Archive: February 2010 (51-60 of 489)

Feb 25 2010 11:20 AM ET

Tracy Morgan and Jimmy Kimmel's 'IMPREGN8ED': Funny or flat?

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Filed under: Television and tagged: , ,

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel showed off “IMPREGN8ED,” a parody rap video he made with 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan (who’s making the rounds to plug Cop Out, his buddy comedy with Bruce Willis). Set to a bass-heavy club beat, the song’s basically an Auto-tuned ode to female fertility, with Tracy telling some club hotties that he’d like to get them knocked up. As unabashed Morgan fans, we’re a little sad to say it didn’t exactly have us rolling on the floor. It’s fun seeing Jimmy in full Lil Wayne gear, and the shots of Tracy and Jimmy as babies made us smile — but the rest just felt a little like an Andy Samberg B-side.

What do you think, PopWatchers? Am I being too harsh? Is “IMPREGN8ED” a bundle of comic rap joy?

Feb 25 2010 09:30 AM ET

Your favorite Olympics tearjerker commercials?

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For me, it’s a tie. An unprecedented double gold! I love this one from Procter and Gamble, proud sponsor of Moms. They also have one set to Shirley Bassey’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. I think it’s kind of creepy when little boys try to shave (ewww Kevin McAllister), but the look of fearful determination on the little figure skating girl at 0:39 just slays me. I have died. Lower me into ice!

But that one’s just teary. The Dan Jansen Visa commercial is teary and goosebumpy, front-crossovering from horror to depression to icy redemption within 30 seconds. HE NAMED HIS DAUGHTER JANE, you guys. Go world.

HONORABLE MENTION:

Wal-Mart (another proud sponsor of Moms) commercial with the hockey mom who’s saving up for seven pairs of skates. Her daughter might tire of hockey before it comes to that.

Coke: The “Breathe Me” ad with Special Olympics footage that first aired during Beijing 2008 or, especially if you’re Canadian, the “he shoots, he scores!” hockey commercial.

Chevrolet‘s “We carry them while they carry us” spot has a sweet message, but gives me terrifying flashbacks to when my sister and I had to eat pulled pork sandwiches and seasoned fries on the floor of our father’s wood-paneled Dodge minivan (eat it, Olympics: Team Dad/Team Dodge!) while being carted from school basketball practice to nighttime basketball clinic. Okay, the pulled pork sounds kind of fun. And it was so nice of my mom to actually cook food. Team Mom again.

Oh and speaking of fast food, I could do a whole series on the ridiculata factor of the Choosy Olympians Choose Chicken McNuggets campaign, but I’ll spare you. This post is about tears, not chili dipping sauce. Which Olympics commercials make you cry, PopSasquatchers?

Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

Feb 25 2010 09:00 AM ET

This Week's Cover: Johnny Depp goes mad for 'Alice in Wonderland'

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: , ,

EW1092-coverBack in 2003, Johnny Depp famously panicked Disney executives with his whacked-out turn as Pirates of the Caribbean‘s Captain Jack Sparrow — only to have the character become an instant icon. For the upcoming 3-D Alice in Wonderland, opening March 5, Depp decided to dive even further down the rabbit hole with an orange-haired, green-eyed, nonsense-spouting take on Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter. Alice is Depp’s seventh collaboration with director Tim Burton, and anyone who’s seen the other films they’ve made together — including Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — knows they share a taste for, as Depp puts it, “the slightly left of center.” Still, with this gonzo turn as the Hatter, Depp braced himself for a full-blown freakout in Disney’s executive suites. “When we first went in to do the camera tests, I was thinking, ‘They’re going to lose their minds,’” Depp recalls. “But Tim fully supported it. It was a couple of solid hours in the makeup chair everyday but it really helped. You start to understand who the guy is through all that weird kind of Carrot Top kabuki.”

