VH Corner

Nationwide Releases

Open Season

A domesticated bear is shown the wilds of the forest by a deer, but it just happens to be during open season, making it more dangerous than usual outside.

RT Score: 52%
RT Consensus: Open Season is a cliched palette of tired jokes and CG animal shenanigans that have been seen multiple times this cinematic year.

If you’re old enough to read this, odds are the first thing you want to know about “Open Season” is: “How much is this going to annoy me?”
- Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

The overfamiliar Open Season feels like just another CG ‘toon in our ‘toon-glutted times.
- Gregory Kirschling
Entertainment Weekly

Not surprisingly, Ashton Kutcher seems to have found his niche playing the jackass… er… mule deer.
- Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

Though silly and predictable, this animated comedy has stunning visuals, a catchy soundtrack and charming characters that are family-friendly crowd-pleasers.
- Angel Cohn
TV Guide’s Movie Guide

It’s a tired rehash of animation cliches that distinguishes itself only by the extent to which it’s crammed full of scatology and gleeful violence to animals, and otherwise panders to the worst instincts of its audience.
- William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Disney never showed, say, Goofy actually defecating on camera, but ‘Open Season’ does just that with Eliott. And an entire scene is built around Boog’s having a b.m.
- Steve Crum
Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers

 

The Guardian

Ashton Kutcher is the new Coast Guard trainee and Kevin Coster is his teacher and mentor.

RT Score: 37%
RT Consensus: The Coast Guard gets its chance for a heroic movie tribute, but The Guardian does it no justice, borrowing cliche after cliche from other (and better) military branch movies.

“The Guardian” is one of the worst movies to come out this year because it’s such a crass, unwieldy mess of military-flick clichés. It’s a rock-headed copy of a copy of a copy, halfheartedly written, acted and edited.
- Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

The brave women and men who serve as United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers perform courageous, lifesaving feats every day. Clocking in at a Waterworldly 139 minutes, The Guardian catalogs every one of them.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

The Guardian is further proof that there really is nothing original left in Big Studio (BS) Hollywood.
- Tracy Allerton
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Despite the movie being overly long and fairly cliched, it makes a strong showcase for Kevin Costner’s seasoned charisma.
- William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

That the film doesn’t rise above the formulaic is a particular disappointment as these stunningly brave Rescue Swimmers deserve a film as daring as they are.
- James Greenberg
Hollywood Reporter

Impossible tests of endurance: check. Grinding down of cadet’s arrogance: check. Phony romance between cadet and sassy babe: check. Fatherly benediction, the newly minted hero bursting with pride: check. Boo-rah!
- J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

 

School for Scoundrels

Jon Heder has no self-esteem or confidence so he takes a confidence-building class from Billy Bob Thorton. It works great until the girl he has been trying to talk to ends up being pursued by Billy Bob too.

RT Score: 26%
RT Consensus: School for Scoundrels squanders its talented cast with a formulaic, unfocused attempt at a romantic comedy that’s neither romantic nor funny.

Director Todd Phillips tries for the kind of frat slaphappiness he applied so successfully to Old School, but these boys are less scoundrels than individual salesmen for the brands of Heder and Thornton.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

Phillips is here to stay. And the whacked humor and sneaky substance of School for Scoundrels is another compelling reason why.
- Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

If IKEA made movies, they might look something like this: a big bunch of prefabricated parts that not so obviously fit together.
- Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

Eventually, implausible plot mechanics replace winning character comedy…
- John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

How a movie with appearances by David Cross, Sarah Silverman, Luis Guzman and Matt Walsh isn’t the funniest movie ever made is pretty incredible.
- Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

As long as the movie stays focused on the competition between Roger and Dr. P, it is hilarious.
- Pam Grady
Reel.com

Limited Releases

The Queen

Queen Elizabeth’s story of how she handled Princess Diana’s death in Paris.

RT Score: 97%
RT Consensus: The Queen is an unexpectedly moving portrait of the British royal family, with a remarkable performance by Helen Mirren.

Mirren conjures Elizabeth as an identifiable flesh-and-blood wife, mother, grandmother, and woman with a job to do.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

All hail Helen Mirren, who delivers a master class in acting in The Queen.
- Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

The Queen is the most reverent irreverent comedy imaginable. Or maybe it s the most irreverent reverent comedy. Either way, it s a small masterpiece.
- David Edelstein
New York Magazine

Tradition and informality collide — and mutually benefit — in the deliciously written and expertly played The Queen.
- Derek Elley
Variety

Whether or not Tony Blair actually saved the British monarchy, Frears has made it seem so and even worth doing.
- J. Hoberman
Village Voice

The perfect combination of historical extrapolation and subversive political commentary … make[s] you feel as if you’re watching real events transpire.
- Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

The Last King of Scotland

In 1971, Idi Amin took over the country of Uganda with the promise of freeing it from British control. When he fled in 1979, he had executed 300,000 of his own people.

RT Score: 88%
RT Consensus: Forest Whitaker’s performance as real-life megalomaniac dictator Idi Amin powers this fictionalized political thriller, a blunt and brutal tale about power and corruption.

