Red Band Trailer: Ryan Gosling's 'Drive'

What can I say? I love a good crime film (...not sure what that says about me). It's no secret that I'd much rather kick back and watch Goodfellas or The Departed for the umpteenth time, than give any attention to some of the derivative action flicks that've been released lately. And, as a proud Canadian (and former fan of The Mickey Mouse Club and Breaker High!), I love me some Ryan Gosling (minus his ridiculously-fake Brooklyn accent. Like seriously, buddy, you're from Canada, not New York. Life doesn't have to imitate art ALL the time), and I truly believe Carey Mulligan is pretty much close to perfection. She has a subtle, yet distinct, on-screen presence that the world fell in love with after her breakout (and might I mention, Oscar-nominated) role in An Education. Also must mention the stellar supporting cast that includes Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and the gorgeous Christina Hendricks (Mad Men).

Ryan plays a Hollywood stunt driver who also moonlights as a getaway-car wheelman. Drive looks gritty, excellently violent, and pretty damn sexy, with heads bashing and guns waving. Seriously, what's wrong with me?

Latest on HBO's Boardwalk Empire & How to Make It in America

Going out to all the HBO fans and addicts (like yours truly!), here's the latest update on the TV shows we are so desperately waiting for.

In case you haven't seen this yet, here's what we can look forward to for the highly anticipated second season of Boardwalk Empire, premiering in September. Looks like Nucky's in for some competition from surrogate son, Jimmy. Although all I'm hoping for is some more screen time for the intriguing and always-captivating, Richard Harrow (Jack Huston).



Plus, season 2 of How to Make It in America gets a second chance to wow us in October. (October 2nd is what I've read.) I think when this one came out last year, we all thought it'd be like 'the new Entourage', but it's a different show and I'm willing to give it another shot to really give me more than just the stellar cast and breathtaking New York scenery.



Speaking of Entourage, it's a bittersweet ending to a ground-breaking television bro-mance that will be missed. Whatever, it's not like I'm shedding too many tears since Entourage will live on in syndication and get extensive replays in my personal DVD collection, that's for sure. The final season, only 8 episodes, starts this Sunday (July 24th) and things are definitely up in the air. Vince's career, Ari's marriage and it looks like Sloan sent back E's engagement ring.

Review: Bad Teacher - Shut the Front Door!

Who knew Cameron Diaz could be so unlikeable? For someone who easily brightens the screen with her goofy smile, even giving Julia Roberts, a run for her money in My Best Friend's Wedding, she managed to be quite detestable in Bad Teacher.

Cameron plays a self-centered, unapologetic, downright-bad, teacher who's main goal is to marry rich. She's flawed, so flawed that you feel guilty for being on her side (even though I was). She cheats, steals, lies, does drugs, treats her students like crap and appears to have very little conscience. Basically, she's evil - and the protagonist can never be evil! Wait, that's not true. The main character can be bad, but by the end of the movie, usually there has to be some sort of redemption to make it right and restore 'happily ever after' balance, at least in a light-hearted comedy like this one. But that doesn't happen here. There's no punishment, and she definitely does not redeem herself.

And I don't know, maybe I'm just as bad a person deep down inside, because I didn't really mind that. I didn't need her to come to a positive realization or make up for her wrong-doings in the end. She got the guy - maybe not the-guy-with-all-the-money, but the guy we knew she'd end up with. Oh, and if you don't walk out of the movie hating Justin Timberlake's character so much that you wished he was in front of you so you could slap him, I'll give you a hundred dollars. Maybe.

Jason Stackhouse is the Best

Jason: "There's werewolves?"
Sookie: "Yes"
Jason: "Shit! Bigfoot? Is he real too?"
Sookie: "I don't know, I guess it's possible."
Jason: "Santa?!"
Sookie: "Jason! Focus."

Couldn't Agree With You More, Coppola

Catch Up on Six Seasons of Weeds with Animated Video

The 7th (it's been that long?!) and perhaps final (although that's not confirmed) season of Weeds kicks off this Monday with Nancy in prison and her long-suffering Botwin brood in far-away Denmark. How will she weasel her way out of this one, you ask? Well, of course, in true Nancy Botwin fashion, she'll get out - pretty obviously - because Prison Break this ain't.

A lot has happened over the past six seasons, and it took something like one rent-a-cop, two husbands (one who happened to be a DEA agent), a scorned (and psychotic) PTA-mom and pissed-off Mexican drug lords, to take down this Baroness of Bud. If you've never tuned into Weeds before, WATCH IT. From the beginning, so you can see the comically dark masterpiece that was the first three seasons.

And if you're already chronically addicted, then this animated summary of the first six seasons will only work to get you more excited for our favourite dysfunctional family's return to TV.

Showtime, I love you for making this video.

