"

"Zombieland" was a (insert violent zombie-related adjective here) good time. Now can we be done with the zombie movies for a little while?

A hilariously grizzled, Twinkie-thirsting Woody Harrelson is the star of the latest zom-com, with Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Watson and Abigail Breslin along for the ride. This land of the undead is about as apocalyptic as it gets. Crashed cars smolder across the landscape and humans are almost nowhere to be found. When the four survivors meet up, they set out for a rumored haven free of the zombie hordes.

(From the explanation Eisenberg's narrator gives us, though, it seems the zombies are not technically dead. Instead of some absurd supernatural explanation for their brain appetite, it's a mutating virus that makes "Zombieland's" denizen's skin decay, eyes whiten and voices groan. Personally, I think if you're going with zombies, go all the way and say they're the spillover from a crowded Hell or something Romero-esque like that.)

Like "Dawn of the Dead," "Shaun of the Dead" or any good zombie comedy, "Zombieland" serves up plenty of laughs. Most arise from the clash between Eisenberg's Michael Cera-lite timidity and Harrelson's gruff aggression toward the zombifying outside world. The zombie kills themselves are sometimes amusing too, especially when its a raging Harrelson on the other end of the death blow. Less humorous are Eisenberg's recurring "rules," a set of guidelines to surviving Zombieland (e.g. stay in shape, don't be a hero) that are plastered on-screen when relevant.

True to the sub-genre's form, there's also romance, horror and the touching formation of camaraderie between the lone survivors in "Zombieland." Rinse the blood and repeat.

Not even the best extended cameo in recent memory can lift from "Zombieland" the feeling that zom-coms are running their course. Though if they're all as fun as this one, I suppose there are worse fates (insert gory zombie death scenario here).

-David "

"

The 2010 Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and something about the top of the ballot looked funny. And not just "Avatar."

James Cameron's 3-D science-fictionalizing of the "Pocahontas" story was joined by nine other films in the Best Picture race. Not four - nine. It was announced last year that the top Oscar race would double the size of its field. But there was something so peculiar about seeing all 10 names listed together this morning, and I finally felt the weight of this change in protocol.

My immediate reaction was to try to figure out which five films would have made the cut had the Academy's rules not changed. Having only seen five of the nominees ("Up," "Up in the Air," "Inglourious Basterds," "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker") doesn't really affect my guesses. Predicting the Academy's choices is better informed by knowing what films have won what so far and what film's message speaks most to whom. I'm pretty confident saying "Up in the Air," "Basterds," "Avatar" and "Locker," but I can't settle on a fifth. Maybe "An Education."

That's the appeal of the Oscars: elitism. The cheap aura of "everyone gets a trophy day" at summer camp dogs the Grammys, the Golden Globes and every other award in popular entertainment, but the Oscars still feel like meaningful recognition. I didn't think they could be any more cheapened after a decade of awful choices (giving Best Picture to "Crash" in 2006 and snubbing "A History of Violence" the same year was disturbingly stupid). But seeing all 10 of those films honored with a Best Picture nomination made me realize that the Oscars still have prestige they've yet to squander.

With "Avatar," "Up," "Inglourious Basterds" and "District 9" in the hunt, it's clear that the Academy is making the most of the expansion by broadening its appeal beyond art-house walls. More people have horses in the race, so to speak. And maybe that's a good thing. After all, there's still only one winner. So what's the harm in more people being worked up about the race? None, I suppose. But don't go putting much stock in the "Best Picture Nominee" descriptor donning the cover art for half the selections in the local video store.

-David "

"

Following up, "Bayonetta" indeed rises to an A- with its load-speeding patch.

In other game criticism news, my "MAG" score might need to be knocked down now that I've become certain of a major imbalance that favors the S.V.E.R. faction in battle. Not once has my force, Raven, defeated them in Sabotage mode, whereas we've split victories with the Valor faction pretty easily. Both the layout of S.V.E.R.'s map and its slightly superior weapons are to blame for this imbalance. Hopefully Sony fixes this problem, or "MAG's" Shadow War will be over before long.

Maybe someday I'll publish an official retractions list of significant post-review conclusions in The Citizen's Go guide. They seem to keep adding up.

