ALBUM REVIEW: Whitney Houston's "I Look to You"

Whitney Houston's sixth album I Look to You hits iTunes today! I was genuinely interested in seeing if "she's still got it." But even with songs written by Alicia Keys ("Million Dollar Bill") and R. Kelly ("I Look to You" and "Salute"), and produced by Akon ("Like I Never Left" and "I Got You"), Whitney still hasn't found the right agenda and sound for her comeback. However, I give her credit for alluding to her tumultuous past on some tracks and for still being able to carry a tune.

If you feel compelled to support the former unstoppable diva, I'd suggest downloading "A Song for You." It's upbeat and uplifting:

Film Actors Starring in TV Shows

Movie stars have been migrating to the small screen and signing up for a series slash steady job for a while now. America Ferrara famously transitioned in 2006 when she signed up for her very own series "Ugly Betty." Recently HBO snagged Oscar-nominated Toni Collette for "United States of Tara," action star Thomas Jane (The Punisher) for "Hung," and up-and-coming comedian Danny McBride for "Eastbound and Down." Meanwhile, TNT reeled in Jada Pinkett Smith for the medical series "HawthoRNe." Some actors are actually former TV stars, who couldn't quite launch their film career during a time when producers are searching for sure-things. Here's a list of actors who are attempting a career-revamp:

CBS
Jon Foster in "Accidentally on Purpose"
The indie actor started out in films like Life as a House and The Door in the Floor before attempting commercial stardom in 2004's teen-centric series "Life as We Know It" and 2006's very short-lived lottery series "Windfall." After a few more under-the-radar indies, including the Sienna Miller-Peter Sarsgaard helmed adaptation of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, he signed on for a lead male role opposite Jenna Elfman. He'll play your average guy in his 20s, devoid of responsibilities and obsessed with video games, until he's forced to alter his life after a one-night stand with a woman in her 30s makes him an instant dad.
Back-Up Plan: He has an untitled dramatic indie with Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker) in the works.


NBC
Chevy Chase in "Community"
The 65-year-old seasoned comedian has been in this business for more than 40 years. But like many elders of our community, he must be trying to figure out how to survive as the cost of living increases, because holding out for major roles is no longer an option. Chase is one of the legendary alums of "SNL" who went on to immortalize countless characters from Fletch to the dad in National Lampoon and even the Invisible Man. In 2007, he began his slow migration to a steady recurring role on TV. First, he had a brief stint on "Brothers & Sisters" as Nora's love interest, then he had an evil arc as the nefarious Roark on "Chuck." Now, you'll be able to see him every week on Joel McHale's comedy series "Community," where he'll represent the over-the-hill students that frequent community colleges to re-sharpen their minds.
Back-Up Plan: He has roles in the live-action family comedy Jack and the Beanstalk, the adult comedy Not Another Not Another Teen Movie, and the star-studded comedy Hot Tub Time Machine.

Erika Christensen in "Parenthood"
You may have first seen this young starlet in 2000's Oscar-winning crime drama Traffic, but she actually started her career making the rounds on the small screen, guest-starring on shows like "The Practice" and "Frasier." After a few lead roles in films like Swimfan and The Perfect Score, she gave up the audition-grind for a mysterious role in the ABC drama "Six Degrees." Unfortunately, it failed to garner enough viewers and was eventually canceled. Now she's signed on for NBC's "Parenthood," playing a talented lawyer and wife of a stay-at-home dad (Sam Jaeger from "Eli Stone"), who feels like she's missing out on her daughter's childhood.
Back-Up Plan: She has roles in the adaptation of Veronika Decides to Die alongside former TV star Sarah Michelle Gellar, and the horror thriller The Tortured opposite Jesse Metcalfe ("Desperate Housewives").

Monica Potter in "Parenthood"
The 38-year-old mother of three first lit up the big screen in 1997's Con Air before starring in Robin Williams' Patch Adams, the rom-com Head Over Heels, and Morgan Freeman's Along Came a Spider. It wasn't until 2004 that she graced the small screen for a season of "Boston Legal." This year, she starred in the horror film The Last House on the Left and co-starred in TNT's attempt at a contemporary ad-men dramedy "Trust Me" until it was canceled. Now she's signed on for NBC's "Parenthood," playing a supportive wife who takes a break from her career to be the mother of a straight-A teen and a young boy with Aspergers.

Dax Shepard in "Parenthood"
This comedian got his start as Ashton Kutcher's tool of trickery on MTV's "Punk'd" before parlaying that opportunity into a film career with roles in comedies like Without a Paddle and Employee of the Month. In his return to television, he'll play an ambitionless slacker who is trying to avoid starting a family with his longtime girlfriend, Katie (Marguerite Moreau from Queen of the Damned).
Back-Up Plan: He's slated for roles in Robin Williams and John Travolta's comedy Old Dogs, and Kristen Bell's rom-com When in Rome. But he'll also star in his first writing credit Get 'Em Wet with Will Arnett.

Derek Luke in "Trauma"
He had his official debut in 2002's Antwone Fisher, then continued with the sports films Friday Night Lights and Glory Road before starring in dramatic films like Catch a Fire and Miracle at St. Anna. He's had a pretty respectable film career, but not a very long resume. In his first recurring role on TV, he'll play a paramedic whose faith is tested after the loss of two good friends.

Cliff Curtis in "Trauma"
You may have noticed the 41-year-old New Zealander in Three Kings, Training Day, Live Free or Die Hard and Push. But now you'll get to see him in this action drama, where he'll play the charming, adrenaline-fueled, risk-taking flight medic who's suffering from survivor's guilt after the worst rescue disaster in San Francisco history.
Back-Up Plan: You can catch him in Eddie Murphy's dramedy A Thousand Words and M. Night Shyamalan's highly anticipated adventure fantasy The Last Airbender as Firelord Ozai.

