M. Night Shyamalan has yet to finish filming his adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but fans of the Nickelodeon franchise eager for a glimpse into the project can check out a new teaser trailer (embedded below) that has made its way onto the Internets. And though it's giving me more of a Battle of Helm's Deep feeling than an animé feeling, it doesn't look half bad -- barring the awkward fact, of course, that the sole actor featured in the trailer is a white boy playing an Asian character .
Now, it should be noted that Shyamalan has managed to atone for some of his original questionable casting decisions for the adaptation of the series, which is rooted in Asian culture -- he cast Dev Patel in a role slated for Jesse McCartney, as well as non-white actors Cliff Curtis and Aasif Mandvi. And perhaps the coolness factor (CGI! Battle scene!) in the trailer allows you to forgive the director for any perceived white-washing anyway?
Either way, it is nice to see Shyamalan tackle a genre that doesn't quite fit his formula. As long as the killer trees don't serve as Aang's biggest foe in the film, I'm happy. Thoughts, PopWatchers?
We knew that Kelly Osbourne inked a book deal late last year. That news came as no surprise, seeing as how publishers are always hungry for juicy memoirs from drug-addled starlets, even ones who spend their days trying to eke their way off the F-list. But yesterday, WWD.com received some intel from Osbourne herself regarding the theme of her book, which is titled Fierce: “It’s about all the major things girls go through before they turn 21.... It's 16 chapters where I explain what I did and where I
went wrong, and then I offer professional advice on how to do things
differently.”
First off, I have to applaud the 24-year-old Osbourne for rejecting a run-of-the-mill memoir that makes most readers question whether or not the author has lived long enough to churn out his/her life stories (or, a run-of-the-mill memoir that leaves readers thinking, "Who cares?"). Young girls coping with their own troubled times are well-served reading about the trials of those who have experienced drug addiction and rehab. And it's interesting that Osbourne is opting for some image rehab as well, seeing as her own mum devoted time hosting the first season of Rock of Love Charm School, an entire program centered around image rehab (and, let's face it, boobs and trucker hats).
But after seeing Osbourne grace the feature pages of People and other magazines discussing her rehab experience, I'm beginning to wonder if the singer is just milking her troubles a bit too much for her own good. It seems as if Osbourne's career has become intertwined with her addiction just as much as Kirstie Alley's career has become intertwined with her weight problems and, really, that isn't the best move for someone who actually had promise in another field. Granted, I can't fault Osbourne for trying to improve the lives of others -- as I mentioned above, it is admirable -- but do we care enough at this point to read yet another book/watch yet another interview with a member of the Osbourne family discussing drug addiction? Why doesn't she just filter her problems into song, and release one heckuva comeback album?
Thoughts, PopWatchers? Would you read Fierce? Buy it for your daughter? And do you think the celebrity rehab genre has grown tired, especially considering there's an entire VH1 series called, you know, Celebrity Rehab?
After weeks of buzz and excitement, Nurse Jackie finally premiered last night, and as expected, star Edie Falco was, you know, excellent, and the show clearly has the balls to make her character interesting. She's a no-nonsense ER nurse with a pill-popping problem. Somewhat unfortunately, everyone else on the show could be swapped in from an episode of ER, Grey's, St. Elsewhere, Nurses, Chicago Hope, Green Wing, or the upcoming Mercy: the hotshot doctor is an incompetent jerk, and the new nurse is super naive. How totally unlike other hospital shows!
Showtime is touting Jackie as a "dark comedy," but I didn't get that aspect of it at all; it played more like House or Dexter to me than anything humorous. Yeah, there are some shenanigans -- an inappropriate boob-grab, a casual Heimlich maneuvering -- but I'd call the show a stylized drama before I'd call it a comedy.
Complaints aside, I can't wait to see more episodes. There's a lot of potential here, and as the show grows into its voice a bit more, it could be great, especially with Falco getting so much screen time. EW TV critic Ken Tucker seems to agree with me: "With Falco front and center, you don't really care if Nurse Jackie gets silly, as with the patient whose cat attacked his scrotum (er, eek). You just want to keep on watching Jackie snort and snicker her way through another day and make it home with a tired smile." (Check out the rest of Ken's review.)
Did you watch last night? What'd you think? Did it feel like a "dark comedy" or more like a drama? Or maybe we've just had enough hospital dramas for one lifetime?
