So yeah, the Emmy Awards were last night, which I kind of forgot about until I got home from work and checked Twitter.  The Emmys aren’t as big a deal personally because it’s pretty much the same thing every year, Mad Men and 30 Rock will usually win everything.  Well, there were actually some differences this year but none of the show I care about won anything so I don’t have anything to say except here’s the winners (oh and apparently the voters didn’t care for Lost’s ending either):

• Best Comedy Series: Modern Family
• Best Directing for a Comedy Series: Ryan Murphy (Glee)
• Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Jane Lynch (Glee)
• Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)
• Best Lead Actress in a Comedy: Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
• Best Lead Actor in a Comedy: Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
• Best Reality Series: Top Chef
• Best Directing for a Drama Series: Steve Shill (Dexter)
• Best Supporting Actress in a Drama: Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)
• Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)
• Best Lead Actor in a Drama: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
• Best Lead Actress in a Drama: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)
• Best Drama Series: Mad Men
• Best Variety, Musical or Comedy Series: The Daily Show
• Best Miniseries: The Pacific

So the big news over the last week was the big upfront presentations by the major networks where they debut their new shows and their fall schedules.  Due to cancellations and series endings, there’s a bit of a power vacuum in the drama genre and there seems to be a renewed focus on comedies as well.  Here’s some of the shows we think sound interesting or are excited for.

NBC:

• Undercovers- A new J.J. Abrams created show about a married couple who are former CIA spies who are called back into action to investigate the disappearnce of their friend and fellow spy during a major mission.
• The Event- Trying to run with the ball dropped by Flash Forward, The Event follows a mass disappearance of people that may be due to aliens, of which the President and others actually be.
• The Cape- NBC replaces one superhero show with another, this one has to be better than Heroes though.  A good cop has to go on the run when his corrupt squad frames him for murder.  He decides to become a vigilante called The Cape, based on his son’s favorite comic.
• Of course we’re looking forward to the returns of Community, The Office and Parks and Rec as well.

Fox

• Terra Nova- Probably the show with the most hype this fall, Terra Nova is being produced by Steven Spielberg and it’s about a family from the year 2149 who travels back to prehistoric times to save humanity from an environmentl catastrophe.
• Running Wilde- From Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz, Running Wilde finds Will Arnett as a rich jackass who falls for a charitable and caring woman played by Keri Russell.
• Bob’s Burgers- From the creators of Home Movies comes Fox’s newest animated show about a family that owns a hamburger stand. H. Jon Benjamin, of Archer and Home Movies, will lead the voice cast.
• The Good Guys- I still need to watch the preview/pilot but this looks like it could be a fun show where Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks are a pair of buddy cops getting into all kinds of crazy situations.
• Human Target and Fringe will be back.

ABC

• Detroit 1-8-7: Ever wonder what The Office’s documentary style would be like applied to a cop procedural?  Well this is your answer.  The cast, led by Michael Imperioli, are homicide detectives will talk to the camera during the show.
• No Ordinary Family- Being billed as a live action Incredibles, Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz are a married couple who take their kids on vacation and get into a plane crash.  Upon being rescued and returning home, the family starts developing super powers.

CBS

• Hawaii Five-O: A remake of the classic 1970′s detective show produced by Kurtzman and Orci and starring Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park and Jean Smart.
• Shit My Dad Says: William Shatner is the crazy Twitter based dad.

Coming this fall is the latest adaptation of a Phillip K. Dick short story.  Dick is the sci fi master who’s work has given us Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report (and also Paycheck, but we can forget that one) and now we have The Adjustment Bureau.  Matt Damon plays US Senator David Norris who meets a beautiful ballet dancer (played by Emily Blunt) but is confronted by a group of mysterious men who claim to control everyone’s fate and that Norris was never supposed to meet her except briefly on a bus.  Norris decides to change his fate but the men of The Adjustment Bureau won’t let him do it easily.  I think it’s looking pretty good from this first trailer, appropriately mind bendy and when you start with a Phillip K. Dick story you’re already off to a strong start.  The Adjustment Bureau is coming out this September and you can check out the trailer below.

