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Archive: December 2010 (11-20 of 304)

Dec 30 2010 12:25 PM ET

Open letter to Hyundai: Christmas is over; 'tis the season to put the hipsters back in their cage

Dear Hyundai,

It was kind of cute at first. We had fun mocking the breathless innocence of Nataly Dawn’s voice on “Up on the Housetop,” replacing “Up on the housetop, reindeer pause” with “Hah, hah-hah-hah, hah, hah hah hah”…the first 17 or so times. “Jingle Bells” was always just sort of there. “Deck [pause] The Halls” was annoying from the start. You know that. How could anyone not realize this? Have you just been f—ing with us the whole time?

Come on, we’re begging you. Does the Genesis come with a calendar? It’s December 30. Enough is enough. We’ve seen these commercials 2847582 times. You’re scaring away what could be scores of new Pomplamoose fans who will never want to hear “the dreaded car-commercial hipsters” again — let alone buy a car! I mean you can just forget about the car thing altogether. Weirdos.

From every one of us, have a safe and happy holiday, WHICH IS OVER.
Love, Scrooge!

Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

Dec 30 2010 09:05 AM ET

Broadway box office up for the holidays, but Santa definitely skipped some shows

by Thom Geier

Tags: Stage/Theater, This Week on Stage

Broadway theaters earned nearly $25 million for the week ending Dec. 26, with grosses up $1.1 million over the previous week, according to the Broadway League. But with a whopping 10 shows set to close this Sunday (including the just-announced early shutdown of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), Santa wasn’t exactly fair in doling out holiday bonuses.

In fact, the biggest presents were bestowed on long-standing hits like Wicked (up $521,000 for the week), The Merchant of Venice (up $454,000), The Phantom of the Opera (up $267,000) and The Lion King (up $252,000). Even the much-buzzed-about musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark raked in $944,000 and played to 100 percent capacity — despite delivering only four performances due to a widely reported on-stage mishap that sent a cast member to the hospital and scuttled several shows for safety checks.

Some soon-to-shutter shows, like the deliberately short-lived holiday hit Elf (up $107,000, to a theater-record $1.6 million), saw a box office boost. West Side Story and Fela! also saw upticks from the previous week; the latter even played to 93.6 percent capacity. But even some surviving shows appear to be struggling: If Lombardi (playing to 59 percent capacity), Million Dollar Quartet (52 percent capacity), and La Cage aux Folles (51 percent) can’t consistently fill houses during tourist-heavy Christmas week, one wonders how they’ll fare during the traditionally slower post-holiday winter months. To borrow a phrase from Jerry Herman’s Mame, they need a little (more) Christmas right this very minute.

Dec 30 2010 09:00 AM ET

What was your favorite movie trailer of 2010?

by Jeff Labrecque

Tags: Movie Trailers

In the parlance of baseball, movie trailers are like spring-training rookie phenoms. With only a teasing glimpse, all you can see is potential. It’s too soon to tell if the young slugger can’t hit a curveball or if your young ace’s 97-mph heater is as straight as an arrow. All that matters is the promise of greatness. It’s the same reason I love trailers: I know deep-down that 75 percent of these films will ultimately disappoint me, but right now, four months before its release, I can let myself believe that Brooklyn’s Finest is the next Crash, that Salt is the next Bourne Identity. It’s why I’m never late for a movie in the theater, and why I roll my eyes when the lady behind me whines, “Another trailer?” Yes! Another trailer. Another spark of hope. Another movie to get excited for, months before its flaws can be identified and dissected.

In 2010, there were dozens of trailers that, sadly, delivered more than the full-length features that played after them in the theater. Some of them ultimately became the all-stars I hoped they could be. In the spirit of the Oscars, here are my top-5 trailers, in no particular order. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 30 2010 06:52 AM ET

Tucker Carlson calls for Michael Vick's death: Why do dogs short-circuit people's logic?

by Keith Staskiewicz

Tags: Animals, Awwwwww So Cuuuuuute, Politics as Entertainment, That Was Way Harsh Tai, The Bad Man Scares Me!, TV

Image Credit: Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images“I’m a Christian, I’ve made mistakes myself. I believe fervently in second chances. But Michael Vick killed dogs. And he did in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should have been executed for that.” Those are the words of talking head Tucker Carlson, who has understandably since found himself in his own crossfire. I’m going to guess that it’s pretty well accepted that Carlson is in the wrong with this belief. Plenty of people believe in the death penalty, whether for reasons of deterrence, social safety, or just old-fashioned Old Testament-style justice, but I doubt many of them would accept that the list of crimes that warrant capital punishment extends to, as odious as it is, animal cruelty. I am also going to guess that at least part of Carlson’s statement was typical cable news shock-jocking.