FOX
Jane Lynch in "Glee"
Much like Ken Jeong from The Hangover, she's had a good year. After 20 years in the business, she's finally got some traction. She's had plenty of guest spots on TV over the years, from "Cybill" to "Arrested Development," but in 2005 she caught everyone's attention as a pervy co-worker in 40 Year Old Virgin. From then on she had no problem scoring increasingly larger roles in Talladega Nights, Walk Hard, The Rocker, Role Models, and Julie & Julia. She even managed to secure two recurring roles in "Two and a Half Men" and "The L Word," while consistently attempting to secure a series of her own. Her most recent attempt was Starz's work place comedy "Party Down," but she ditched that for FOX's instant hit "Glee," where she plays a cheerleading coach with a grudge against the glee club teacher.
Back-Up Plan: She'll voice a character in the animated film Paul with comedians Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Simon Pegg, and Bill Hader.


Freddie Prinze Jr. in "24"
The former teen heart-throb first entered our hearts in 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer, then stole it completely in the classic teen rom-com She's All That. After several low grade films like Summer Catch and Down to You, he finally made it back on our radar in the kiddie movie Scooby-Doo. Taking advantage of the moment, he created his own series on ABC titled "Freddie." Unfortunately, he couldn't recreate the magic that his fellow Latino George Lopez did. After a few animated and indie gigs, he was supposed to have joined the NBC superhero comedy "No Heroics," but it wasn't picked up because it was too expensive. Luckily, he'll join the cast of "24" for the entire season, playing a marine who heads the new CTU's Field Operations, and thinks he's as good as Jack.

ABC
John Cho in "FlashForward"
The 35-year-old Korean actor is no stranger to TV. After getting his start in the American Pie films, he managed to score himself a role in The WB guy comedy "Off Centre." Even though the series was short-lived, he starred in what would soon be a pop culture favorite, the pot comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. But while that comedy may have put him on the map, his FOX chef series "Kitchen Confidential" failed to take off, so he kept his face on the screen with guest spots on "Grey's Anatomy" and "Ugly Betty," and his friends' shows "Til Death," "House," and "How I Met Your Mother." And even though he kicked ass as Sulu in the Star Trek reboot, he still signed on for the sci-fi drama "FlashForward," where he'll play an impatient FBI agent who's engaged to a woman (Gabrielle Union) he's keeping a secret from.
Back-Up Plan: He has plenty of Star Trek films to look forward to, considering how much the film grossed. Plus, he'll round out the pot trilogy with A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas.

Gabrielle Union in "Flash Forward"
She had her start on several TV shows, from "Moesha" to "7th Heaven." She perfected the bitch persona in She's All That and 10 Things I Hate About You, then turned it around in Bring It On. Even though people took notice when she had a lead role in Bad Boys II, her career didn't exactly take off. After her first shot at a steady gig in the sci-fi drama "Night Stalker" failed, she tried again with a guest spot on "Ugly Betty" and a mid-season casting on the criminally canceled cop series "Life." Hedging her bets, she signed on for the D.C. series "Body Politic," which was canned before it even aired, and "FlashForward." On the dramatic sci-fi series, she'll play John Cho's lawyer fiancee.


David Koechner in "Hank"
The often ignored comedian has been performing awkward comedy for about 14 years now, getting his start with random characters on "SNL." But he really caught our eye in 2004's Anchorman, then proceeded to weird us out in Waiting..., The Dukes of Hazzard, Talladega Nights, and Get Smart. However, instead of latching on to one of his buddy Will Ferrell's TV ventures, he joined Kelsey Grammer's new series "Hank," as his annoying brother-in-law.
Back-Up Plan: This year he tried to make you laugh in The Goods: Live Hard Sell Hard, and he'll try again in Jason Bateman's Extract, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, and the animated film Paul.

Joseph Fiennes in "FlashForward"
The dramatic actor impressed critics in the Oscar-winning films Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love. 1998 was definitely his year. Unfortunately, it didn't last him for long, but hopefully, he can resurrect his career with his new role as a recovering alcoholic FBI agent with a wife and daughter, who is heading the investigation for how and why everyone in the world got a glimpse into the future.
Back-Up Plan: He'll star in the musical biopic of Vivaldi, and the drama Mrs. Darwin.

Matt Long in "The Deep End"
He first flashed those deep dimples on the WB's short-lived "Jack & Bobby" back in 2004. It's been five years and he's only managed to appear in the intro of Ghost Rider, star in the poorly-produced Sydney White, and play backseat to two starlets in the even more poorly-written Homecoming. Luckily, he's resorted to returning to the small screen in ABC's latest law series "The Deep End," where he'll play a blue collar kid who's eager to make his way amongst cutthroat lawyers.
Back-Up Plan: He'll play the supportive best friend of a terminally ill guy in the moving indie drama Riding the Pine.

Kristen Johnston in "Ugly Betty"
She made her unbelivably dorky debut in "3rd Rock from the Sun" as a male alien inhabiting a hot female earthling's body. But ever since the series ended in 2001, she hasn't really transitioned well into film features. After a brief stint on "ER," and playing the best friend in Music and Lyrics and the bitchy maid-of-honor in Bride Wars, she guest-starred on "New Adventures of Old Christine." And, perhaps, after she guest stars on "Ugly Betty" as a new office temp, she can book a few more spots, especially since the British import of the buddy comedy "AbFab" she was supposed to star in didn't get picked up by FOX.