Tony Jaa returns for the third chapter of the Ong Bak franchise.  Taking place directly after the second movie, Jaa’s character Tien is killed, I guess, and then brought back with some magic mud and then there’s possibly an evil version of him and a demon emperor.  You don’t go into Ong Bak for the story, which is ridiculously convoluted as it is; you go for some kick ass action and it looks like we’re gonna get that.  There aren’t enough action sequences that involve elephants in my opinion.  Check out the new trailer below (It’s in Thai with no subtitles but you should get the gist.)

A new trailer debuted this week (and most likely in front of The Crazies this weekend) for the upcoming remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.  It’s longer and gives you more of an idea about who Freddy’s victims are, what sort of twisted forms he’s going to take and the places he’s going to stalk them in.  I think it’s looking really good; Jackie Earle Haley is the perfect choice for Freddy and although it’s going back to the darkness of the first Elm Street, there’s still a glimmer of the one line dropping psycho we love from the later films.  At the very least it has to be better than the Friday the 13th and Halloween remakes, right?  Check out the trailer and decide for yourself.

The latest from director Neil Marshall, who directed the fan favorite The Descent and the insane but awesome mash up that was Doomsday, is Centurion.  After a Roman legion is ambushed by the barbarian Picts, seven survivors must escape from deep behind enemy lines with the entire Pict force on their heels.  The movie stars Michael Fassbender, Dominc West and Olga Kurylenko and is going to be out sometime this year.  It looks pretty good and it’s interesting to see Roman legionaries as the underdogs.  Let’s just hope it’s more Gladiator than, say, Pathfinder.

Tony Jaa is back to elbow and knee people in the face for Ong Bak 3, a direct sequel to Ong Bak 2: The Beginning.  Two had amazing fight scenes but one of the most convoluted and confusing plots ever seen.  The best I can figure is that (Spoilers) Tony Jaa’s hero Ting was betrayed by his adopted family of thieves and rebels, who were actually working for the evil Emperor.  From the bizarre ending it’s assumed that Ting is executed but if we believe in him, he will live again. That is apparently true as Ting is back from the dead, more powerful and pissed off and ready to end the reign of the Emperor.  It looks like Tony Jaa’s usual brand of brutal fight scenes, fighting on elephants, etc.  Check out the teaser below and the movie is coming out sometime this year.

Highlander (1986)- Immortal Connor Macleod has lived for centuries and engages in his final battle against the deadly Kurgan in New York City.  Flashbacks reveal the Connor was born in Scotland and was “killed” in battle.  He miraculously recovered and was cast out of his village for being a witch.  He then met a man named Ramirez, who trained him for “The Gathering” of other Immortals, who will all battle for “The Prize”.  In NYC Connor meets and falls in love with police examiner Brenda Wyatt.  The Kurgan kidnaps Brenda and he and Connor have a final showdown on a rooftop.  Connor wins and gains unlimited knowledge and gets the ability to have children, which Immortals normally don’t have.

Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)- Connor MacLeod and Brenda are living Africa in 1994 when the ozone layer of the Earth starts fading.  Millions start dying, including Brenda.  Connor promises to help solve the problem and in 1999 he helps create an electromagnetic field that surrounds the earth and blocks the radiation.  However, it also causes a state of constant night to envelop the Earth.  By 2024, humanity has fallen into despair and Connor is an old man waiting to die.  A flashback reveals that Connor and Ramirez are both aliens from the planet Zeist who led a rebellion against the evil General Katana.  The rebellion is crushed and Connor and Ramirez are sentenced to be exiled to Earth and be reborn as Immortals.  If they can win “The Prize” they can either grow old and die on Earth or return to Zeist.  General Katana decides that Connor cannot be allowed back on Zeist and sends henchmen to kill him.  Connor manages to kill them both and grows young again due to the quickenings, or release of energy when an immortal is killed.  Connor revives Ramirez and the two join Connor’s current love interest, Louise Marcus, in trying to take down the Shield, since Louise recently found out that the ozone layer restored itself.  Katana arrives in NYC and Connor and Ramirez go to fight him.  Everyone but Connor and Louise are killed and Connor uses the Quickening he got from Katana to destroy the shield.  Connor then decides to stay on Earth with Louise instead of returning to Zeist.

