A&E's truly strange drama/mystery/thriller/horror series Bates Motel finished its first season last night, in typically bizarre and gruesome fashion. With the doldrums of summer television almost upon us, why not spend a couple weeks catching up with this masterfully wacky show?
With filming scheduled to begin later this summer, casting rumors about the next Hunger Games film, Catching Fire, have reached fever pitch levels. Meaning, there a couple of random whispers about casting that we'd like to discuss with you today.
Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, we are officially in summer, movie-wise at least. We've already had some big rumblers like The Avengers and Battleship, but really the season is just getting started. Richard Lawson takes a look at what's to come.
It's just really hard to buy Anne Hathaway as a dying 19th century French prostitute.
Zac Efron and Goldie Hawn finally team up, and NBC has yet another singing show.
Because of some trick of fate or due simply to poor timing, both HBO's Game of Thrones and AMC's Mad Men aired big, game-changing episodes right smack dab in the middle of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Awfully sneaky, guys!
Today: CBS has a turkey on its hands, Jon Favreau acts again, and ABC, well, has a turkey on its hands.
Moonrise Kingdom isn't the only blue rumination on age and time opening in theaters this weekend. No, there's also Men in Black III, an ostensible sci-fi comedy caper that is actually a sighing contemplation of regret and the random bits of chance that shape our lives. Honestly!
Last night ABC debuted its new summertime easy-tainment show Duets, which, alas, is not a series adaptation of that curious Gwyneth Paltrow/Paul Giamatti/Huey Lewis karaoke movie.
Today: America's favorite singing competition isn't its favorite anymore, a comedy actor gets serious, and Bradley Cooper joins the SEALs.
What's your favorite Wes Anderson film? You would be amazed at what your preferences say about who you are, at least according to this entirely unscientific but completely authoritative exploration.
While we all sit here at our desks doing TPS reports (or making jokes about doing TPS reports), all the most fabulous of the fabulous film people are in the south of France, seeing movies at the Cannes Film Festival.
Well, dear friends, we have finally reached the end. Another season of hoax game show American Idol has reached its confetti conclusion and we are all the richer for it. Or we are at least not poorer. We are hopefully financially the same.
Today: Paramount pushes a big flick back nine months, no one watches Idol anymore, but everyone loves Adam Lambert.
After five long years since Wes Anderson gifted a live-action film unto the world, Moonrise Kingdom (opening in New York and Los Angeles this Friday), is such a welcome relief.
'Tis the season of the showrunner shakeup. NBC's Community and Smash are both getting new showrunners to address their various problems (non-stellar ratings, mainly) while the creator of HBO's spooky sexpot saga True Blood is handing off the reins to another writer.
The first trailer for director Baz Luhrmann's much-feared adaptation of The Great Gatsby has been released and, yikes, it appears we were right to worry.
Last night was American Idol's sneak attack Tuesday night Finale Part One, a brisk and efficient hour that wasted very little time.
Today: Natalie Portman heads west, Bobby Cannavale does too, and one of the X-Men is gay.
Mysterious Hollywood genius Charlie Kaufman has announced his next project, and it is exciting! Deadline reports today that Kaufman is teaming up with his frequent collaborator Catherine Keener, another mysterious Hollywood genius, to make a show for HBO.
Today: Disney has made a lot but not *that* much, Justin Timberlake scores a film, and so does Rupert Everett.
Movie trailer day continues with a curious first glimpse at Paul Thomas Anderson's long-in-the-works The Master, a film about an American religion/cult founded in the confusing aftermath of World War II that has long been referred to as Anderson's "Scientology movie."
Sony has released the first official teaser trailer for Sam Mendes' Skyfall, the third James bond film with Daniel Craig in the lead, which is due out in November. It looks serious!
HBO's Girls is not exactly the show we thought it was a month ago. It's still about a general narcissistic, mostly clueless, selfish ambition that many young people possess but are too lazy to realize, but it's also just, I dunno, about a few characters in a nice, quiet, mostly humane way.
Today: A new Bill Murray might be awards bait, MTV cancels a polarizing show, and Marvel is making so much money.
Sacha Baron Cohen has been banned in another Central Asian country. According to The Guardian, Tajikistan has banned Baron Cohen's latest film The Dictator, about the corrupt and murderous leader of a fictional nation. Their official reason is a little confusing.