THE CW
Mischa Barton in "The Beautiful Life"
Where to begin? Some would say she was the core of FOX's hit teen dramedy "The O.C.," especially since it bombed once she demanded to be let out of her contract, but she's yet to prove that she has any profitable talent without the series. If her goal was to star in indies no one ever watches, like The Oh in Ohio and Virgin Territory, then mission accomplished. It's obvious over the last few months that her failure is starting to get to her, but Ashton Kutcher, the producer of her next series, hasn't given up on her. After rumors that she'd been replaced due to hospitalization, Kutcher reassured the press (and probably his Twitter followers) that they were only introducing a character that looks and behaves very similar to her to lighten her load until she was ready to shoot. So tune in this season to watch Barton return to the catty, vapid, and soulless world of the rich and famous, as she plays a hasbeen model who has to reclaw her way back up to the top after a mysterious absence from the fashion world. Hmm, life imitating art?
Back-Up Plan: She just wrapped up the promising ensemble Indian drama Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain with Kal Penn, and will soon shoot the teen comedy The Science of Cool and the drama Upstate with Chace Crawford.

Corbin Bleu in "The Beautiful Life"
You might remember him as Troy's bff in High School Musical, but I first saw him as a young bank robber in Catch that Kid alongside the then relatively unknown Kristen Stewart. Like most HSM alums, he's been trying to crawl from under the Disney empire (and from behind Zac Efron) with small steps. First he starred in the made-for-tv jump-rope film Jump In! and later this year his motorcross indie will hit theaters. But if it doesn't wow critics, maybe his transition back into TV as an up-and-coming male model in "Beautiful Life," will finally inform everyone of how grown up the 20-year-old really is.


Sara Paxton in "The Beautiful Life" Her career got some traction in 2004 when she co-starred in the girly teen rom-com Sleepover, guest-starred on the family drama "Summerland," and got her own Saturday morning series "Darcy's Wild Life." I was almost sure she was on her way when she she got another starring role in the teen fantasy film Aquamarine, but then she went the bitch-route in Sydney White and had the poor sense to appear in the spoof film Superhero Movie. This year everything has changed. She starred in the horror revenge thriller The Last House on the Left and she's starring as the fish-out-of-water, potential It-girl in the model series "The Beautiful Life." Her character will have to learn when to draw the line between doing what it takes to score the big jobs and remembering who she was before she hit the runway.

HBO
Kate Winslet on "Mildred Pierce"
The Oscar-winner doesn't really need to transition to TV, but word is she might star in this 5-hour mini-series, playing a single mom who's struggling for independence during the Great Depression. She doesn't actually have anything else on the horizon, but after an Oscar year of The Reader and Revolutionary Road, she deserves a break.

Diane Keaton on HBO series
Come on? The Godfather. Annie Hall. Manhattan. Something's Gotta Give. She never fails to amaze me. However, after a few terrible film choices, like Smother and Mad Money, she's finally decided to ditch the crappy roles being sent to her and opt for what could be a much more respectable fit. In the HBO half-hour comedy, she'll play a "feminist icon who attempts to reignite the movement by starting a sexually explicit magazine for women." It may not sound feasible, but at one point neither did "Hung."
Back-Up Plan: She has plans to do a dramedy with Steve Martin called From Zero to Sixty, and with Harrison Ford called Morning Glory. Things are looking up.

Sarah Michelle Gellar in "The Wonderful Maladys"
She may have been our original Queen B for 6 years, but even during her stint as the unstoppable Buffy Summers, she managed to squeeze in a few film credits, most notably Cruel Intentions. When she ventured off to jumpstart a vampire-less film career, I thought her future roles would resemble something close to the bold and unpredictable bitch that she portrayed in that film. Unfortunately, she opted for vulnerable victim-types in countless horror films from The Grudge to Possession. She even tried edgy indies like Southland Tales, but failed to impress. Now she'll make her return to TV as an immature and overzealous sister who, along with her two siblings, had to raise herself after her parents died.
Back-Up Plan: She'll star in the existential drama Veronika Decides to Die.

Jason Schwartzman in "Bored to Death"
He played a neurotic know-it-all in the 1998 indie classic Rushmore, and the rest was history. You could argue that he's yet to find his footing in Hollywood ever since, but whenever his name is attached to a film it seems like an added bonus. From I Heart Huckabees to Marie Antoinette to The Darjeeling Limited, he's delivered the awkward humor his fans love him for. In 2004, he tried to transition that humor onto the small screen with FOX's "Cracking Up," but nobody was laughing. He'll try again now that he's garnered a few more fans from his roles in Walk Hard and Funny People. He'll play a novelist who mends his broken heart by acting out his dream to live as a character out of a Raymond Chandler novel, resulting in his newfound profession as an unbelievably unqualified private eye.
Back-Up Plan: He'll be in the action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World with Michael Cera, and the adventure comedy The Adventurer's Handbook with Jonah Hill and Jason Segel.

Evan Rachel Wood in "True Blood"
Something about her has always seemed kind of smug, but critics took notice when she co-starred in the buzzworthy crime drama Thirteen. Ever since, her performances haven't really been noteworthy until last year's award-winning film The Wrestler. There's no telling if she's really making a move towards TV permanently, but she does have an enchanting role in this season of "True Blood" as Queen Sophie-Anne.
Back-Up Plan: She's rumored to be starring in Jodie Foster's drama Flora Plum.



