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The Mentalist Sees Good Ratings In His Future  CBS' The Mentalist hit a
series high in ratings last night, averaging 18.8 million viewers.
The battle of the season's hottest new dramas continues to tilt in the favor of CBS' "The Mentalist," which topped Fox's "Fringe" among young adults for the third time in their last four matchups. NBC's "The Biggest Loser," meanwhile, was on the rise, as both it and "The Mentalist" seemed to benefit from the absence of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."We watch both The Mentalist and Fringe. The only reason we watch The Mentalist on the night it airs is because CBS still doesn't have the full episodes on its site. We usually watch Fringe the next day. Although we're getting tired of Anna Torv and her angst. Why in the world would she go to her partner to tell him that she thinks she's going clinically insane? She knows she has her dead partner's memories, because Walter told her what happened. She is most annoying. Posted on December 3, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Here are a couple clever Numb3rs promos based on the I'm a Mac Apple ads. Posted on March 22, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Burn Notice and Saving Grace Get Renewed  Two new cable series have already been renewed
for a second season: Burn Notice and Saving Grace.
"Burn," starring Jeffrey Donovan, has been given a 13-episode order, while "Grace," toplined by Holly Hunter, has been picked up for 15 episodes. Both shows hail from Fox TV Studios. Following a solid premiere with 4 million total viewers (2.2 million in adults 25-52), "Burn" has showed growth, delivering its largest audience to date -- 4.4 million viewers (2.3 million in 25-54) -- last Thursday. The series, which stars Donovan as a spy who suddenly finds himself blacklisted, is executive produced by creator Matt Nix and Mikkel Bondesen.We haven't yet tuned into to Saving Grace and losing one million viewers is not a good sign. Still, Holly Hunter is a great actress and clearly there is a market for the genre. Burn Notice is a great show; they need to up the budget so Michael can travel outside of Miami in future episodes. Keep the spy intrigue coming! Posted on August 9, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View)  Matt Damon shows he has what it takes to be a top action hero: The Bourne Ultimatum crushed its competition this past weekend, making an estimated $70,181,000 with a per-theater gross of $19,175. With breathtaking action, perfectly choreographed surveillance and fight scenes, it really is the best thriller of the year so far. In second place was The Simpsons Movie, which made an estimated $25,600,000. In third place was Underdog which debuted with an estimated take of $12,009,000.
Also opening this weekend were Hot Rod which made $5,015,000, Bratz, which made $4,310,000, and the Hector Lavoe biopic, El Cantante , which made $3,254,000 in a limited release with a very nice per-theater groos of $6,003. El Cantante , which stars Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, has had mixed reviews. Still, some major critics loved the film and it will go into wider release soon. Posted on August 6, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Burn Notice Hits the Spot  USA Network has another summer hit on its hands with its new spy thriller/comedy Burn Notice. Starring Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Weston, a U.S. spy who has inexplicably been "burned" -- that means the U.S. government has suddenly deemed him unreliable. The government has cut off his funds, frozen his accounts and has him under surveillance in his hated hometown of Miami which he left years ago to join the military.