So it’s not really worth it to finger-wag and chastise Carlson for his statement when he’ll probably apologize profusely and retract it in T-minus six hours. However, I do think this incident raises another interesting question: Just how indignant do we get over cute animals? READ FULL STORY »

Dec 29 2010 08:05 PM ET

'Sound of Music': How has it changed for you over the years?

by Mandi Bierly

Tags: In Memoriam, Movies, Movies

Image Credit: Mary Louise Kane/AP Images Hearing about the passing of Agathe von Trapp, the eldest daughter of the musical family that inspired The Sound of Music who died Tuesday at age 97, made me remember the evening a few years back when, while watching the film for about the 100th time, I realized I no longer related to Liesl (Charmian Carr), the 16-going-on-17 character based on the real life woman. Instead, I was identifying with Julie Andrews’ Maria (and worrying that I wouldn’t be enough woman for Capt. Von Trapp or to lead his seven children on a mountain escape from the Nazis). It’s one of the few times I remember stopping to think how a film had evolved because of my age. (Another was when I watched When Harry Met Sally... as a 32-year-old instead of as a teenager. Sally: “And I’m gonna be 40.” Harry: “When?” Sally: “Someday.” Harry: “In eight years.”)

Has anyone else noticed a change in the way you view The Sound of Music? Agathe von Trapp — a retired teacher who lived in Baltimore, and dedicated her autobiography, Memories Before and After The Sound of Music, to her father — will be buried in the spring at a cemetery at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt., the Associated Press reports. If you’ve been there, did you sing “The Sound of Music” as you drove up? (Guilty.) I hope someone’s doing that tonight.

Dec 29 2010 05:04 PM ET

What midseason TV has you hot and bothered?

by Annie Barrett

Tags: American Idol, Parks and Recreation, Reality TV, Survivor, Television, Waiting, Wipeout, American Idol, Reality TV, Television, TV

Image Credit: Justin Lubin/NBCWatching TV this week is like participating in the opening scene of The Walking Dead — you’re an aimless zombies shuffling around on abandoned city streets, ready to lunge at a tasty rerun of The Barefoot Contessa at any moment. But lo! The 2011 midseason TV cometh. Hark! A new crop of shameless teenagers think they can sing. Paula Abdul will presumably live to dance. Oh, there will be so much new TV in January. And bitter cold, and depression, and fat. But focus on the TV! So much TV. (Check out our lists of start dates for the broadcast networks and the cable networks.)

What midseason TV are you dying to see right now? My top five:

5. TV Land’s Retired at 35, starring Jessica Walter as a hopefully Lucille Bluth-esque mom
4. NBC’s David E. Kelley/Kathy Bates legal drama, Harry’s Law
3. Survivor: Redemption Island, because Dalton Ross insists it’s going to be great and I know I’ll constantly be messing up and calling it Temptation Island.
2. Parks and Recreation. Finally.
1. American Idol — looking forward to the challenge of telling J. Lo and S. Ty apart!

What are yours? Also, what would you realistically pay to watch your No. 1 choice on-demand RIGHT NOW? I had myself convinced I’d blow $50 to see the Idol premiere because it’s going to be such a mindf—, but when I really thought about it and clicked over to Paypal, I realized it was probably more like $4.99, and it would probably have to include some sort of special “Steven Tyler Lip Dub” package, so…no. The real answer is zero dollars. Oh well!

Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

Dec 29 2010 03:48 PM ET

Owen Wilson, Eddie Murphy top this week in 'Celebs Who Are Not Actually Dead'

by Sara Vilkomerson

Tags: Hell to the No!, My Head Hurts, Ridiculata

Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Good news, everyone! Owen Wilson is not dead.

“Absolutely false. I just spoke with him,” said the actor’s rep, after a flurry of panicked posts made the rounds on Twitter this afternoon.

The hoax is just the latest in false celebrity death claims, which also recently killed off Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, and Morgan Freeman. The Owen Wilson confusion got going with a news report from the dubiously titled Global Associated News, which claimed that Wilson had snowboarded into a tree and died in Zermatt, Switzerland. It then quickly got picked up and passed around. (Oh, the tricky dark side of social networking!) But it was easy to see this one was a hoax: If you click on the “Home” section of the article, you are directed to a site called Fake a Wish, which allows one to “enter a celebrity name to create a list of fake articles about them.” Sigh. It’s a slow news week and all, but can’t we please just quit with the fake celebrity death reports?

What do you think, PopWatchers? Any other celebrities not dead today?

