Chapter Five on new ‘The Firm’ – 01.26.12

January 26th, 2012 | Posted by Nezi

Good afternoon. Tonight, CBS is airing reruns of its terrific shows, so that gives you a good opportunity to check out The Firm if you haven’t yet. The series is interesting so far, though we don’t know much about the bad firm Mitch has gotten himself associated with. The beginning and end of each episode shows Mitch freaking out and running away from guys with guns several weeks apart from the main storyline. So far we only know that it has something to do with the Sarah Holt case that the Kinross & Clark law firm wanted. Sarah is accused of suffocating an old woman in her own home, but Sarah maintains that she is innocent and that the police officer son had also been in the room with the old lady. We are not sure why yet, but Alex Clark has declared to her co-conspirators at Kinross & Clark that they will all go to jail over something illegal that was going on if anyone finds out. The main part of each episode though, is a flashback to a few weeks earlier where we get to see whichever case Mitch is working on as a defense attorney that week. So, for the most part the series plays like a procedural where Mitch is defending a client accused of whatever. And, that has worked well so far to me with his law case being interesting and only enough of the frantic conspiracy later to keep us intrigued. Let’s just hope they have come up with something good and interesting for the underlying conspiracy.

On “Chapter Four” of The Firm last week, Mitch defended a psychiatrist who was believed to have killed a former patient that was stalking her. Mitch was caught off guard by a pharmacist who testified for the prosecution saying that the psychiatrist had picked up the murdered man’s prescription for him. There was also a witness who saw Mitch’s client going to the dead man’s apartment. But, in the end Mitch caused reasonable doubt when he questioned the detective who the psychiatrist had reported the man’s stalking to. Since the law only allows the stalkers to be apprehended after they’ve hurt someone, the man had a woman die a few years earlier at the hands of a stalker. It seemed that he was also at the man’s building the night he was killed, and with that knowledge came reasonable doubt so that Mitch’s client was found not guilty. When Mitch talked to the detective outside, he spoke hypothetically about what happened IF he was the one that did it – but we were left with the feeling that the detective killed the stalker. Meanwhile in the conspiracy part of the story, Alex Clark had told Andrew Palmer to get the hard drive wiped on Sarah Holt’s laptop that was in the evidence room at the police station. But, Tammy had gotten the laptop for her and Mitch to go over for evidence for Sarah’s defense. As soon as Tammy turned it on in Mitch’s office, the IT guy at Kinross & Clark was able to access the laptop and wipe the hard drive as Tammy and Molly looked on in horror. In the “four weeks later” part we see that Mitch calls Andrew to tell him he’s being followed, but when he gets to where he’s supposed to meet Andrew the police arrive to arrest Mitch for the coke-head lawyers dive from the balcony which they assume is murder.

On tonight’s The Firm, “Chapter Five,” Mitch is given the difficult task of defending Judd Grafton, a gambler wrongly accused of murder. With Judd continuing to claim his innocence and willing to take the risk of a guilty verdict, Mitch puts Ray to work to find any helpful clues. Meanwhile, Mitch and Abby, who have been invested in the Althea Sanderson tort case, take a huge risk by enlisting Kincross & Clark to help them.

In The Firm, Josh Lucas stars as attorney Mitch McDeere, who recently took his family out of the Witness Protection Program after 10 years of hiding from the Chicago mob. Molly Parker plays Mitch’s wife Abby, who is a school teacher. Callum Keith Rennie plays Ray, Mitch’s ex-con brother who works as his investigator on cases. Juliette Lewis plays Mitch’s secretary Tammy, who is also Ray’s girlfriend of 10 years. Those two are a highlight of the series, with their characters being rough around the edges but loyal. Natasha Calis plays the McDeere’s daughter, Claire.

Recurring characters on The Firm so far are Tricia Helfer as Alex Clark, the head of the Kinross & Clark law firm and definite baddie. And, Shaun Majumder plays Andrew Palmer, Alex’s cohort who was sent out to recruit McDeere under the guise of friendship. There is More, Continue Reading This Article »

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Kiefer Sutherland in ‘Touch’ – 01.25.12

January 25th, 2012 | Posted by Nezi

Kiefer Sutherland makes his return to television tonight with a special preview of his new series, Touch, on FOX.

