New Show Alert: The United States of Tara

The United States of Tara is the latest original series from Showtime premiering January 18 at 10:00 PM. Showtime already has two of the best shows on TV right now with Californication and Dexter and now they have added a third.

The United States of Tara is a comedy/drama about a woman with multiple personalities and how her family deals with the fallout. These "alters" come out when Tara is unable to deal with whatever situation is presenting itself. So far Tara has three other personalities: a fifteen year old girl named T, Buck the white trash biker, and Alice the perfect housewife.

The United States of Tara is a fantastic show. A simply perfect blend of laughs and drama that is brilliantly written by (love her or hate her, I subscribe to the former) Diablo Cody of Juno fame. The diaglogue isn't nearly as headscratching as Juno tended to be so don't be worried. I will say that Diablo Cody has given us a stunning show with believable and relatable chracters. The cast is exquisite, especially Toni Colette and Keir Gilchrist, who plays Tara's son Marshall. Toni Colette is amazing here playing each of these personalities perfectly. I can definitely see some awards for her in the future.

The show is extremely funny but also touching as we see how this family deals with Tara's affliction. Each character has issues of their own that contribute to the alter's appearance and it makes for an extremely interesting dynamic.

The show has a few surprise guest stars as well that comedy and Arrested Development fans will recognize. I'll keep them secret and let you see for yourself.

I have the first four episodes of the show and after watching two of them I had to write this up. It's too good to delay getting the word out. My problem now is that I'll have to wait a month for the fifth episode to premiere. Ah the life of a critic, a double edged sword if ever there was one.

The United States of Tara premieres January 18 at 10 on Showtime. This is simply a can't miss show. I absolutely 100% unequivocally love this show. I'll say it again: One of the best new shows of the year. Discover it for yourself.

Rawr!

Razzie Nominees!

Award Season wouldn't be complete with out the Razzies. Here is the list of nominees included on the recently mailed out ballot.

Worst Picture: Speed Racer, Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans, The Day the Earth Stood Still, High School Musical 3, The Hottie & The Nottie, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, The Love Guru, Postal, Rambo, The Happening, Meet Dave, Witless Protection

Worst Actor: Zac Efron, Dane Cook, Larry the Cable Guy, Eddie Murphy, Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise (Valkyrie), Will Ferrell, Ashton Kutcher, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Mark Wahlberg

Worst Actress: Paris Hilton, Jessica Alba, The cast of “The Women,” Camilla Belle, Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson, Diane Keaton, Jennifer Connelly, Zooey Deschanel, Vanessa Hudgens, Eva Longoria-Parker, Reese Witherspoon

Worst Screen Couple: Any couple from HSM 3, Cameron Diaz & Ashton Kutcher, Paris Hilton & Joel David Moore, Kate Hudson & Dane Cook, Kate Hudson & Matthew McConaughey, Larry the Cable Guy & Jenny McCarthy, Any couple from Mamma Mia, Eddie Murphy & Eddie Murphy (Meet Dave), Al Pacino & His Hair, Mark Wahlberg & Zooey Deschanel, Mark Wahlberg & Mila Kunis, Sylvester Stallone & His Ego

Worst Director: Uwe Boll, Scott Derrickson, Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, Tom Putnam, Marco Schnabel, Sylvester Stallone, Jon Avnet, Diane English, Roland Emmerich, Brian Robbins, Kenny Ortega, M. Night Shyamalan

Worst Prequel, Sequel, Remake or Rip-Off: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Rambo, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, An American Carol, The Women, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Prom Night, Speed Racer, The X-Files: I Want To Believe

Worst Career Achievement: Uwe Boll, Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, Madonna, Keanu Reeves, Sylvester Stallone

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Secret Life of the American Teenager Clips

The Secret Life of the American Teenager Season One is on DVD now and the premiere of Season Two is tonight on ABC Family. In honor of these events, check out some clips from the Season One DVD set!

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DVD Review: My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine 3D hits theaters on January 16 but the original horror classic is releasing on Special Edition DVD on January 13. This is a release that fans have been wanting for years as the film has been restored to its original uncut glory.

Having not seen the original, I can't imagine how the movie would have worked as a horror film with the deleted footage missing. It seemed like all of the gore and kills were cut out. Leaving a rather tame thriller behind. With this DVD release, My Bloody Valentine is complete.



