MAN OF STEEL

Release Date: June 14, 2013
Studio: Warner Brothers
Director: Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen)
Cast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Meloni, and Richard Schiff.
Plot: A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do.

But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.

Thoughts: I can not wait for Man of Steel to come out. Seriously. I know next to nothing about the movie. I’ve seen the trailer and we all know the very basics; origin story, Zod, and the suit looks a bit different. But I absolutely love the fact that I really don’t know much about the plot.

This is the polar opposite of the advertising of Iron Man 3, a movie that I have not seen but I feel like I know every beat of the movie. The cast is top notch, I love Snyder’s visual style, and more so than the actors that have come before him, Henry Cavill looks the part of Superman without even being in the suit.

Is it June 14th yet?

Clear your schedule on Sunday, May 26, because after a very very very long wait we’ll be getting new episodes of the cult comedy Arrested Development. You might want to also call in sick on Monday, as Netflix will be releasing all 15 episodes of the new season in one day. Yeah, I said 15. This is the second time that they have upped the episode count since they went into production. Hopefully this means good things- maybe we’ll get lucky enough to another season after this one? All of the regulars (pictured above) are returning along with most of the show’s famed guest stars (Liza Minnelli, Scot Baio, Henry Winkler) and a new crop of awesome guests including John Slattery, Seth Rogen, Isla Fisher, and Terry Crews to name a few.

While on the subject of television shows getting new life, how can I not mention Veronica Mars. With only six days to to go, the beloved show’s movie Kickstarter campaign has raised more than $4.6 million dollars and counting from over 70 thousand backers! The impressive campaign has broken records and I’m glad to admit that I “backed” the film also. It is not often that fans are able to directly impact the future of a canceled television show, and while I didn’t watch the show while it was on (always loved the idea but never had the time), I’m glad that I could help bring it back to life. The series was created by Rob Thomas and starred Kristen Bell, Percy Daggs III, Jason Dohring, Francis Capra, Enrico Colantoni, and Ryan Hansen.

I have not picked up a DC Comic title in over a year. Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of their decision to reboot their entire line with “The New 52“ while picking and choosing what to keep and change. Talk about a cluster $&#@. Certain characters, like Superman for example, were changed so much that I didn’t recognize the character that I have followed for the past twenty years. So why bother?

Then I see a cover like this. Two of my favorite characters, the Phantom Stranger and the Question, who have both been grossly underused in the past. Now taking center stage in the new “universe”. Back before the reboot, the Question in particular was killed and replaced with a sub-par supporting character. So, maybe not all of the changes have been so bad… Should I give “The New 52″ a shot?

The Phantom Stranger #7
Official Description: Do you dare ask who slayed the Stranger?

The new issue hit stands and the digital market place today, April 3rd. It was written by Dan DiDio and J.M. DeMatteis, with art by Gene Ha and Zander Cannon.

Check out these Phantom Stranger and The Question related products…

We’re back with some television news for you to fall into.

Only a handful of years since his last retirement from The Tonight Show, it appears that the curtain is closing on Jay Leno once again in 2014. As expected, he will be passing the torch to Saturday Night Live alum and Late Night host Jimmy Fallon. This time around it seems much more likely that Leno will not steal the show back as he did when Conan O’Brien took over the hosting duties in 2009. Speaking of Conan, his own late night show over on TBS has been renewed through November of 2015.

With Fallon moving to The Tonight Show, rumors have begun about who might replace him on Late Night with the frontrunner seemingly being fellow SNLer Seth Meyers. Personally I think Meyers would be a great fit.

USA Network has announced their summer slate premiere dates! Lets start with Burn Notice (pictured left), the spy action series will start its seventh season on Thursday, June 6 at 9pm. It will be followed by the new series Graceland, which stars Daniel Sunjata and Aaron Tveit. Like Burn, the series is an action drama (and I’m sure it will have its share of lighthearted fare).  A week later on Wednesday June 12th, Royal Pains and Necessary Roughness’ new seasons begin. Pains at 9pm and Roughness at 10pm. Then you’ll have to wait almost another week for the return at Covert Affairs and Suits on Tuesday June 16th (also 9pm and 10pm).

The only standout USA Network show missing from the lot is White Collar, which will return with a new season in the fall (hey, they have to save something for their fall schedule).

Spoilers! Turn away if you have not watched the season finale of The Walking Dead. The third season of the zombie survival drama was really strong up until the last couple episodes. It went out without the bang everyone was expecting and that AMC hyped so loudly. It did have its fair share of surprises, including the fact that the season’s villain, the Governor (David Morrissey), survived. Everyone that I know (and myself) included counted on him being killed and we were taking bets on who would/should do it (Maggie and Michonne topped the list of would-be killers). AMC has announced that Morrissey will indeed be back next season as a regular. I honestly have no idea where they could take this character. I guess he can go out and build a new army to attack the prison- but how can they do this and keep things fresh? We shall see when The Walking Dead returns in October.