In the series Touch, Sutherland will play single father Martin Bohm, a widower and single father haunted by an inability to connect to his emotionally challenged 11-year-old son. Martin is devastated when Jake’s social worker decides it would be better for the boy to be in foster care. But after meeting professor Arthur Teller, an expert on children who possess special gifts when it comes to numbers, Martin learns that Jake possesses an extraordinary gift – the ability to perceive the seemingly hidden patterns that connect every life on the planet. With the realization that Jake is communicating with him through numbers instead of words or touching, Martin sets out to decipher Jake’s messages. Through their newfound communication, they will help people across the world connect as their lives intersect according to the patterns Jake has foreseen.

Joining Sutherland in the cast of Touch are David Mazouz as Jake and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as social worker Clea Hopkins. In tonight’s premiere, legendary actor Danny Glover guest-stars as Arthur Teller.

Series creator Tim Kring (creator of Crossing Jordan and Heroes) wrote the pilot, while Francis Lawrence, who directed Constantine(♥!!!) and I Am Legend, directed the pilot and will serve as executive producer on the series. Other producers on the series are Peter Chernin, Katherine Pope, Kiefer Sutherland, Carol Barbee, and Suzan Bymel.

Now FOX is merely “previewing” the series tonight, Touch won’t start airing regularly until its premiere date on Monday, March 19. In an unprecedented move, FOX is going to unveil the series in over 100 countries on that date. In the time before the premiere, star Kiefer Sutherland will participate in a promotional tour for the series that will be sponsored by Unilever. He will wrap up the tour on March 18, the day before the worldwide premiere. FOX notes that that date is “a date that figures prominently in Touch’s pilot episode.”

Tonight you can watch the Touch pilot/preview episode at 8:00pm CT/9:00pm ET on FOX. And, starting March 19 Touch will air regularly on Mondays at 8:00pm CT/9:00pm ET on FOX.

Here are episode stills from tonight’s Touch preview:

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Follow Touch on Twitter – @TOUCHonTV
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Touch © FOX Broadcasting Network
Photos © Richard Foreman/FOX

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‘Underworld: Awakening’ Premiere Photos + ‘Underworld: Awakening’ Wins Weekend

January 25th, 2012 | Posted by Nezi

The premiere for the Screen Gems action flick Underworld: Awakening was held at Mann Grauman’s Chinese Theater last Thursday. Lovely British actress Kate Beckinsale returned to her star-making turn as the vampire Selene in the fourth movie in the Underworld franchise. Beckinsale’s character appears in the 1st, 2nd and 4th movies in the series. Underworld: Awakening won the weekend box office, beating out the Tuskegee Airmen tale Red Tails and Mark Wahlberg’s latest, Contraband. Underworld: Awakening brought in $25+ million in ticket sales, with Red Tails garnering $18+ million, and Contraband taking third place over the weekend with around $12 million.

At the Underworld: Awakening premiere last week, Kate Beckinsale was joined by her writer-producer husband Len Wiseman and co-stars Michael Ealy, India Eisley, and Theo James. Co-directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein were also in attendance.

Underworld: Awakening is in theaters across the States now. The movie opens in Germany on February 2, Hong Kong on February 23, Brazil on March 2, and finally in Norway on March 23.

Here are photos from the Underworld: Awakening premiere in L.A. on Thursday, January 19, featuring Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy, India Eisley, Theo James, and Len Wiseman.

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Underworld: Awakening © Screen Gems
Photos © SPE, Inc./Eric Charbonneau
Photos © 2012 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc

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Segel in ‘Jeff, Who Lives at Home’ – Trailer

January 25th, 2012 | Posted by Nezi
Jeff, Who Lives at Home - Onesheet

Jason Segel & Ed Helms Star

Hello, on this lovely Wednesday. Today I have the trailer for the upcoming comedy Jeff, Who Lives at Home. The movie stars Jason Segel, the Freaks and Geeks(♥!!!) alum who has certainly “made it” in Hollywood the past few years. Segel was most recently seen in theaters in The Muppets, which he starred in and co-wrote. The actor, who also co-stars in How I Met Your Mother on CBS, plays slacker Jeff in the new movie from the Duplass Brothers.

