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Movie Review: CARS 2

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 06/24/2011

CARS 2 movie poster | ©2011 Pixar/Walt Disney Pictures

Stars (voices): Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturro, Bonnie Hunt Writer: Ben Queen, story by John Lasseter & Brad Lewis & Dan Fogelman Director: John Lasseter, co-director, Brad Lewis Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Release Date: June 24, 2011 For those who either really liked the first Disney/Pixar CARS, or pretty much liked it but wished it had a genre plot, here is CARS 2. It brings back not only the CGI animated automotive universe of the first film (sans people or animals), but also the main characters, the learn-important-life-lessons through-line and even […]Read On »

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TV Review: WILFRED – Season One premiere – “Happiness”

By RACHEL REITSLEFF

Jason Gann in WILDRED - Season 1 | ©2011 FX/Frank Ockenfels

Stars: Elijah Wood, Jason Gann, Dorian Brown, Fiona Gubelmann, J.P. Manoux, Gibson Bobby Sjobeck Writer: David Zuckerman Director: Randall Einhorn Network: FX, Thursdays @ 10 PM Airdate: June 23, 2011 Where everyone else sees a big, friendly, ordinary dog, Ryan (Elijah Wood) sees a man in a children’s theatre dog suit (Jason Gann). So goes the premise of FX’s new half-hour comedy WILFRED, adapted from the Australian series of the same name, created by Gann and Jason Zwar, which also starred Gann as the talkative, manipulative canine. In the opening episode, “Happiness,” Ryan makes multiple attempts at suicide, which succeed […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: Timothy Hutton has LEVERAGE over Season 4

By CARL CORTEZ 06/23/2011

Timothy Hutton and Gina Bellman in LEVERAGE - Season 3 - "The Big Bang Job" | ©2011 TNT/Karen Neal

When we last left Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton) and grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman) on the Season 3 finale of LEVERAGE, they were in bed together after consummating their long-gestating attraction/affection toward one another. Moving into Season 4, that one little night will play a big role according to Hutton who plays the enigmatic and troubled Ford – a leader of a group of high-tech thieves who help innocent bystanders from being pummeled and robbed by big corporations and greedy individuals. It’s a formula that’s worked well for the TNT series (which airs its season premiere on Sunday night) which […]Read On »

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The Dork Side: 5 Reasons THE VOICE is better than AMERICAN IDOL

By SONIA MANSFIELD

I used to love AMERICAN IDOL. I watched every season. Well, except for this last one. I quit AMERICAN IDOL cold turkey this year, and I never looked back. Honestly, I thought THE VOICE was going to be a lame IDOL ripoff. Instead it has turned out to be a pleasant surprise, addressing many of my problems with AMERICAN IDOL. Not only do I like THE VOICE, I think it is superior to AMERICAN IDOL. Here are the five reasons I think THE VOICE is better than AMERICAN IDOL. 1. THE VOICE isn’t sentimental. No one made it through the […]Read On »

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TV Review: AMERICA’S GOT TALENT – Season 6 – “New York Auditions 1”

By PAMELA HARLAND

AMERICA'S GOT TALENT - Season 6 - "New York Auditions - 1" | ©2011 NBC/Ali Goldstein

You would think New York – second only to Los Angeles – would have an overabundance of talent to showcase. Not so much. AMERICA’S GOT TALENT proved that with day one of auditions in the Big Apple. We witnessed only five acts get the go ahead to Las Vegas. Five! So many were so bad that we didn’t even get to see Piers Morgan buzz them right off the stage. You could just tell with a few brief seconds peek into their acts that they weren’t going anywhere except home! The Triple Threat – named because they supposedly could sing, […]Read On »

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THE VOICE recap, photos and reveal of the Final Four for Season 1

By CARL CORTEZ 06/22/2011

Blake Shelton, Dia Frampton on THE VOICE - Season 1 - Semi-Finals Results Show | ©2011 NBC/Lewis Jacobs

AMERICAN IDOL has perfected the art of procrastination when it comes to dragging out their results shows. It’s something that’s incredibly annoying and finely tuned week in and week out. Now, NBC’s THE VOICE gets to showcase their first official Results Show during the same week an episode has aired and damn did they get it right. It was mystery meat when it came to how the scores from the coaches and the audience was going to be added together, but the final reveal was actually quite clever. Essentially, the coaches had 100 points to divvy up between both of […]Read On »

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UNKNOWN is one of the Blu-ray and DVD picks this week

By PETER BROWN

Your time is short. We know this. So in order to expedite your buying and Netflix decision making, we provide you with a list of the cool and not-so-cool titles coming out for movies, television and everything in-between. So put your feet up, grab some popcorn and check out this week’s selections. I was on a self-imposed break last week so this week I am combining last week’s titles along with this week’s. MOVIES UNKNOWN – If anyone has ever seen TAKEN, you know that Liam Neeson can bring it. He’s definitely got the power to be an action star […]Read On »

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TV Review: THE VOICE – Season 1- “Semi-Finals”

By CARL CORTEZ

Frenchie Davis, Beverly McClellan, Nakia, Vicci Martinez, Dia Frampton, Xenia, Casey Weston, Javier Colon are the final 8 on THE VOICE - Season 1 - "Semi-Finals" | ©2011 NBC/Lewis Jacobs

Network: NBC, airs Tuesday nights Original Telecast: June 21, 2011 The final two weeks of THE VOICE are here and the contestants are dropping like flies as another four people (actually five if you count the Thompson Sisters) were given the boot and the remaining eight performed. First the results … Team Cee Lo had raspy powerhouse singer Vicci Martinez get the audience save, while Cee Lo went for his brother from another mother Nakia as his save. BAM! I was totally dead-on from last week’s predictions. Team Adam had Javier Colon saved by the audience, while Casey Weston was […]Read On »

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TV Review: THE NINE LIVES OF CHLOE KING – Season 1 – “Redemption”

By CARL CORTEZ

Benjamin Stone and Skyler Samuels in THE NINE LIVES OF CHLOE KING - Season 1 - "Redemption" | ©2011 ABC Family/Eric McCandless

Stars: Skyler Samuels, Amy Peitz, Grey Damon, Grace Phipps, Benjamin Stone, Alyssa Diaz, Ki Hong Lee Writer: Dan Berendsen based on the novels by Liz Braswell Director: Chris Grismer Network: ABC Family, airs Tuesday nights Original Telecast: June 21, 2011 After a so-so first week, I felt I had to give THE NINE LIVES OF CHLOE KING a second chance. Not all-new shows hit it out of the park with the pilot, so I was hoping that major improvements were in store for this series. Sadly, no such luck. While “Redemption” does deal with some of story criticisms I had […]Read On »

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Exclusive Interview: David X. Cohen of FUTURAMA gives the scoop on Season 6B – Part 1

By A.C. FERRANTE 06/21/2011

FUTURAMA executive producer David X. Cohen 2.0.1 | Futurama TM and ©2011 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. All Rights Reserved

Sometimes it takes time for something so great to get the respect it deserves. Case in point: FUTURAMA. The animated series created by THE SIMPSONS Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen aired on the Fox network from 1999 to 2003, but was bounced around so much on their schedule, it never fully became a cultural phenomenon until the episodes started appearing on DVD. That success led to four direct-to-DVD movies, and Comedy Central resurrected the series for 26 new episodes after that. The first batch aired last summer and this year we get the other 13 […]Read On »

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