Laura Linney in "The C Word"
You may have first noticed her in the 90s when she starred in Congo, Primal Fear, and The Truman Show. Ever since her hot streak, she's had a spotty record, managing to occasionally score with The House of Mirth, Mystic River, Kinsey, and The Savages. She's never fully shunned television, having guest-starred on "Law & Order" and "Frasier," and starred in the HBO miniseries "John Adams." Now she'll star in her own half-hour comedy series, playing a suburban mother who learns she has cancer and is forced to reevaulate her life.
Back-Up Plan: She'll star in the drama Morning, the Mark Ruffalo-directed dramedy Sympathy for Delicious, and the black comedy The Details.


Comedy Central
Jon Heder in Untitled Will Ferrell Project
Getting immortalized as one character is every professional comedian's worst nightmare. Unfortunately, Heder is experiencing the Groundhog Day of nightmares, replaying the same slightly retarded, bumbling weirdo in every film he stars in, from The Benchwarmers to Blades of Glory. Luckily, he made the smart move of starting his migration to the small screen in 2008 with a guest spot in "My Name is Earl," and a lead role in the web series "Woke Up Dead." Now he'll star in Will Ferrell's Comedy Central series as an unemployed IT specialist who has to move back in with his parents and younger brother.
Back-Up Plan: He'll star in the adaptation of the bizarro sci-fi adventure comedy Alive and Well.

BUZZ: New Matt on "Friday Night Lights," McAvoy's Cancer Comedy, and more

FILM NEWS

• Quentin Tarantino is back on top with his #1 hit Inglorious Bastards, grossing $37 mil over the weekend. However, his buddy Robert Rodriguez's kiddie comedy Shorts debuted at #6 with $6.6 mil. Faring even worse is little Rory Gilmore, aka Alexis Bledel (Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants), who failed to bring in the big bucks yet again with her rom-com Post Grad, opening at #10 with $2.8 mil. And dropping out of the top 10 are Jeremy Piven's The Goods with a meager $11 mil, and the well-reviewed teen flick Bandslam with $4.5 mil.

• I'm kind of bummed Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's Shutter Island was pushed back from October 2nd to February 19th. It just looks so good.

• Wow! You'd think Seth Rogen would avoid the cancer comedies after Funny People was deemed unfunny by the people. But, he's signed up for a supporting role opposite James McAvoy, who will play a 25-year-old who battles cancer for several years in an untitled film. The funniest thing about this film is that it dares not to mention drama as a genre it fits into. I can't imagine it'll all be funny.

• I swear to God if I have to watch another movie where Judy Greer (27 Dresses) has to play backseat to some beautiful starlet I'm going to form a protest. Yet again, the consistently hilarious Greer joins a film as a sidekick. This time she'll be playing a trainee instructor at a pharmaceutical company opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. The film, Love and Other Drugs, is based on James Reidy's novel about a Viagra salesman. It actually sounds funnier than the cancer comedy.

• A Dirty Dancing remake is in the works. Please God don't repeat the words, "Nobody puts baby in the corner."

• The Japanese movie Yomigaeri is being remade and renamed Rainbow Bridge. It's about a town whose dead people start coming back to life and returning to their families—but not as zombies. They've only classified it as a fantasy, but that sounds like a horror movie to me.

TV NEWS

• I am unnaturally excited that Matt Lauria, the adorably Southern, gay assistant on "Lipstick Jungle," is joining "Friday Night Lights" to play for Coach Taylor. Could he be his new Matt, since Zach Gilford will only appear in the first half the season?

• The only reason I'd watch the new "Melrose Place" is for Michael Rady (Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) and Ashlee Simpson, and now I have even more incentive to watch now that Step Up's Jenna Dewan has signed on for a few episodes. But honestly, I still need a little more persuasion.

• Both Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva" and Syfy's "Warehouse 13" have been renewed for a second season. Love "Diva," tolerate "Warehouse."

FILM: Adaptation of F.X. Toole's "Pound for Pound"

Producers are looking to cast a young Latino fighter for a boxing film called Pound for Pound. Billy Bob Thornton will play a retired and widowed boxer grief-stricken by his grandson's death. He starts to train an up-and-coming Latino boxer with a rough background. The story comes from Million Dollar Baby writer F.X. Toole. Since there aren't that many young Latino actors in the business, the first three that come to mine are these:

VICTOR RASUK

(Raising Victor Vargas and Lords of Dogtown),

RICK GONZALEZ
("Reaper")

JAY HERNANDEZ
(Crazy/Beautiful and World Trade Center)

Oh and no, I didn't forget Wilmer Valderrama ("That's 70's Show"). There's no way he could play a thug. I've stretched enough by adding Hernandez to the list. Any other suggestions?

CRUSHWORTHY: Fall in Love with Zooey Deschanel

When did Zooey Deschanel become so desirable? The 29-year-old has been in the business for the last 10 years. Her critical debut was in 2000's Almost Famous. At the beginning of her career, she faltered a bit with the teen movie The New Guy, but restored her street cred with the indie All the Real Girls and the Will Ferrell Christmas classic Elf. Never failing to sign up for oddball projects, like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Syfy's "Tin Man," or stealing the spotlight from the female lead, like in Failure to Launch, she has the habit of popping up in the most unlikeliest of places, from The Bridge to Terabithia to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. And that's where it began: the mass worship of a blue-eyed, pale-faced brunette with a sing-songy voice.

Ever since the debut of her music career, and the mass acceptance of her album She & Him's Volume One, she's been scoring more and more lead roles. While she may have faltered with The Happening, she managed to charm the pants off of Jim Carrey in Yes Man.


