(In my best Kermit the frog voice) Yaaaaaaay!

It’s been 12 years since the last Muppet movie, and 27 years since the last truly great one. But Jason Segel has done it – he brought the Muppets back!

Courtney and I finally got around to seeing The Muppets, and I was mightily impressed. It’s definitely a throwback to the Muppets’ heyday, complete with a plot centered around the standard rich and famous contract from the original movie, clips from The Muppet Show, and vintage references galore – but there was more than that. The characters often acknowledge the fact that they are in a movie. When incredible distances are traveled in no time, or when there is some key plot point exposition, or when they need to go to a time-saving montage, those moments are specifically called out for the audience. I feel like that doesn’t happen very often in movies anymore, and while I generally don’t like breaking the fourth wall, it works seamlessly in a Muppet movie.

Then there’s the music. Bret McKenzie, half of the Flight of the Conchords, wrote the original songs, and they are amazing. The most Flight-of-the-Conchords-y song, “Man or Muppet,”: was hands down my favorite, but all of the new tunes were great. They might not be classics on par with “The Rainbow Connection” or “Together Again,” but they are all definitely catchy, they move the story along, and they are used sparingly; i.e. there’s not a new song starting every five minutes.

The plot is simple and straight-forward, and closely mirrors the real world situation The Muppets have found themselves in recently; namely, that they have been largely forgotten and glossed over, yet there are still dedicated fans pulling for a comeback. The movie is definitely more for the original fans, and the nostalgia for the franchise is certainly a big part of the story… which makes sense, given that Segel wrote the script as basically a love-letter to the felt puppets of his youth.

The big question that remains is whether this new iteration can attract new, young fans. The kid in me loved it, but today’s actual kids are used to 3D, CGI, and dark stories where the main character’s parents were murdered by an evil wizard. There were a few kids in the theater with us, and though they did laugh a few times, they were also definitely bored at times. That could have just been them, and there’s no way to know if those two youngins are representative of the youth of the nation as a whole. The movie’s gotten good buzz and fairly good reviews, but it couldn’t beat Twilight for the #1 spot at the box office. If that’s not a sad state of affairs, I don’t know what is.

But in the end, it was a really fun movie – there was even a new Toy Story short attached! – and I heartily recommend the movie to everyone, be they child or woman… man or Muppet.

Warning: Full spoilers (if you can call them that) for the finale of Entourage follow

Here’s the thing about Entourage: it was always an easily digestable, fairly light-hearted show about a group of bros.  Last season the show took a turn to the dark side, showing Ari’s crumbling marriage and Vince’s descent into drug abuse.  It was a different tone for the show, but it worked.

This season, the show went back to the “It’s all good, bro!” formula, which while more familiar, also felt a little odd coming off of all the serious real-world problems they just dealt with.  Vince’s rehabilitation was basically brushed under the rug, and there was never really any doubt that Ari and Mrs. Ari would get back together.  And Vince’s infatuation with the Vanity Fair reporter felt bizarrely out of place.

All of that said, the show was able to do a good job at tying up loose ends; hell Turtle and Drama even got happy endings.  The Sloan back and forth was getting tiresome, but it actually ended on a believable note.  For all the ups and downs, I was buying the hangar scene as a great way to send off these characters.

Then Eric and Sloan go their own way.  What?  I get it – they have issues to work out, but the notion that they may miss Vince’s wedding was just absurd.  If Eric had simply said, “We’ll see you in Paris,” that would have been much more satisfying.  Instead, we’re to believe that they might fly somewhere more romantic and work on their problems while missing E’s best friend’s wedding?  Please.

And I love Led Zeppelin as much as the next guy, but playing “Going to California” while all of the principal characters are *leaving* California seemed like an odd choice.

Then there was the post script scene with Ari.  Really?  That’s how you send off the show?  With a set-up for the inevitable movie?   Come on, that’s just lame.  It is implied that Ari will always be tempted to return to his old life.  Showing Charles Widmore giving him a specific offer was just an unnecessary tack-on.  Boo.