-David "

"

Yesterday it was announced that Sony would release a patch to knock down the absurdly long load times for its "Bayonetta" port. Depending on how much the patch cuts those times down, this could be a big enough boost to the PS3 "Bayonetta" playing experience that I raise my grade of the game to an A-.

Still no word on the de-sexing patch that sheathes Bayonetta in a burlap sack, though. (Yes, I made that up.)

-David "

" As if James Cameron's ego needed any more feeding, news came in last evening that "Avatar" topped Cameron's own "Titanic" in domestic and worldwide box office grosses.

Well no kidding. Tickets to the 3-D version are $11. Meanwhile, "Avatar" lingers somewhere near No. 30 on the all-time list adjusted for inflation.

I'm also hearing talk that "Avatar" is the front-runner for the Best Picture Academy Award. Makes sense. Not because it deserves it - "The Hurt Locker," "Up in the Air," "Inglourious Basterds" and "500 Days of Summer" are much stronger contenders, to name four potential co-nominees. (Oops, I forgot there'll be 10 this year).

Anyway, it makes sense because the Academy is looking to reassert its relevance after last year, when "Slumdog Millionaire," though of decent quality and popularity, was smacked around at the box office and on critics' best-of lists by "The Dark Knight" and "WALL*E." By giving "Avatar" the top prize, the Academy gets viewers and James Cameron's ego grows into the size of Pandora.

-David "

"

Are "movie of the year" accolades enough to finally say we have a good movie about the war in Iraq?

After a decade of terrible-to-decent efforts to depict the defining war of the 2000s (I can't say "aughts"), "The Hurt Locker" shoots straight to the psychology of the modern soldier. Jeremy Renner stars as Staff Sgt. William James, an explosives expert who examines IEDs in urban Iraq under the rifle cover of Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Spc. Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). James' recklessness about bombs, friendly scuffles in the barracks and barreling into firefights earns him wary respect from his fellow soldiers, who don't share James' addiction to the adrenaline spike of combat.

Director Kathryn Bigelow builds suspense in "The Hurt Locker" with a mastery barely suggested by her resume, which includes "Point Break" and "K-19: The Widowmaker." Intensity and calamity are incessant moods in the film, and they're established less through words than nailbiting episodes of combat. Scenes like James examining a bomb strapped to an unwitting civilian in a town square and James' ambushed unit cautiously engaging in a desert sniper battle are filmed with uncomplicated bluster.

Bigelow also gives the tension and peril room to surge through the principle trio, who command wonder and sympathy with the psychic volatility of their soldiers. Renner especially is frightening in his impulsiveness about risking his life and those of his crew. At first his bravado is winning, but he wears the enslaved fatigue of a junkie by the end of "The Hurt Locker," which Bigelow makes clear is no end for soldiers like James.

-David "

" About a year and a half ago I wrote in this blog that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be the best candidate to replace Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sony's web-slinging franchise.

It's definitely premature to say I told you so, and I won't, but the recent news that "500 Days of Summer" director Marc Webb has been given the reins to the next "Spider-Man" movie is a promising sign that I picked the next Spidey. Levitt shined in Webb's 2009 romantic comedy, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the director campaign for the talented young star to take the lead role in Webb's next film.

It's amusing to hear that Sony has already bulldozed its blockbuster franchise in favor of starting over in 2012 with a "high school years" account of Parker's life. "Spider-Man 3" wasn't terribly good - it was a steep drop-off in quality from "2" - but it wasn't awful enough to demand a reboot. (Granted, script problems with "Spider-Man 4" also contributed to Sony's decision, though I thought Raimi's casting of John Malkovich as The Vulture was a promising start).

Between this debacle and the news that Warner Brothers is rebooting its Superman series after the only modest success of the kinda-decent "Superman Returns," itself a reboot, studio executives are showing a frustrating tendency toward all-or-nothing decision-making. It's as if flawless winning streaks are the only way they're willing to go. But we can only see these heroes' origins so many times.

-David "

" My four weeks of resisting the monocultural juggernaut that is James Cameron's "Avatar" is another blog entry altogether. Point is, I finally just saw it this weekend.

I don't regret waiting so long, because as good as "Avatar" is at being a paradigm-shifting blockbuster, it's just a passable story with no compelling characters and many flat ones (for a 3-D film, there are many 1-D stereotypes).

