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New York's Hottest Club

This past weekend was Saturday Night Live regular Bill Hader's final appearance on the show. I'm really sorry to see him go because he was always one of the funniest cast members each week.

Thankfully, they decided to do one last Stefon sketch which, as always, was hilarious and the perfect way to wrap up his character's obsession with Seth Myers.



I loved that character and watching Bill try not to laugh while he described the various unusual events going on around the city was always a riot.

I hope that he and Seth will be very happy together.

Things that make you go...

Spock's expression kind of sums up how I felt after I got done watching Star Trek Into Darkness last night.

Perplexed. Conflicted. Excited. Disappointed. Bueller.

As most of you know, I loved the 2009 movie.

LOVED it!

So, I think I went into this one with my expectations a bit too high for the sequel to realistically satisfy, no matter how hard it tried.

That being said, I don't want to spoil anything (since most people will start seeing it this weekend). So, I'll keep this short...

I feel like the 2009 movie was great and "Into Darkness" is...good. It's like how I felt after seeing "Search for Spock" after the previous awesomeness that was "Wrath of Kahn".

Into Darkness has great action, visuals, and the characters are still developing nicely into real emotional people you can relate to, which is nice.

However, this film doesn't "grab you" like the previous one and, because of some of the questionable story choices, you just aren't as engrossed or surprised by what happens as the film wraps up.



So...if you loved or even liked the 2009 movie, you will likely enjoy this one too.

If you're a die-hard Star Trek fan with mixed feelings about the 2009 movie, you'll likely not be satisfied with this one.

If you hated the 2009 movie, you will likely hate this one too.

Honestly, I think that the people who will enjoy it the most are the people who really never watched or cared about Star Trek at all. They have no preconceived notions or expectations.

That being said, other than my feeling that they tried too hard to integrate familiar Star Trek references/storylines into this movie, it is still a really fun action movie with some great performances and "she can't take much more, Captain!" fun.

So...if you're going to go see it (and I recommend that you do), keep your expectations in check, get some popcorn, a giant beverage, and just relax and have a good time.

Speaking of a good time, watch this Honest Trailer for Star Trek 2009. It's very entertaining...



As is THIS funny Everything Wrong with Star Trek 2009 in Five Minutes...



I love that movie, but both of those videos made me laugh a lot.

Enjoy!

Shall we begin?

Star Trek Into Darkness finally opens today!

This is how I feel about it...











I am seeing it tonight, so I'll try to post my review tomorrow.

Until then...

January Jonesing

The new season of Downton Abbey will premiere here in the U.S. on Sunday January 5th.

The upcoming season will see the return of series regulars Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle and more. They will be joined by guest stars Shirley MacLaine, Tom Cullen, Nigel Harman, Dame Harriet Walter, Joanna David, Julian Ovenden, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Gary Carr.

I hate that we can't watch it until after it airs in the U.K first (they get to see it in the fall), but I'll wait.

Not patiently....but I'll wait.

Also, there was a brief public panic when it was announced that Sean "Diddy" Combs was joining the cast of the new season of Downton Abbey. Thankfully, it just turned out to be an entertaining FunnyOrDie video.



Here is what Lady Violet thinks about him possibly joining the cast...

Time after time

There were a couple of interesting new trailers posted today that involve time (past/present/future) that I thought were worth featuring.

The first is About Time, from the director of Love, Actually (one of my favorite movies).



Looks like it could be a fun romantic comedy. something that Rachel McAdams seems to have specialized in over the past few years.



Then, there is a live-action/animated movie called The Congress where Robin Wright plays an actress named, ironically, Robin Wright who gives up her virtual identity...forever.



It looks interesting and I usually enjoy Robin Wright in just about anything. Plus, this movie looks like it...well, uh...



I don't really have any idea what this movie is about...even after watching the trailer.

So, there.

Might have to add it to the ever-growing OnDemand queue that is my life.

Location, location, location

Peter Jackson released a new behind-the-scenes video this week that is focused on some of the locations they used during the filming of the Hobbit movies (to go along with the recent Part 1 DVD release).



They went to some amazing places...





New Zealand really is that beautiful...I highly recommend that you visit if you ever get the opportunity.

You won't be disappointed.

Floaters

The first trailer for Gravity, starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock (two of my favorites), was just released and it looks like it's gonna be a little intense....



My spacesuit would have to be made out of Depends, cause if that happened to me...

Well, let's just say there'd be no "dry" in my dock.

The movie opens on October 18th.



Speaking of George Clooney, he produced this star-studded movie (based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play) and it looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun.



Was that Meryl and Julia throwin' down there towards the end of the trailer?!

Get ready to RUMBLE on November 8th!

Stand by your man

Here's a European Guinness beer commercial from 1995 that, at the time, was deemed too controversial to air (but was uploaded to YouTube anyway).



Other than the outdated VHS tapes featured, this commercial could probably air now and be fine.

Except here in the United States, because it depicts a man...driving on the wrong side of the road.

That's just illegal.

The Butler

Oprah's first movie since 1998's Beloved, released it's first trailer...

The movie's story is inspired by Wil Haygood’s Washington Post article about a black man who served as White House butler to eight presidents over three decades. Winfrey plays the wife of Whitaker's character, the title role of butler Cecil Gaines. 



The all-star cast also includes Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan, Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, John Cusack as Richard Nixon, James Marsden as John F. Kennedy, Minka Kelly as Jackie Kennedy, Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson, Robin Williams as Dwight Eisenhower, Melissa Leo as Mamie Eisenhower, Orlando Eric Street as Barack Obama and Nelsan Ellis as Martin Luther King Jr. Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz, David Oyelowo, Vanessa Redgrave and Alex Pettyfer also are among the ensemble.

It's got a pretty amazing cast and the director of Precious, so odds are there will be a lot of Oscar buzz about this way before it actually comes out on October 18th.

If Oprah gets nominated, will she have to interview herself during her annual Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special?

If anyone knows how to interview Oprah...it's Oprah.

Ray Harryhausen

Very sad news today...

Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion animation legend whose work on "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," "Jason and the Argonauts" and other science fiction and fantasy film classics made him a cult figure who inspired later generations of filmmakers and special-effects artists, has died. He was 92.

In the pre-computer-generated-imagery era in which he worked, Harryhausen used the painstaking process of making slight adjustments to the position of his three-dimensional, ball-and-socket-jointed scale models and then shooting them frame-by-frame to create the illusion of movement. Footage of his exotic beasts and creatures was later often combined with live action.



The fantasy world of Ray Harryhausen inspired Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron and many other filmmakers, some of whom have paid cinematic homage to the special-effects maestro.

As a kid, I always loved his movies and never missed a new one when they came out in the small theater near my town. He definitely transformed the way special effects were developed over many decades.



His creatures, at the time, definitely were memorable...especially this one from the original Clash of the Titans (with a very young Harry Hamlin).



She definitely needs something for that dry fly-away hair.

He will be missed, but not forgotten.

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