I can’t think of a better actor to toggle between media-savvy jester and stone-cold killer than Forest Whitaker, who, even dressed in a kilt, conveys serious menace along with mania.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

It would all be for naught without Whitaker, who makes Amin fun, funny, vulnerable and poignant while never letting us forget his murderous monomania.
- Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

As storytelling, it could use some fine tuning, but it keeps its dark premise close to its heart at all times.
- Rob Vaux
Flipside Movie Emporium

A stinging rebuke to both do-gooder white-man’s-burden fantasies and the disingenuous, Africa-exoticizing movies that promote them.
- Nick Schager
Nick Schager Film Project

Starts well, but trips over preposterous plot developments as it pushes toward its climax.
- Todd McCarthy
Variety

This is not hyperbole. This is how good Whitaker is: He actually makes you feel sorry for Idi Amin.
- Christy Lemire
Associated Press

Be With Me

Three stories not tied together except for the common theme of all wanting love.

RT Score: 86%

Singaporean writer-director Eric Khoo’s third feature is a beautiful, contemplative study of love — unrequited, unfulfilled and reborn.
- Ken Fox
TV Guide’s Movie Guide

A delicately crafted, gently inflected, lovely little movie about the need for love.
- Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

Viewers’ patience will be rewarded as the stories come together in a moving fashion.
- V.A. Musetto
New York Post

Although four stories are folded together in Eric Khoos elliptical film, it’s the true story of a deaf and blind Singaporean woman that gives the movie its backbone.
- Stephen Holden
New York Times

Pic’s awkward combo of true life and fiction doesn’t really work in a dramatically cohesive way, despite incidental pleasures and character vignettes.
- Derek Elley
Variety

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

In New York during the mid-80s a kid starts going towards the violent side of life, with his father’s push, but doesn’t want that for himself so he takes off. Years later he comes back home because his dad is sick, and sees what happened to those he left behind.

RT Score: 79%
RT Consensus: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a lively, powerful coming-of-age tale with winning performances and sharp direction from first-timer Dito Montiel.

The gods of cool appear to have kissed Dito Montiel’s fingertips.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

Former hard-core punk rocker Dito Montiel’s directorial debut, based on his memoir of the same name, has a raw street authenticity to it, but frequently runs into trouble when real life fails to follow a good story arc.
- Luke Y. Thompson
E! Online

Montiel attempts to interweave past and present, but he yields so much time to his teenage years that the present-day material comes perilously close to looking like a framing story.
- Scott Tobias
Onion AV Club

If John Cassavetes had made coming-of-age stories, they might have turned out a lot like first-time writer/director Dito Montiel’s A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.
- Ray Greene
Boxoffice Magazine

Saints is so personal and site-specific a work that it’s hard to imagine what Dito Montiel will pull out of his hat for an encore. But even if this is the only movie he has in him, the Queens kid hasn’t done so badly for himself after all.
- Dana Stevens
Slate

LoudQUIETloud: A Film about the Pixies

Documentary follows the Pixies when they reunited in 2004.

RT Score: 55%

The fascinating ‘loudQUIETloud’ plays a bit like the alt-rock version of the Metallica documentary ‘Some Kind of Monster,’ as the Pixies try to hold it together through mental breakdowns, family tragedies and those ever-popular musical differences.
- Scott Von Doviak
culturevulture.net

The real draw is the insight into the group’s dynamic, heretofore shaded in mystery.
- Marrit Ingman
Austin Chronicle

The concert footage, which is exceptionally well photographed and recorded, offers clips of varying lengths from a wealth of songs. The rest of the film glimpses the stress disorders that can develop when average people with problems become popular.
- Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Boring people who made extraordinary music, the Pixies are inexplicable. In attempting to demystify them, this backstage pass to their 2004 reunion tour achieves the opposite.
- Nathan Lee
New York Times

For fans of the seminal alt-rock quartet, the Pixies’ reunion was momentous, but in the solid behind-the-scenes documentary loudQuietloud, the band comes across as considerably more muted in its enthusiasm.
- Scott Tobias
Onion AV Club

Facing the Giants

A good guy, but bad football coach faces his own fears, while helping his team face their fears in order to turn their game around.

RT Score: 22%

..more a ministry tool than entertainment, but it is an encouraging development in the ongoing struggle against Hollywood hegemony.
- Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Facing the Giants falls victim to the tell-don’t-show brand of filmmaking, in which every character always says exactly what he’s feeling and every time a character’s flaws are pointed out to him, they are immediately corrected.
- Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

This time, Jesus rather than Burt Reynolds or The Rock gets the credit for leading an underdog team of football players to victory.
- John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

The religious proselytizing in this football movie is about as subtle as a blindside hit by a 300-pound defensive end.
- Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune

I’m not about to argue with the message, but the delivery system sinks below the level of after-school special, and the acting matches.
- Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News

If it cannot avoid the clichés of both the sports film and the inspirational film, at least Facing the Giants leavens its message with good humor.
- Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

Smith - CBS
Tuesday 10/9c

Ray Liotta leads a team of thieves (Simon Baker, Amy Smart, Jonny Lee Miller) pulling off major heists before going back to his average life with his wife, Virginia Madsen, and kids.

What I read from critics was that they weren’t sure audiences were going to be interested in watching a bunch of thieves and killers as the central part of the show. That might be true, but I thought it was fun to watch! I do like heist shows like Hustle, so I had to check it out. The pilot was very flashy, but really drew you into the characters in a short period of time.