Highlander: The Final Dimension or Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994)-  Basically erasing the events of Highlander II, Highlander III finds Connor living with his adopted son John in Marakesh in 1994.  Brenda died in a car accident a few year earlier.  A flashback reveals that in the 16th century, Connor journeyed to Asia to train with an Immortal master named Nakano, who is a master of illusion and magic.  While Connor is there, another Immortal named Kane arrives with two henchmen to learn the art of illusion as well.  Nakano refuses and Kane decapitates them despite Connor’s attempts to stop it.  The quickening that results causes a landslide that seals Kane and his henchmen in the cave and Connor manages to escapes.  Back in 1994, archaeologist Alexandra Johnson is investigating Nakano’s cave and inadvertently releases Kane.  Connor learns of this and heads to NYC for the final battle for The Prize.  Kane challenges him on holy ground and in the battle, Connor’s sword is broken.  He flees to Scotland to try and make a new sword but fails until Alex arrives with a piece of steel she found in Nakano’s cave.  Connor builds a new sword and learns that his son is heading to NYC.  Kane gets to him before Connor and holds him hostage to lure Connor into a final battle.  The two battle and Connor wins, gaining the Prize.  Connor, John and Alex return to Scotland to live a normal life.

Highlander: Endgame (2000)-  In 1555, Connor returned to his home village to rescue his mother from the village priest Jacob Kell.  Kell executes her as a witch and Connor kills him and Kell’s adopted father, Father Rainey.  Kell is reborn as an immortal and proceeds on a centuries long revenge quest against Connor, killing his friends and gaining a number of followers.  Kell kills the most Immortals of any other Immortal and is the most powerful Immortal in the world.  After Kell kills Connor’s adopted daughter Rachel, Connor goes into hiding at a sanctuary run by The Watchers, a group who have made it their mission to record and observe the battles of the Immortals.  Kell attacks the sanctuary about 10 years later and kill everyone but Connor, leaving him alive so that he can suffer more.  Meanwhile, Connor’s fellow clansman, Duncan Macleod, arrives upon hearing about Connor’s supposed death and is almost killed by Kell and his minions.  Kell then decides to kill Duncan to further hurt Connor.  Kell kills all of his immortal henchmen to gain even more power and Connor decides that the only way Duncan can defeat Kell is to allow himself to be beheaded by Duncan.  Duncan reluctantly agrees and gains all of Connor’s power.  Duncan and Kell engage in a final battle, which at first Kell seems to be winning until Duncan executes a flip over Kell’s head and decapitates him in mid air.  Duncan then bring’s Connor’s body to his home in Scotland and buries him next to his first wife, Heather.

Highlander: The Source (2007)- Duncan Mcleod and a group of immortals set out to find the source of immortality.  The source is guarded by a supernatural Guardian.  Duncan, his wife Anna and others meet in a monastery and are told about the Source from a mysterious Elder.  He reveals that in the past, another group of immortals tried to find the source.  All but two of the them were killed and those two killed the Guardian.  However, this caused one of them to be the new Guardian and the other to become the Elder.  Duncan and his group set out but are attacked by the Guardian.  Two of the party are killed and Duncan’s sword is destroyed in the fight.  After burying their friends, they set out for an island in Eastern Europe that is supposed to be the source.  On the boat ride to the island, the captain warns the group that cannibals control the island and kill anyone who sets foot on it.  The group fights off a group of locals who were torturing a man and get a van and a pair of swords for Duncan.  They drive to an abandoned house close to the location of the source but as a consequence they start losing their immortal powers.  The Guardian arrives during the night and kills another member of their group.  The next day, they find the road blocked and are captured by the cannibals.  When the cannibals get drunk, The Guardian arrives and takes Anna.  Duncan manages to free himself and defeats the cannibals, and then gives chase after the Guardian.  Duncan finds Anna in a clearing and they look up to see a cosmic alignment taking place directly overhead.  The Guardian arrives and challenges Duncan to combat.  The two battle and Duncan finds himself with powers equal to the Guardian.  The Guardian eventually gets itself buried and trapped in the ground and demands that Duncan decapitate him.  Duncan refuses and the Guardian vanishes.  Duncan and Anna then enter the Source and Anna reveals that she is pregnant.