Determined to find out why he was burned and clear his name, Weston survives by taking small cases, sort of like The Equalizer once did. His gorgeous ex-girlfriend (Gabrielle Anwar) and his old comrade (Bruce Campbell) are along for the ride. His mother (Sharon Gless) alternately nags him and smokes like a chimney. Burn Notice works best when Michael is doing his spy thing -- the action scenes have a Jason Bourne quality that is fabulously entertaining to watch. Weston dispatches mafia thugs and con artists with cool panache. When he and Campbell are in Alias/Mission Impossible con mode, the series really sings. A little more intrigue, a little less mom, a little more high tech wizardry and this could be a big hit. We know we'll be watching. Burn Notice airs Thursday nights on USA Network. Posted on July 12, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) A mysterious trailer from an upcoming J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Mission Impossible: 3 movie was played before Transformers. The trailer was supposedly captured by someone in the audience using a cellphone, but we think it's just the beginning of a brilliant viral marketing campaign. The plot seems to be about some guy named Rob who's attending a surprise party, when aliens or someone else starts blowing up the Manhattan skyline. The severed head of the Statue of Liberty also makes a bouncing appearance in the midst of the carnage. The website for the film is www.1-18-08.com. The fake name for the project on IMDB is Cloverfield and it's release date is listed as 1-18-087.com, but it doesn't have much there. It's all very intriguing. (via Defamer) Update: The mysterious trailer has been removed from the video sharing websites including YouTube and Daily Motion. Posted on July 5, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Ocean's 13 Tops Box Office  Ocean's 13
topped
the box office this past weekend, making an estimated $37,080,000 in its debut. The Brad Pitt/George Clooney/Andy Garcia/Matt Damon starrer has gotten good reviews and is definitely entertaining summer fare. In second place was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which made another $21,316,000 in its third week of release. The film's gross to date is $253,614,000.
In third place was Knocked Up, the romantic comedy from Judd Apatow. The film grossed another $20,017,000 this past weekend. In fourth place was the Sony animated feature Surf's Up, which made $18,000,000 in its debut. In fifth place was Shrek the Third which made $15,750,000, bringing its domestic gross to date to $281,892,000. Posted on June 11, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway in Get Smart Film  Filming has begun on a Get Smart motion picture which is based on the popular television series with the same name. The film from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures will star Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) as secret agent Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) as Agent 99.
Other stars in the film include Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Agent 23; Terence Stamp as Siegfried, a key KAOS operative; and Academy Award winner Alan Arkin as the Chief of CONTROL. The film also stars Ken Davitian as Shtarker; Masi Oka (Heroes) as Bruce; Nate Torrence as Lloyd; David Koechneras Agent Larabee; and Terry Crews as Agent 91. The film is directed by Peter Segal (The Longest Yard, Tommy Boy) from a screenplay by Tom J. Astle & Matt Ember (Failure to Launch). Andrew Lazar (Space Cowboys), Charles Roven (Batman Begins) and Alex Gartner (The Upside of Anger) are producing, with Michael Ewing (50 First Dates), Dana Goldberg (Happy Feet), Peter Segal, Jimmy Miller (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby), Steve Carell, Brent O'Connor (We Are Marshall) and Bruce Berman (Happy Feet) serving as executive producers. It sounds like a good cast. Steve Carell is a great choice as Maxwell Smart. The Would You Believe Get Smart website has more details about the upcoming film but be careful because there are some spoilers on the page. IMDB's listing for the film shows a relase date of June 20, 2008. Posted on May 12, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Here is the trailer for Ocean's 13 which stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon among others. Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin are also in this sequel to Ocean's 12 and Ocean's 11. Ocean's 11 was a remake of the 1960 film also called Ocean's 11. Ocean's 13 opens on June 8th according to the film's IMDB page. Posted on March 31, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Lost: Enter 77  [Spoilers Ahead for Episode 11, "Enter 77"]