Alice marks Depp’s first foray into the brave new world of 3-D filmmaking, but the actor (who admits he still hasn’t seen Avatar) says he won’t be able to fully appreciate that extra dimension. “I’m actually unable to see 3-D,” he says. “I’ve got a weird thing where I don’t see properly out of my left eye, so I truly can’t see 3-D.” Then again, he never likes watching himself onscreen anyway. “So I have an excuse this time,” he says, laughing.

For more on Alice in Wonderland, plus an exclusive interview with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton about their 20-year partnership, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands February 26th.

Feb 25 2010 08:30 AM ET

Sarah Jessica Parker's new perfume: A colorful reminder of 'Sex and the City'

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Before Carrie Bradshaw streamlined her more monochromatic fashion choices in the Sex and the City movies, the belle of New York was all about mixing patterns and colors with confusing, but ultimately awesome results on the TV series. Remember these? Um, fabulous!

Sarah Jessica Parker’s finesse (and SATC costume designer Patricia Field’s talent) was what enabled her to pull off those clothes, and her new fragrance, SJP NYC, is another testament to her bold, zany flavor. Unlike her past creations, Lovely and Covet, which were more classic both in smell and sight, SJP NYC is all about a big, floral aroma packaged in a wildly colorful case, adorned with neon brights and animal print — how very Carrie!

“What I really wanted to do was capture an image, a snapshot in my head of Carrie Bradshaw, that sort of freeze-frame of her walking down any New York City street at an idyllic time of year in a floral-print dress on her way to meet somebody or to do something, or surrounded by her women friends,” the actress told People StyleWatch. The packaging itself was inspired by the Oscar de le Renta frock Parker wears in the ad campaign for the new perfume, and as another possible nod to the HBO series, the containers look like mini cocktail shakers.

I’ll drink to that! What do you guys think about her newest fragrance? Would you wear SJP?

Photo: Janet Mayer/PR Photos

Feb 25 2010 08:00 AM ET

What are your favorite TV episode titles?

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Filed under: Lost, Television and tagged: , , ,

“The Conscience of the King.” “Who Mourns for Adonais? ” “The Omega Glory.” “Bread and Circuses.” “The Gamesters of Triskelion.” Are these Led Zeppelin songs? Chapter headings for a Russian war epic? One-act plays your high school drama teacher loved? Nope: they’re just a few of the incredible episode titles from the original run of Star Trek. Earlier this month, Mack Elder, a Trek megafan with a Trek villain name, set a world record by naming all 79 titles of the original series, in order, in just under 100 seconds. The video of his feat is fun to watch. (Much like the series itself, he begins to stumble right around season 3.) And it got me thinking about the curious art of naming TV episodes.

Until the advent of the internet, I imagine most viewers probably weren’t even aware that episodes had titles. As a result, there’s a long tradition of episode titles that are little more than explicit plot descriptions. This is especially true of Friends, which made a joke out of titling every episode with the purely functional identifier, “The One with…” (sometimes amended to, “The One where…”, as in, “The One Where No One’s Ready.”)

If I had to arbitrarily point to the tipping point when everything changed and episode titles entered the cultural lexicon, it would have to be with “The Constant,” the Desmond-centric fourth season episode of Lost. Everyone I knew loved that episode, but I always remember the particular way they expressed that love: not saying, “Man, that last episode of Lost was awesome!” but rather “Man, ‘The Constant’ was awesome!” The rise of iTunes and Hulu helped spread the titles to enter the cultural mainstream, and now, following Lost‘s example, lots of shows even release the title early as a tease for fans. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 24 2010 11:00 PM ET

'American Idol' Semifinals (Night Two): How many of the top 12 guys can we send home tomorrow?