It might be unfair of me to divorce the film's story from its presentation and say something akin to, "It would be really bad if it weren't for all the good visuals." After all, who's to say how the film would have ended up without the cutting-edge elements that forcefully immerse you in Pandora, a futuristic world Cameron built from the ground up? No one - certainly not I. But I believe it is fair to compartmentalize my criticism, because a great film doth not great CGI make (at least not for me). In that spirit, I'd give "Avatar" an A+ for presentation and a C for content. Call it a B/B+ split.

Leashing "Avatar's" story of the Na'vi and their human disturbers down to a straightforward narrative was a smart instinct on Cameron's part. Too complex a story, whether dramatically, thematically or morally, may have compromised the impact of the visuals. This instinct served George Lucas well when he wrapped his mind-blowing space saga "Star Wars" in mythological themes that appealed to audiences' sense of classical narrative.



But in "Avatar," Cameron pulls back too tightly. It's a predictable story that follows "Dances With Wolves" pretty much story point for story point. Equally shallow is main character Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), the paraplegic Marine who mentally inhabits a human-bioengineered Na'vi as part of a program to study the race. A lost Sully is taken in by the actual Na'vi race and falls in love with the female who teaches him their ways, Neytiri, while feeding intelligence about the race to his military superiors. Worthington's leaden voiceover narration fails to provide insight into Sully's cataclysmic actions. Wanting to walk again is about much of a motive as we can grasp, but even that seems to weigh less on Sully's mind as the film goes on.

Just as glib is Cameron's not-so-veiled criticism of the war in Iraq, which becomes obvious to even the most obtuse viewer somewhere between one character's uttering of the words "shock" and "awe." Between "disturbing" and "annoying," I couldn't decide which better described the "money money money kill kill kill" demeanor of the film's human military faction - represented in part by an unremarkable Giovanni Ribisi as a tycoon seeking the moronically named Unobtanium reserves lying below the Na'vi's home.

But, in all honesty, you should still see the movie, in 3-D if possible. Cameron invested a lot of effort into creating Pandora and realizing it with dynamic visuals. If he had also populated it with somewhat nuanced characters locked in compelling conflict, he might've really had something with "Avatar."

-David "

" If it was NBC's intention to ignite every network's late-night lineup with prime joke fodder, they played this whole Leno/Conan switcheroo pretty well.

Last night's Leno featured Jimmy Kimmel (who recently caricatured Leno on his ABC late-night show) unapologetically ripping Jay apart at every opportunity, to his face, for his part in taking "The Tonight Show" back from Conan O'Brien after only seven months.

And with a likely-to-be-loaded slate of guests on O'Brien's show next week - its last - NBC has, for the short term, solved the problem of its sagging late-night ratings. Just not the way it intended.

-David "

" I know next to nothing about "Dragon Ball Z."

So when Namco Bandai sent me two games to review, "Dragon Ball Raging Blast" for PS3 and "Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo" for Wii, I was prepared for immersion into a totally strange manga world.

The unfamiliar and hyperactive story didn't really get in the way of the games being totally unremarkable. "Raging Blast" is a truly 3-D fighter that takes to land, sea and air in free-moving battles. The open-axis play occurs in key scenes from "Dragon Ball Z," with a friend in the room or with several foes online. It's a breath of fresh air from traditional fighters, but the unrefined technique and often terrible cameras didn't have me too eager to get familiar with the franchise.

Nor did "Piccolo," which follows a beat-'em-up formula. Though mindlessly fun for a little while, the button-mashing wore thin before long. But to its credit, the game at least explained what the Dragon Balls actually are. And that's one more thing I knew about this series than before I played its two latest video game tie-ins.

-David "

"

George Clooney puts in a heck of a last-minute claim for "entertainer of the decade" with "Up in the Air." And the movie itself, directed by Jason Reitman, makes its own case for one of the best films of that same time frame.

As a frequent flier who does companies' dirty work by firing employees, Clooney exudes his usual tempered charm even as his character, Ryan Bingham, begins to question the nomadic beliefs that made him a success. When a young Cornell grad (Anna Kendrick) introduces the concept of web-conference firing to Bingham's firm, he takes the young woman on the road to show her the necessity of doing his job in person. Meanwhile, Bingham meets a fellow traveler (Vera Farmiga) who stirs in him an affection that threatens to upend his disconnected lifestyle.

