Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose: TV's best drama returns tonight

Actually, there's one thing out there today that, if not better, is at least odder, and that's good enough for me.

Having grown up around the Chesapeake Bay, I'm well aware that it's unfortunately full of all kinds of poisonous things that live there and kill the oysters and fish, largely from the chicken s$#% that rolls off the farms and into the waterway. It's still a stretch that these toxins would make the leap and start killing human beings on a large scale, but in the realm of horror movies, I suppose anything's possible.

It seems that Barry Levinson, a Baltimorean who, back in the day, made one truly great movie about Charm City ("Diner") and several more fairly good ones ("Tin Men" and "Avalon" among them), has returned to Maryland and made a horror movie titled "The Bay." The flick will apparently be a found footage kind of thing about an isopod parasite that is unleashed from the bay and carries a horrific, untreatable disease.

Laugh if you want to, but much more than just about any other kind of horror story you might be able to cook up, that truly terrifies me, so I'll be there to see this, probably with my eyes covered at several points.

But the main event here today is the return of TV's best drama (yes, better than "Mad Men" and anything else you can name in my book) to NBC tonight for what will be its fifth and final season. And from what I've heard from folks who are lucky enough to have DirecTV and have seen this already, the show really goes out on top.

If you've never seen the show, you've really missed out on a true original: A prime-time TV series that takes a fairly hard look at life in modern middle America, but still manages to be extremely addictive. And transitioning from season three to season four with a cast of new kids mixed in with the regulars, the show somehow got even better, largely due to the addition of Michael B. Jordan (yes, really, with the B added I suppose to remove any confusion) as Vince. He's an actor I've loved watching grow up, first as the truly doomed Wallace on "The Wire" and now both on "Friday Night Lights" and also as Alex on the almost-as-good "Parenthood" (and man has that show piled on the drama lately!)

Like many great shows, "Friday Night Lights" will get most of its recognition after it leaves the air. Although Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton have rightly been nominated for best acting Emmys, if this final season is as good as I'm expecting, a posthumous Best Dramatic Series nod should be coming too.

But back to the present. Not to spoil too much, but here's a bit of what you'll see on tonight's premiere, courtesy of AICN, followed by a preview from NBC, and then stick around for two more trailers that caught my eye this morning.

• The East Dillon Lions, with only two wins last season, are to take on the state champions this week in something called The Whataburger Kickoff Classic.
• Both Julie Taylor and Landry Clarke are now high-school grads and spend most of their components of the episode saying goodbye.
• Landry’s band performs a final concert, and they sound great.



OK, now on to the trailers, starting with easily the most literal title since "Snakes on a Plane," "Cowboys & Aliens." With a title like that, you'd better deliver exactly what's promised, and as you'll see from this first theatrical trailer, it does. And thankfully, it looks like Jon Favreau's movie starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde will be just as much fun as it should be when it drops July 29. Enjoy.



And finally today, a clip that's really just perfect for a Friday morning. I had never heard of "Casa de mi Padre" until this morning, but judging from this trailer, it should be a real hoot. As you'll see, Will Ferrell (funny in any language) somehow stars in this spoof of telenovelas that also features the "Y Tu Mama Tambien" duo of Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, and even Pedro too. Keep an eye out for this some time later this year, enjoy the trailer, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. And if you haven't yet, please go see "Hanna," because it really is the best theater movie I've managed to see so far this year. Peace out.