Today we review two contenders for our Most Cynical Movies Ever Made list. One's big, giddy fun, one's a tedious endurance contest. It's not what you're expecting.
Fitting of the Top Three elimination night, exactly three things happened on American Idol last night. Let's discuss them and then go about the rest of our days, content in the knowledge that we have almost made it to the end of this life-changing journey.
Today: Rufus Wainwright has a few Catholics angry, Al Gore is steppin' out, and Elin Nordegren is looking for love.
Today: Liam Neeson is going to kick butt again, Gwyneth Paltrow is going to speak Spanish, and an old friend gets a good job.
Tomorrow marks the debut of Battleship, a new robot alien action picture that, like Transformers before it, is based on a toy. It's a pretty cynical movie endeavor, but sadly it's nowhere near the first of its kind. Cinema history is positively littered with cheap tie-in movies that were made solely as especially greedy corporate cash-grabs. Here are the most shameless.
Hugely successful recording artist Donna Summer, who died today at age 63, is often referred to as "the Queen of Disco." But the moniker, despite its high title, is perhaps too limited. She really was a genre unto herself.
Top 3! Home visits! Judges' Choice! Boy, we have almost reached the rickety end of this thing, haven't we? But we're not there yet. We're close, but we've no cigars. While we wait for the glorious, glitter-stained end, let's talk a little about what happened last night.
Today: Prince William doesn't have to figure his life out just yet, Barack and Michelle apparently had a rocky patch, and Noah Wyle heads to court
Today: J.Lo might be voting herself off the show, Morgan Freeman heads to Vegas to get drunk, and the sad tale of Johnny Bananas.
This year's Cannes Film Festival has officially begun, with all of filmdom's glittery best descending on the south of France to smoke cigarettes, talk about George Clooney, and ogle or be ogled. But what about the actual movies? Let's take a look at seven films that sound the most interesting.
British provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen has been so committed to his various characters — Ali G, Borat, Bruno — that he's done almost all of his press interviews in character. But after just his third interview as himself, it turns out that his real self is a normal, smart, English guy.
Today is CBS's turn to present its new schedule to New York advertisers, and, well, they haven't got much to talk about. Super dominant ratings behemoth as the network is, not much will change from this season to next.
Last night was Glee at its Glee-est, a two-hour orgiastic explosion of feelings and plotlines and songs and guest stars and more feelings.
Today: Get ready to see all your old favorites hoofing it once more, Alexander Payne plots his next move, and we find the catchphrase of the summer.
Sacre blech! Reformed celebrity shamer Perez Hilton has tracked down some really grainy footage — someone filmed something off of a computer — that appears to be an early trailer for the Hugh Jackman/Russell Crowe/Anne Hathaway movie version of the big, bombastic musical Les Misérables.
Network upfront presentations (in which the new slate of programming is bragged about to advertisers) continue today, with ABC unveiling their Fall 2012 lineup.
Last night was the big season finale of Smash, wherein America found out, finally, who was going to play Marilyn in the big Marilyn Musical and probably other things happened like intrigue and romance and, who knows, maybe Debra Messing took her shirt off again. The point is: We didn't watch. Why? Because we were watching the motherfreakin' Bachelorette instead. Yes, it's back.
Today: The Downtown diva heads to the stage, so does a swoon-worthy Englishman, and Taylor Lautner learns Parkour.
The Social Security Administration has released data on last year's most popular baby names, and, as Entertainment Weekly points out, many of the names are tied to popular movies and TV characters and celebrities.
This is arguably the biggest week of the network TV year, as the big five hold upfront presentations in New York, showing off their new schedules and series for advertisers. What's in, what's out, and what looks good? Let's take a look! First up are NBC and Fox.
Last night two veteran series reached their ends, one for just the season, the other forever.
The Call Sheet sifts through the day's glut of Hollywood news to find the stories even non-industry types care about. Today: ABC has an international hit in a Pan Am, The CW officially invites Carrie Bradshaw to the party, and Alec Baldwin is a busy man.
Let's get to the most important news first: NBC has renewed Parks & Recreation for a full season, not the truncated half-season it was recently rumored to be destined for. So phew. Well done, NBC. Now, moving on to everything else: NBC has lots of comedy shows all of a sudden!
It has come to our attention that some people are getting bored with this season's Mad Men. Everyone's a critic, right? But it's in our power to make television whatever we want it to be. Here's our bids for some new directions.
Today we review the new supernatural comedy Dark Shadows.
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