The True Blood season finale was a bit lackluster as well.  Marni’s final send-off was pretty anti-climactic.  (And how did she manage to get the jump on Bill and Eric anyway?)  It seems safe to assume that Sam will be able to kill that werewolf that was threatening him.  The Vampire Reverend at Jason’s doorstep can’t come inside without a formal invitation, so he’s in no immediate danger.  And shouldn’t Bill and Eric sense Sookie’s panic and be able to save Tara with their blood?  Note to producers: for ideas on how to end a season with major cliffhangers that leave the audience truly begging for more, see Game of Thrones.

Do you like podcasts?  As a general rule, I don’t.  Listening to people drone on and on about a few topics – even if they are taking about something that I normally find interesting.

Well, I’ve found a pretty cool podcast, and I hereby suggest you check it out.

It’s called Hypothetically Speaking, and you can download/listen to it here or get it on iTunes here.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that one of the guys doing the podcast, Mark, is a friend of mine from VH1.

Still, that conflict of interest doesn’t change the fact that Mark and his pal Josh put out a fine piece of work.  The concept is simple – the two of them analyze and debate preposterous hypothetical scenarios.  Like everyone has done at a bar at some point, someone starts off a question with “What would you rather…” and everyone discusses whether they’d rather have a third arm or whiskers like a walrus.  Well, the topics they discuss on the podcast are usually more interesting than that, but you get the point.

So anyway, check them out, download the show, subscribe on iTunes, email them your thoughts, follow them on Twitter, the whole bit.

Personally, I find myself wishing I could scream out and tell Mark and Josh what *I* think about the topics, and I usually end up thinking about the arguments long after the podcast is over.

A few thoughts based on the most recent show, Episode 12 (that will make no sense if you haven’t listened to it): Ariel is far and away the hottest Disney princess, super speeding would be way more fan that being super smart, and while Maybe I’m Amazed is a nice love song, it’s got nothing on G-d Only Knows.

And Mark, since you asked for a good hypothetical for a future show, how about this one:  If you could eliminate one thing from the world forever, what would it be?  The caveat is that it has to be something tangible and physical, so you can’t get rid of something esoteric like “hatred and intolerance,” but you could get rid of all atomic weapons.  You know, if you’re going the whole “world peace” route.  I’d probably just get rid of all bugs, consequences on the ecosystem be damned!

On Saturday afternoon, Courtney and I went on a date “night”, to go and see Date Night.  Sometimes afternoons are just easier, for us and our babysitter, Aunt Sami, what with her having a “life,” whatever that is.  Anyway, to be totally honest, we didn’t have the highest expectations going in, mainly because Steve Carell hasn’t been in a funny movie since The 40 Year Old Virgin.  Well, that streak has now come to an end, because Date Night was a very funny movie.

If you’ve seen a single ad for the movie, you already know the premise – a boring couple gets in over their heads on a date night in the city.  The concept may not be stellar, but works for the movie is its execution – Carell and Fey play a realistic, relatable couple, who have their own routines and pet peeves and games they play while they watch other couples.  The scenario they find themselves in – with corrupt cops, skeevy politicians, and wannabe thugs – may be outlandish, but the way they react to it all as a couple makes sense, and is done really well.  The fact that all of those characters are played really well by a very funny supporting cast certainly doesn’t hurt matters.  The scene with Mark Wahlberg is all over the commercials, but James Franco and Mila Kunis have a very funny scene as well.

As much as I love The Office and 30 Rock, this movie is NOT about Michael Scott and Liz Lemon, which I have to say is a good thing.  Those characters work in their respective shows, but as a happy married couple?  I don’t think people would buy it.  But their characters in this movie feel perfect, so good job to Steve Carell and Tina Fey!