As a movie that deals heavily - but optimistically - with job loss, "Up in the Air" packs the kind of contemporary resonance that could carry it far in awards season. It confronts and actually calms a widespread fear of our time with humor, honesty and hope. But the film's quality runs deeper than its engagement with modern anxiety.

"Up in the Air" smoothly floats between funny, thought-provoking and moving with nary a heavy-handed or sappy moment (a lesser director would blast "All You Need is Love" at some point in this film). Clooney is at a minimalist best, his charm pouring through even the most self-possessed looks. Farmiga is also tremendously alluring and elusive, and Kendrick shows impressive chops in her back-and-forth scenes with Clooney. Acting talent aside, "Up in the Air" really ascends by taking a timely concern and addressing it timelessly.

-David "

" I'm sorry, but why on earth does anyone consider Jay Leno funny?

That he's rumored to return to his late night slot, replacing the automatically hilarious Conan O'Brien, just astounds me. There are moments in American media where I feel so acutely disconnected from the popular taste - Creed, "Twilight" - and this is one of them.

Please watch Conan, people. On whatever network and whatever time slot he lands.

-David "

" This year I gave a video game paper plate award of sorts to "The Beatles: Rock Band": Game That Most Deserves a Better-Fated Genre. Much of a fad as rhythm games are turning out to be, the Fab Four-exclusive version demands longevity. For one, it's reverentially tailored to the group, their career, their look and their sound. And two, the music is obviously exceptional.

"Rock Band" developer Harmonix has been releasing some of the Beatles' best late-career albums in their entirety as downloadable content (DLC). I recently played some of the additions from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (the best album ever according to many) and "Rubber Soul" (the best album ever according to many others).

One of the biggest (and only) gripes about "The Beatles" game was the omission of classic songs, but as DLC, Beatles highlights like "When I'm 64" and "Nowhere Man" are now obtainable. And one of The Beatles' best songs, "A Day in the Life," can finally be experienced with a psychedelic video backdrop that matches the sullen march and volatile swells of the song.

-David "

" I've gone out of my way to rave about Joseph Gordon-Levitt before in this blog, but reviewing "500 Days of Summer" makes my praise flow pretty naturally.

Levitt co-stars with the also superb Zooey Deschanel in a time-jumping romantic comedy that spends as much time stomping on hearts as swelling them. The leads meet at a greeting card company, where Tom (Levitt) churns out cliched best wishes and salutations as a writer. The arrival of Summer (Deschanel) as secretary and her enthusiasm for The Smiths, which she hears blaring from Tom's headphones, sparks in him the feeling that he's found the one.

As the narrative jumps back and forth through Tom's 500 days of knowing and loving Summer, we see him bounce between utter elation - dancing in the streets with strangers like a Gene Kelly movie - and humorous misery - gorging on Twinkies and whiskey before rightly denouncing the greeting card industry to his manager.

We're encouraged to root for the couple to end up together by the chemistry between the engaging personalities of Levitt and Deschanel, as well as our own conditioned belief, honed by countless other romantic comedies, that the leads will hook up. We're told to shed this belief by the humorous preface to the film, in which the writer addresses the woman who inspired his screenplay as a not-so-kind word, as well as the narrator's explicit warning that "500 Days of Summer" isn't a love story. That the film nonetheless has us hoping for Tom and Summer - and still no less satisfied by the result of their relationship - speaks to its phenomenal quality.

-David "

" And here we go again.

Best video games of the decade:
- "Resident Evil 4"
- "Shadow of the Colossus"
- "Super Smash Bros. Melee"
- "Metal Gear Solid 4"
- "Braid"
- "God of War"
- "Rock Band 2"
- "Metroid Prime"
- "Kingdom Hearts"
- "Okami"

-David "

" Lists, lists, lists. This is how we tidily summarize the cultural thrust of our decade. Five, 10, 20 or 100, ranked or not, they're easy to make but impossible to make encompassing. They're fun to read but aggravating to take as truth. And right now, they're everywhere.

I ask readers to make Citizen Pop your go-to place for list pollution. Movies, music, books, games, sex scandals - list away. Just list, or explain your choices listlessly. I'll start.