Bobby Stevens is the mastermind with a life as a Midwest sales guy for cups or something and a homelife with two young kids and his wife, Virginia Madsen. She seem suspicious of his business trips, but hasn’t said anything to him yet. She also seems to have a drug past since she has to go visit her parole officer toward the end of the show. Bobby has an entire other life when he is running the various jobs. He has another house, cash, IDs, credit cards, etc. that he can use to pull off these elaborate jobs. Of course, he wants to quit soon, but since the series just started, I doubt that will happen.

So far my favorite part was when Jeff was surfing and came up on the beach and started talking to two guys. They said that he wasn’t welcome around there and he was on private property. He said he didn’t see any signs. The guys said he wasn’t welcome. He apologized and went on his way. Back at his jeep, parked off the beach a bit, he whistled away, while he pulled out a scope rifle and shot both the guys. Don’t be mean to him! I laughed and knew I would like this show.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - NBC
Monday 10/9c

Aaron Sorkin s latest show about the backstage goings-on for a late night sketch show starring Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet.

Like any Aaron Sorkin show, this one is fast-paced and features tons of characters and walking. While I don’t know who everyone is yet, I know I will so I’m going with the flow. I’m used to figuring it out as I go along. I laughed and was very entertained at the first episode.

The only thing I didn’t like was Amanda Peet. I have liked her in everything I have seen her in before, so I don’t know what her deal is in this show. She didn’t come across as someone in charge of anything, let alone a network. She also had the one expression the entire show. It was a bemused look or was it dazed? Either way, it was halfway to an actual expression, but was halted. Maybe by her tight hairstyle? Jer and I were ready to go find something to drink and down it the second she changed her expression, but it didn’t happen.

It became really apparent how out of place Amanda Peet was when she had to interact or just stand near Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford. They play the writer and director of the SNL-type show that were fired (or quit?) a few years ago, and the show has slowly been going downhill since. Now that the show is in major trouble, they are brought back on. Those two are hilarious and can actually handle Sorkin’s dialogue, which is so quick and the humor is subtle. I love it. I loved Friends, but didn’t realize how good of a comedic actor Matthew Perry was until he was making me laugh while standing around making a face while he tried to make a decision. Bradley Whitford is the same way, but I already knew that from the West Wing.

I am looking forward to more of this show!

Justice - FOX
Wednesday 9/8c

Victor Garber (Alias) heads up a cast of attorneys that deal with high-profile cases.

The show promised to be the “CSI of law shows” by showing the behind-the-scenes of preparing clients and evidence for the trial. The law firm is very flashy. They have a bunch of high-tech gadgetry that helps them keep everything straight. They have tons of interns and research assistants to go through tons of paper from the prosecution so nothing is overlooked. There are mock juries and a jury consultant on hand to help tweak their presentation. Sometimes, they need to get an expert witness to explain things more clearly or make it more exciting so the jury doesn’t get bored. Sometimes the lawyers need to dress a different way to present themselves like the potential jurors. Other times they have to decide if demonstrations will go over with the jury or if it will be deemed too “flashy”. And then there are the times where a jury won’t like one lawyer over another so they have to not defend the client at all or risk alienating the jury. At the end of the show, after the trial is over, there is a scene showing what actually happened.

I didn’t really like this show at first. It wasn’t winning me over. The characters weren’t well-written or there didn’t seem to be much to them. It was all too flashy for me right up front. I didn’t seem to care at the end of the first episode what really happened to the client’s wife. Did she bump her head and fall into the pool to drown or did he hit her with a golf club and kill her? I didn’t really care much. The second episode didn’t do much for me either, which was a small-town girl dating a rich, married music executive and was accused of killing him for his money. They both seemed like stories that I had seen before, so there was no real surprise for me while watching any of it.

It wasn’t until the third episode that I finally became hooked. It was about an Orange County bartender accused to killing a runaway bride. He drove her home, but said she was alive when he dropped her off. She was missing, and blood was found in his car, so everyone assumed he killed her. Part of what was interesting was the lawyers had to try the case in Orange County instead of L.A. so their approach was different and more subdued. Their experts were more interesting and there was some debate on whether they should have a demonstration in court about showing how the defendant’s hand prints were too small to be the ones left on the runaway bride’s neck (she was eventually found dead). The gadgets used were super cool!

I also liked that in starting in the second episode and continuing on in the third was bits and pieces of the lawyers’ personal lives have been revealed. It makes them more interesting and makes them react differently to the same situations when they have personalities. They are becoming less cookie cutter.

What I really noticed about watching the last episode was that I couldn’t wait to see how it ended, and then what really happened. I had been watching the series while I was getting ready for work, so I would watch half of it one morning and the last half the next morning. The third episode was the only one where I came home from work and watched the rest of it, since I wanted to know how it ended. I coudn’t wait for the next day.

Vanished - FOX
Monday 9/8c

Senator Collin’s wife, Sara, vanishes during a social function. The FBI is brought in to handle it and evidence leads to a bunch of secrets that everyone is carrying.

I have tried to like this show. I didn’t have high hopes for it, but thought I’d watch it until the other new shows started for the season. If it was interesting, I’d continue to watch it. It is a serialized show, which I do like. I like cliffhangers and continuing storylines. I have no problem with it since I usually watch all episodes of a show anyway instead of catching it when I can.