Last night's Lost was just amazing. We loved it. Sawyer played ping pong to get all his belongings back, but got worked by Hurley's mad ping pong skills. Locke, Rousseau, Sayid and Kate went off to rescue Jack, but ran into the Flame Station, which is manned by a Russian guy named Mikhail. Jen Chaney over at the Washington Post has dubbed Mikhail "McPatchy" and from henceforth, he shall be referred to as such. So, McPatchy shoots Sayid, then pretends to be the last survivng member of the Dharma Initiative. But Sayid's not buying it and violence ensues. This was a really intriguing episode. Sayid's flashback to his time as a chef in Paris was most enlightening. It seemed clear that he only confessed to torturing the woman who kidnapped him to make her feel better and to assuage his guilt over past acts. After all, in a previous episode Sayid refused to torture a woman named Nadia, whom he let escape. Nadia was also the name of the cat owned by McPatchy. And, speaking of that cat -- it was clearly the same cat as the one used in the Paris flashback scene. We couldn't believe that Locke blew up another hatch. That's it -- he's officially banned from any more data entry on computers. The man is just obsessed. But, you know, in a good way. So what will happen next? We have no idea, but are thrilled that the show has been so great lately. Posted on March 8, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller are The Hardy Men Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller are teaming up to bring the Hardy Boys to the silver screen. It only took 80 years, but teenage super-sleuths Frank and Joe Hardy have finally grown up. And apparently it was worth the wait, at least for Hollywood, because they grew into Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise. The box office golden boys have been tapped to play the now-adult brothers in the action comedy The Hardy Men, a reworking of the classic detective series The Hardy Boys, which kicked off in 1927 with The Tower Treasure.We think this sounds like a great project. Stiller must really like Tom Cruise to allow him to enjoy some of his comedy magic. And Cruise could certainly use a lighter movie to showcase his inner comediean -- remember, he was a great in Risky Business. So long as Cruise doesn't try to convert Stiller to Scientology, all should be fine. Posted on February 14, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Lost Producers Say Show Will Have Definitive Ending Date The producers of Lost have stated that there will be an end to Lost, with a nice, satisfying ending. There’s no sense the finale is coming anytime soon. But knowing they have a deadline will help writers of the convoluted drama lay out how they want the story to end, producers said Sunday in a meeting with TV critics here. "Once we figure out when that will be, a lot of the questions will go away," said Carlton Cuse, an executive producer. Lost is in its third season. The producers, citing Fox's The X-Files, said they didn’t want to wear out their welcome. "That was a great show that probably ran two seasons too long," Cuse said. "That is a cautionary tale for us."Lost returns on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 in a new time slot: 10:00 p.m. Eastern/9:00 p.m. Central time. We're ready for the return to the beach. And some answers. Definitely some answers. Posted on January 24, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Alias Season 5 DVD Set For Release  Finally, finally, they've set the release date for Season 5 of Alias. The DVD will be released on November 21, 2006, just in time for the holidays. That seems like a really long time away to us and it makes up grumpy. But we'll still be buying it, of course.
The DVD is available for pre-order at Amazon.com. Posted on August 11, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Daniel Craig Already Signed For Second Bond Film 
USA Today reports that actor Daniel Craig has already been asked back to reprise his role as James Bond in another film, although the current film hasn't even hit theaters yet.
The producers behind Casino Royale, this fall's return to action for agent 007, said Thursday that new star Daniel Craig will reprise the role in a second Bond flick due out May 2, 2008.Shouldn't they at least wait to see how Casino Royale does at the box office? And what the fans think? Posted on July 22, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) USA Network's Psych Looks Promising  Tonight is the premiere of USA Network's promising new series, Psych, which is coupled with the premiere of the new season of Monk.
