Following up on The Toys That Made Us (previously reviewed here at borg), Netflix’s surprise hit documentary series leaning on viewers’ nostalgia with a look behind select high-profile toy lines of the past, last December the streaming provider added a new series based on the same formula, The Movies That Made Us. The series looked at four movies in four hour-long episodes, including the modern Christmas staples, Home Alone and Die Hard. This December, Netflix is adding two new surveys of holiday movies to the mix: Jon Favreau’s Elf (2003) and Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Check out a preview below.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon M. Chu is transforming another 1980s animated television series into a live action theatrical release. The series Jem ran three seasons and 65 episodes, between 1985 and 1988. Jerrica Benton was the secret leader of the glam rock, all-girl band in the original series. The band’s name, Jem and the Holograms, will soon be the title of the live action film. The original Jem prompted a successful toy line from Hasbro, one of the companies bringing the series to the big screen.
The magical elements of Jem do not appear to have made it to the new movie. In the animated series Jerrica projected a holographic image over her own to disguise herself. Aubrey Peeples (Sharknado), who could almost be a ringer for actress/singer Zooey Deschanel, now stars as Jerrica, who takes on the persona of Jem as her career in music takes off, thanks to a music producer played by Juliette Lewis. The 1980s brat pack star Molly Ringwald co-stars.
Isn’t that Ryan Hansen, Dick Casablancas from Veronica Mars, at the end of the trailer, getting an autograph from Jem?
We can’t believe we’re entering our fifth calendar year of daily updates here at borg.com. Our big benchmark for 2014 was passing 1,000,000 site visits so we want to say thanks again. We wish everyone a great new year.
Four years ago we posted a YouTube clip we thought we’d re-post here to welcome in the new year, from Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, both who have been pretty busy with TV and films since they first posted this:
Thanks for coming back and thanks for following borg.com on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr, or subscribing to daily updates, or just dropping by to see what’s new.
If you want to know why three cast members of the Fox TV series New Girl were up for Emmys last year, just get a copy of New Girl: The Complete Second Season, now available on DVD. With yet another episode last night, New Girl is still cranking out laughs in its third season every Tuesday night. New Girl has become the surest way to get a quick dose of laugh-out-loud humor on network or cable television. The only frustrating thing about New Girl is that each episode is less than half an hour, and it always feels like it is over too fast. And that makes it that much more fun to watch 25 episodes at a few hours per viewing with the DVD set.
Season Two finally saw series star Zooey Deschanel’s Jess hook up with Jake Johnson’s Nick, the poster boy for the lazy post-college set. Deschanel was nominated for leading actress in a comedy series for her work in Season Two and it’s no wonder–she’s fun, quirky, and smart. Season Two also saw Max Greenfield’s performance as Schmidt nominated for best supporting actor in a comedy series. It’s hard to think of the last actor that worked as hard as Greenfield does for a laugh, finding himself constantly in the most embarrassing and over-the-top circumstances. Deschanel and Greenfield have made themselves actors to watch for whether in TV appearances (Deschanel in Bones and Weeds, Greenfield in Veronica Mars and Castle) or in movies (Deschanel in Elf and The Happening).
It probably makes sense that the Golden Globes allows for more genre win opportunities than the more drama-oriented Academy Awards. Still, the Globes didn’t go as far as they could with the best of what is on TV and in movies. Zooey Deschanel and Max Greenfield not winning in the comedy categories for New Girl is a big miss. Kevin Costner is a great actor but I don’t see how anyone was a better actor on TV or film this year than Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock. Fans of genre fave show The Big Bang Theory will be bummed to see that show slighted for best comedy series. The BBC’s drama The Hour was the best of television for the past two years so there is another miss.
So here is what they got right:
Argo as Best Film. Check.
Ben Affleck as Best Director for Argo.Check.
Brave as Best Animated Film. Check.
Adele for Best Original Song for Skyfall.Check.
Quentin Tarantino for Best Screenplay for Django Unchained.Check.
Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor for Django Unchained. Check.
Although we’re having a hard time getting excited about Homeland‘s slow building second season after its great first season (but we plan to be caught up soon), it’s great to see Homeland lead the TV awards with best drama and acting nods for the always great acting of Daniel Lewis and Claire Danes.
What’s funny and what is not is subjective. But I watched a lot of TV last year and only one TV series made me laugh out loud–a lot–in every single episode. Jess, Schmidt, Nick, Winston, and Cece return tomorrow night for another season of great actors, great characters, (we hope) great writing, and gut-busting humor with a two-episode premiere at 7C/8E on Fox (note: Fox is sneaking in another half hour show so episode 2 starts at 8C/9E). So don’t forget to set the DVR. Look for Parker Posey guest starring in the first episode, “Re-launch.”