I liked the puzzles and mysteries presented in the first couple of episodes. Those kept me intrigued, even when some of the characters loved to overact, including Gale Harold and Ming-Na. I saw Gale Harold act briefly in Deadwood recently when he played Wyatt Earp and he could act there. I have seen Ming-Na act in The Joy Luck Club and ER so I know she can too. Why both of them are overacting like a bunch of newbies, I don’t know. When Harold’s Agent Kelton threatens one guy, I tried not to laugh. When Ming-Na’s Agent Mei tried to act tough, I also held back the giggling. They just aren’t believable. It could be the horrible writing. The dialogue is pretty lame and generic.

Then there is Penelope Ann Miller has Senator Collins’ ex-wife. She struts around with a smirk on her face the entire time. I can’t tell if she has a secret or if she is perpetually drunk. I don’t believe her character is supposed to be an alcoholic, so it might be the actress. She wasn’t very subtle when she was portrayed from the beginning as someone you can’t trust and could possibly be evil. I rolled my eyes.

Other than those winners, I like Rebecca Gayheart’s reporter character. She’s actually trying to follow something interesting–Sara was pretending (or thought she was) someone else for four months, twelve years ago. Also, she has not lost the art of acting.

Then there are the senator’s kids. The son just sorts of frets and hasn’t done much so I don’t have much to say about him. His daughter, Marcy, is highly annoying. She whines when she isn’t with her boyfriend Ben, who is also annoying. I was hoping he would die, but it hasn’t happened. He seems to actually be innocent of things he has been accused, which is just too bad for all of us.

The puzzles and mysteries that I mentioned in the first couple of episodes have died out a bit. There isn’t as much to interest me in the last couple of episodes that used to interest me. I have been forcing myself to watch the episode from this past Monday, yet I haven’t made it through it yet. I have watch parts of it at three separate periods, but get bored and turn it off to finish it later. I think that’s a sign that I’m losing interest. As more new shows premiere, I’ll probably end up ignoring it and deleting it off the TiVo later.

These are the top new show picks from the critics:

Entertainment Weekly

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
The Knights of Prosperity
Friday Night Lights
The Nine
Jericho
Ugly Betty

TV Guide

Buzz Worthy

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
The Class
Friday Night Lights
Ugly Betty

Best Drama

The Nine

Best Comedy

30 Rock

Returning Drama

Crossing Jordan

Premieres: Friday, October 20
Time: 8/7c

Last season: After deciding it was bad timing for Jordan and Woody…again, they decide to be friends. Lilly almost marry’s D.A. Jeffery, but leaves him at the altar when Bug confesses his love for her…again. Jordan wakes up in bed with ex Pollack who is dead, she’s holding a gun, covered in blood, and remembers nothing, so she runs off.

This season: Jordan’s name is cleared, but tons of rules are broken and there are consequences. Jordan also goes back to her old rule-breaking ways, and the love triangle between Jordan, Woody and Lu is toned down. One of the major characters dies early on in the season. A new special prosecutor and medical examiner join the cast.

ER

Premieres: Thursday, September 21
Time: 10/9c

Last season: Abby and Luka hooked up again, and she ended up pregnant. Neela and Ray flirted, so she moved out after she married Gallant, but ended up widowed when he was killed after volunteering to return to Iraq. Pratt was sent to Africa to hang out with Carter and learn some humility. Sam’s ex-husband faked an illness to get into the hospital, and with two helpers, escaped prison, taking Sam and their son Alex as hostages, leaving Abby wounded and going into labor, Jerry in critical condition, and Luka paralyzed.

This season: John Stamos returns as the paramedic character that showed up in two episodes last season and flirted with Neela. He’s a series regular now and still has eyes for Neela. Of course, so does Ray. A major character dies. Other newbies join the cast as doctors, interns and nurses.

Las Vegas

Premieres: Friday, October 20
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Delinda ran away from her wedding and right into Danny’s arms. Ed was shot.

This season: Ed may or may not die. Sam and Mike take off to Hawaii in the first few episodes to following a high roller with major debts. Another crossover with Crossing Jordan is in the works.

Law & Order

Premieres: Friday, September 22
Time: 10/9c

Last season: Fairly new ADA Borgia was found murdered in a car trunk. Detective Fontana decided to retire.

This season: Alana De La Garza (Marisol from CSI:Miami) will be the new ADA. For the first time, there will be a female detective on the show, Milena Govich, playing Det. Nina Cassidy. The show will also focus on the personal lives of the characters more than it did in the past.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Premieres: Tuesday, September 19
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Annabella Scorria and Chris Noth joined as two detectives to help the Major Case Squad, with Chris Noth playing his formerly exiled cop from his old Law & Order days. Capt. Deakins stepped down due to allegations that he knew were false, but he couldn’t really fight.

This season: After the season ended, Courtney B. Vance (ADA Ron Carver) and Annabella Scorria left the show. Julianna Nicholson joins as Det. Megan Wheeler and Eric Bogosian will be the new Capt. Danny Ross. The new captain wants Eames to control Goren and his crazy behavior some, while Goren tries to figure out why he is the way he is from his old mentor, John Glover.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Premieres: Tuesday, September 19
Time: 10/9c

Last season: After separating from his wife, Stabler managed to alienate Benson with his increasing rage. She decided to make a change of pace from SVU and work in computer crimes for a while.