January

Daybreakers- In the not too distant future, almost everyone on the planet has been turned into a vampire.  Those that aren’t are either farmed for blood or make up a small resistance movement.  It’s got some big names like Willem Defoe, Sam Neill and Ethan Hawke but it doesn’t look like anything special.

Youth in Revolt- Michael Cera stars in this adaptation of the book of the same name as both Nick and his bad boy alter ego Francois as he tries to get with the girl of the dreams and not get arrested because of what Francois does.  The hipsters will probably eat this up with a spoon.

The Book of Eli- This one looks awesome.  Denzel Washington makes his way through a post apocalyptic wasteland, defending his precious book and beating down anyone who tries to stop him.  Gary Oldman looks like he’s in full on crazy villain mode as well so I’m pretty excited for this one.

Legion- Another view of the apocalypse, this time God gets fed up with humanity and sends angels to kill everyone.  However, Archangel Michael joins a small band of people to defend a waitress who might be pregnant with the second coming of Jesus.  This one is looking like one of the aforementioned “dump it in the early part of the year” movies.

Edge of Darkness- Mel Gibson is back in front of the camera in this revenge thriller.  Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a detective who takes his daughter’s murder into his own hands.  Last year we had the awesome Taken, which had a similar premise so it might be hard for this one to live up to that.  It will be interesting to see Mel back in front of the camera and see if he can still kick ass.

February

From Paris with Love- Speaking of Taken, Pierre Morel, who directed it, has another action movie up his sleeve with From Paris with Love.  Starring Jonathan Rhys Myers and John Travolta, who are reluctant partners who have to foil terrorists in Paris.  I’m sure the action will be good but will we all be distracted by Travolta shaved head and beard combo?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief- It’s gonna be a big year for Greek Mythology with this, Clash of the Titans and God of War III.  Based on a series of books, the story follows a group of teens who discover they are actually the offspring of Greek gods and they must team up to catch a thief who stole Zeus lightning.  I’m seeing lots of hype for this one, can it step out of the shadow of Harry Potter and become the next big fantasy franchise?

The Wolfman- This one is looking great from the trailers and has an extremely strong cast including Benicio Del Toro, Hugo Weaving, Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins.  Vampires are the monster du jour right now so I’m wondering if people will be interested in their hairy cousins.

Shutter Island- Shutter Island was supposed to be out in November of last year but got pushed back to February.  I hope this isn’t a comment on it’s quality because it looks good from the trailer.  Coming from Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s about a pair of US Marshalls investigating the disappearance of an inmate of the asylum on the titular island.  It looks pretty creepy but my one fear is that there’s a fairly obvious twist ending that I hope they avoid.

Cop Out- Kevin Smith’s first directing gig without writing it is looking fairly generic from the trailers.  Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis as cop partners seems like a great idea but I’m skeptical.

The Crazies- A remake of a George A. Romero movie, The Crazies looks extremely creepy and like everything The Happening wishes it was.  A small town’s residents start to go insane and start killing each other and the sheriff, his wife and a small band of survivors must escape before the Army destroys the town.  I’m a sucker for zombie and related movies so I’ll probably check this one out.

