AD Movie In the Works! FOR REAL!

Jason Bateman has been shooting off his mouth for quite a while getting everyone (ridiculously) excited about the real possibility of an Arrested Development movie.

Now Jeffrey Tambor (i.e. George Bluth himself) has confirmed reports that the movie is really and truly on! Get Franklin and Buster's hook ready! Read the details here at EW.com

UPDATE:
Even though Tambor said it was true, the movie has not been officially greenlit--they are still looking for money. Always-funny Bateman blamed Michael Cera's superstar salary and attitude for it. :) Hint, movie execs: There's Always Money in the Banana Stand.

HR Hooray

Over at comingsoon.net, they're reporting that Amy Ryan is returning to The Office next season!

According to Variety:
"The Wire" star Amy Ryan has joined "The Office" for multiple episodes next season, reports Variety.

Ryan is set to appear in at least five episodes in the fall, reprising her role as human resources rep Holly Flax.

How exciting! I loved her as Toby's HR replacement and Michael's possible love interest in last season's finale. That was such a great episode and I'm glad to see she wasn't just a temporary fixture in the office.

Indiana Jones and the Aliens

Okay if you haven't seen the new Indiana Jones movie, stop reading right now cause I'm going to give away the ending big time.

I went with my mom, sister and uncle to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull today to liven up the trip to Minnesota (not exactly thrilling so far...). I haven't really ever watched the Indiana Jones movies before (gasp! crazy I know) but my uncle was dying to see it so I figured why not?

The movie started off a bit slow but then got gooooood. The action scenes were fun, there was no false effort to make it something that it wasn't (i.e. a love story or family drama) and Harrison Ford looked good! I didn't mind the crazy impossible stunts or bizarre impossible story line.

UNTIL THE END
(this is where you stop reading if you haven't seen it and don't want me to spoil the ending)

In the end, it was a kingdom of aliens. ALIENS.

Are you kidding?

My sister told me I would hate the end and I did. I just hate when movies resolve insane plots with aliens. Of course you can make up whatever you want and blame it on aliens! I want a real answer or at least real in the realm of Indiana Jones. When did these movies become SciFi? I guess I shouldn't be surprised with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg at the helm but COME. ON. And the space ship? Terrible. Just awful.

So overall I liked the movie until the last few minutes. Just as my sister predicted. If you're okay with stupid alien endings in otherwise alien-free movies, you'll love it.

Make Out Session

Have you seen the Converse "ad" online featuring a video entitled "Kissing with Ross"???

If you haven't, click here

Ick. Does it really help sell shoes to have some guy's lips and tongue mashed up against a plexiglass wall? I don't get it.

Always the clever ones, BestWeekEver posted their own interpretation but with no shoes attached...

These guys look like they've had a little too much practice making out with themselves.

Best Thing I've Read All Week

David has been in Chicago only a month and is already a celebrity!

Read the article in the Sun-Times about his use of the awesome budget website Mint.com

I love it! Even the picture of him mid-sentence...

Quickie Review: Get Smart

Let me preface this by saying that in my opinion at least, Steve Carell can do no wrong. I love him as Michael Scott, a forty-year-old virgin, a guy who loves Lamp and now as Agent 86.

That said, Get Smart was a funny movie! I don't know why the critics have panned it as much as they have. No, it's nothing deep and meaningful but it's full of hilarious moments, good action/stunts, a twist in the plot and--funniest of all--the guy from Heroes and his techie-geek partner (Bruce and Lloyd), who apparently have their own movie coming out straight to DVD (wow?). Their fake fight with Steve Carell was priceless.

So if you're in the mood for a lot of laughs, plenty of outrageousness, some awkwardness and a whole lot of things blowing up, then you'll enjoy Get Smart. I definitely did! ****

Read MamaPop's review

Monday Night on Showtime: Take Two

Last night I gave Weeds and Secret Diary of a Call Girl another chance. After all, I love Weeds and wasn't going to give up on it after one mediocre season premiere (in which seriously? nothing happened). Secret Diary wasn't bad last week but wasn't anything great, either.


This week, the shows somewhat redeemed themselves.