This season: Benson will be in the first episode (filmed in January) before Mariska Hargitay is absent (under the pretense of working in the computer crimes department) for six episodes due to her maternity leave. Connie Nielsen will be Stabler’s temporary partner in the meantime, and there is some sexual tension between those two.

Returning Comedy

My Name Is Earl

Premieres: Thursday, September 21
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Earl Hickey decided that he had to improve his karma and start righting all the wrongs he had done in his life.

This season: The characters grow in slight ways, but still retain their personalities. Joy and Randy handle some voice overs during the season. Burt Reynolds guest stars as a strip club owner.

The Office

Premieres: Thursday, September 21
Time: 8:30/7:30c

Last season: Michael finally managed to convince Jan to go on a date with him to the office’s Casino Night and managed to get a date with his real estate agent on the same night, so two dates for Michael! Pam finally set a date for her wedding, and after her wedding planning was driving Jim crazy, he applied to work at another branch. On the Casino Night, he took a chance to tell Pam how he felt and kissed her.

This season: We’ll find out what happens with Jim and Pam during the first episode. Ed Helms (The Daily Show) will be joining the cast for part of the season. Ricky Gervais (creator of the British original) will be writing an episode. Michael has to face the wrath of Jan after he picked his real estate agent as his date.

Returning Reality

The Biggest Loser

Premieres: Wednesday, September 20
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Matt was the biggest loser from fourteen contestants last year.

This season: It starts off with a contestant from each of the 50 states and is then whittled down to fourteen who get to stay on at the ranch with the trainers. The ones that don’t make will be followed home where viewers can monitor their progress at home online with the help of dietitians.

Deal or No Deal

Premieres: Monday, September 18
Time: 8/7c

Last season: The highest amount won last season was $464,000 where contestants try to pick the briefcase with the most money or take a deal from the “banker”.

This season: The biggest prize money will be raised to $6 million this season. It will start off four nights a week its first week, but will move to Mondays and Thursdays after that.

Source: Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, AOL

Well, returning shows from what was WB and UPN.

Returning Drama

7th Heaven

Premieres: Monday, September 25
Time: 8/7c

Last season: The show had its series finale and the news that three sets of twins were coming soon.

This season: The show was renewed after stellar ratings for the series finale and the hopes that an established show would help the brand-new CW network. The parents are back full-time, but most of the kids will only be around part-time. Haylie Duff joins as a regular cast member and her character enters the seminary.

Gilmore Girls

Premieres: Tuesday, September 26
Time: 8/7c

Last season: After a huge fight, Luke and Lorelai broke off their engagement and she fell into bed with her ex, Christopher. Rory said goodbye to Logan who is heading off to work in London for a year after he graduated Yale.

This season: Luke finds out what happened with Lorelai and Christopher quickly and they go their separate ways. She lives with Christopher and Luke bonds with his daughter and her mother, Ava. Rory tries to deal with a long-distance relationship while attending Yale. Paris starts her own SAT-tutoring business. Richard Gilmore starts teaching at Yale and Emily will teach etiquette to young girls. Lane and Zach figured out their new life as newlyweds.

One Tree Hill

Premieres: Wednesday, September 27
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Coop and Rache’s limo went off a bridge. Nathan jumped in to save them. Lucas found out another girl was pregnant. Someone found out what Dan did to his dad when he found the word “murderer” painted on his wall.

This season: The “murderer” could be someone knowing what Dan did or his guilt playing tricks with his mind. His dad’s ghost haunts him. Peyton finds out she has a half-brother.

Smallville

Premieres: Thursday, September 28
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Clark broke up with Lana after having a seeing her future of death if he stayed with her. She ran right into Lex’s arms, which is not what Clark intended. He battled Dr. Milton Fine, aka Braniac, who helped free Zod right into Lex’s body giving him superpowers of his own. Havoc was wrecked upon Smallville and Metropolis with Clark banished to the Phantom Zone. Martha and Lois were trapped on a flight going somewhere they didn’t know and no way to control it.

This season: Clark manages to get freed from the Phantom Zone, but lets out other baddies in the process. Billionaire Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, shows up and wants to form the Justice League with Clark. Clark isn’t interested in teaming up with anymore rich guys, especially ones that went to boarding school with Lex. Chloe’s one-time spring fling, Jimmy Olsen, shows up to work at the Daily Planet.

Supernatural

Premieres: Thursday, September 28
Time: 9/8c

Last season: After Sam and Dean finally found their dad, and he found a gun that could kill the demon that killed the boy’s mother, Sam didn’t shoot his father to kill the demon that had embodied him. The demon got away and everyone got rammed by a huge semi that the demon was driving, leaving them all for dead.

This season: Everyone survives the accident. The guys find out about other hunters out there, including a place where hunters go to rest that is run by a mother and her daughter. Dean hits it off with the daughter who is around his age.

Veronica Mars

Premieres: Tuesday, October 3
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Veronica figured out Beaver was behind the school bus crash. She graduated high school and reunited with Logan. She was about to go on a graduation trip with her father, when he left her stranded at the airport after receiving a mysterious visit from Kendall, who had just shot Aaron Eckart shortly after he was acquitted of murdering Lilly Kane.