2011 movie outlook: 20 flicks I'm really looking forward to

Predicting how any year will turn out during its first week is, of course, the definition of a fool's errand, but I've certainly been called worse, so here goes: Twenty flicks I'm definitely looking out for this year, in order of release date:

"The Cabin in the Woods": The fact this was delayed for many months simply for some post-filming 3-D conversion certainly isn't promising, but in better news, it is a horror movie from the minds of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"/"Angel" mastermind Joss Whedon and co-conspirator Drew Goddard, so I'm in. (Jan. 14)

"Cedar Rapids": Ed Helms of "The Office" stars in this Miguel Arteta comedy about insurance salesmen at a conference in the titular city. This looks like the broadest kind of comedy, so here's hoping it plays wide too. (Feb. 11)

"Jane Eyre": Mia Wasikowska, easily one of my favorite young actresses, steps into the now-all-too-familiar role, but with "Sin Nombre" director Cary Fukunaga in charge and the truly haunting feel of the trailer, I'm betting this will have something new to offer. (March 11)

"Paul": Director Greg Mottola reunites the "Shaun of the Dead"/"Hot Fuzz" comedy team of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for this flick about two geeks who encounter the titular alien on their way to Comic-Con. (March 18)

"Sucker Punch": If anything, director Zack Snyder's first movie based on an original idea - about a young woman who fights her way out of a mental institution - just might be too crazy, but I'm almost certain it will be a heck of a lot of fun, too. (March 25)

"Source Code": Director Duncan Jones follows up his fantastic debut, the seriously smart sci-fi flick "Moon," with this fairly generic sounding thriller about a man (Jake Gyllenhaal) who changes bodies with a soldier to stop a train bombing. Hope for the best here. (April 1)

"Your Highness": If you're looking for more than high stoner comedy, stay away, but director David Gordon Green proved he's a master of it with "Pineapple Express" and he's back with more this time around - with James Franco, Natalie Portman, Danny McBride and Zooey Deschanel all in tow. (April 8)

"Hanna": Saoirse Ronan reunites with "Atonement" director Joe Wright for this tale of a young lady raised by her father, an ex-CIA agent, to be the ultimate assassin. Right up my alley. (April 8)


"Water for Elephants": Sara Gruen's best-selling novel, easily one of my favorites, gets a cast worthy of the grand historical romance it unfurls at a traveling circus: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz and Hal Holbrook all star in one of the movies I'm most looking forward to for next year. (April 22)

"African Cats": The Disney Nature movies have all been beauties to behold, but this one should finally have a great story to match as it focuses on two families, one of lions and one of tigers, and what they do to survive and thrive in Africa. (April 22)

"X-Men: First Class": After reviving the comic book movie with the big ball of fun that was "Kick-Ass," director Matthew Vaughn now tries to breath much-needed life into the mutant saga, with a new class including James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto and even Reel Fanatic fave Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique. (June 3)

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2": It will certainly be a bit sad when the grand saga ends, but part one - while not the best of Harry's flicks - set the stage for a rousing finale. (July 15)

"Cowboys and Aliens": Movie titles just don't get much more straightforward than that, and unlike, say, "Snakes on a Plane," this one should deliver all the fun it promises. When aliens invade the old American West, they find they have to take on not only Indiana Jones, but James Bond too. (July 29)

"30 Minutes or Less": "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer serves up what should be a second helping of very funny with this flick about two fledgling criminals who strap a bomb to the chest of a pizza delivery boy (Jesse Eisenberg) to get him to rob a bank. I promise it will be a whole lot funnier than I'm making it sound here. (Aug. 12)

"The Help": Another of my recent favorite novels, Kathyrn Stockett's "The Help," comes to the big screen with a great young actress (Emma Stone) in the lead role of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a Southern woman who convinces a group of Mississippi maids to tell their stories in the '60s. Sounds more than a little "Oprah" to me, and it is, but it should also be a lot of fun to watch. (Aug. 12)

"Moneyball": There are few genres I love better than a great baseball movie, and this flick based on Michael Lewis' book about the Oakland A's should hopefully deliver exactly that. Features Brad Pitt as bean counter Billy Beane and Philip Seymour Hoffman as A's manager Art Howe. (Sept. 23)

"The Muppets": After what seems like at least a three-year wait, there will indeed be a new Muppets movie next November, with this shortened title and our beloved puppets staging a show (of course) to save their theater from some evil oil barons. (Nov. 23)