In 2008's Gigantic, she played a whimsical girl who invades a mattress salesman's (Paul Dano) life with her unorthodox romantic advances. And in 2009's 500 Days of Summer, she played a hopeless unromantic who refuses to believe in true love but manages to cause a sweet greeting card writer (Joseph Gordon Levitt) to fall so deeply in love with her that he goes through every stage of grief once she breaks his heart. While her next project, 2010's Your Highness, may be a return to supporting character roles alongside Danny McBride, James Franco, and Natalie Portman, she'll surely remind people of her effervescent allure, when her second album, dubbed Volume 2, hits iTunes next year.

BUZZ: District 9 at #1, Downey Jr. as Lestat, and more

• After rave reviews, it's no wonder that District 9 came in at #1 with $37 mil. But, of course, we'll only know of its true success after the second week, once non-critic word gets around. The Time Traveler's Wife managed to debut at #3 with a flimsy $19 mil. It irritated me to no end every time it previewed before a film I went to go see, but I thought girls would lap it up. Unfortunately, not even critics were impressed. Has Rachel McAdams lost her appeal? Regardless, I'm sure after moviegoers see her in Sherlock Holmes, people will remember why they fell in love with her. Speaking of lowered profiles, Jeremy Piven's star is seriously dimming. His comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard died hard with a $5 mil open at #6. Alas, nothing tanked bigger than Vanessa Hudgens' Bandslam, which debuted at #12 with $2 mil, and it wasn't even a limited release. Ouch! Oddly enough, the critics thought the writing was rather refreshing. Nonetheless, that was Hudgens' first forray into non-High School Musical territory. Hopefully, this won't affect the open of her next lead role in the teen fantasy romance Beastly. A real indie, Ashton Kutcher's Spread, opened in less than a hundred theaters (and with much less critic approval), grossing $117,000. Meanwhile, G.I. Joe managed to hang in at #2 with $99 mil, and Julie & Julia slid down to #4 with a decent $43 mil. The horror thriller A Perfect Getaway, however, freefell out of the top 10, retiring with less than $12 mil.

• Apparently, vampires are so hot right now, even Robert Downey Jr. is getting in on the genre. There are rumors floating around that the Anne Rice series is about to get rebooted, and Downey Jr. is in the running for Lestat. If Tom Cruise ever needed a bigger sign that he was becoming increasingly irrelevant, he's about to get one. It's been fifteen years since the first movie in Rice's Vampire Chronicles was made, and seven since Stuart Townsend debuted as Lestat in The Queen of the Damned. There's no word on whether the series will be rebooted completely or if they'll continue the saga with the third book, The Tale of the Body Thief. But if Downey Jr. signs on to restart the franchise, he'll have three iconic characters that he'll be contractually obligated to preform for the next five to ten years: Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes, and Lestat, which leaves no room for indies or dramatic roles that don't involve fantasy. Heck, he won't even have time to just make us laugh like he did in Tropic Thunder, or better yet Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I'm not too keen on that. Two is enough.

• Eric Bana is reportedly uninterested in reprising his role in Star Trek or Hulk, because he's more interested in doing a Mad Max remake. However, I think reusing him as a villain in the Star Trek sequel would be a bad idea. He was good, but having an unknown, mysterious villain is way more enticing than revisiting the same vendetta. Besides, it's not like he's as ominous and intimidating as say....Darth Vader. (I'm kidding. I know that's Star Wars.)

• Uhh, apparently Bradley Cooper isn't the only one benefitting from the super stardom status of The Hangover. Ed Helms was just tapped for a film that sounds awfully similar to NBC's "Chuck." In the action comedy Central Intelligence, an accountant is "thrown into the world of international espionage after reconnecting with an old friend through Facebook." We'll see if he can carry a film on his own or if it'll be a major flop. I think it's too soon for him to go out on his own, but I applaud him for having the balls to.

• USA is greenlighting yet another spy series called "Covert Affairs" that'll star Christopher Gorham ("Ugly Betty") and Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly). It's about a multilingual CIA trainee (Perabo) who joins the agency and is still reeling over a mysterious ex-boyfriend who appears to be of particular interest to her bosses. Gorham will play a blind CIA military agent who'll help her navigate her new job.

• What would you do if you could start over? In Allison Winn Scotch's novel, Time of My Life, a woman is given the opportunity to redo her life. She wakes up seven years in the past without her husband and baby girl. Will she choose to do it all over again or forgo the white-picket-fence future? Hmm, sounds like a job for Reese Witherspoon.

TRAILERS: "New York, I Love You" & "Gentlemen Broncos"

New York, I Love You
Plot: An anthology film joining several love stories set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York. From Tribeca to Central Park to Brooklyn, the story weaves a tale of love as diverse as the very fabric of New York itself.
Pre-View Opinion: In 2006, 22 directors, including the Coen Brothers, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men), and Gus Van Zant (Milk), created romantic shorts for a film that would soon be known as Paris, Je T'Aime. Three years later, 11 directors, including Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), Mira Nair (The Namesake), Natalie Portman, and Brett Ratner (The Family Man), delivered an ode to the big apple. The first film included plenty of famous actors, mainly French ones, and this one boasts a bevy of actors as well: Bradley Cooper, Shia Labeouf, Natalie Portman, Blake Lively, Justin Bartha (Hangover), Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Christina Ricci, Rachel Bilson, Ethan Hawke, Anton Yelchin (Terminator Salvation), Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard), James Caan, Andy Garcia, Olivia Thirlby (The Wackness), Drea de Matteo, and Julie Christie. Needless to say, all of this entices me to watch.
Post-View Opinion: I can't figure out what everyone's plot is about, but I'm still excited to see all these faces.
Release Date: October 16 (limited)