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Filed under: American Idol, Reality TV and tagged: ,

Okay, so I know it’s only week one of the American Idol semifinals, and I’m aware that patience is a virtue, but yikes! I’m slightly scared (possibly even scurr’d) that the first 24 performances of season 9 are an omen of 13 long and arduous weeks ahead. [Minor SPOILERS ahead, so west coasters may want to cover their eyes and/or run screaming from the Internet.] READ FULL STORY »

Feb 24 2010 07:35 PM ET

'The Runaways': New TV spot rocks

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: ,

It’s always funny to me when a 30-second TV spot tells you more about the plot of a film than a two-minute preview. Example, the new commercial for The Runaways. Kristen Stewart is Joan Jett. She wants to start an all-girl rock band. Okay, maybe that’s not more, but it’s concise — and the most effective promo for the film yet.

More on The Runaways: Owen Gleiberman reports on the film at Sundance

Feb 24 2010 06:11 PM ET

Clip du jour: 'Felicity' knew about iPads?

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Filed under: Television and tagged: , ,

Maybe J.J. Abrams is a better futurist than I thought. It turns out back in 1999, Ruby (ugh!) on Felicity wondered about buying herself an iPad. Really!


Oy, that is some painful dialogue and totally unrepresentative of what a good show that sometimes was.

iPads come out in a few short weeks, PopWatchers. Are you saving up? [via]

Feb 24 2010 04:59 PM ET

20 Years Ago This Week: Milli Vanilli wins the best new artist Grammy

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Milli-VanilliImage Credit: Frank Griffin/LFI Watch carefully during Milli Vanilli’s performance at the Feb. 21, 1990, Grammys – where the duo won the award for Best New Artist – and you might catch a subtle hint that a scandal was brewing. When the camera cuts to the audience, it zooms in on Ozzy Osbourne. He’s rolling his eyes in disgust.

Twenty years later, Milli Vanilli’s victory remains a bizarre moment in pop culture history, even for the surviving member of the group. ”It was like an out-of-body experience, accepting a Grammy in front of all those people I knew from the Billboard charts,” says Fab Morvan, 43. (Rob Pilatus was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in a Frankfurt hotel room in 1998.) ”But knowing everything that we knew – the story behind the story – we were also conflicted. There was a lot of confusion inside the heads of those two young guys up at the podium.”

Milli Vanilli’s Grammy would, of course, be revoked 10 months later, after it was revealed that those two young guys at the podium hadn’t sung a note on their platinum-selling 1989 album, Girl You Know It’s True. It was the first great lip-synching controversy of the modern age, although hardly the last (see: Britney Spears at the VMAs, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz on SNL, or Yang Peiyi and Lin Miaoke at the 2008 Olympics). And it made Milli Vanilli an international punchline, even if the joke wasn’t always funny. ”I don’t think anyone ever had a faster rise,” says Morvan, who lives in Amsterdam and is still singing (that’s his own voice on his single ”Anytime”) and dancing (in a project called smfm, about to start touring in Europe). ”Nobody had a faster fall.”

Feb 24 2010 04:45 PM ET

Cablevision's PC-to-TV plan: Is it enough to keep cable?

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pc-on-tvNew York-area cable provider Cablevision announced today that it has developed a “PC to TV Media Relay” system that would wirelessly display content from its users’ computers to a dedicated channel on their TV screens. Cool! Just…like all the other ways to get stuff from your computer onto your TV, including but not limited to Boxee, other HTPCs, or just plugging the two into each other. Cablevision’s system theoretically has the advantage of being a simpler way to connect the two devices, and unlike Boxee, you should be able to watch iTunes content with their service as well (which is a pretty big deal, especially as Apple is now toying with a lower-priced $0.99-an-episode model). However, Cablevision’s plan has the disadvantage of, well, requiring that you have cable — it only works if you have both Cablevision cable and Cablevision Internet. Quite simply, Cablevision is in the business of making sure you don’t drop your cable TV subscription when you discover you can watch just about anything online, while other HTPC outfits are in the business of just getting content on your TV.

So, PopWatchers, does Cablevision’s plan seem like best of both worlds (cable and Web content on your big TV screen), or does it just sound like having to pay one bill too many? Who’s already unplugged the cable from their TV and taking an Internet-only approach?

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