Psych has a clever premise: Shawn Spencer is super-observant (James Roday) and notices things other people don't, which makes him seem psychic. An exuberant personality, Shawn pretends to be psychic to make a living helping solve crimes. Shawn's abilities are due to his demanding father (Corbin Bernsen) who trained him in the art of observation -- much like a spy. His friend and partner (Dulé Hill) goes along with the gig, but it makes him nervous. It's a very silly show, but it's perfect for summer. It airs tonight on USA Network at 10pm Eastern, just after the Monk premiere which airs at 9pm Eastern. Posted on July 7, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Eagerly Awaiting The Lost Finale  The Lost 2 hour season finale is on tonight and we can't wait! So, what mysteries will be revealed? TV Guide's Ask Ausiello gives a few hints:
At ABC's upfront bash last week, I cornered Carlton Cuse and politely demanded that he cough up "The Challah" at once. "It launches what we are going to be doing in Season 3," he said of the top-secret cliff-hanger, "and I think it will give the audience a good idea where the show will be going next season. This season was really about the hatch, and when you see 'The Challah,' it'll really give you a sense of what the next chapter of the show is all about."Carlton Cuse also said that Claire's memory has now fully returned. But he didn't explain much of anything else. Supposedly we'll find out why Oceanic Flight 815 crashed and the Michael/Walt storyline will be resolved. We're more interested in where Desmond is and why punching that button is important to the rest of the world. Remember Cuse's "butterfly effect" comment? It's driving us crazy. Posted on May 24, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Sony Is Ready For Angels And Demons With The Da Vinci Code opening at #1 in every country in which it played, it looks like Sony has a franchise on its hands. Reportedly, Sony owns the rights to the character Robert Langdon and the studio is ready to film Angels and Demons. I'm told it's absolutely true that Sony bought the rights to the Robert Langdon character. Not only is Harvard symbologist Langdon the protaganist in Dan Brown's already written novel, "Angels and Demons," but I know Langdon is also featured in a new book Brown is penning as we speak that takes off where Da Vinci Code leaves off. So that means Sony has the immediate prospect of not only one but two sequels. Wow, this town is really, really, gonna hate that studio now. (Just remember, Sony had that big bomb Bewitched last summer. They were due.) According to news reports, "Angels and Demons" was Brown's other book to feature Langdon: crammed with Vatican intrigue and high-tech drama, it thrusts Langdon together with an ancient and shadowy secret brotherhood, the Illuminati, the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. Their enemy is the Catholic Church and they're detemined to carry out the final phase of a legendary vendetta against it. There's a frantic quest through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals and a most secret vault to find the world's most powerful energy source (which I'm told is a bomb; I haven't read the book myself). The heroine is a beautiful Italian physicist whose father, a brilliant physicist, has been murdered. I'm told it's better than DVC.You can see an article Dan Brown wrote exclusively for our sister site, The Internet Writing Journal here. In the article, Dan talks about the facts behind the book and all the interesting research he did all over (and under) the city of Rome. Angels and Demons is a great book: it's another Robert Langdon thriller (set before the events of The Da Vinci Code) and involves the Vatican, the Illuminati, secret crypts, codes and the conflict between science and religion. What's not to love? Posted on May 23, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Goodbye To Sydney Bristow  It's really here: the end of Alias. Tonight on ABC at 9pm Eastern/8pm Central time the two hour series finale will air and we hear it will be a great ending. Will someone die? It's J.J. Abrams and Alias: what do you think?
We still haven't heard any news on when the Season 5 DVD will be available, but it better be before December, 2006. Because we're not exactly happy with the way Alias was treated by ABC, to say the least. And we hate the seasonus interruptus they pulled on fans. Grump, grump, grump....that's us, on the subject of the cancellation of Alias. E! has a somewhat spoilery article on the finale, if you simply must know more. Posted on May 22, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) $224 Million: Da Vinci Code Has Second Biggest Opening Weekend Of All Time Worldwide Dan Brown's international bestseller opened in wide release Friday, May 19, 2006 and has already made $224 million worldwide in its first weekend, making it the second biggest opening weekend of all time. The reviews have been mixed: Roger Ebert enjoyed it, giving it "Thumbs Up", as did Roger Friedman at Fox News. The Hollywood Reporter hated it and the Los Angeles Times found it "competent" but not outstanding. Fans gleefully ignored the critics and rushed to theaters worldwide: the film had the 2nd biggest opening weekend of all time worldwide with $224 million. It had the number 1 international opening weekend with $147 million and made $77 million in the U.S. We saw it Friday night and loved it! Ian McClellan deserves an Oscar nod for his turn as impassioned Grail scholar Sir Lee Teabing. Ron Howard took a book that seemed unfilmable because of its complexities and made it a vastly entertaining film. Posted on May 21, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) The Da Vinci Code Unleashes a Blogstorm  Our BloggersBlog.com site reports that The Da Vinci Code book and the film's release are creating a blogstorm.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and the new film version from director Ron Howard are serving as inspiration for bloggers: the blogosphere is absolutely on fire about both. The posts have been increasing in the lead-up to the film's opening today. Not everyone is excited about the film. The film has been criticized by the Catholic Church and other religious groups. Opus Dei even started a blog to battle errors they believe are found in the book and film.The post also includes links to lots of Da Vinci Code resources. Many bloggers are planning on seeing the movie this weekend, which should generate even more posts on the subject. In case you missed it, here's a roundup we did of the early reviews for the film. The Da Vinci Code debuts in theatres today. You can find showtimes for The Da Vinci Code and other films at Amazon, Yahoo, Google and Movies.com. Posted on May 19, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Early Reviews Mixed for Da Vinci Code  Columbia Pictures did not provide advanced screenings
for the Da Vinci Code but some film critics
were lucky enough to watch The Da Vinci Code premiere
at the
Cannes Film Festival. Many of them have already have filed their reviews.