My Bloody Valentine is about a small town preparing to celebrate Valentine's Day for the first time in twenty years after a psycho miner goes on a murderous rampage. Now, as the holiday celebration approaches the killings begin again leaving the towns mayor and sheriff to believe the long committed killer has returned.

The film is pretty fun but it's still a horror film from 1981 and all of the pitfalls of that are here. The acting is a bit stiff and the jumps a little stale. The restored scenes however reveal that this is a movie that was cuttign edge with it's kills. There were some great effects forced to the cutting room floor by the MPAA. Some of these were good enough to make me cringe and gasp. I said before that I didn't see the original theatrical cut of this movie and am pretty thankful for that. It had to feel like a shredded movie.

The DVD looks great for the most part. You can tell when the added scenes begin because the picture quality changes drastically. The restored footage apparently wasn't able to be remastered as it looks pretty grainy and spotty. The special features are worth a watch including an interactive horror film history and the "Bloodlust: My Bloody Valentine and the Rise of the Slasher Film" featurette.

Any horror fan who hasn't seen this should pick it up and check it out. It's certainly a fun watch especially now that is has been returned to its full uncut widescreen glory.

Seeing the original has made me more curious for the remake. I can't say how successful it will be but my mind has gone from "eh" to "okay".

My Bloody Valentine hits stores on January 13.

My Bloody Valentine 3-D hits theaters on January 16.

Rawr!

Fringe

So far this season, one show has grown on me like a fungus: Fringe.

With the X-Files-shaped hole in my heart, I thought the days of shows with engaging conspiracy theory weirdness went the way of mall hair and stirrup pants. Thankfully, I was wrong.

The show has begun a bit rocky, with overly-predictable plot direction (for many of the first episodes, all of the science relates to something Dr. Bishop has done already) and characters that are less than endearing (Anna Torv's Agent Dunham until recently has been flat, and Jackson's Peter Bishop is whiny); but the writers seem to have finally hit their stride, and it's become difficult to look away.

Although much of the science in the show is less than realistic, and the story lines until now have had their predictable pitfalls, the characters have slowly started to develop and become engaging. Agent Dunham suddenly turns from a flat, boring workaholic to a stoic with a rough past. The show is peppered with hints of an ominous history between the mad Walter Bishop and his son (I have a few theories on that one...), and the many, many hints at the conspiracy occurring right beneath the character's noses. The show may have started simplistically, but its now becoming fairly complex--enough to hook many old X-Files fans.

The best performance in this series, however, is John Noble. He seems to excel at delivering quirky lines with a flat tone, and a presence that would make Vincent Price proud. Whoever writes his dialogue is brilliant. It kept me watching through the show's rocky beginning, and I'm glad I chose to stick around.

Rawr!

New TV Premiere Dates!

Thanks to AintItCool.com we have the list of premiere dates for mid season replacements and favorites returning from the holiday hiatus.

The list is in order by title:

Amazing Race (CBS) Feb. 15
America’s Best Dance Crew (MTV) Jan. 15
America’s Next Top Model (CW) March 4
American Idol (Fox) Jan. 13
Bachelor (ABC) Jan. 5
Battlestar Galactica (SciFi) Jan. 16
Beast (A&E) Jan. 15
Big Love (HBO) Jan. 18
Biggest Loser (NBC) Jan. 6
Burn Notice (USA) Jan. 22
Celebrity Apprentice (NBC) March 1
Chuck (NBC) Feb. 2
Closer (TNT) Jan. 26
Confessions of a Teen Idol (VH1) Jan. 4
Cribs (CMT) Jan. 10
Cupid (ABC) March 24
Daddy’s Girls (MTV) Jan. 5
Damages (FX) Jan. 7
Dancing With The Stars (ABC) March 17
Diatribe (Lifetime) Jan. 5
Dog The Bounty Hunter (A&E) Feb. 4
Dollhouse (Fox) Feb. 13
Dragon’s Den (BBCA) Jan. 8
East Bound And Down (HBO) Feb. 15
Exterminators (A&E) Feb. 4
First 48 (A&E) Jan. 1
Flashpoint (CBS) Jan. 9
Flight of the Conchords (HBO) Jan. 18
Friday Night Lights (NBC) Jan. 16
Fringe (Fox) Jan. 20
Game Show In My Head (CBS) Jan. 3
Going For Broke (VH1) Jan. 26
Gone Country (CMT) Jan. 23
Harper’s Island (CBS) April 9
Hell’s Kitchen (Fox) Jan. 29
Heroes (NBC) Feb. 2
High School Reunion (TV Land) Feb. 18
Homeland Security USA (ABC) Jan. 6
House (Fox) Jan. 19
Howie Do It (NBC) Jan. 9
I Love Money (VH1) Jan. 26
Jail (MyNet) March 10
Jockeys (Animal Planet) Feb. 6
Kings (NBC) March 19
Kyle XY (ABC Family) Jan. 12
L Word (Showtime) Jan. 18
Last Templar (NBC) Jan. 25
Lie To Me (Fox) Jan. 21
Life (NBC) Feb. 4
Lost (ABC) Jan. 21
Masters of Illusion (MyNet) Jan. 5
Medium (NBC) Feb. 2
Meet The Browns (TBS) Jan. 7
Mentalist (CBS) Jan. 19
Millionaire Matchmaker (Bravo) Feb. 12
Miss America (TLC) Jan. 2
MoCap LLC (Spike) Jan. 10
Monk (USA) Jan. 9
My Big Redneck Wedding (CMT) Jan. 10
My First Home (TLC) Jan. 3
Nip/Tuck (FX) Jan. 6
Office (NBC) Feb. 1
Paranormal State (A&E) Jan. 19
Psych (USA) Jan. 9
Real World (MTV) Jan. 7
Reaper (CW) March 17
RelicQuest (SciFi) Jan. 21
Reno 911 (CC) March 12
Rock of Love (VH1) Jan. 4
Saturday Night Live (NBC) Jan. 10
Scrubs (ABC) Jan. 6
Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Showtime) Jan. 18
Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABC Family) Jan. 5
Smallville (CW) Jan. 15
Smile … You’re Under Arrest (Fox Reality) Jan. 10
Snapped (Oxygen) Jan. 8
Sober House (VH1) Jan. 15
Solitary (Fox Reality) Jan. 17
South Park (CC) March 11
Street Patrol (MyNet) March 10
Supernatural (CW) Jan. 15
Superstars of Dance (NBC) Jan. 4
Survivor (CBS) Feb. 12
Ten Items Or Less (TBS) Jan. 6
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox) Feb. 13
XIII (NBC) Feb. 8
13: Fear Is Real (CW) Jan. 7
Tool Academy (VH1) Jan. 11
Toughest Cowboy (Spike) Jan. 29
Treasure Quest (Discovery) Jan. 15
True Beauty (ABC) Jan. 5
Trust Me (TNT) Jan. 26
24 (Fox) Jan. 11
United States of Tara (Showtime) Jan. 18
Unusuals (ABC) April 8
Wake Up Call (Soap) Jan. 8
Wreckreation Nation (Discovery) Jan. 6

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The Spirit

I really wanted to like this movie, so I entered the theatre expecting to see some old-school noir; true to the older comics the movie draws it's inspiriation from, along with Frank Miller's signature Sin City film looks.

Sadly, I left disappointed. The script is less than inspired. Rather than drawing directly from the comics, or having Eisner script the film, Miller wrote it himself. In places, the story and dialogue are a bit stiff, and the whole thing gives a very cobbled-together feeling that leaves you thinking that perhaps Miller wrote it over a series of coffee breaks, talking to twelve different people about what they expected from the film.

Miller indulges in inappropriate cliches (Denny Colt is somehow such an inveterate womanizer that he literally flirts with every woman he meets) and can't seem to decide if he wants the film to be serious, or old-style newsprint camp (one big fight scene leaves you expecting to see screen shots labeled with "Biff! Pow! Bam!").

The only performance in the film that leaves you with any kind of a smile is Eva Mendes, who delivers her hastily-written lines with such style, you almost forgive the content. Sadly, the star character (Gabriel Macht) comes off as rather one-dimensional. Shouldn't a guy who's cheated death be a little more interesting?

Samuel L Jackson pretty much speaks for himself. If you don't know what to expect from one of his performances by now, I don't know that I can help you there.

Lastly, another thing that bugged me, stylistically speaking, about this film: anachronisms. Are we going for 40's noir, or not? The entire film had the same style of cinematography as Sin City. It pretty much looked like Sin City. However, being based on a 40's comic, it looked like Miller was largely trying to go for a 40's noir look.

Except for the cell phones. And the weaponry.

And the Chuck Taylors the title character was sporting.

I mean come on, Chuck Taylors?

Seriously?

Rawr!