Gentlemen Broncos
Plot: Benjamin (Michael Angarano from Lords of Dogtown), home-schooled by his eccentric mother (Jennifer Coolidge from Legally Blonde), is a loner whose passion for writing leads him on an journey as his story first gets ripped off by the legendary fantasy novelist Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement from "The Flight of the Conchords") and then is adapted into a disastrous movie by the small town's most prolific homespun filmmaker.
Pre-View Opinion: The title sounds intriguing.
Post-View Opinion: Brothers Jared and Jerusha Hess, the geniuses behind Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, have created yet another story about an awkward teen, but my main interest is Clement's further forray into film and the possibility that this will be the film that finally catapults Angarano into stardom. As for the story: sooooo weird. Love! that Sam Rockwell is a transvestite. Love it!
Release Date: October 30

TRAILERS: "Legion" & "Law Abiding Citizen"

Legion
Plot: After a terrifying biblical apocalypse descends upon the world, a group of strangers stranded in a remote truck stop diner in the Southwest unwittingly become humanity's last line of defense when they discover the diner's young waitress (Adrianne Palicki from "Friday Night Lights") is pregnant with the messiah.
Pre-View Opinion: Sounds ominous.
Post-View Opinion: Woa! Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code) as a fallen angel? Sounds awesome! Plus, it stars Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson (Transformers 2), Lucas Black (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), and Willa Holland ("Gossip Girl")—just enough insignificant bystanders to focus on what could be an awesome legend.
Release Date: January 10, 2010


Law Abiding Citizen
Plot: An everyday guy decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets his family's killers free. His target: The district attorney who orchestrated the deal.
Pre-View Opinion: When I first heard that Gerard Butler (300) and Jamie Foxx were doing a movie together, I was baffled as to what the plot would be. Discovering that Foxx would be playing a dirty lawyer who convicts Butler for killing his daughter's murderer, I started to shy away from the idea of Foxx playing the villain.
Post-View Opinion: It seems both Butler and Foxx are playing against type. Butler has his first commercial villainous role and Foxx plays a less flmaboyant and over-the-top character than usual. The trailer suggests that Butler's character isn't exacting his revenge alone, so I'm interested in finding out who is.
Release Date: October 16

TRAILERS: "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant"

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Plot: It tells the story of Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium,' a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr. Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits from 1992's Dracula), in which he won immortality. Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr. Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr. Nick. Valentina (model Lily Cole) is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr. Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr. Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr. Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr. Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all.
Pre-View Opinion: This film has pretty much been branded by Heath Ledger's untimely death during filming. The fact that Terry Gilliam (Twelve Monkeys) is writing and directing, and Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law play the three alternate incarnations of Ledger's chracter is only icing on the cake.
Post-View Opinion: It looks amazingly odd enough to keep you guessing. I dare say the film could compete with Tim Burton's latest creation. Who will watch it, besides Ledger fans and critics, however, is the real question? It doesn't really seem meant for children.
Release Date: October 16 (UK, no US release date yet)


Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Plot: A young boy named Darren Shan (17-year-old newcomer Chris Massoglia) meets a mysterious man at a freak show who turns out to be a Vampire (John C. Reilly). After a series of events Darren must leave his normal life and go on the road with the Cirque Du Freak and become a Vampire.
Pre-View Opinion: With that title and a picture of a bearded Salma Hayek, it certainly peaked my interest.
Post-View Opinion: So according to Wikipedia, Darren's best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson from Journey to the Center of the Earth) wants to become a vampire, but the vamp deems him too evil, so he refuses. When he gets bitten by the circus' spider, Darren forfeits his humanity in order to save him. When Steve learns that Darren gets to be a vampire, he gets jealous and makes a blood oath to get his revenge. Meanwhile, Darren must fake his death and learn the ways of the cirque and of surviving as a vampire, meeting bizarre creatures (played by actors like Almost Famous' Patrick Fugit and Letters from Iwo Jima's Ken Watanabe) along the way. The trailer seemed more light-hearted and fun-filled than Wikipedia would suggest, so I'm sure it'll be a great option for children come Halloween.
Release Date: October 23

TRAILERS: "Lovely Bones" & "The Boys are Back"

The Lovely Bones
Plot: Centers on a young girl (Saoirse Ronan from Atonement) who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
Pre-View Opinion: There's been a lot of talk about this film since sci-fi geek Peter Jackson is directing and the book itself is a bestseller. Not to mention, the odd casting of Mark Wahlberg in the role of grieving father. It seems ever since critics showered him with applause for his loose-tongue role in The Departed, other directors have gone the Scorsese route and taken a chance on a guy who rarely gets any respect for his acting skills. I guess as he's gotten older, he's less prone to signing up for whatever explosion-filled, 20-minute dialogue film they throw at him. So for those points alone, I was interested in seeing the trailer.
Post-View Opinion: Um, I didn't read the book, but my friends did and they see several discrepancies. For one thing, this is a dramatic thriller, and the book is just a sob-fest. It looks like moviegoers are going to get some closure at the end of this film, when Wahblerg hunts down his daughter's killer (Stanley Tucci) through the fields after his living daughter uncovers who murdered her sister. I admit, it makes the plot more interesting and less depressing, but it might piss purists off too much to garner any box office appreciation. Then again, it is Peter Jackson.
Release Date: December 11