Weeds had some funny parts (hello! Celia's hair and makeup in prison? Priceless!) and some things actually happened. Apart from a few bad moments (why did Nancy have to pee in her latte cup?) it was a little more like the old Weeds, especially the little cliffhanger at the end of the episode. Let's hope the season is now moving in the right direction.

PLUS: Silas's haircut? H-o-t HOT!

And as for Secret Diary, I actually enjoyed this episode. It was far less about what it seems to be obviously about and more about a real girl and her job--plus there were more than couple of very clever one-liners. I can't help but be jealous when I watch this show though... man, I wish I had a British accent!

The final verdict: much improved from last week and yes, I will continue to tune into Showtime on Monday nights for some quality summer TV.

Don't Hold Him To It...

How to Get the Arrested Development movie made, according to Will Arnett (aka the amazing GOB) and courtesy of EW.com:

Click here to watch the video

Another Quickie Book Review

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
I literally read this book in one day. I couldn't get enough of it and ended up suffering through a pretty terrible sunburn thanks to sitting in the sun for about 5 hours and reading it. But guess what? It was worth it.

I loved this book. It's the story of a man who leaves veterinary school after a personal tragedy and hops on a train... a train that ends up being a circus train and a new, crazy, mysterious, dangerous, magical chapter in this man's life begins. Gruen did a TON of research about circus trains to get every detail as authentic as possible and it shows--I was not only entertained by the love story and thrilled by the murder plot but also learned a lot about the fascinating world of a depression-era train circus.

If you haven't read this book, go get it and read it now. You'll thank me later. Just make sure you have a whole day to read it cause if you're anything like me, you won't want to put it down. *****

HBO Has Their 'Cake' and Eats It, Too!

I just posted my review of it (even though I did finish reading it about a month ago) but now know I'm not the only one who enjoyed Sloane Crossley's I Was Told There'd Be Cake (apart from, of course, the thousands of readers who put it on the Bestseller list).

HBO has purchased the rights to Crossley's Cake and are planning to create a new series based on the book. How fun is that? Another great author getting her media reward for excellent writing.

Crossley says it's more Larry David than Sex and the City so we'll see how it turns out...but you can bet I'll be tuning in for it no matter what!

Young@Heart = :-)

I totally forgot to post about the movie we saw on Wednesday!

Having seen just about everything in theaters as of then, I turned to the trusty Glenwood Arts theater to check out the indie movies. Lucky for us, Young@Heart was still playing! I saw a trailer for it a while back, but had forgotten about it (thanks, I'm sure, to a lack of mainstream distribution). However, I had read a bunch of great reviews about it so we decided to forgo the sunshine and sit in the AC while we checked it out.

And boy am I glad that we did! This movie was so heartwarming. I loved seeing these senior citizens sing their hearts out--even those who couldn't actually sing a note and/or were totally tone deaf. The documentary was set up so that you fell in love with these people almost immediately and really grew attached to them and their songs. I totally teared up when not one but two chorus members died the week before the performance. And I couldn't help but smile when they belted out the correct words in their new songs! Definitely a feel-good show and one that everyone should see.

Check out the trailer below:

Three Quickie Book Reviews

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster
Another Jen Lancaster masterpiece! I laughed out loud on several occasions and she also inspired me at the same time. It was a very real look at losing weight with plenty of hysterical anecdotes thrown in for good measure. Quintessential Jen--I can't wait for her next book... but will it be young adult fiction or another memoir? Check out Jennsylvania.com for more about the book and Jen's amazingly clever (and only a tad cynical) take on life. A total must-read. *****


The Life Before Her Eyes by Laura Kasischke
This book was overall... confusing. It switched back and forth between the present and the past but without much notice. I felt like I knew early on that the girl and the woman were the same person, but they never actually really said that was the case for sure. I read it very quickly and it was filled with intricate description but I can't say that I enjoyed it much. However, I am excited to see the movie starring Evan Rachel Wood and Uma Thurman [click here to watch the trailer] because I think that the story will be easier to follow with visual representations rather than trying to dissect the vague characters of the book. **

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley
I heard about this book of essays from Jen Lancaster's blog (see Such a Pretty Fat, above) and was excited to see it on the Buy One, Get One 1/2 Off table at Border's. I was slow to get into it but once I did, I found her writing to be just the right amount of snarky, and the essays were actually very entertaining. I especially loved the essay about her name. Sometimes I found myself thinking "did this really happen to her?" but you know what? I bet it did. ****

Top Chef Reunion

I finally got around to watching the Top Chef Season 4 reunion today...mostly because there wasn't anything else on.