Here is a collection of a few of these early reviews.
The Miami Herald gave it a bad review but the reviewer clearly clearly didn't like the book either: "It's not entirely fair to say that the makers of The Da Vinci Code have completely flubbed this most eagerly awaited of book-to-film adaptations. It is probably more accurate to state that this laborious, talky, fleetingly engaging, ultimately silly picture is about as good a movie as anyone was ever going to wring from Dan Brown's inescapable bestseller." Of course, no negative reviews -- or warnings from Vatican officials -- should stop you from seeing the film for yourself and coming up with your own opinion, if you're so inclined. Director Ron Howard said that the film is meant to be "entertainment, not a documentary" and that people who might be offended by the film shouldn't go see it. Ah, Ron, using a bit of the old negative sell, eh? More information about the film can be found at IMDB.com, Rotten Tomatoes and on the official website. Posted on May 18, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Tom Hanks Defends The Da Vinci Code  The Catholic Church has told its members not to see it. A Catholic Bishop wants to sue over the film. Opus Dei, the secretive Catholic society that is a prime villain in the film demanded that Ron Howard change the script to portray them more favorably (he refused). Now, Tom Hanks is speaking out in defense of the film.
Da Vinci Code star Tom Hanks has said the film of Dan Brown's controversial best-seller is just "a good story" that should not be taken too seriously.... "If you are going to take any sort of movie at face value, particularly a huge-budget motion picture like this, you'd be making a very big mistake."The film opens nationwide on Friday, May 19, 2006. We can't wait! Posted on May 15, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) J.J. Abrams Completes His Mission  Mission Impossible III opened this past weekend with a U.S. take of $48.025 million and a European take of over $70 million, which is a great deal of money. But all the headlines are blaring about what a "disappointment" the box office take was, because it opened in the U.S. about $10 million less than MI:2 did. The New York Times weighs in:
Paramount Pictures and its leading star, Tom Cruise, failed to live up to expectations this weekend when "Mission: Impossible III" opened to weak numbers at the domestic box office despite a barrage of public appearances by Mr. Cruise to promote the film.Of course, what's missing in all these self-absorbed, gleefully vitriolic analyses is the most important point of all: so, how was the movie, anyway? Well, it was great. J.J. Abrams did a fantastic job with the film. He took this mysterious guy, Ethan Hunt, and made him human. He gave him a fiance, a cover job studying traffic patterns at the Department of Transportation, and IMF offices that look a lot like the offices of SD-6 on Alias. And that's not the only Alias infusion: the comraderie between the agents, the conflict between the personal and professional lives of the agents and the marvelous villain portrayed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. These elements jumpstarted this franchise. The action never let up, but this time we cared about the characters. When we heard that Felicity herself, Keri Russell, was slated for a role we were less than enthusiastic. But we have to admit, she did a great job with the role. J.J. Abrams accomplished his mission: this was the best Mission: Impossible ever. Now, if we could just get Tom Cruise to take a vow of silence when he's not actually making a film..... Posted on May 9, 2006 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) |
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