The Boys are Back
Plot: A sports writer (Clive Owen) becomes a single parent in tragic circumstances, and has to figure out how to raise his youngest boy and the teenage son he once abandoned.
Pre-View Opinion: I'm accustomed to seeing Owen running from things and shooting at them (Sin City, Inside Man, Children of Men, and Shoot 'Em Up), so when I read he was playing a dad, I didn't really know what to think.
Post-View Opinion: It makes perfect sense that if a dad can't control a situation, he just gives up. But after Owen's character adopts the philosophy to "just say yes," you can't help but start to smile as you see him allow his son to canonball into the bathtub, death-grip the windshield wiper as he speeds down the road, and even drive the car while sitting in his lap. This a coming-of-age tale for three people, not just one. The dad has to learn how to rely on himself, while making amends with his rebellious son and not making the same mistakes with his youngest.
Release Date: September 25 (limited)

TRAILERS: "I Hope They Have Beer in Hell" & Timberlake's "The Open Road"

I Hope They Have Beer in Hell
Plot: Tucker decides to take an impromptu trip to celebrate his friend's bachelor party. He drags his friend into a lie with his fiancée, gets him into trouble and then abandons him in order to pursue a carnal interest. Tucker is disinvited to the wedding, and in order to get back in, Tucker has to find a way to balance his narcissism with the demands of friendship.
Pre-View Opinion: I'm not expecting a lot from a movie with this title, especially since I didn't read the book.
Post-View Opinion: I really had high hopes for Matt Czuchry. He wasn't exactly the ideal romantic lead on "Gilmore Girls," but he definitely had a certain charm. He then became a little less appealing when he tried to steal Lyla away from Riggins on "Friday Night Lights." But now he's portraying a womanizing troublemaker in this adaptation of Tucker Max's scandalous novel. This isn't exactly where I thought his career would end up. The only thing that saves him is the promising law drama he has this fall season on CBS, "The Good Wife," where he plays a competitive up-and-comer. The worst part of this trailer is that he's teamed up with Jesse Bradford, who's been flying under the radar ever since 2002's Swimfan, and Geoff Stults, whose biggest credit to date is ABC's canceled drama "October Road." Of course, we've seen this summer with Hangover that a barely noteworthy cast doesn't automatically tank a film. But while this film has a very similar plot with slightly different characters, and even has the potential of playing to a slightly younger crowd, it doesn't really scream "hilarious moments streamed together." And to be honest, while Bradford is his reliably sour self, Czuchry just doesn't fly as a prick.
Release Date: September 25


The Open Road
Plot: Carlton, the son of the baseball legend Kyle Garrett (Jeff Bridges), goes on a road trip with his female best friend (Kate Mara from We Are Marshalls and Shooter) to bring his estranged father to his mom before she goes into heart surgery.
Pre-View Opinion: Justin Timberlake in yet another movie? Hmm. I think at this point singers have figured out that they can make more money if they transition to film. But Timberlake has shown a certain knack for comedy, and he'll continue to showcase that talent this fall when he makes sporadic guest appearances on "SNL," so this is clearly not just a payday for him. However, despite the fact that he's starred in five films, I've only seen one: Alpha Dog. He wasn't half-bad, but his performance wasn't good enough for me to flock to theaters to see Southland Tales, Black Snake Moan, Shrek the Third, or The Love Guru. (Especially not the Love Guru.) So I reserve the right to not have high hopes for this film.
Post-View Opinion: I dunno. Bridges was on-point as usual, and he had good chemistry with Timberlake, but since I'm accustomed to the musical spoof master who gives you 110%, this mellow and frustrated version that's only giving me 30% of the funny is kind of lackluster. I guess if you really want to watch a father-and-son movie, it'll appeal to you just fine.
Release Date: August 28

TRAILERS: "Astro Boy" & "Fantastic Mr. Fox"

Astro Boy
Plot: Set in futuristic Metro City, a young robot with incredible powers is created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.
Pre-View Opion: When I saw stills and footage of Astro Boy at NYC's Comic Con this Spring, I didn't really get all that amped for the film. I mean, it looked awesome, but I wasn't that invested in the character himself. The director, David Bowers, upgraded from Flushed Away's stop motion to full-on fancy animation. He's had experience developing such films before with Shark Tale, Balto, The Road to El Dorado, and (my childhood favorite) Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but now he's in the big leagues. The graphics look almost as fantastic as WALL-E. The writer, Timothy Harris, hasn't actually written anything since 1996's Space Jam. Now, I can't really describe the effect that that film had on children, but I can tell you that as a babysitter of two hyper children during that year, I will never ever ever watch that movie again. I can still hear the music. Before animation though, Harris wrote some very iconic pop culture classics like Trading Places, Kingerarten Cop, Twins, and My Step Mother is an Alien. Those two guys working together showed promise for a humorous and dramatic tale of bravery.
Post-View Opinion: After seeing the trailer, and spotting a female non-robotic heroine, a band of goofy sidekicks, and enough action to sustain even the most ADD of children, I was pretty much sold.
Release Date: October 23


Fantastic Mr. Fox
Plot: Angry farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with a sly fox, look to get rid of their opponent and his family.
Pre-View Opinion: I'm not really a fan of stop motion animation. The trailer for Wallace & Gromit didn't entice me to sit still for an hour and a half. However, I do admit that since this film is adapted from a novel written by the critically acclaimed Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach), and the film was directed by the similarly respected Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums), it should be no surprise that this animated action comedy won't be your average kiddie flick. Then, of course, there's the fact that Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe (Spiderman), Anjelica Houston, Brian Cox (X-Men), Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, and Wes Anderson himself are voicing the characters.
Post-View Opinion: Filled with kooky hijinks, it reminds me of an even more childish version of Ocean's Eleven—complete with snappy dialogue, a heist orchestrated by a rag-tag team of misfits, and even a smooth sly fox voiced by the ultimate initiator Clooney himself.
Release Date: November 13

FILM NEWS: Worthington vs. Cruise, Heigl & Duhamel, and more

• I read a headline that said Sam Worthington, of Terminator Salvation fame, was replacing Tom Cruise in the thriller remake of The Tourist. But if you think about it, Worthington has been replacing a lot of people. Think of it as...recession casting. Who should we get? The 47-year-old once-leading-man for $20 mil or the 33-year-old Mr. Up-and-Comer for $10 mil (if he's lucky)? Having already been christened by a major franchise and heralded by none other than James Cameron for the lead in Avatar, it's no wonder that he's being tapped to helm his own thriller opposite Cameron Diaz. Lucky Cameron. He'll play "an American tourist manipulated by a female Interpol agent in Europe." McG has also recruited him to play Captain Nemo in his 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea adaptation.

