Is it just me, or does Al Pacino kind of suck?

That's more than a bit harsh about a man who obviously used to be a great actor, but I have to say that when I see his name on a movie nowadays it just makes me wince.

Now, luckily unlike Marshall Eriksen (more truly great stuff about "How I Met Your Mother coming at the end), I don't have a boss who yells at me on a regular basis. That doesn't mean, however, that I need to have this void filled by having Al Pacino yell at me at the movies. And that's all he seems to do.

Now, there have been recent exceptions, of course. He was great as Roy Cohn in "Angels in America," but you have to go all the back to 1999 to find a year in which he made two movies that I really enjoyed - "Any Given Sunday" and (much better) "The Insider."

And this week he's back with what looks like a truly tired stinker. Let me go ahead and get the joke out of the way first - "88 Minutes" is, apparently unfortunately, actually 108 minutes long.

In a strictly paint-by-numbers plotline, Pacino stars as a criminology professor who regularly lends his skills to the FBI. Now one particular case has come back to haunt him in the form of a mysterious voice on the other end of the telephone that casually informs him he's been marked for death. That does sound slightly more interesting than the calls I constantly get from people telling me the warranty on my 1998 Honda Civic is about to expire, but only slightly.

Oh well, I will still be going to the movies twice this weekend. Once, of course for Segel's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," but also - even though the Hollywood Reporter says it's aimed squarely at 16-year-old males - "The Forbidden Kingdom." I simply don't care how juvenile it might be; if you put Jackie Chan and Jet Li together in a movie (as opposed to Chan and Chris Tucker, thankfully), I'll be there to see it.

As for Mr. Pacino, I don't know when if ever I'll be able to come home to him again. A look at his future projects reveals a team-up with Robert De Niro for "Righteous Kill" - can you imagine the amount of hot air on that set? - and then a remake of the French heist flick "Rififi." The original, by the way, which I just recently managed to see, is simply a superb little thriller directed by the more recently late Jules Dassin. Rent it immediately if you can.

The return of Robin Sparkles!

I've been trying to find out if "How I Met Your Mother" (who it certainly seems is the simply radiant Sarah Chalke) has been renewed for a fourth season yet or not. If anyone knows the answer to this, please do share.

In the meantime, after a very funny episode this week about Marshall's job woes, it appears the show is going back into high gimmick mode for the April 21 episode with the return of everyone's favorite teen pop star, Robin Sparkles.

For anyone who doesn't watch the show (and, if you don't, you certainly should), Robin Sparkles is the alter ego of TV anchorwoman Robin Scherbatsky, played by Cobie Smulders. She made her debut on the very funny "Slap Bet" episode in a music video for "Let's Go to the Mall" on season two, and now she's back next Monday as another video blast from the past surfaces, this time to be called "Sandcastle." The episode will also feature cameos from Alan Thicke (as a music producer) and Tiffany (yes, that Tiffany) and James Van der Beek in the video. Which brings me to my only concern ...

The show already has five very engaging stars who work better and better together all the time, so do we really need all these gimmicky guests? I know I don't, but if "Sandcastle" contains anything nearly as funny as the line "Gonna rock your body 'til Canada Day," I'll be satisfied. And heck, if the guest stars are what it takes to get my second-favorite network comedy (after only "The Office") renewed again, I think I can handle it.

So, in honor of both Robins, here is the much-viewed video for "Let's Go to the Mall" (more than 500,000 times at YouTube, apparently.) Even if you've never seen the show, I guarantee this will make even the most dreary Wednesday just a little brighter. Peace out.

RIP Borat: A comedy legend bows out just in time

Sacha Baron Cohen must have at some point turned down a big bucket of cash before making this announcement, to which I can only say huzzah.

As he recently told London's Daily Telegraph, SBC is retiring both the characters of aspiring rapper Ali G and, more importantly, the belovedly clueless Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev.

Now, don't get me wrong here. Like just about everyone who loves to laugh, I just adored "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." I just can't imagine what hoops he would have had to jump through to have his encounters retain any spontaneity, or how much of it he would have been willing to give up had he chosen to make any kind of sequel. Here's what he had to say to Variety:

"When I was being Ali G and Borat I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing. It is like saying goodbye to a loved one. It is hard, and the problem with success, although it's fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I `get' with Borat again, so it's a kind of self-defeating form, really."

Well, it's certainly refreshing to see someone in the entertainment business knows when to move on, but what does that mean now for SBC fans? Well, everyone should see him as Signor Adolfo Pirelli in Tim Burton's blood-spattered-but-brilliant "Sweeney Todd," and he has some more potentially very funny stuff coming after that.

First up will be "Bruno," the fashionista journalist based on another Ali G character, which I can't say I enjoy nearly as much as I did Borat. After that, however, things should only get better.

His next credit is for something called "Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill," which just sounds like tons of fun. Apparently based on a book by little-known punker Thrill and written by Tina Fey, it's the autobiographical tale of Thrill's partnership with a Hasidic musician, who I can only assume will be played by SBC. After that will be "Dinner for Schmucks," which has this tagline that sounds tailormade for his comedic talents: "An extraordinarily stupid man possesses the ability to ruin the life of anyone who spends more than a few minutes in his company." (Actually, I think I have some of that talent myself.)