Years ago you couldn’t get through any New Year’s Eve without seeing or hearing Guy Lombardo playing “Roll Out the Barrel” and “Auld Lang Syne” and, hey, I really am not that old. We also had Dick Clark, the man who never ages, and the big old ball drop in Times Square in New York City, that still keeps rolling along.
This is the album by Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians, Auld Lang Syne, now available on CD for only $2.99, that, back in 33 1/3 LP form, got worn out by several families across the U.S.:
In the world of viral videos on You Tube, it is awesome and appropriate that one of our favorite celebrities of 2011 uploaded a free song to celebrate the New Year, Zooey Deschanel and her cool ukelele, accompanied by her good pal Joseph (Joe) Gordon-Levitt, hangin’ around the house singing. But the result is great. Check it out:
If you’re not keeping up with the year, Deschanel has had a super year. You may know her from several movies, both drama and comedy, including one of the holiday season’s best new classics, Elf, with Will Farrell, or from her musical duo She & Him, and more recently by her hit comedy series on ABC, New Girl, that has garnered her a Golden Globe nomination. We reviewed hernew Christmas albuma few weeks ago here, and we’ve been loving her TV series all season, and discussed it here, too.
You’ll recognize “RegularJoe” Joe Gordon-Levitt from everything from a kid on Family Ties to Dark Shadows to Quantum Leap, from Roseanne to The Outer Limits to the show that made him well known, 3rd Rock from the Sun, from films like G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra to Inception. Next year will be a big year for Gordon-Levitt, as he will have roles in both The Dark Knight Rises, and play President Lincoln’s son in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, based on a Doris Kearns-Goodwin book.
Sounds like Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt are not an “item,” but they sure look cute together, right? It makes you wonder if anyone is paying attention. How about a musical like A Knight’s Tale, Ella Enchanted starring these two? And how cool to give a song out like this for free?
Renaissance gal Zooey Deschanel seems to be at the top of her game in many respects. She has headlined major motion pictures, such as Jon Favreau’s Elf and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, she’s the star of the funniest sitcom on TV this year, The New Girl, and she has cut several albums with Portland singer-songwriter M. Ward in her group She & Him. With their new album, A Very She & Him Christmas, you won’t be alone if you think you’re listening to old vinyl LPs of excerpts from the 1950s and 1960s, of tunes and voicings evoking The Mamas and the Papas, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, Patsy Cline and Dusty Springfield, backed up by a solid Willie Nelson-inspired guitar. It’s not every day you listen to an album four times in a row, trying to determine who sang that song before, who this singer seems to sound just like, and wondering if you’ve just heard this album somewhere before.
With Christmas albums, either you want something new, or more likely, you’re after that feel of the familiar, nostalgic tune that you’ve heard so many times over the years that you have the lyrics committed to memory. With A Very She & Him Christmas, you get not only nostalgia, you get some 1950s rock, some Hawaiian vibes, some beach music, some lounge/1960s mod, most soulful, a few cheery, and all ultimately sentimental and sweetly sung. Look for some nice acoustic walking guitar lines, as well as some cool reverb electric guitar a la Del Shannon’s Runaway. Don’t look for a lot of Deschanel’s typical layered alto, leathery smooth voice. It still is a sophisticated sound, but more adherence is given to classic renditions of these mostly familiar songs than improvising or toying with the classics.
Expect little of the often labeled “cutesy Zooey Deschanel”–here instead is a more mature Dusty Springfield style of emoting, some Patsy Cline-inspired sounds mixed with some Karen Carpenter-esque aching loneliness and all with a Mama Cass Eliot level of a Deschanel’s full volumed voice.
This is a great addition to your Christmas CD collection or iPod. The album cover says it all, with its That Thing You Do retro feel. Some highlights of the recordings on A Very She & Him Christmasinclude:
1. The Christmas Waltz. A lazy and quirky version of a classic that feels like Deschanel is stuck inside on a wintry day, passing away the hours, looking out on the world she is missing.
2. Christmas Day. A hip and up-tempo ice 1950s electric guitar, breezy, California Christmas. An unfamiliar but nice tune, that feels a bit like it could have been written by George Harrison while singing with the Travelling Wilburys.
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Melancholy and melancholy. Almost a creepy dark , soulful vibe. Will have you wondering if you left a Carpenters album in the stereo.
4. I’ll be Home for Christmas. Tinny and tinselly classic rock version of a usually bland and dreary, sentimental song. Still soulful, this version’s background skips along with some actual hopefulness.
5. Christmas Wish. This song has the feel of a California beach Christmas tune. Very Beach Boys influenced, almost feels like this should be on the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album. reminiscent of the old Coca-Cola commercial sound “I’d like to teach the world to sing.”