Reviews of Royal Pains, which debuted last night on USA, have been mixed. And "mixed" is how I'd describe mine. Loved Mark Feuerstein. He's not quite the sweetheart he was in In Her Shoes, but his character is by far the most likable onscreen. He's Hank, a New York City doctor who loses his job, his connections, and his fiancée when a hospital trustee dies on his watch. (Technically, it was his day off, but he'd come into the ER with a kid who'd collapsed while they were playing basketball together and chose to return to him once he stabilized the trustee).
Hank is like Burn Notice's Michael, the best at what he does and happy to talk you through the steps -- only aloud. At first I gave that an eyeroll, but it grew on me. I'm not sure whether it's Hank's social-climbing accountant brother Evan or the actor that plays him, Joey's Paulo Costanzo, that needs to be dialed back about 10 percent. (Evan is always on, like Psych's Shawn, only not all his jokes are as funny as he thinks.) Regardless, Evan eventually convinces a blacklisted and broke Hank to go to the Hamptons for the weekend, and Evan talks their way into a party thrown by a "German trillionaire" named Boris (Campbell Scott with a semi-ridiculous accent because you know it's Campbell Scott). Hank out-observes Boris' "concierge doctor" -- or private physician for hire -- and saves a woman's life. Hank then spends the rest of the episode reluctantly answering 911 calls to his cell (which, um, he could've just turned off), and resisting the otherwise popular idea that he become the rich and not famous' new medical MacGyver.
The New York Daily News reported today that Shia LaBeouf has signed on to star in The Associate, the adaptation of John Grisham's latest best seller. So is the author happy with this news? Of course, considering he hand-picked LaBeouf himself! "I think he'll be wonderful!" Grisham has told reporters. "He's a very talented actor, and he's hot. He's the hottest 22-year-old actor in America."
First of all, I have to say, that is one very specific, very definitive, very creepy statement, Mr. Grisham. But is the author a secret Even Stevens fan, or is he correct in thinking that LaBeouf could easily fill the shoes of actors like Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, and Matthew McConaughey, all of whom have starred in Grisham adaptations in the past? LaBeouf has been riding that "next big thing" wave for a few years now, and he has earned enough acting accolades from critics to balance out his tween heartthrob image that comes from starring in films like Transformers. Plus, he has raked in a pretty penny for studios, between that robot movie, Disturbia, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I, however, just can't see it. Maybe it's impossible for me to look at this 22-year-old actor and not think of him as a slightly stretched-out version of his 12-year-old Disney self, but I've had a hard time enjoying LaBeouf in anything but Holes and his SNL MacGruber sketches. Let alone considering him "hot."
I'm sure I'll eat my words eventually -- after all, this is coming from someone who claimed that people would tire of Britney Spears after she released her "Sometimes" sequel. But do you think LaBeouf could maintain a career like Cruise, Damon, and McConaughey have (or, at least, did for so long)? And if he does, in which direction would he go? Blockbuster star-turned-couch jumper, thoughtful award-winning actor-turned-action star, or perpetual shirtless star-turned-...perpetual shirtless star? Finally, is LaBeouf indeed the hottest 22-year-old actor in America?
In retrospect it seems ironic (or, perhaps, just plain wrong) that the man who provoked Christian Bale's infamous wig-out on the set of Terminator Salvation was the film's director of photography. Because the look of this fourth Terminator movie is pretty much the only good thing about it. Certainly, the film's prevailing gunmetal tones perfectly fit a grim plot in which John Connor (Bale), his pregnant wife (Bryce Dallas Howard), and a mysteriously resurrected convict (Sam Worthington) fight an array of killer robots in a post-holocaust world. (Actually, the mystery of Worthington's character was, unwisely, resolved in at least one of the trailers, but I see no reason to repeat that error here.) To be fair, my colleague Owen Gleiberman liked the movie more than me and director McG is not the first person who has failed to live up to a franchise standard set by James Cameron, maker of first two Terminator films. Witness David Fincher's Alien 3 which followed Cameron's sublime Aliens. However, Fincher's effort was at least interesting. Terminator Salvation, on the other hand, is both an unbelievable snooze and simply unbelievable on more levels than even the infinite space afforded by the internet has room for me to recount. Finally, I found it impossible to care about what happened to characters this thinly sketched. In particular, the three-dimensionality of Howard's role pretty much begins and ends with her bump. It is also tempting to say that even Bale appears, for once, to just be phoning things in except (a) we have evidence that he wasn't and (b) the last thing I need is for that guy to get mad at me.
What did you think about Terminator Salvation? Did it live up to Cameron's Terminators? Hell, did it live up to Terminator 3?