Dec 29 2010 03:32 PM ET

Which 2010 episodes are still on your DVR?

by Mandi Bierly

Tags: Justified, Television, The Good Wife, Television, TV

Image Credit: FX As 2010 comes to a close, most people look forward to starting the new year with a clean slate. But does that count when it comes to your DVR? Which episodes from 2010 have you saved and have no immediate plans of deleting? I’m away from my DVR/life partner Peter now, but I do know that he’s still holding onto “Bulletville,” the June season 1 finale of Justified, because he knows I love its cabin shootout, particularly when Timothy Olyphant’s Raylan Givens lies on the floor and shoots up at a cartel crony opening a window to sneak inside, and when two others yell in that all they want is Raylan — Walton Goggins’ Boyd and Joelle Carter’s Ava can go free. (Raylan: “I’m Raylan Givens.” Boyd: “No, I’m Raylan Givens.” Raylan: “Are you tryin’ to be funny?” Boyd: “A little.”) What is that, Peter? You’re right. I also enjoy watching Olyphant’s hair blow in slo-mo in the final seconds of the hour.

Apparently, I have a thing for unexpected, non-action use of slo-mo because I’m also coveting The Good Wife‘s November cliffhanger in which Alicia walked, in slo-mo, to Will’s office to ask him about the second voicemail she never heard. With that, I love that the producers clearly grasped how much fans would be freaking the eff out at the moment, and that for Alicia, preparing to ask that possibly life-changing question (damn you, Elizabeth Reaser for interrupting) would have been one of those times when you should be thinking about what you’re going to say, but all your inner voice is telling you is, “This is really happening. I’m really doing this.”

Your turn.

Dec 29 2010 02:24 PM ET

Patton Oswalt thinks geek culture must die so that geek culture can live. Paradox!

by Darren Franich

Tags: Comic Books, Comic-Con, Geekery, I Remember When It Used To Cost A Nickel, Movies, Ninjas, Reality TV, Sci-Fi, Television, This Could Be Interesting..., Wait Are People Robots?, Movies, Reality TV, Television, TV

Image Credit: Lester Cohen/WireImage.com Comedian, starring-voice-of-Ratatouille, and nerd demi-god Patton Oswalt has written a fascinating piece for Wired about the rise of geek culture from the schoolyard fringes — kids quoting Monty Python and playing Dungeons & Dragons — to its present status as an all-encompassing cultural force. You see geek culture everywhere now, Oswalt notes: The relentless parade of superhero movies, the post-Lost vogue for detail-obsessed TV fandom, “Boba Fett’s helmet emblazoned on sleeveless T-shirts worn by gym douches hefting dumbbells.” As you might guess from that quote, Oswalt’s less than joyful about geekery’s current mainstream dominance. “Everything we have today that’s cool comes from someone wanting more of something they loved in the past,” he notes. “Action figures, videogames, superhero movies, iPods: All are continuations of a love that wanted more.” Oswalt’s piece is hilarious and incredibly thoughtful, but his ultimate point is worth discussing: Has the internet-assisted rise of geek culture had a negative effect on pop culture? Certainly, Oswalt’s vision of the future sounds eerily possible: “One long, unbroken, recut spoof in which everything in Avatar farts while Keyboard Cat plays eerily in the background.”

Oswalt begins with an extended personal riff about his own youth as an otaku with an encyclopedic knowledge of Alan Moore comics, a more leisurely time before the Internet made The Lonely Geek extinct. So you could feasibly dismiss Oswalt’s piece as a typical elder rant: Things were better in the good ol’ days before modern technology has ruined everything, and also what’s the deal with these kids on their cell phones and the Twitter, am I right!?!?! READ FULL STORY »

Dec 29 2010 02:12 PM ET

Pixar postage stamps coming in 2011: Which is the worst omission?

by Mandi Bierly

Tags: Animation, Movies, Pixar, Things That Are Criminal, Movies

The United States Postal Service will release stamps celebrating five Pixar films on Aug. 19, as part of its “Send a Hello” campaign encouraging people to connect with loved ones through the mail. They are: Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars; Remy the rat and Linguini from Ratatouille; Buzz Lightyear and two of the green, three-eyed aliens from Toy Story; Carl Fredricksen and Dug from Up; and the robot WALL•E and his potted plant from WALL•E. Admittedly, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Cars and Ratatouille because they’re not my favorites, but if connecting with loved ones is the theme, then I think I’m allowed to be disappointed that we’re not seeing Finding Nemo and The Incredibles represented instead. (Even Monster’s Inc. would have been great, what with Sulley finding his way back to Boo at the end. “Kitty!”) So while we applaud the USPS for honoring Pixar, let’s take this to a vote…