I have never really been a big fan of these reunion shows on Bravo. I like the recapping of the season but the "witty" banter and set-up for tension (not to mention the lame host) really don't excite me.

Here's a super detailed Reunion Recap. ALMOST as thrilling as the actual show. And that's not saying much.

Yet, I always get sucked in and end up watching them anyway--just for another tiny taste of a season of shows that I enjoy.

Let's hope Lifetime doesn't do the reunion for Project Runway after they steal it away from Bravo.

A Book Nerd's Virtual Dream Come True

I came across this site today and was actually really excited about it!

Zoomii.com is like a virtual bookstore--everything on Amazon.com in a more Borders-like, browsing-friendly set up. Zoom in, zoom out, click on a book to read a summary, add books to your check-out basket, etc. etc.

It won't replace going to the bookstore to browse and pick out books, but it's definitely another fun option--especially for passing time online.

Scientific Proof

BBC News is reporting today about a new Swedish study on brain shape and its relation to sexual orientation.

The study found that "Gay men and heterosexual women had halves of a similar size, while the right side was bigger in lesbian women and heterosexual men."

"When these results were collected, it was found that lesbians and heterosexual men shared a particular "asymmetry" in their hemisphere size, while heterosexual women and gay men had no difference between the size of the different halves of their brain."

Still think it's a choice, morons?

Deja BOO

Variety is reporting that studios are already halting production of movies in fear of yet another strike.

Read the scary details here

I can't stand another strike and neither can the rest of the movie/TV-viewing public! Figure it out actors before it's too late. We CAN find other things to do if forced to.

HOW AWESOME IS THIS?

At last night's Tony Awards, the original cast of Rent reunited and sang Seasons of Love!

Watch and ENJOY! (I might have teared up a little bit...)

Weeds Growing Again

Tonight is the much-anticipated Season 4 premiere of Weeds on Showtime.

I'm pumped! I couldn't believe that Nancy burned down her house at the end of season 3 and am excited to see what happens when the Botwins leave lovely Agrestic/Majestic and head south to the border.

BuzzSugar wasn't impressed with their sneak peak at the first two episodes, but I'm a pretty easy critic so I'm guessing I'm gonna enjoy it more than them. I will miss Conrad though--ooooh!

Update after the show tonight!

Two Exciting Pieces of News

1. Bravo has (finally) revealed the premiere date of Season 5 of Project Runway! The new designers will take to their sewing machines starting July 16. Thank goodness for some quality summer TV! This may be a sad season though--the last one on Bravo (and I'm sure the reason for the early air date).

2. Perez Hilton reported that, especially now in light of Sex and the City's amazing succes, producer Mark Wahlberg is all about an Entourage movie! How much fun would that be? Perez may hate the show but I love it! I can't wait for Season 5 ASAP!


Oh and Happy Father's Day!

Top Chef: It's a Girl!

Well, last night after seeing Hairspray on Broadway, I finally got to catch a late-night repeat of the finale of Top Chef--my DVR has it ready at home but lucky for me I didn't have to wait until Sunday to find out who the winner is (I also purposely avoided my Bloglines reader for two days so it would be a surprise)...

And it's a girl!

Chicago's Stephanie won the title of Top Chef (plus all that other stuff Padma rattles off during the opening sequence)! After three male-dominated seasons, a woman finally takes home the big prize. Obviously the odds were in the ladies' favor--the final four was three girls and a guy--but I had a nagging feeling that Richard might manage to pull the upset against the odds.

Luckily (but not for him) he "choked" (his own words, but kinda true) and Stephanie prevailed, even despite a mediocre ricotta pound cake! BestWeekEver.com wasn't impressed overall, but I agreed with Salon.com's review. Congrats, Stephanie!!!