In Jeff, Who Lives at Home, Jeff’s mother is ready for him to move out of her basement. But when Jeff is on his way to the store to buy wood glue for her, he decides he should look for signs from the universe to determine his path. When Jeff visits his brother Pat the two get caught up in shadowing Pat’s wife, who he suspects of having an affair. On this strange day in the life of Jeff he just may find the meaning of his life… and if he’s lucky, pick up the wood glue as well.

Check out the trailer for Jeff, Who Lives at Home…

Joining Jason Segel in Jeff, Who Lives at Home are Ed Helms as Jeff’s brother Pat, Judy Greer as Pat’s wife Linda, and Susan Sarandon as Jeff’s mom. The movie was written and directed by Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home opens in limited release in the States on March 16.

Follow Jeff, Who Lives at Home stars on Twitter -

@jasonsegel – Jason Segel
@edhelms – Ed Helms
@missjudygreer – Judy Greer
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Jeff, Who Lives at Home © Paramount Vantage
How I Met Your Mother © CBS
Video/Poster © Paramount Vantage

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Cut Ties on New ‘Justified’ – 01.24.12

January 24th, 2012 | Posted by Nezi

Hey-lo! Carla Gugino guests in tonight’s Justified. I imagine many men are happy about that because she’s beautiful. But, I’m also happy about that because she’s a terrific actress!

On tonight’s Justified, “Cut Ties,” the murder of a fellow Marshal throws Raylan together with a woman from his past. Meanwhile, Boyd engineers a showdown with Dickie Bennett.

In Justified, Timothy Olyphant stars as badass lawman, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Raylan has the tough job of taking on baddies in crime-ridden, drug-infested parts of Kentucky, including his hometown of Harlan. Walton Goggins plays Raylan’s occasional nemesis, and the baddie that you want to root for. Boyd tried his hand at being a good guy, but he decided it wasn’t working and got into drug dealing. Nick Searcy plays Raylan’s boss, Chief Deputy Art Mullen. Jacob Pitts plays a Marshall with a background as a sniper for the Army. Thankfully, because he had to save Raylan’s life with a headshot to close out last season. Erica Tazel plays the other Marshal in Raylan’s team, Rachel Brooks. Natalie Zea plays Winona, Raylan’s ex-wife, who is now his girlfriend. And, Joelle Carter plays Ava Crowder, Boyd’s former sister-in-law who is now his girlfriend.

This season on Justified there are some new recurring characters. Neal McDonough plays drug dealer Robert Quarles, who moves in from Detroit to take over the local Oxycontin dealing and establish himself as a crime boss. I’m sure Boyd will have a bit of a problem with that, as he struck a deal with Mags Bennett for the local Oxy trade last season. Mykelti Williamson plays Limehouse, a local from Harlan County who has ideas of his own about making a play for local crime lord. Emmy®-nominee Jeremy Davies will be back to reprise his role as Dickie Bennett this season. We can expect Boyd to be out for revenge for Ava’s getting shot by Dickie’s gang last season, but we can also expect Dickie to be out for his own revenge against Raylan after his entire family got wiped out to end season two.

In tonight’s Justified, Carla Gugino guest-stars as the woman from Raylan’s past. Damon Herriman returns as dense Dewey Crowe. Other guest-stars are Mel Fair as Nelson Dunlop, David Fernandez Jr. as Adan, Michael Harding as Marshal Bill Nichols, Frank John Hughes as Terry Powe, Hector Atreyu Ruiz as Guero Moncada.

Justified airs tonight, January 24, at 9:00pm CT/10:00pm ET on FX Network. Here are episode stills from “Cut Ties,” courtesy of FX.

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Justified © FX Network
Photos © Prashant Gupta/FX Network

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Lawrence Announces 2012 Oscar Nominees

January 24th, 2012 | Posted by Nezi

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® announced the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards® today. A.M.P.A.S.® President Tom Sherak and actress Jennifer Lawrence made the announcement at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater bright and early this morning. Lawrence was invited to make the announcements because she was a nominee last year for her performance in Winter’s Bone. According to A.M.P.A.S®, Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories. In other words, actors can nominate actors, directors can nominate directors, etc. All eligible voting members of the Academy are allowed to select the Best Picture nominees, and all active and life members of the Academy are eligible to select the winners in all categories. According to A.M.P.A.S.®, the Academy currently has 5,783 voting members.