This season: Logan and Veronica are still hot and heavy. Veronica starts classes at Hearst College with buds Wallace and Mac. Mac and Sheriff Lamb become series regulars. There will be three shorter mysteries during the season instead of a season-long arc. The first one will be the serial rapist that was mentioned at the end of last season.

Returning Comedy

All of Us

Premieres: Sunday, October 1
Time: 7:30/6:30c

Last season: Tia tried to decide if she wanted to be married with Robert, when it would being so closely involved with his ex-wife, Neesee, especially after Neesee received a long-lost love letter Robert wrote to her four years ago before they divorce that made her reconsider her feelings for him.

This season: Neesee wants to get back together with Robert. Tia is caught in the middle. Their young son starts to go through puberty.

Everybody Hates Chris

Premieres: Sunday, October 1
Time: 7/6c

Last season: Chris tried to transfer school, which didn’t work. Julius wanted a day alone for Father’s Day, which did not go over well with Rochelle.

This season: Jason Alexander will guest star as Chris’s principal. Whoopi Goldberg will guest star as the grandmother of a girl Chris has a crush on in his building.

Girlfriends

Premieres: Sunday, October 1
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Joan didn’t show up to Toni’s child custody hearing due to being hungover. Darnell ditched his wife to work for a NASCAR pit crew in Florida. William tried to convince Monica to get back together with him.

This season: Joan has been working for Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans. Toni is gone from the show since the actress will not be returning. William and Monica will get engaged.

Returning Reality

America’s Next Top Model

Premieres: Wednesday, September 20
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Danielle was declared the winner.

This season: The models will live in a mansion in the Brentwood neighborhood of L.A. Janice Dickinson will be back as a guest judge from time to time. Much drama and craziness is promised from everyone.

Source: Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, AOL

Welcome to my stream of consciousness thinking while watching a Rockstar Supernova clip on YouTube the other day: singing Deep Purple….do I know this song?…I think I recognize the band name from that Freedom Rock commercial that was on years ago…that commercial was hilarious…it is the only way I know a bunch of songs from the 60s…I wonder if it is on YouTube. Yeah for YouTube!

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Nationwide Releases

Hollywoodland

Based on the true story of the unsolved death of TV’s Superman, George Reeves. Was it suicide or murder? Adrian Brody, Diane Lane and Ben Affleck star.

RT Score: 70%
RT Consensus: More than a movie star murder mystery, Hollywoodland takes it slow in order to reveal the intriguing details of the rise and fall of superstar fame.

The elegant biodrama Hollywoodland presents all options in its meditation on the price of the American way of fame, a toll exacted even back when ‘land’ still completed the letters of the sign famously visible from high in the Hollywood Hills.
-Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

In his generous spirit toward a forgotten icon, Affleck turns the death-obsessed Hollywoodland into, of all things, a film about resurrection.
- Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

Handsome film that gets the details right but often becomes lost in its own sprawling narrative.
- Boo Allen
Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

With its memorable performances and haunted film noir tone, Hollywoodland is among the early contenders for a place at next year’s Oscar table.
- John Wirt
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

… even though parts of the picture don’t quite hold together, in the end, it sticks with you.
- Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com

Ben Affleck is the Comeback Actor of the Year! … Affleck has revived his career with a brilliant performance that should be counted among the best of the year.
- Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com

Hollywoodland offers three scenarios to choose from, but the mystery becomes less rather than more interesting as the film goes on.
- Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times

 

The Protector

Tony Jaa (Ong Bak) plays a fighter that has his home village burned by outsiders. He goes into their city to seek revenge via a whole bunch of ass-kicking.

RT Score: 54%
RT Consensus: Despite some impressive fight scenes, this trimmed-down version of the Thai action pic is an off-putting mix of scant plot, choppy editing, and confusing subtitles and dubbing.

The elephants featured in The Protector have more personality than the star, which is a real problem.
- Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

After Ong-Bak and The Protector, Jaa has proven without a shadow of doubt that he is the real deal. Now I want to see him in a real movie, not just a showcase. This movie is a mess, but you ignore it because Jaa is so mesmerizing.
- Michelle Alexandria
Eclipse Magazine

The resulting fights range from choppy, grainy garbage to a truly spectacular centerpiece.
- Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

You’ll be exhausted when it’s over, but harbor a lingering sense of vicarious accomplishment.
- John Anderson
Newsday

Jaa is energetic and inventive as he climbs walls and performs backflips; Pinkaew directs like a video game creator, and together the two of them couldn’t care less about plot.
- Michael Booth
Denver Post

A furiously choreographed martial-arts spectacle wrapped in a fumbling narrative.
- Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

 

The Covenant

Families of warlocks have kept their silence of their powers for years, but one family that had been banished has come back. It seems to be up to the teenagers to win the battle.

RT Score: 2%
RT Consensus: This film is the result of a recycled storyline, models trying to pass as actors, scattered direction and choppy editing, with not a scare throughout.

Moviegoers need to band together for a covenant — stop buying tickets to Renny Harlin movies.
- Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

Whoops! A schlocky direct-to-video thriller accidentally got released into theaters!
- Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

… a diluted remix of Lost Boys.
- Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Where do WB pilots go when they die? Perhaps they’re reincarnated as lousy supernatural thrillers.
- Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

it’s really nothing more than really bad dialogue spoken by some of the most beautiful kids in Hollywood who can’t act their way out of a paper bag.
- Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

This sort of thing might work as a desperation rental — like if you’ve been injected with poison and must keep watching incredibly lame movies or die …
- Alex Markerson
E! Online

Limited Releases

Sherrybaby

Maggie Gyllenhaal is a recovering drug addict trying to make a new life for herself with her five-year-old daughter, but her brother and his wife don’t want to give her kid back, unemployment makes things difficult, along with probation.

