gem, I am not completely bloodsucker-deficient.
* Melrose Place: What? There’s not a single shred of junk food in your pantry? Worth it just for Katie Cassidy’s Grade A bitchery, and drinking games involving Ashlee Simpson’s unintentionally comedic line-readings.

Okay, I’ve totally fessed up about my viewing habits, and now it’s your turn. Which freshman series have gotten a season pass on your DVR/Tivo/Life Partner since September? List ‘em all in the comments section below, and don’t even think about omitting anything to make yourself look cooler! PopWatch is a judgment-free zone, after all.

Image Credit: Cox: Eric McCandless/ABC; Fiennes: Adam Larkey/ABC; Somerhalder: Alan Markfield/The CW

Dec 23 2009 08:00 AM ET

Should I just nut up and buy myself a royal blue Slanket for Christmas?

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Filed under: Food and Drink, Television, To Care or Not to Care and tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m thinking it’s time. My life has been heading this way for a while. All I ever do is watch TV and work on my night cheese. I live alone and own only one relatively cloudy full-length mirror. When someone does come over, we just end up under blankets the whole night because my apartment is f—ing freezing. Basic logic suggests that if the blanket were attached to my body, I’d be so much less likely to accidentally light a dangling corner of it on fire as I barrel through my own private candlelit loserville on the way to the kitchen. How great would that be?

The only thing holding me back at this point is that the pictured scenario at right seems so unattractive, almost as unattractive as the Slanket itself. But in my heart I know that this is my destiny; perhaps the time has come to just embrace it. After all, Liz Lemon is often portrayed as pathetic — but that doesn’t mean she’s not my ultimate role model. It looks like I have my answer already, and should probably not publish this. Yeah, right!

Have you P-Dubs held out all year, or did you already succumb to the wonder of the Slanket or Snuggie? Better yet, did you buy a “loved one” one of these mammoths as a gift?

Follow Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

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