But probably the funniest thing that happened *at* the movie had nothing to do with what was going on *in* the movie, and while this story is probably a prime example of “you had to be there,” I’ll give it a shot here anyway. After I had opened up a brand new bag of Peanut M&M’s – a large bag, mind you, not a small pack – Courtney leaned over to kiss me, and the whole bag spilled out.  On the floor.  Loudly.  For like, a minute.  And rolled, all the way down the theater floor.  Everyone was laughing, and no, there was nothing funny happening on screen at that particular moment.  When the movie ended and we were walking out, some kids behind us were talking about it, saying something like “The funniest part was when all those Skittles fell.  It sounded like it was raining!”  I don’t think Skittles would have been quite as loud as Peanut M&M’s, but I didn’t bother to correct him.  Needless to say, I think the lesson is clear: Don’t kiss in the dark while holding open bags of candy – it’s just not worth the potential loss of delicious chocolate.

So some of you may have already heard about it, but there’s this new movie called Avatar, and Courtney and I just saw it. Well, OK fine, it’s not that new. And yeah, odds are pretty good that you’ve already seen it, what with everyone on planet Earth having already seen it at least a few times. Well, it took us a little longer than most, but we did finally get around to seeing it, and we both came to the same conclusion:

The look of the movie, the effects, the 3D – Amazing.
The plot – Meh.

Now, I’m not the first person to claim the movie’s story isn’t wholly original. And yeah, it didn’t feel all that fresh to me. The military guy doesn’t want to give diplomacy a chance? Shocking! The protagonist that used to just follow orders learns to think for himself? No way! The daughter of the tribe’s leader, who hates outsiders, actually falls in love with one? You don’t say! Every major plot point could be seen coming a mile away.

Not only that (or perhaps because of it), I just didn’t care all that much about the characters. They seemed awfully wooden and two-dimensional.

And why is it that so many movies have to end with these big, climactic, CGI-filled battles? Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The Matrix Revolutions, both Chronicles of Narnia movies, and I’m sure there are plenty more.  I mean, I get it, they look cool, but after a while, they just seem kind of stale, and Avatar’s seemed to go on for…ev…er.

But I do have to say, the 3-D was pretty amazing. I’m sure if we had seen it in IMAX it would have been even cooler, but since we waited so long, there was no shot of that happening. Going through the jungle, as plants and bugs and things appeared on screen, I wanted to swat them out of the way. Which really says a lot about just how immersive the world was. I really get why so many people were saying that this movie could change the way we watch films. Although, I do think it should be pointed out that the so-called 4-D technology sounds a lot cooler, and that to me is more how I imagine the movie theaters of the future.

So over the past few weeks, while Eli has been napping, Courtney and I have gotten to catch up on a few movies. Here are a few of my thoughts on these flicks:

Zombieland: Really well done and funny zombie movie.  Jesse Eisenberg always seems to be doing a Michael Cera impression, but it works for him, so who am I to complain.  And the amazing cameo by Bill Murray was absolutely fantastic and hysterical, just as you’d hope and know that it would be.

(500) Days of Summer – I thought this was a pretty fun, light-hearted movie, and I dug the out-of-sequence way the story was told.  The kid from 3rd Rock From the Sun turned out alright, and hey, any movie with a musical number set to Hall and Oates is bound to be worth watching in my book.

District 9 – Talk about a movie told in a unique way.  Despite there being a million movies about aliens coming to Earth, this story was totally original, and really well done.  The special effects were very cool, but they were so secondary to the story you almost didn’t notice them.

Watchmen – I never read the comic book, so I didn’t have any expectations going in, but while I enjoyed this movie, it just felt way too damn long.  There was so much backstory and exposition, the main plot just felt sort of lost and bogged down.  Which is a shame, because the main storyline was pretty cool, and it just didn’t have much space to breathe.  I can sort of imagine why the whole thing would have played better as a series (or a giant collection) of comics, as opposed to one massive, nearly 3 hour movie.

Extract – Office Space was brilliant.  Idiocracy was under-rated.  Extract was… disappointing.  I don’t know exactly where Mike Judge went wrong with this one, but this movie just didn’t work.  The plot was all over the place, none of the characters were particularly likable or relatable, and worse, most of the movie just wasn’t all that funny.