Best albums of the 2000s (no order)
- "Kid A," Radiohead
- "Stankonia," Outkast
- "Merriweather Post Pavilion," Animal Collective
- "Silent Shout," The Knife
- "The Blueprint," Jay-Z
- "Late Registration," Kanye West
- "Dear Science," TV on the Radio
- "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," Wilco
- "Funeral," Arcade Fire
- "One Beat," Sleater-Kinney

Your turn.

-David "

" "Bruno" is about as bluntly anti-homophobic as the most hate-spewing, sign-waving gay rights protester is plainly homophobic.

And if you can get over the sight of star Sacha Baron Cohen making out with doughy co-star Gustaf Hammarsten in the film's climax, you have to appreciate the audacity of their chosen setting for the faux love-in: An MMA cage surrounded by drunken, bloodthirsty and, yes, loudly homophobic fans. (The irony, of course, is that all Cohen and Hammarsten did differently from your typical MMA fight is kiss; the semi-nude groping should be no strange sight to fight fans.)

The vehement booing and flashes of convulsive rage across those fans' faces is one example of the ugly truth Cohen, as Austrian fashion reporter Bruno, coaxes from real, everyday Americans. In "Borat," those attitudes mostly regarded foreigners; in "Bruno," homosexuality is the recurring topic. The only problem is that Cohen goes to such absurd lengths to provoke his marks that it's tough to dissociate homophobia from pure shock. For instance, Cohen and Hammarsten fasten themselves together in BDSM garb with a host of other night-long gay sex giveaways in a hotel room, then ask hotel staff to free them. Is the hotel clerk a homophobe for being a bit freaked out at such a sight?

Socially alarming or not, the gags in "Bruno" are mostly funny. Cohen has his fun lampooning the path to celebrity as Bruno struggles to find fame in America after a runway accident exiles him from the fashion world. For all the male genitalia and genuine wig-flipping we see in "Bruno," perhaps the most unnerving moment is when Cohen's character casts a child for a commercial. As he interviews parents and asks them what their young sons and daughters can withstand - wear Nazi uniforms, receive liposuction, operate heavy machinery - the parents continually nod and say "yes." As ugly sights go, no two men or women embracing even approaches it.

-David "

" "Drag Me to Hell" exists in that rarely struck space between amusing, scary and purely shocking.

It was often at the same time that I reacted with those emotions to the effects-driven sequences in Sam Raimi's return to the horror genre he helped shape with the "Evil Dead" movies. Having seen and loved "Evil Dead," this fact of "Drag Me to Hell" was no surprise.

Still, it was refreshing to see Raimi's "needs more jets of goop" approach to horror intact after a decade of filming the "Spider-Man" trilogy. "Drag" sometimes relies on that familiar horror scare rhythm - silence, slight noise, eerie music, mild jolts, back to silence, relieved face, BAM! - but when Raimi lets the blood fly, spray, squirt or gush, the film really benefits.

Alison Lohman is mostly unremarkable as Christine Brown, a young loan officer who, hoping to impress her boss, denies an elderly woman (Lorna Raver) an extension and costs the woman her home. The woman places a gypsy curse on Brown that will subject her to yucky torment for three days before she's swallowed whole by the mouth of hell. Most of that torment plays out in astonishingly gross cascades of bodily fluids, or hilariously choreographed physicality.

As Brown desperately tries to rid herself of the curse, the story of "Drag" takes some fun turns before mixing funny, frightening and shocking into an unforgettable ending.

-David "

" I've been shy to blog about the fourth-season finale of "Dexter" because...well, geez. If you've seen it, you grasp the difficulty.

The Showtime series finished yet another juicy run last Sunday by wrapping up the Trinity Killer arc. As Dexter's rival/idol in the homicidal arts, Trinity (played in superbly creepy fashion by John Lithgow) makes what at first seems an unremarkable exit. But then - something happens. Something made unimaginable by the show's masterful storytelling all season. That something not only casts Trinity's exit in a chilling new light, it remorselessly cuts right through the heart of the series.

The ending was so brilliantly shocking that I doubt I'll ever be able to talk about it without being absolutely sure anyone within earshot has seen this episode. Such a well-crafted jolt must be preserved for everyone, even people who say they're uninterested in ever watching "Dexter." Because if that ever changes, they're in for one of the best-executed scenes in the history of TV drama.