6. Sleigh Ride. A great up-tempo, cheery tune you’d expect on a Zooey Deschanel album. She sings on the back beat of the normal tune, more than just playing with the syncopation of the tune. At first gives you a bit of a start. And she does this holding of notes on consonants that is unusual but kind of cool. Ultimately the playfulness of the back and forth between Deschanel and Ward make this a highlight of the album.
7. Rockin’ Around the Christmas. The best song on the album. Upbeat 1950s, great use of background singers. Sounds as if you pulled a vinyl Christmas album out of a vinyl retro shop and spun it on the 50-year-old stereo you’ve kept in the attic. And not just any album… a Patsy Cline Christmas album. You’d swear it was Cline on the last line of the song.
8. Silver Bells. A cool idea, Silver Bells, only Hawaiian style, backed with Deschanel playing ukelele. A lot less of the full sound we’ve heard before from Deshanel as far as voice goes. But that’s a good thing here because instead she mirrors the nostalgic singing style of Rosemary Clooney.
9. Baby, It’s Cold Outside. Tons more playful than her brief version from the movie Elf, Deschanel and Ward really balance each other equally in a classic rendition of the song.
10. Blue Christmas. Probably the best version of this song I have ever heard, and it’s pretty much my least favorite Christmas song, so that’s saying something. Deschanel is more expressive and soulful than on the other songs on the album. It also has a little Country pop ballad twist, which is a nice interpretation of this song since Country often equates to “blue” lyrics. You get the feel she is singing to a few folks from atop a stool with her guitar in some off the highway, Alabama roadhouse bar.
11. Little Saint Nick. Another fun, California Christmas song. Nice use of background voices. Sang sweetly, again with a touch of that ukelele played by Deschanel.
12. The Christmas Song. A drifting, willowy, mature, satiny version of the classic. Another album highlight.
If the pilot is any indication, Zooey Deschanel, the cute and quirky co-star of Elf, Jimmy Fallon’s girlfriend in his “Idiot Boyfriend” video, and the gritty-sultry voice of the pop group She and Him, will be right at home in her new sitcom, New Girl, premiering September 20 on Fox.
The New Girl of the title is Deschanel’s Jess, who we meet shortly after she leaves after finding her boyfriend with another woman. Jess quickly answers a Craig’s List ad for three guys seeking a fourth roomie, and despite her moody, post-boyfriend psychosis, the mention that her friends are all models causes the trio (or at least two of the trio) to bring her onboard after a brief interview process.
Jess is a school teacher, but the show isn’t about that, it’s about a young woman on the edge being brought back from the cliff by a group of good guys, and it is thankfully far more comedy than drama. The leader of the roommates and apparent Scarecrow of Zooey’s Dorothy-like character is the often-shirtless Schmidt played by Max Greenfield, best known as the too-nice-for-his-own-good Leo, friend of Veronica on Veronica Mars. Damon Wayans, Jr. who plays Coach only in the series pilot (to be replaced by Lamorne Morris as a series regular), is a serious fitness instructor with no understanding of women (clearly the Tin Man in our analogy) with Jake M. Johnson as Nick, who also lost his girlfriend recently, as the weepy other roommate and empathetic new friend (and gentle Lion).
Jess gives Zooey a chance to sing, including creating her own theme song amongst her roommates (did I say she’s a little quirky?), when depressed she watches Dirty Dancing sometimes six times per day, and she lacks a certain fashion sense, starting with her large, retro eyeglasses. What must include some improvisation to focus on Deschanel’s back and forth from deadpan to Jack-in-the-box-quick, boisterous humor, the show has our lead well-settled in her role as if she had played this character for years. The style of the setting of New Girl offers a certain romp and sillyness like the trendiness of Marlo Thomas’s That Girl, Mary Tyler Moore’s hat-throwing intro in the classic Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Caroline Dhavernas’s dry humor and situation comedy antics from Wonderfalls.
For a half-hour pilot, the producers managed to pack a lot of story into the introduction of these characters. If the writers can stick with the momentum and humor from the pilot, New Girl may be a new fall sitcom worth tuning in for.
, now available on CD for only $2.99, that, back in 33 1/3 LP form, got worn out by several families across the U.S.:
, you won’t be alone if you think you’re listening to old vinyl LPs of excerpts from the 1950s and 1960s, of tunes and voicings evoking The Mamas and the Papas, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, Patsy Cline and Dusty Springfield, backed up by a solid Willie Nelson-inspired guitar. It’s not every day you listen to an album four times in a row, trying to determine who sang that song before, who this singer seems to sound just like, and wondering if you’ve just heard this album somewhere before.