All season has been building to this; the prison vs Woodbury. The preview show’s Woodbury’s evil “Governor” leading an army that outnumbers Rick’s prison crew by at least two (if not three) to one. Will there be a massacre at the prison? Does Rick have a plan up his sleeve? Will they abandon ship? As readers of this website know, I am a long time fan of The Walking Dead comics and the thing that amazes me about where we are in the show is that I have no idea what will happen next. The television series is so different than the comic and both are as suspenseful and intriguing as each other. I can not wait to see what happens next.

Official description, “Welcome to the Tombs”: With the Governor’s attack looming, Rick and his people need to determine if the prison is worth defending.

The Walking Dead season finale airs tonight on AMC at 9pm. After the episode, Talking Dead takes viewers behind the scenes and host Chris Hardwick talks to some of the brains behind the show. Also on tonight…

8PM

BBC: Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited (special)
CBS: Amazing Race 22 (reality competition)
PBS: Call the Midwife (period drama)
COOK: Cupcake Wars (cooking competition)
HISTORY: The Bible (dramatic retelling)
TRAVEL: Trip Flip (docu)
STYLE: Jerseylicious (reality)

9PM

HBO: Game of Thrones (supernatural action drama)
ABC: Revenge (drama)
CBS: The Good Wife (drama)
PBS: Mr. Selfridge (period drama)
BRAVO: Married to Medicine (reality)
FOOD: Worse Cooks in America (cooking competition)
LIFE: Army Wives (drama)

10PM

AMC: Talking Dead (live talk show)
ABC: Red Widow (acion drama)
FOOD: Chopped (cooking competition)
HISTORY: Vikings (period action drama)
LIFE: The Client List (drama)
SHOW: House of Lies (drama)
ANIMAL: Finding Bigfoot (reality)

Bingo. The classic game that mixes puzzle and chance. It has always been one of my favorite forms of gambling (especially when when I was little and it was for prizes). The last time I played was on a cruise and I was lucky enough to win a free drink. This of course led me to want to play every round offered over the course of the vacation, which leads me to the point of this Bingo discussion. The addictive quality of Bingo has been underused in television and movies, but when it is used, it is very effective for laughs.

There are of course many ways besides cruise ships to play Bingo. There are professional tournaments, games held at churches and community centers, fairs, and nowadays you can even play online at websites such as www.partybingo.com. The options for finding your own game to join are endless. In television that is another story. You have to search high and low to find the classic game featured anywhere. Sure, there was the short lived ABC gameshow National Bingo Night in 07, followed by Bingo America on GSN, which lasted until 09. But before reading this article, did you even know these gameshows existed?

What brings about this sudden urge to chat about Bingo? Well, just this past week NBC’s Matthew Perry comedy Go On was smart enough to feature the game in its new episode. It used a church game of Bingo attended by Perry’s character Ryan to set off the chain of events for the rest of the episode and got some laughs along the way.

Of course this pales in comparison to the hysterical use of Bingo back in the sit-com Roseanne. You remember the episode I’m talking about. Barr’s title character reluctantly goes to a game of Bingo on a girl’s night out only to win fifty bucks. From there she goes all out, with the big hair, multiples boards and markers and becomes a “pro” (pictured to the right). She only stops playing when her family literally carries her out of the game.

Any I missing any classic uses of Bingo? What is your favorite television show or movie to use the game?

85th Academy Award Winners

• Best Picture – Argo
• Best Animated Feature Film - Brave
• Best Foreign Language Film – Amour
• Best Documentary, Searching for Sugar Man
• Best Direction – Ang Lee, Life of Pi
• Best Actor – Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
• Best Actress – Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
• Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
• Best Original Song – Adele, Skyfall
• Best Original Score – Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
• Best Production Design – Lincoln
• Best Sound Mixing – Les Miserables
• Best Sound Editing – (tie) Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty
• Best Film Editing – William Goldenberg, Argo
• Best Original Screenplay – Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
• Best Adapted Screenplay – Chris Terrio, Argo
• Best Make-Up and Hair Styling – Lisa Westcott/Julie Dartnell, Les Misérables
• Best Costume Design – Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina
• Best Cinematography – Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi
• Best Visual Effects – Life of Pi
• Best Short Documentary – Inocente
• Best Live Action Short Film – Curfew
• Best Animated Short Film – Paperman

Agree or disagree with the winners? Sound off in our comments!