I'm not an accredited psychiatrist (not any more!), but I'm pretty sure that when you're faced with a naked man who is convinced he's surrounded by giant evil lizards, it's not a good idea to strip off yourself and reinforce his delusions. But that's exactly what Dr. Jack Gallagher (Prison Break's Chris Vance) does at the start of Fox's Mental, which debuted last night. The show concerns an outside-the-box-thinking headshrinker determined to SHAKE THINGS UP!!! at the L.A. hospital where he is the new director of mental health services.
There are plenty of things to complain about with this cliche-filled and clunkily written project (check out Ken Tucker's review for some of them). But, for me, the real problem is that it's rather hard to root for someone whose unorthodox ways -- Let's invite patients to staff meetings! Let's break into the house of a patient's sister to get the scoop on what's wrong with him! Let's get nekkid and prepare to fight The Great Lizard War! -- might well do more harm than good in the real world. Mental would dearly like to remind you of ER or House. What it actually called to my mind was an episode of Family Guy in which Lois rescues her brother from a psychiatric facility only for her sibling to go on a fat-guy-killing spree.
You don't have to be mad to like Mental. But it would help.
The much-hyped '80s episode of Gossip Girl (which could end up as its own spin-off series once The CW announces its fall slate on May 21) just aired and — no big surprise here — I enjoyed it. SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP.
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but boy can it make for some lousy television. Case in point: tonight's premiere of Bravo's The Fashion Show, a.k.a. Since We Lost 'Project Runway' to Lifetime (Argh!) We Came Up With This New Series That Is Totally Just As Awesome as the Original -- Really! Please Watch!
I'd like to give The Fashion Show the benefit of the doubt and allow that subsequent episodes might improve. But what we saw this evening wasn't pretty: an obvious -- and obviously inferior -- Runway copycat in which 15 aspiring designers compete for a $125,000 grand prize and for the chance...not to show their collection at Fashion Week, but to sell their line "in a retail market." (If that's not conveniently vague, I don't know what is.)
All the familiar elements were there: outsized personalities (We get it, Merlin: You're flamboyant!), clashing egos, and outrageously hideous designs. (Harem pants as a must-have? Maybe on Planet Princess Jasmine.) But what was missing was that mix of playful and panicked workroom magic that Runway conjures up every season and the inimitable Tim Gunn enhances. If there ever was any doubt as to who the real star of Runway is, The Fashion Show put it to rest tonight. With all due respect to co-hosts/-judges Isaac Mizrahi and Kelly Rowland, their presence lacked the zesty je ne sais quoi that Gunn exudes so effortlessly. Furthermore, unlike Heidi Klum’s signature sendoff, Mizrahi’s version -- "We're just not buying it. Bye-bye, darling" -- felt contrived.
What do you think? Is The Fashion Show destined to become passé or does it have potential?
After weeks of buzz and excitement, 
In retrospect it seems ironic (or, perhaps, just plain wrong) that the man who provoked Christian Bale's infamous wig-out on the set of Terminator Salvation was the film's director of photography. Because the look of this fourth Terminator movie is pretty much the only good thing about it. Certainly, the film's prevailing gunmetal tones perfectly fit a grim plot in which John Connor (Bale), his pregnant wife (Bryce Dallas Howard), and a mysteriously resurrected convict (Sam Worthington) fight an array of killer robots in a post-holocaust world. (Actually, the mystery of Worthington's character was, unwisely, resolved in at least one of the trailers, but I see no reason to repeat that error here.) To be fair, my colleague 
I'm not an accredited psychiatrist (not any more!), but I'm pretty sure that when you're faced with a naked man who is convinced he's surrounded by giant evil lizards, it's not a good idea to strip off yourself and reinforce his delusions. But that's exactly what Dr. Jack Gallagher (Prison Break's Chris Vance) does at the start of Fox's Mental, which debuted last night. The show concerns an outside-the-box-thinking headshrinker determined to SHAKE THINGS UP!!! at the L.A. hospital where he is the new director of mental health services.
The much-hyped '80s episode of Gossip Girl (which could end up as its own spin-off series once The CW announces its fall slate on May 21) just aired and — no big surprise here — I enjoyed it. SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP.
So, I'm assuming you've seen it by now, right? Otherwise, what kind of geek would you be? (The kind of geek that gets their credentials revoked.) 
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but boy can it make for some lousy television. Case in point: tonight's premiere of Bravo's The Fashion Show, a.k.a. Since We Lost 'Project Runway' to Lifetime (Argh!) We Came Up With This New Series That Is Totally Just As Awesome as the Original -- Really! Please Watch! 
