Written by Mitch Cyrus

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No more football. Now what do we watch? According to Mitch, it's a good time to go to the theater and catch up on all the new releases, including all of the Oscar nominated films. Not in the mood for that level of high-brow? That's OK, there are several other viable options, including this week's new releases like "Push" for the guys, and "He's Just Not That Into You" for the girls. It's Friday night, and this is the place to come to see what's happening. No more football. (And I'm not really counting the Pro Bowl).

Now what?

Well, we do have the Lakers/Cavs game on Sunday, which should be some great entertainment.

On the Movie/TV side of things, lots of great movies are now playing at the theaters, in addition to several new releases that are at the opposite end of the spectrum than those Oscar contenders...but that doesn't (necessarily) mean that they aren't worth watching.

The Grammys will also be televised Sunday night.  I must admit that I'm normally not a big fan of that awards show, as they tend to reward a lot of mediocrity (Christopher Cross, anyone?), but it is good for putting on the DVR so that you can fast forward to some of the great performances they often have on that show.

News and Rumors 

~ Looks like Johnny Depp will once again be channeling Hunter S. Thompson.  Depp is set to star in "The Rum Diary", based on a 1960s novel by Dr. Thompson about a journalist who writes for a run-down newspaper in the Caribbean.  Sort of a "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" meets Captain Jack Sparrow.

~ Looks like there will be another big screen adaptation of an obscure comic book hero.  Martin Campbell, the man who directed "Casino Royale" is set to direct a film based on DC Comics hero "Green Lantern".  I really question the viability of this as a draw.  It's one thing to take a lesser character like Iron Man...as the character has enough human flaws, and his "powers" are such that they are semi-believable (Robert Downey Jr. was the biggest boost, however).  But Green Lantern?  A guy that gets his powers from some alien race that gives him this magic ring?  I'm just not seeing an audience beyond the fanboys.

~ Here is another project that immediately gets my interest.  Martin Scorsese is planning his next project after "Shutter Island" is released this fall.  "Silence" will star Daniel Day-Lewis and Benicio Del Toro as two 17^th century Jesuit priests facing violence and persecution when they travel to Japan.

~ As I mentioned last week on the radio show, I really enjoyed "Slumdog Millionaire".  Too bad the young man who did such a great job in the lead, Dev Patel, is now doomed to obscurity.  Seems as if Dev has signed on to do the latest M. Night Shyamalan stinker, called "The Last Airbender".  I thought the last air bender was "The Happening" which stunk like week old rotting food.

~ Javier Bardem will be portraying Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa in an upcoming biopic.  Hopefully it will be better received than Steven Soderbergh's Che.

Stupid Remakes and Sequels

~ A big screen adaptation of the children's game "Candy Land".  I think I just went into insulin shock.

~ There will be a spinoff of the Puss In Boots character from Shrek into his own film.  Couldn't be worse than "Shrek the 3^rd".

This week's new movie releases: 

The Pink Panther 2

Starring: Steve Martin, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer

Plot: Inspector Clouseau teams up with a squad of international detectives to stop a globe-trotting thief who specializes in stealing historic artifacts.

The BeerBuzz: Why did they do a sequel to this horrible remake? (money).  The sad thing is, I really like Steve Martin as an actor, so it's sad to see him make an idiot of himself in this role.  No one can ever re-create what Peter Sellers was able to do, so why try?  And since Martin didn't want to do a knock-off of Sellers, he decided to make HIS Clouseau even more of an idiot.  That's just wrong.

He's Just Not That Into You

Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Anistion, Jennifer Connelly...and some other people NOT named Jennifer (like Scarlett Johansson, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, and Justin Long).

Plot: Romantic woes affect an interconnected group of Baltimore singles and marrieds 

The BeerBuzz: Estrogen time!  What can I really say about this one?  It's going to be a huge hit with the women, and the men are going to have to go with them if they intend on getting lucky that night.

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Coraline

Starring: the voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, and John Hodgman

Plot: A secret door in her family's new house offers a passage way to an unusual parallel world.

The BeerBuzz: 3D Stop-motion animation from the same people who made "James and the Giant Peach", this is the highest rated movie of the week on RottenTomatoes.  Maybe a bit creepier than what the younger kids might expect, it still looks to be a good film for the over 13 crowd.

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Push

Starring: Chris Evans, Camilla Belle, Dakota Fanning

Plot: A trio of young people with special abilities are pursued by a clandestine U.S. government agency who want to use their powers as weapons.

The BeerBuzz: Didn't they do this movie last year and called it "Jumper"?  Might be good for the action part of things, but evidently the plot line is a convoluted mess.

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New DVD Releases for Tuesday, February 10 

Definitely NOT a good week on the DVD side of things.

W. - Josh Brolin got rave reviews for his performance as George W. Bush, and a lot of critics liked what Oliver Stone did with the film...but the rest of the country stayed away in groves.  The Bush lovers will hate it (all 1,000 of them) for slamming their hero, and the Bush haters will hate it because Stone is often sympathetic to the former president.