RT Score: 67%
RT Consensus: Maggie Gyllenhaal delivers riveting performance as a recovering drug addict in a depressing and not entirely believable movie.

No matter how much grit writer-director Laurie Collyer sprinkles on the surface, the innards of this baby are pure formula.
- Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

… emotionally arresting …
- Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

Due to the unsympathetic nature of the lead character, it’s hard to emotionally invest in the film beyond that feeling of watching yet another Jerry Springer-friendly family adventure.
- Mark Bell
Film Threat

Mostly noteworthy for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s realistic portrayal of a troubled woman trying to get back her daughter.
- Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

Cranky and desperate, Gyllenhaal is impeccable, but this is such a familiar tale that the resolution cannot help but feel predetermined.
- Logan Hill
New York Magazine

 

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers

Looks at those making millions of dollars due to the Iraq war and all the people it is hurting in the process.

RT Score: 100%

As a film, it has its share of problems, but as rabble rousing, it’s a first rate rallying cry.
- David Cornelius
DVDTalk.com

The doc successfully excoriates the role of private business in Iraq but lacks even a smidgen of Michael Moore’s wit.
- Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

… crucial to fully understanding the Iraqi/American enterprise.
- Ken Fox
TV Guide’s Movie Guide

Both a trenchant indictment of war profiteering in Iraq and a memorial for those not included in the military’s death toll, Iraq for Sale is a work of intense disillusionment.
- Drew Tillman
Village Voice

Whatever you might think about the centrality of the profit motive to our society, what’s going on in Iraq is going to give you pause.
- Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times

Iraq for Sale isn’t balanced or objective. It carries the torch for the families of civilians who died while driving unprotected trucks on unsafe routes.
- Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle

Man Push Cart

A man who used to be a rock star in his homeland of Pakistan, now lives in New York selling coffee and donuts from a push cart, trying to save up enough money to afford a place to live for him and his young son.

RT Score: 95%

The writer-director, Ramin Bahrani, is a natural-born filmmaker who captures how the banal physical details of manning a pushcart could come to define a life.
- Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

Man Push Cart is often striking, but Bahrani never quite figures out how to drag this small character study out to feature length.
- Ethan Alter
Show Business Weekly

… a film that is at once a delicate, moving drama and a vibrant city symphony, offering a predawn view of New York seldom captured on film.
- Pam Grady
Reel.com

Bahrani and his DP Michael Simmonds illuminate the murky beauty — and hardscrabble economics — of New York’s all-night shadowland.
- Dennis Lim
Village Voice

If one of the things movies are supposed to do is make you look anew at the world around you, you may never see your doughnut vendor in the same way again.
- Dana Stevens
Slate

Le Petit Lieutenant

Follows a new cop in Paris who joins the undercover squad.

RT Score: 80%

The relationship between an enthusiastic young Paris homicide detective and his middle-age female supervisor is as important as the murders they are trying to solve in Xavier Beauvois’ taut police procedural.
- Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

Le Petit Lieutenant spends too much time laying the groundwork for a story that could be told more succinctly, but Beauvois works hard to establish office chemistry and orient Lespert to his new surroundings.
- Scott Tobias
Onion AV Club

an exemplary genre piece, melding a down-and-dirty 1970s vibe with a very modern perspective on the globalized nature of contemporary Paris.
- Josh Ralske
All Movie Guide

“Hill Street Blues” set in Paris, Xavier Beauvois updates film noir with a gritty tale of a tough woman in a tough city.
- Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

Le Petit Lieutenant, keeps such a lazy pace, with so many scenes that fail to move the story forward, that it should be cited for failing to meet the minimum speed for a crime drama.
- Kyle Smith
New York Post

Red Doors

Dysfunctional Chinese family living in the New York suburbs where the father has tried to commit suicide close to 40 times since he retired in between dealing with his three rebellious daughters.

RT Score: 59%

Named for the traditional Chinese color of good luck, the gentle indie drama Red Doors is really more in the rosy pink range of the color palette than a more primary emotional hue.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

Like many first-time writer-directors, she packs five films’ worth of drama, crises and revelations into one, and often lapses into sitcom triteness.
- Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide’s Movie Guide

A peppy if uneven charmer with a fetchingly wistful edge.
- Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly

Although deserving a place in the annals of dignified cinema, Georgia Lee’s breakthough feature film is a snoozer.
- Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

Without overdoing the quirk factor or the melodrama, Lee shows a sure feel for family dynamics, and her light touch brings out the best in the ensemble’s lovely, understated performances.
- Sheri Linden
Hollywood Reporter

Vajra Sky Over Tibet

Shows the culture of Tibet that is slowly losing its identity due to five decades of Chinese rule.