So, RIP Borat, and thanks for knowing exactly when to exit the stage.

Rainn Wilson's got the "Spirit"

Even if there is some kind of Golden Globes ceremony broadcast Jan. 13, you certainly won't find me tuning in if there's any kind of writers' strike still going on (and, let's face it, there really doesn't seem to be any kind of progress being made.) For those of you who get the Independent Film Channel, though (which I do not), there will be some awards season respite on the way.

The very funny Rainn Wilson, who stars as Dwight Schrute on "The Office" and appeared for, oh, about 30 seconds or so in "Juno," has received a WGA waiver and will be hosting the 2008 Spirit Awards, set to take place at 5 p.m. Feb. 23 (one day before the Oscars, if there are any this year) and broadcast live by IFC.

Since I've already got to make a cable switch to pick up HBO again in time for the Sunday, Jan. 6, return of "The Wire," a k a the greatest television show of all time, I may as well dump the sports tier of my digital cable and pick up the movie tier instead, which would give me IFC again and, of course, lots of movies, which I've never yet found to be anything approaching a bad thing.

New trailer for "The Forbidden Kingdom"

If you're returning to work today like me (though I'm off again starting Friday and headed to NYC for four days of movies and more with the family), the silliness that is this new trailer for Rob Minkoff's (yes, the director of "Stuart Little") upcoming kung fu epic starring both Jackie Chan and Jet Li will hopefully make it a little easier. I do have to wonder, though, just how much Mr. Li is going to have to do with this, since he makes no appearance in this new trailer. Even so, enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Boxing Day. Peace out.

This just in: Tyler Perry likes to work

Even if you don't like all the movies they put out, it's hard to dispute that Lionsgate is just about the smartest studio in the game. I could certainly do without some of their slasher fare, but after sinking their claws into Tyler Perry early it seems they're never gonna let go, which should result in many entertaining movies to come.

As he's well proven already, Mr. Perry is just a movie-making machine, and until his flicks start to suck you won't hear me telling him to slow down. His next Lionsgate movie, "Meet the Browns," is set to come out March 21, and now Lionsgate has commissioned two more of his works for the big screen, "The Family that Preys Together" and "Madea Goes to Jail."

"Meet the Browns" centers on a single Chicago mother of three (Angela Bassett, huzzah!) who has been struggling for years to keep her kids off of the streets. When she receives a death notice claiming that the father she has never met has passed away, she quickly gathers up the kids and sets out for Georgia to attend the funeral, where she discovers a whole side of the family she never knew existed. Drama? Family reunion? And, surely, plenty of comedy? Sounds like familiar but fun Tyler Perry to me, so I'll definitely be there.

This flick also stars husband-and-wife team David and Tamela Mann, who were in Macon recently to perform another Perry stage show, "What's Done in the Dark," which will surely be made into a movie some time down the road (I, unfortunately, had to work and couldn't attend, but I'm sure it must have been a fun affair.) And, for those of you who like him/her, I can confirm that Madea will be making a return to the big screen in "Meet the Browns" (personally, I find Madea funny enough, but I'm just scared of all black men who don fat suits and dresses after being trapped on a plane and making the very unfortunate decision to watch "Big Momma's House 2." Yes, I realize I could have turned it off, but I was so brain dead that it just rendered me powerless to do so.)

I couldn't find out too much about "The Family That Preys Together," but I've seen the version of "Madea Goes to Jail" that's already out on video, and it's extremely funny stuff, so I'll have to get over my Madea-phobia and just enjoy what he does with it with a much bigger budget.

David Letterman, the good guy

Hidden under the caustic exterior of David Letterman beats the heart of an old softy which has managed to jump out on TV from time to time. And now, with his latest gesture toward employees of "The Late Show With David Letterman" and "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson," both owned by Letterman's Worldwide Pants company, the secret that he's really just a good guy is definitely out.

Worldwide Pants Inc. notified its employees in New York and Los Angeles on Tuesday that they would be paid regardless of whether the show returned or not. This makes it the first known company to guarantee its staff a paycheck during the writers' strike. To give credit where it's due, this was first reported by Nikki Finke at
Deadline Hollywood Daily.

And, if you want to get a running and very funny commentary on life during the strike, "Late Show" scribes Eric Stangel, Justin Stangel, Bill Scheft, Steve Young, Matt Roberts, Tom Ruprecht, Jeremy Weiner, Lee Ellenberg, Joe Grossman and Bob Borden are sharing their thoughts in a blog of sorts here. Highly recommended reading.

Very enticing "Forgotten Kingdom" footage

My first thought when I heard about this movie was "if you're really gonna team up Jet Li and Jackie Chan for a fun kung-fu epic, why would you get the guy who made 'Stuart Little' to direct it?" Well, I'm still a little skeptical that "The Forbidden Kingdom" will be good when it comes out next Spring, but this mostly dialogue-free and action-packed teaser shows that director Rob Minkoff must have at least hired a good kung-fu choreographer. Enjoy, and have an entirely pleasant Thursday.