Miracle at St. Anna - Biggest flop in Spike Lee's career.  He filmed this with expectations of Oscars dancing through his head, but the movie is a flat out boring mess that comes in at a tedious 2 hours and 46 minutes.

Nights in Rodanthe - For those unfortunates out there, you can get drug by your wife/girlfriend to see "He's Just Not That Into You" during the weekend, and then have to watch this sap-fest during the week.  Richard Gere and Diane Lane in a three hankie romance about unhappy people falling for each other.

Soul Men- Bernie Mac in his last role, playing an old Motown singer with Samuel L. Jackson.  Too bad Bernie wasn't able to go out on a higher note than this by-the-books comedy.

Blindness- Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo in a sci-fi disaster thriller about society's reaction to an unexplained mass epidemic of sudden blindness.  Moore plays the one person in the community who was not affected, but fakes it to try to get to the bottom of it all.  Evidently, it's not nearly as interesting of a film as you'd think from the description.

Calendar Watch  

Next week: The International, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Friday the 13th

Upcoming Biggies (click on the hyperlink to view the available trailers).

Watchmen - March 6 - The screen version of what is arguably graphic novelist Alan Moore's greatest work.

Duplicity - March 20 - Clive Owen again, this time teaming with Julia Roberts as corporate spies looking to pull a con job of their own.  Directed by Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton").

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - May 1 - Hugh Jackman goes it alone as the adamentium enhanced anti-hero.  With Live Schreiber as Sabertooth, and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool.

Star Trek - May 8 - J.J. Abrams and a young cast reboot the franchise, going back to Kirk and Spock's days at Starfleet Academy.

Angels and Demons - May 15 - Tom Hanks and Ron Howard follow-up to "The DaVinci Code"

Terminator: Salvation - May 22 - Christian Bale as John Conner as the franchise moves into the apocalyptic future.

Transformers 2 - June 26 - The next chapter of Robots In Disguise!

Public Enemy - July 1 - Johnny Depp as John Dillinger.  Co-starring Christian Bale, and directed by Michael Mann

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - July 17 - The sixth of J.K. Rowling's seven books, setting the stage for the two part conclusion in 2010 and 2011.

The Taking of Pelham 123- August 7 - Denzel Washington, John Travolta, and James Gandolfini in a remake of the classic 1974 film about a hijacked subway car.

9 - September 9 - Tim Burton's latest animated strangeness, with Elijah Wood and Jennifer Connelly voicing characters fighting aliens in a post apocalyptic world.

Shutter Island - October 2 - Martin Scorsese working once again with Leonardo DiCaprio in this mystery set in 1954.

2012 - November 13 - Roland Emmerich's ("The Day After Tomorrow") tale of global cataclysm and the struggle of the survivors.

The Lovely Bones - December 11 - Peter Jackson's latest, about the ghost of a young, murdered girl watching over her family and friends' reactions to the event.  Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz star.

Avatar - December 16, 2009 - James Cameron's sci-fi/CGI extravaganza.  The C.I.A. should take lessons about secrecy from Cameron, as he's keeping info about this film very much to himself at this time.

Blockbusters on the Distant Horizon (movies that would seem to be big hits...as soon as they get made or released).

The Road - (unannounced 2009) - Viggo Mortensen as a man walking with his son for months across a ravaged, post-apocalyptic landscape in search of civilization.  Charlize Theron co-stars.

Nottingham - (unannounced 2009) - Ridley Scot and Russell Crowe together again in a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, this time through the eyes of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Crowe).  With Sienna Miller as Maid Marion.

Iron Man 2 - May, 2010 - Right on the heels of the success of the first one, Marvel is quick to get Robert Downey Jr. back into his titanium suit.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - May, 2010 - The series goes off in a bit of a different direction, as those of you who love the books already know.

Thor - June 2010 - Another Marvel superhero...but the Nordic God is about as bland personality-wise as Superman, so we'll see how it goes.  Kevin Kidd (Rome) is said to be playing the title role.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I - 2010 - The start of the End for the boy wizard and his battle against He-Who-Shall-not-Be-Named

Lincoln - 2010 - Steven Spielberg directs the biographical film of the 16^th President (Liam Neeson)

The Hobbit - 2010 - Guillermo del Toro directs and Peter Jackson will produce the prequel to "Lord of the Rings".  Ian McKellen will return as Gandalf

Fantastic Voyage - 2010 - Roland Emmerich ("The Day After Tomorrow", "10,000 B.C.") remakes the classic 1967 movie about a miniaturized sub and crew operating on a scientist from inside his brain.

The Avengers - 2011 - Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America open up a can of whoopass on bad guys everywhere.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II - 2011 - The end of the line for what will be beyond doubt the most profitable series in the history of film making.

The Hobbit 2 - 2011 - del Toro and Jackson again, this time covering the time between the end of Tolkien's book, "The Hobbit" and the start of LOTR.