RT Score: 69%

An extraordinary and enthralling documentary about the richness of Tibetan Buddhism and the current threats to its continued existence in its homeland.
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

The images of gods and ordinary Tibetans that Bush captures are more eloquent that his turgid narration, and overall the film works better as a travelogue than an introduction to Tibetan Buddhist beliefs or history.
- Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide’s Movie Guide

A tonic for Buddhists, no doubt, it offers many pleasures to atheists as well.
- John Patterson
L.A. Weekly

[A] reverential act of bearing witness to a culture and religion being systematically erased…
- Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

The film simply takes too long to deliver its message.
- Michael Booth
Denver Post

 

Paper Dolls

Documentary about Filipinos transsexuals who left their unapproving families to find acceptance by the elderly people in Tel Aviv, Israel.

RT Score: 56%

Paper Dolls seems something of a cardboard cutout, perhaps because in covering so many of the Dolls one never sees clearly into their various inner lives.
- Kim Williamson
Boxoffice Magazine

The presentation is conventional, but the subject matter isn’t.
- V.A. Musetto
New York Post

… a rich, discretely damning 85-minute portrait of intolerance.
- Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

Director Tomer Heymann’s matter-of-fact style serves him well, but to say that the subject matter is of limited interest would be an understatement.
New York Magazine

I Trust You to Kill Me

Documentary about Keifer Sutherland taking his indie record label band, Rocoo DeLuca & the Burden, on their first international tour.

RT Score: 40%

Boyer dutifully follows Sutherland and the band around hotels, and documents a series of shows, devoting generous screen time to DeLuca’s tormented repertory, but overall the drama stays between the lines.
- Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide’s Movie Guide

A rather standard out-on-the-road rock doc except for one unique and under-explored twist: The 24 star, after signing the band to his label, impulsively decided to accompany them on this barnstorming adventure as their tour manager.
- Tim Grierson
L.A. Weekly

That Rocco DeLuca and the Burden are attached to Kiefer Sutherland is the only discernible reason for the existence of Manu Boyer’s inconsequential documentary.
- A.O. Scott
New York Times

Perhaps you are wondering why a little-known band called Rocco DeLuca and the Burden merits a glossy feature-length documentary of its whirlwind European tour. After watching Manu Boyer’s film, you may still wonder.
- Jim Ridley
Village Voice

Even when he looks like a complete dolt, Sutherland still comes off sympathetically, as a cool guy.
- Gregory Kirschling
Entertainment Weekly

 

Three Dollars

An honest man finds that the world has changed around him, and he needs to make a decision if he wants to keep his paycheck, and it could affect him and the three women in his life (wife, daughter and childhood sweetheart who keeps showing up).

RT Score: 80%

This adaptation of Elliot Perlman’s 1998 novel shifts uneasily at times around weighty themes, but its essential humanism still strikes chords.
- Richard Kuipers
VARIETY

Three Dollars, a depressing muddle of a film from Australia, isn’t likely to cause a stampede to purchase the award-winning novel on which it is based.
- Ruthe Stein
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

It’s sad when such a smart movie loses its way so badly. You want to pause it, take it by the hand, and guide it back on track again.
- Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Three Dollars is a significant comment on Australian society at this time when bureaucracy, mediocracy, land development oblivious to public health and corporate greed seem rampant over the interests of the ordinary, decent person.
- Avril Carruthers
Movie-Vault.com

It s a provocative portrait of contemporary Australia as well as being a highly entertaining movie and it should become part of many a lively debate.
- Peter Thompson
Sunday Online, Australia

 

Neo Ned

A neo nazi falls for a black girl in a mental institution, which really messes with his head.

RT Score: 60%

Neo Ned may be ludicrous on paper, but it has what fans of independent film are looking for — atmosphere, humanity and just a dash of fantastic drama.
- John Anderson
VARIETY

Never boring, never pretentious, never preachy, Neo Ned could find its place alongside some of the great independent romance films of all time, if enough people are able to catch a glimpse of it.
- Mark Bell
FILM THREAT

The problem lies in the film’s inability to decide whether such loaded images are funny in a Farrelly Brothers/Dave Chapelle kind of way or if they mean something deeper.
- Matthew Duersten
L.A. Weekly

It’s a little rough around the edges, to be sure, but with such strong lead performances there is something irresistible in the film’s audaciously straight-faced portrayal of such an unlikely relationship.
- Mark Olsen
Los Angeles Times

Prior to the strong conclusion, this story of opposites attract is uneven and strained.
- Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders

Broken Bridges

Two high school sweethearts (Toby Keith and Kelly Preston) are reunited when both of their brothers die in the war, and he starts a relationship with his daughter he has been ignoring while on the road.

RT Score: 0%

The most uncritical, red-state fans of the ridiculously imposing country star will get exactly the sort of thinly plotted, poorly dialogued, feel-good flick they expect, while anyone else will wonder why this film deserved a green light.
- Jason Ferguson
Orlando Weekly

The Country Music Channel’s first foray into feature filmmaking is sickly sweet and thoroughly predictable.
- Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide’s Movie Guide

Director Goldmann, who cut his teeth directing videos for Shania Twain and Faith Hill, never misses a chance to punch-up an emotional scene with a contrived, heart-melting music performance by one or more of his stars.
- Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle

Terribly mawkish, like a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie. And not even a good TV movie.
Frank Swietek
One Guy’s Opinion

Broken Bridges is one of those movies where most scenes start with a character staring out over a pond, sitting on a porch, or looking at an old photograph, just waiting to reminisce with whoever sidles up next to them.
- Scott Tobias
Onion AV Club