• Children beware. First Alice and Wonderland was turned into a surreal semi-nightmare a la Tim Burton, and now Leonardo DiCaprio's production company is transforming Little Red Riding Hood into a Gothic fairytale. I truly fear what that big bad wolf will look like.

• I never thought I'd say this, but I'm starting to get tired of seeing the same comedians do movies together...especially after seeing Funny People. Alas, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, and Jason Schwartzman are teaming up for the travel comedy The Adventurer's Handbook. "Segel would play a talented musician who never got his act together, becoming a backup piano player and an alcoholic. He joins Jonah Hill who plays an engineer isolated from his family, and Jason Schwartzman as a spoiled and cowardly three-time Grammy winner." It sounds like it'll be funny, but I just wonder if there are any other comedians in Hollywood. Hill is co-writing and Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod) is directing, but relax! Hot Rod didn't suck because of the directing. lol

• Katherine Heigl is about to sink her claws into yet another up-and-coming Hollywood hottie when she co-stars with Josh Duhamel in Life As We Know It. They'll play "two unattached adults whose worlds are turned upside down when their mutual best friends die in an accident and name them as caregivers of their orphaned daughter." Beautiful people acting sad...hmm.

FILM REVIEW: 500 Days of Summer

This romantic indie is about a guy (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who falls in love with a wide-eyed brunette beauty (Zooey Deschanel)—a guy with a reputation for falling hard a lot. So much so, that his teenage sister becomes the go-to for picking up his pathetic pieces, because when he falls hard, he inevitably shatters. He's a hopeless romantic, and in this film lies the theory—a valid one—that there do exist females on this planet who do not possess such a love philosophy.

Am I one? I'd say I'm on the fence. I wouldn't disregard the possibility that true love exists, but I've never seen it. Then again, plenty of people worship a God they've never seen. I think your enjoyment of this film isn't based on whether or not you believe in true love, but in whether you can pity someone who does. If you can, then you'll totally connect with Tom. You'll get why he has no problem risking his sanity to woo a girl who prefaced their relationship with a stern declaration that she has no intentions of falling in love and no interest in having a boyfriend, let alone a husband. You'll get why he puts up with her oddball methods of entertaining herself, like screaming "penis" loudly around children in a public park. You'll get why every moment of every day is filled with memories of Summer.

BUT, if you can't pity him, if you just think he's a fool, then you might actually find fault with the film. You might be one of the many skeptics who find his comical agony to be quite unbearable. You might find his obsession with Summer to be pathetic and unwarranted. You might even start to hate her and pray to the heavens for him to let. it. go.



Since I'm on the fence, I experienced both emotions: pity and frustration. I never really do enjoy films where boys obsess over a certain girl who 1) they don't even know 2) they have only judged based on her looks and 3) doesn't even deserve it. (This was my main gripe for the progressing nuisance that was Rory Gilmore and Jess Mariano's relationship on "Gilmore Girls.") I feel your pain. Even though we didn't experience all 500 days he was in love with Summer, it sure as hell felt almost as excruciating as if we did. This was a story about what "true" love really feels like. It's confusing, inexplicable, random, unpredictable, intense, mellow, and fully capable of disappearing just as quickly as it manifested...at least for one person in the couple. It was also about deciphering what constitutes real love. Tom represented every wandering searcher of romance, capable of opening their heart but incapable of discerning who they should open it to. Meanwhile, Summer represented the multitude of people who swear off such nonsense, unaware that it could happen to them even if they don't believe.

A lot of people who've seen the film say that it was depressing and not the happy-ending rom-com they signed up for. I disagree. It was funny. It was really funny. At one point, Summer pretends she didn't overhear Tom's embarrassing conversation with his best friend about stalking her, so when she's ready to go eat lunch, she playfully says, "I'm stalking...I mean, I'm starving." Earlier in that scene, his pervy friend asks if she gave him a hand job or a blow job, and Tom quickly and nervously responds, "No jobs. I'm unemployed." After seeing Funny People, I was happy that the humor was more clever than it was crass.



Most people praise first-time director Marc Webb for muddling the timeline of their love story, starting at the end, continuing at the beginning, bouncing around from the middle to the beginning to the end, and yet still not losing the audience or sacrificing the continuity of the characters. But I think the writers, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, deserve just as much praise, as well as the actors who brought all of it to life. Deschanel is an incredible actress, but I mean that in regards to the singular role that she often plays as the quirky indie chick with an inexplicable allure. Levitt, however, has really ran the gamut of his acting abilities and adds yet another skill to his repertoire, capable of portraying such an emotional yet masculine character.

All in all, I'd say I was glad the Oscars increased the amount of films that can be nominated for Best Picture, because films like this deserve consideration. Or maybe they should make a new category: Best Indie. It would fit right in there with Away We Go.