Temple Grandin – Sure, it’s a made-for-HBO movie, but it still counts.  This biopic was really well done, and it gave you a great way of looking at the world through the yes of an autistic woman. This movie seems like a shoe-in for a bunch of awards next season, and deservedly so.

Noticeably absent from this round-up: Avatar.  Yeah, I think we are the last two people on Earth who haven’t yet seen James Cameron’s latest.  Anyone wanna babysit for a few hours so we can check it out?

As I have mentioned before, I was a huge fan of The State when it was on MTV in the 90’s. I thought the show was brilliant and hysterical, and I have quoted lines from various skits throughout the years. As the 10 men and 1 woman in the group had moved on to work on other TV series and movies like Reno 911!, Stella, Michael and Michael have Issues, Wet Hot American Summer, The Ten, and Role Models, I – like many other fans out there – grew more and more impatient for the show to be released on DVD. Hell, I even bought the Skits and Stickers VHS compilation tape back when that format was all the rage.

Well, MTV finally released the series on DVD this summer, and I finally watched the whole thing. And when I say the whole thing, I mean every episode both with and without commentary, as well as all of the special features, deleted scenes, etc. So what did I think?

As much as it pains me to say, I was a little bit disappointed. It’s not that the show isn’t funny, or that it got less funny. It was in the 90’s and it still is now very funny stuff. I think the main problem was with me; in all the years since I had watched it last, I had remembered it being so brilliant that there was no way that the show could match my unrealistic delusions. When I watched the DVD’s, I was expecting to be laughing out loud, my side hurting, milk that I never drank shooting out of my nose. Instead, I laughed. I chuckled. When a skit that I remembered began, I smiled in anticipation. But it just didn’t hit me that hard.

The commentaries were interesting, but I have to be honest, they could have been funnier. There were little tidbits here and there about who designed this set, or what happened on that shooting day, and the origins of certain characters, and the relationship the guys had with MTV, but I was expecting more zany interplay between the group members. And while I understand that it could have been a bit much to have all 11 members of The State talking in a single commentary, it did seem like a lot of the same people were showing up in most of the commentaries: Michael Patrick Jann, Todd Holubek, Joe Lo Trulgio, Ken Marino, David Wain, and Kevin Allison. I have nothing against those guys, but it would have been nice to have heard from Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Thomas Lennon, Ben Garant, and Kerri Kenney-Silver more often. Oh, and Ken Marino, I think you’re great, really I do, but don’t eat or slurp coffee when you’re doing audio commentary – that’s just not cool.

The deleted scenes were fun to watch, but for the most part, it was fairly obvious why these skits didn’t make the cut. They even say that in the commentary – that these sketches were dredged up and weren’t ever intended to be seen, Still, it was nice to get to see some “never-before-seen” footage. (As an aside, I’ve never understood that phrase – surely everything has been seen by SOMEONE at some point, even if it was just the guy who filmed it. And even if the cameraman was blind or it was a hidden camera type situation, the second a single person found and watched the footage, you can’t really still justify calling it “never-before-seen.”)

The Spring Break appearances were a nice treat, as were the free form promos. And the version of the theme song sung by little kids on the Bonus Disc is fantastic and worth the price of admission alone. I found an Easter Egg, that was literally just a still image of an Easter Egg laying in some grass. Get it? Very “State.”

I also wasn’t crazy about the music they had to take out of the release and the random images that needed to be blurred. Don’t get me wrong – I understand why they had to take out a lot of songs and replace them with canned tracks, and they were very up front about the cost of using the original music being far too high to justify. And hell, they were able to use certain pieces of music here and there, which was a pleasant surprise. Personally, I found all of the blurred images more distracting – why did they have to blur out a cardboard cutout of Yoda? Were they really worried that Lucasfilm would come after them?