"Hugo Cabret": It should be a banner year for literary adaptations, as now Martin Scorsese takes on this great children's novel by Brian Selznick about a boy who grows up in the walls of a Paris train station and encounters the world of George Melies' automatons. With Asa Butterfield as young Hugo and Hit-Girl Chloe Moretz co-starring, I can't see how even thoroughly unnecessary 3-D will ruin this. (Dec. 9)

"The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn": No less than Steven Spielberg directs the first installment of an expected trilogy as the young Belgian detective finally comes to the big screen and, this time out, hunts for treasure on a sunken ship. (Dec. 23)

"We Bought a Zoo": Director Cameron Crowe - at last - returns to making movies with what should be a fun ride, the story of a man (Matt Damon) and his family who indeed move to the English countryside and buy and operate a zoo.

And there you have it. I'm more than certain there are some I've forgotten, so please feel free to let me know what they are or just sound off on your favorites. Peace out.

This just in - Indy mostly rocks hard!

Is it really fair to give "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" a pass on something as key as plot?

Well, it may not be the most professional of standards for reviewing movies, but I say in this case yes, because it delivers just about everything else you're looking for in an Indiana Jones movie in spades.

Besides, in every Indy movie so far, the story has always been delivered with a wink, like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are elbowing you in the ribs as they deliver the spectacle that just keeps getting crazier and crazier in front of your eyes. The only time I wasn't really too in on the joke was with "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," but this time I was laughing right along with them until the last 15 minutes or so, when the flick just falls to pieces.

The easiest way to describe it might just be to tell you what you'll get this time around. The signature set piece, a thrilling jeep chase through the jungles of Peru, is as fun as anything that's come before it in Indy flicks. My office mate Ryan Gilchrest said it lost him when young Shia LaBoeuf went all "George of the Jungle" (you'll see what I mean), but I was laughing so hard at that point (apparently to the annoyance of the young man in front of me) that it didn't really bother me much at all.

And this wouldn't be Indy if there weren't some creepy crawlers to make you squirm in your seats. Though much of the flick has a comfortably familiar feel, the main critters here aren't snakes (but my favorite moment in the entire movie came when one of Indy's dreaded asps came into play.) I really can't tell you what they are this time, but trust me that it will have you cringing and cackling as they attack and devour the evil Russkies.

And the performances here are all-around solid, mostly because everyone was clearly in on the joke. Harrison Ford still has the chops to be a pretty serious bad ass, but he plays it with enough humility that you don't mind that he's really 67 years old (yes, 67 years old!) Mr. LaBoeuf, who I don't always particularly care for, is plenty dorky enough to play "Mutt" (I thought he was saying his name was "mud," but really, aren't they just equally as silly?) And if you don't smile as broadly as Indy when Karen Allen makes her return as Marion Ravenwood, well, why in the world did you come to this movie in the first place? Cate Blanchett vamps it up to the max as evil Russkie Col. Irina Spalko, and John Hurt (who I almost always manage to confuse with Sir Ian McKellen), is equally good as the befuddled Dr. Oxley.

So, what's the problem? As I said, it's not much of one, but I guarantee that when you hear the secret behind the "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" you'll be left scratching your head and saying, quite possibly out loud as I almost did, "nah, really?" Though David Koepp puts his name on the script, I blame George Lucas - who also gets a writing credit - for trying to make us swallow this whopper.

But, like I said, I think any die hard Indy fans will be smiling so broadly at that point that you won't mind being hoodwinked more than a little bit. Given the unbelievable hype I'd say this one almost manages to measure up, and I guess you can't ask for much more than that.

And as for my movie weekend, I'm finally gonna break down and see the little Fox Searchlight drama "Under the Same Moon," which has somehow managed to be playing at one of our Macon multiplexes for at least six weeks or so now and is hanging on for one more. Feel free to check back Sunday for my impression of that one, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.