March

Alice in Wonderland- Tim Burton plus Alice in Wonderland is pretty much a match made in heaven and the movie is looking like a visual smorgasbord.  All the classic characters have gotten the Burton treatment with Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter stealing most of the limelight.  It’s also not a strict retelling as it’s kind of like a sequel as Alice returns to Wonderland to find the Red Queen controlling the land.

Green Zone- Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon reteam for the new action movie Green Zone.  Based in Iraq, it follows a CIA agent trying to find weapons of mass destruction and higher up terrorist leaders.  Greengrass and Damon have given us some of the best action movies of the decade in the Bourne series but Iraq war movies have been notoriously underwhelming, with a few exceptions like The Kingdom or The Hurt Locker.  Hopefully this will buck the trend.

Hot Tub Time Machine- A hot tub/time machine sends John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Clark Duke back into the 80′s.  Great cast and great potential for jokes make me excited for this one.

Clash of the Titans- “It Guy” of the moment Sam Worthington stars in this remake of the classic tale of Greek mythology.  It looks like it’s taking lots of inspiration from God of War and going in an “extreme” direction but it looks like it has great special effects and could be a fun ride.  The Krakken at the end of the latest trailer also is huge and should be awesome on the big screen.  It might lack the charm of the original, with it’s robotic owls and stop motion.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Chuck Season Two

The Final Destination

The Green Berets (Blu Ray)

Coming next year is a pretty creepy looking remake of the George A. Romero movie The Crazies.  The movie stars Timothy Olyphant as a small town sheriff and Radha Mitchell as his wife and one of the town’s doctors.  The people of the town start to change and go insane because of a secret biological weapon that is released after a plane crash.  The military arrives to cleanse the town and Olyphant and Mitchell, along with a few other survivors, have to try and escape either getting shot by the military or getting ripped apart by their neighbors.  Check out the trailer below.

Yet another remake is making it’s way to theaters next year, this time it’s an update of the 1981 classic, Clash of the Titans.  The plot seems to be completely different though as instead of trying to save Princess Andromeda by defeating Medusa and the Krakken, Perseus is seeking revenge against Hades for the death of his family.  Sounds like someone has played a little God of War.  The movie stars “dude of the moment” Sam Worthington as Perseus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades and Liam Neeson as Zeus and is being directed by Louis Letterier, who brought us The Incredible Hulk, Transporter 2 and Unleashed.  Check out the trailer below to see how “extreme” Greek mythology can be (I kid, it looks like it could be good, they’re just trying a little too hard.)

Finally, we get to see the trailer for one of our most anticipated movies of 2010, The Expendables.  The trailer apparently leaked out from Lionsgate and I’m glad it did because it is looking awesome.  Stallone, Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crewes and Randy Couture are the Expendables who head to South America to take out an evil dictator.  Mickey Rourke is the team’s recruiter, Dolph Lundgren is a former Expendable who has turned evil, Stone Cold Steve Austin is another bad guy and Eric Roberts is the guy pulling the dictator’s strings.  It looks like the movie is going to have explosions galore, great banter and bringing the spirit of 80′s action movies in full force.  You have to watch the trailer below and you know we’ll probably be there opening night when the movie opens in August.

Zach: Another big trailer released today, The Wolfman remake, directed by Joe Johnston and starring Benicio Del Toro. It’s rest of the cast is great too with Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt. I think it looks good, definitely has the same kind of vibe as the original and the special effects are looking good. Also it’s refreshing to see just a werewolf as opposed to vampires and/or vampires fighting werewolves. The only question I really have is does this werewolf have nards?

Brian: Monster Squad reference, nice Zach. I’m digging the cast, the old school horror, and… Hugo Weaving’s facial hair. All that aside, this looks to be an intriguing movie that certainly has my attention. Whether or not it will be good remains to be seen.

DVDs

Mad Men Season Two

The State Complete Series

Leverage Season One

GI Joe Season 1.1

The Haunting in Connecticut

The Towering Inferno (Blu Ray)

Wild Pacific

Video Games

NCAA Football 10 (360, PS3, PSP, PS2, PC)