84th Oscar® Nominations- Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence Announces Academy Award® Nominees

The 84th Academy Awards® will honor the outstanding film achievements of 2011 on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®. ABC will televise the Oscars® at 6:00pm CT/7:00pm ET on that date, with Billy Crystal set to host the evening.

84th Oscar® Nominations- Jennifer Lawrence - A.M.P.A.S.® President Tom Sherak

Jennifer Lawrence & Tom Sherak Announce Oscar® Nominees

Here are the nominations announced this morning…

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE -

Demián Bichir in A Better Life (Summit Entertainment)
George Clooney in The Descendants (Fox Searchlight)
Jean Dujardin in The Artist (The Weinstein Company)
Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in Moneyball (Sony Pictures Releasing)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE -

Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs (Roadside Attractions)
Viola Davis in The Help (Touchstone)
Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady (The Weinstein Company)
Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn (The Weinstein Company)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -

Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn (The Weinstein Company)
Jonah Hill in Moneyball (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Nick Nolte in Warrior (Lionsgate)
Christopher Plummer in Beginners (Focus Features)
Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE -

Bérénice Bejo in The Artist (The Weinstein Company)
Jessica Chastain in The Help (Touchstone)
Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids (Universal)
Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs (Roadside Attractions)
Octavia Spencer in The Help (Touchstone)

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING -

Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist (The Weinstein Company)
Alexander Payne for The Descendants (Fox Searchlight)
Martin Scorsese for Hugo (Paramount)
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics)
Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY -

The Descendants – Screenplay by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Hugo – Screenplay by John Logan
The Ides of March – Screenplay by George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Screenplay by Steven Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY -

The Artist (The Weinstein Company) Written by Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids (Universal) Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call (Roadside Attractions) Written by J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Woody Allen
A Separation (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Asghar Farhadi

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR -

The Artist – Thomas Langmann, Producer
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Producers
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin, Producer
The Help – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus & Michael Barnathan, Producers
Hugo – Graham King & Martin Scorsese, Producers
Midnight in Paris – Letty Aronson & Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz & Brad Pitt, Producers
The Tree of Life – Nominees to be determined
War Horse – Steven Spielberg & Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR A MOTION PICTURE (ORIGINAL SCORE) -

John Williams for The Adventures of Tintin (Paramount)
Ludovic Bource for The Artist (The Weinstein Company)
Howard Shore for Hugo (Paramount)
Alberto Iglesias for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Focus Features)
John Williams for War Horse (Touchstone)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR -

Bullhead – A Savage Film Production, Belgium
Footnote – (Sony Pictures Classics) A Footnote Limited Partnership Prod., Israel
In Darkness – (Sony Pictures Classics) A Studio Filmowe Zebra Production, Poland
Monsieur Lazhar – (Music Box Films) A micro_scope Production, Canada
A Separation – (Sony Pictures Classics) A Dreamlab Films Production, Iran

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE -

Hell and Back Again – Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky
Pina – Wim Wenders & Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay & Richard Middlemas
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Marshall Curry & Sam Cullman

BEST ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR -

A Cat in Paris (GKIDS) Alain Gagnol & Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita (GKIDS) Fernando Trueba & Javier Mariscal
Puss in Boots (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) Chris Miller
Rango (Paramount) Gore Verbinski
Kung Fu Panda 2 (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) Jennifer Yuh Nelson

For the rest of the nominees go to Oscars.com, HERE.

Are there any snubs that you find annoying? Or is there a nomination that you are especially happy about? I am a little surprised that Ryan Gosling wasn’t nominated, and especially Michael Fassbender as he had one of the most talked about roles of the year in Shame – and both were nominated for Golden Globes®. I think anyone who loves great acting is happy to see Gary Oldman included though. If had a vote, Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain would win for The Help. Although, I am happy to see Melissa McCarthy got a nomination for her hysterically funny role in Bridesmaids. The Oscars® usually overlook those type of comedy performances but I’m happy that the screenplay and McCarthy both received nominations.

You can follow the Oscars® on Facebook, HERE, and on Twitter – @TheAcademy

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Academy Award®/Oscar® © Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®
Photos by Todd Wawrychuk/Richard Harbaugh
Photos © A.M.P.A.S.®

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