day 3.273

what i love (this week)

the song

perfect summer-into-fall transition party music.

the show

if you missed the premiere of this, i'm sorry, because it was phenomenal.

the movie

i bought this for $5 at target. so should you.

the look

just. the. best. check back tomorrow for a full emmy recap- in the meantime, follow my live tweets @bricesander.

day 3.79

review: hall pass

they're back. the farrelly brothers - they guys behind dumb and dumber and there's something about mary - bring edgy comedy back to the big screen with hall pass. the flick follows rick and fred (owen wilson and jason sudeikis), two suburban guys who've come to a roadblock in their marriages: they're bored. and their wives (played by jenna fisher and christina applegate) are annoyed. so how do the couples solve their problems? the wives grant their husbands a "hall pass" - one week freed from the responsibilities and restrictions of marriage. that's when things get out of hand. hall pass is part wedding crashers, part the hangover - but it's missing the element most important to those movies: good writing. while hall pass is laugh-out-loud funny, it's relies mostly on sight-gags and gross-out humor. what helps balance out the weak script is a great cast - each role seems tailor made to its actor, with the exception of a joy behar cameo more suited for bette midler. i would've liked to have seen amanda bynes in the movie, too. she was originally slated to play the hyper-sexual babysitter paige, but backed out at the last minute - around the same time she announced via twitter that she was "retiring" (she has since "un-retired" from the business). hall pass is much more suited for a male audience - it seemed like every girl in the theater couldn't hold back their "gross!" and "oh my god!" commentary. if you're a fan of past farrelly flicks, then definitely check it out (you'll enjoy it). but if you've never experienced the farrelly bro's brand of comedy, maybe check out one of their other flicks first.

don't forget to tune into the oscars tonight on abc, 8:30/7:30c. i'll be live-tweeting my thoughts and comments @bricesander.

day 3.2

christina applegate is one of my favorite people

...and this is why.

day 2.277

go the distance with going the distance

i wasn't sure what to expect from going the distance. would it be the typical sappy sweet drew barrymore movie? or would it live up to the previews and deliver comedy gold. it definitely delivered the comedy gold and just enough sappy sweetness. the story focuses on erin (barrymore), a would-be journalist trying to make it in a faltering industry. when erin meets garret (justin long), a relationship-weary record label employee, just a few weeks before leaving her summer in new york to return to california, both their worlds are turned upside down. after a whirlwind month of love in new york, the couple face the challenge of keeping the passion and relationship alive over the next year and beyond. the film mixes romantic comedy with the tongue-in-cheek and gross-out humor of judd apatow films (even though he's not involved). christina applegate and jason sudeikis stand out in supporting roles and bring some of the film's best comedic moments. i definitely suggest checking going the distance out, especially when you still have two days to be lazy at the movies this weekend.

day 182

christina applegate: will work for food 

okay, let's hope she's not that desperate.  but, it looks like the actress will be looking for work.  sources are saying that applegate's abc comedy samantha who? has been shut down and won't be returning in the fall.  while the sitcom was in the beginning stages of being retooled from a single-camera comedy to a multi-camera laugher in order to cut the budget by half a million, it looks like all systems are a no go.  the show, which premiered as the highest rated freshman sitcom in 2007, was kind of given the shaft by the alphabet net, moving from a cushy monday, post-dancing with the stars spot to thursdays at 7:30, up against nbc's comedy night and cbs' ncis, and was pulled from the air with 7 unaired episodes when new comedy in the motherhood didn't become a hit with audiences.  the network plans to air the final 7 episodes (allegedly the last one "feels" like a series finale) on friday nights this summer.  i don't understand why an emmy winning comedy with an a-list sitcom cast would be thrown into the tv wasteland, but i'm not a tv programmer.  i just hate when a show with good writing gets killed and scrubs, which has been dying a slow, painful death, gets renewed.  but that's because money is in syndication - the more shows produced by a series with 100+ episodes means more money in the future.  and, because sam who? is produced in house (by abc studios), chances of another network picking up the show are slim (scrubs is produced by warner brothers so abc could easily nab it from nbc).  hopefully the show won't be completely lost.  i feel like the networks don't understand that the sitcom isn't dead, just what you're doing with it is dead.  an official announcement from the network will come later this week. 

here's a list of tv finales this week:

monday: dancing with the stars, part 1; gossip girl; 24; csi: miami 

tuesday: dancing with the stars, part 2; american idol, part 1; 90210; ncis 

wednesday: american idol, part 2

thursday: ugly betty 

happy watching. click here to see when your other fave shows will be ending until the fall.