Archive for September, 2008

The new trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is even more informative and interesting than the others that have come before it, and I am so intrigued by the eerie whimsy of it all. Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button, a man who is born old and ages backwards, growing younger as the years go by. As an elderly child
(yeah. . . that’s right, I think), he befriends a little girl, Daisy, who grows older in the regular way, so at some point the two are the same age, “meeting in the middle.” The story, along with the girl’s reddish-brown hair remind me a little bit of The Time Traveler’s Wife, the film version of which may be hitting theaters at the same time as Benjamin Button: Dec. 25.

This new trailer gives me goosebumps, a mixture of the good kind of chills and the willies. To see for yourself,

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When Chuck premieres tonight, it will be competing against Josh Schwartz’s other show, the formidable Gossip Girl. One’s a funny spy spoof; the other’s a sassy soap. So, which one are you watching?

Photos courtesy of The CW and NBC

The last episode of ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money aired so long ago, it had a Nutcracker theme. The show — like its counterparts in ABC’s Wednesday night lineup, Pushing Daisies and Private Practice — went off the air during the writers’ strike and never returned. This week, Dirty Sexy Money is back, amid a bunch of promises from the producers that this year’s show will be “dirtier,” “sexier,” and — you got it — ”monier.”

Along those lines, they’ve added Lucy Liu to the cast as Nola Lyons, a “whip-smart, overachieving, and very fashionable” attorney who goes up against Peter Krause’s Nick George. Nick, meanwhile, will find himself more affected by the over-the-top wealth and naughty antics of the Darlings, even as he tries to stay on the sidelines.

The show’s gone through a lot of turmoil since its premiere (several executive producers, episodes that were reshot or ditched altogether), but I’m hoping Dirty Sexy Money can pull it together for season two. I was recently rewatching parts of last season online, and there were definitely signs of a fun soap opera in there. Want to check out how things are looking so far? To watch three clips from the premiere, including one with Liu, just

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• Kenneth Branagh is in talks to direct the live-action Thor movie. — Variety
• Jesse McCartney and Ken Marino will guest-star in upcoming episodes of Greek. — Zap2it
• It’s official: Bruce Springsteen is the entertainment for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. — Billboard
• Bravo will air reruns of Swingtown but has no plans to produce new episodes. — Hollywood Reporter
• Um, wait, what? It looks like Russell Crowe will play both the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood in Ridley Scott’s movie Nottingham. — ComingSoon
• HBO is developing a series called Americatown about the exodus of US citizens to another country after a period of financial decline. — TV Guide
• A dispute over the release date of the Kate Winslet WWII-era romance movie The Reader has been settled: The film will open Dec. 12. — Variety
• Pam’s ex-boyfriend Roy is booking a return trip to The Office. — E! Online

Source and source

Any Mad Men episode with a lot of Roger Sterling in it is going to be among my favorites and that’s a big reason why this first new episode after the show’s big Emmy wins did not disappoint. There’s a moment at a gambling club when a young woman approaches Roger and Don and asks if they’re winners. His response is classic Roger: “Uh, losers tonight but winners in general.” Another reason why this episode was good? That would be Betty’s bone-chilling spiral into crazy-town, made even creepier with the suicide of Marilyn Monroe lurking in the background. The symbolism of Monroe’s untimely death is rich with meaning and I can’t wait to chat more about that after the jump.

It isn’t just the ladies who have had it up to here with their lot in life. Apparently, despite the fact that they’ve long been having their cake and eating it too, the men are also feeling trapped. Roger and Don, in a scene that makes them out to be even bigger jerks than I thought possible, talk each other into a midlife crisis together. All of this combined with the sad and pathetic ending of one man’s career at Sterling Cooper made for a very dark episode indeed. Ready to chat about it? Just

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It’s cool that there’s a new trailer out for Will Smith’s upcoming heartwarming drama Seven Pounds, even if it doesn’t offer much insight into what the movie is about. I turned to IMDB for a little help, so here’s the plot description as found on the Seven Pounds page: “Ben (Will Smith) is an IRS agent who is depressed and guilt-ridden about mistakes from his past. He sets out to make amends by helping seven strangers. When he meets Emily (Rosario Dawson), a beautiful woman with a heart condition, he falls in love with her, thereby complicating his plans.” Ahhh, got it now.

The film is brought to us by the director of The Pursuit of Happyness and it opens Dec. 19. To check out the trailer and tell me what you think,

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The fifth season of Desperate Housewives is set five years in the future, and while it’s a pretty big change-up for the show, all the old DH elements are still there (sexy secrets, mysterious new neighbors, unruly kids, etc.). It’s a refreshing change of pace to shuttle all the Wisteria Lane residents into the future and then gradually dole out bits and pieces of what happened during those five years. Truthfully, without this little tactic I’m not sure I’d be interested in the show anymore.

Did you catch the premiere? What did you think? To chat about it,

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The nerdy and delightful Chuck returns tonight for its second season, and can I just get a “woohoo”? I was a big fan of Chuck the first time around, and all indications are this season will be just as good, if not better. (One of those indications: Good vibes from NBC, which has already decided to give the show a full 22-episode season without seeing how the first few episodes perform in the ratings.)

If you didn’t watch Chuck in the first season, tonight’s episode is a good place to jump right in. In the first five minutes, you’ll learn all you need to know about Chuck, our resident Nerd Herd computer-repair guy turned bearer of government secrets — all while he’s being dangled out a window by an agent named Colt (Michael Clarke Duncan). When we last saw Chuck, his future as an agent (and his future in general) looked doubtful; by the end of this episode, we’ll know whether Chuck can hang on.

There’s also some good stuff with the Nerd Herd, a few classic moments with Agent Casey, and our first look at Sarah’s new cover job. Are you in? To watch a preview, just

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