Customize your Facebook Profile for Season 4 of True Blood

Trubies, there are only 4 sleeps till the season 4 premiere of True Blood on HBO. And to commemorate the occasion (and garner a little bit of extra buzz and publicity), HBO has found a way to make use of the photostrip on your Facebook profile. I've just customized my Facebook page for this weekend's premiere, and you can too. Haven't seen any other Entertainment brands find a way to utilize the photostrip up until now. And to top if off, it's free advertising for the show, directly from loyal brand ambassadors like me. So if you're my Facebook friend and you didn't know about this weekend's premiere (cuz you're hiding under a rock or a total loser, or something...), well now you do.

CW's Ringer & Hart of Dixie - Premiere Dates

I may be kind of a cable TV snob, but I've never hidden my sometimes-love for a choice few CW shows. I loved every minute of the teenage drama provided by Dawson's Creek, guilty-pleasured my way through The OC and One Tree Hill (seasons 1 to 5 ONLY, of course), and always crave my weekly fix of The Vampire Diaries. And even in the age of the very-bad and unnecessary remake of 90210 (how dare they), and the millionth season of America's Next Top Model, I don't mind highlighting two new shows coming to the CW this fall.

Ringer (Tuesday, Sept. 13th at 9pm)
Sarah Michelle-freaking-Gellar, times two?! Need I say more? It's Buffy, she deserves at least a chance since we've waited so long for her return to the small-screen. Plus, the trailer is intriguing and you can't really see where this story is going, so there's a reason to keep watching.



Hard of Dixie (Monday, Sept. 26th at 9 pm)
Rachel Bilson is returning to TV after stealing The OC right from under Mischa Barton and her crappy acting. She may always and forever be Summer Roberts but at least she's trying something new. OK, so the premise is overdone. A fish out of water story about a city gal who moves to the country, meets some hot boys - one in particular is Jason Street (Scott Porter) from Friday Night Lights (one of the greatest network TV shows ever)! He may not be Tim Riggins but he IS an FNL alum and that's enough for me.

Interactive True Blood Teaser on Facebook

Taking a page from the Old Spice marketing handbook, True Blood has once again made me remember why I love the show, not just for putting out the sexiest, most addictive hour of television, but because it's a brand that really knows who their customers are, and what we want from them.

True Blood fans want more, (and more and more and more), between seasons and especially in the few weeks leading up to a new season. Teasing us beyond belief, every clip, every poster, every video, is aimed at reminding fans why they fell in love with True Blood in the first place, whetting our appetites and making us hungry for more.

This time they've created an interactive teaser on their Facebook page. After (and only after) you 'like' the page, you can create a personalized video featuring you, Facebook friends you choose, and the supporting characters you know and love from Bons Temps. And I'm not going to lie, my heart skipped a beat when Eric sent me a pretend-instant-message in the vid. I know it's not real life but they were able to create a very personal and innovative experience for fans to be part of their supernatural world, even if just virtually.


If anything, it's something for Trubies (for non-fans, Trubies are to True Blood, what Gleeks are to Glee) to do while we impatiently wait for Season 4 to start - June 26th! Plus they got you to 'like' their Facebook page, and maybe even share your personalized video through your profile. I did, here's mine.

Trailer: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Leak or Viral Marketing

The age of YouTube doesn't seem like it's slowing down any. Just this year we were witness to the amazing and innovative Old Spice campaign, the crazy and infectious Bed Intruder videos and uncountable (and unwelcome) parodies of Rebecca Black's horrendous hit, Friday.

Earlier this week, the red-band trailer for David Fincher's American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was leaked, and if you haven't seen it by now, well, you're obviously not glued to your computer screen like I am. The trailer is so blatantly 'bootlegged', I mean, someone is holding a hand-held camera to a screener of the trailer. Or wait...is it?



Usually if something like this leaks, it's taken down right away so the production team can release it officially when they're ready. If you don't watch it right away, you're screwed because it's already gone by the time you get around to watching it. So either Sony is all lax about it since it's already out, or perhaps they leaked the trailer themselves, to generate some buzz around the movie's release.

Take a look at what The Hollywood Reporter has dug up from watching the trailer - one thing for sure is the sound seems too good for a cam-copy (and thank God for that, because the Trent Reznor and Karen Oh track wouldn't be worthy of poor sound quality). But, if that's the case and Sony did 'leak' their own trailer to kick off some viral marketing campaign, was it a clever move on the their part or should things 'go viral' more organically? Is it really something worthy of a 'leak' considering a novel and previous (hard to live up to) film version already exists? And did we ruin everything by pointing out that it may have been a marketing tactic?

If you're interested in viral marketing and want to know more about how and why videos go viral, take a look at this post from Sysomos.

UPDATE:
As you can see, as of Wednesday morning, the trailer has been taken down, with a copyright claim from Sony. Hmm, so maybe the conspiracy theories were wrong and it was just a bootleg. Still, maybe not...