Anyway, I have a lot of fond memories of The State, it’s a great show made by very funny people, and I’m glad I could re-watch all of those old bits on DVD. Like I said, the fact that I was let down really has much more to do with my building the show up too much in my own head, so I have no one to blame but myself for not being completely blown away.

Well, myself and Ken Marino for slurping hot coffee in my ear.

So we didn’t get around to seeing Funny People in the theaters, but thanks to Netflix, we got it pretty soon after it came out on DVD. And now that we’ve seen it, I’m sort of glad we didn’t waste $22 on seeing it on the big screen.

I love the Judd Apatow flicks, and not just the ones that had his name attached to it, like Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but the ones that he wrote and directed, like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Those two movies are hysterically funny, have great stories, and actually have some heart in them as well. Funny People seemed like it was trying to be really dramatic, but in the end, it didn’t feel all that funny or that sad.

Don’t get me wrong – it had some very funny parts, as all of the Apatow movies do. And if I had lower expectations, I might have been pleasantly surprised. But a few chuckles here and there is just disappointing for a man as brilliant and funny as Judd Apatow.

And the heart? This is a story about a man who is told he’s dying in the first few minutes of the movie, but you never really feel all that bad for him. He’s not particularly likable, and while he learns a little on his journey, in the end he still just comes across as a jerk who really learned very little from his ordeal.

And I saw many other complaints about this, but it really is true: the movie was way too long. It clocks in at around two and a half hours, and it certainly feels like it could have used some heavy editing. The whole visit to his ex’s house played for a really long time. And if that was supposed to be the crux of the whole movie, that’s fine, but then the stuff beforehand could have been cut down drastically.

I read in interviews that this was a very personal story for Judd, so I feel kind of bad for picking it apart. And like I said, he is the victim of having set the bar insanely high for himself; his track record with TV shows and movies is pretty unrivaled. Usually after seeing one of his movies, I immediately want to see it again. With Funny People, I just didn’t have that reaction. Oh well, I guess no one bats 1.000.

Just a few fast thoughts on the sophomore season of True Blood:

• Overall it was a damn good follow-up season
• I enjoyed the mystery of Maryann and Texas stories, but it was a shame they were so disconnected
• Great introductions sure to reappear: the telepathic hotel bellhop and Sookie’s cousin who hangs with the Queen
• Hoyt and Jessica are my favorite couple on the show
• Who took Bill?  All signs point to Eric, but that would be lame because he took Lafayette in last season’s cliffhanger
• Why is Sookie not human but Jason is?
• When the parental discretion before the show says nudity, it should really only refer to female nudity

For some reason, a while back I decided to watch all of the James Bond movies. I’ve seen all of the Pierce Brosnan movies and the two new Daniel Craig films, but I was pretty sure I’d only seen bits and pieces of the older ones. Well, after watching the first seven (5 with Sean Connery, 1 with George Lazenby, and then one more with Connery), very few scenes looked familiar.

But I’m glad I watched them – they’re some damn fun movies. It’s funny to see how sexist those movies could be without the slightest bit of irony. And of course all that drinking and smoking the guy did! But you can’t deny, Bond was one smooth character.

It’s also interesting how many of the plots involve space: Dr. No wants to mess with a rocket launch, Blofeld hijacks astronauts in You Only Live Twice, and then he launches a laser made out of diamonds into space. I guess back in those days space was all the rage, so it sort of makes sense.

But what doesn’t make sense is the constant recasting of Blofeld – especially in Diamonds are Forever, when the previously bald villain now has a full head of hair! And why doesn’t he recognize Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, having come face to face with him in You Only Live Twice? Oh, maybe because it’s Bond was also recast? Its a given that Lazenby wasn’t as good of a Bond as Connery, but OHMSS had bigger problems than just him. Like the fact that the plot didn’t make even the smallest amount of sense, for example.

But all in all, these are really enjoyable films, more so the first few before they started parodying themselves. I mean really – Plenty O’Toole? Really? Who the hell is named Plenty??

Up next, the Roger Moore era…