-David "

" Given Hideki Kamiya's oeuvre, it's no surprise "Bayonetta" plays a lot like "Devil May Cry."

I recently played the demo of the SEGA action game, which Kamiya directed. Indeed, it's about as close to a next-gen "Devil May Cry" as one could imagine. Which is not at all a bad thing - "Devil May Cry" is one of my favorite PS2 games, and if the demo holds any promise, "Bayonetta" could be one of my favorite PS3 games.

The most striking aspect of the demo: "Bayonetta" ramps up "Devil's" stylized combat up with QTE finishing sequences of flashing, swirling and blinking colors, as a dreamlike black horned beast spawns from the titular heroine's skin-tight clothes (leaving her scantily clad, of course) and swallows whole whatever demon's come to smite her.

"God of War 3" look out.

-David "

" "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" topped off a hit-or-miss season with maybe one of its best episodes ever. When the organizers of a massive flip cup tournament lift their ban on the Paddy's gang, they immediately set out to get back in the worst graces of their old rival, whom the gang poisoned to get themselves banned in the first place.

Trouble is, the rival - now an upscale restaurant - has moved on. The gang goes hilariously out of its way to rile up the restaurateur, but they still lack a flip cup tournament arch-foe. Meanwhile, a local fraternity rebuffs the gang's attempts to hone their skills in the frat house - and a new rivalry is born.

The best jokes are based in Charlie's idiocy (his mis-labeling of foods to conceal poison, his attempt to "go all 'Good Will Hunting'" on the frat boys) and Dennis and Frank's drug-fueled revenge spree (zonked out of his mind by uppers, Frank does the restaurateur's taxes to get him investigated by the IRS). Like the show's best episodes, this fifth-season finale charges ahead with its premise into pretty crazy territory.

"Flip, Flip, Flip-a-delphia," the chant to the flip cup tournament that the gang excitedly recites when Sweet Dee reads them the news of their reinstatement, is still in my head. It's a tiny charm attached to a series of totally juvenile, mean-spirited humor that the "Always Sunny" gang has mastered - and "The Gang Reignites the Rivalry" shows that there's definitely life in the show yet.

-David "

" This week I had the pleasure of watching Sam Mendes' "Away We Go."

A much brighter movie than Mendes' prior work, "Revolutionary Road," "Away" follows early-30s couple Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) as they search for the perfect place to raise their baby due to arrive in three months. They choose to migrate when Burt's parents (a hilarious Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels) abruptly announce that they're moving to Belgium before the baby is born. Without the family that brought them to the area, Burt and Verona feel a change of scenery for them and their child is due.

The film takes an episodic structure as the couple journeys from one candidate hometown to another. Hilarious support comes from Jim Gaffigan, as a withdrawn husband to Verona's ex-boss in Arizona, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, as a Wisconsin cousin of Burt's who alienates the couple with condescending new-age maternal advice. I was less warm about the mean-spirited wife to Gaffigan's character, played by Allison Janney, who really turned on the annoyance factor by openly lamenting the loss of her body's shape post-pregnancy and questioning her tween daughter's sexuality by frequently dropping a vulgar word for lesbian.

But nothing could get in the way of the remarkably winning chemistry between Krasinski and Rudolph. In "Away We Go," both add a nuanced dramatic highlight to a career dominated by comedic work ("The Office" and "Saturday Night Live," respectively). Though the two make some delightful jokes, Burt and Verona just as often journey through hardship, both external (the wackos and sullen friends and family they meet) and internal (their anxiety over their lack of growth for their age). It's because of what they endure that the characters are all the more endearing in Krasinski and Rudolph's hands.

-David "

" Why would anyone in their right mind feel sorry for Tiger Woods?

He cheated on his wife several times, reportedly with several women. Yes, the press is indelicately and unduly dissecting his personal life for the world to see. But the golf legend-to-be surely knew this would happen if his affairs were made known. He's arguably the biggest name in professional sports, marketed as a modern icon of perfection and dedication. He had to know the press would wet itself for the story of such an immaculate image dirtied by a common sin like infidelity.

Yet he continued cheating.

I'm not exonerating the press or the public for the scandal-starved appetites that start these feeding frenzies for lurid details of disgraced celebrities. But let's not pity the cheater.

-David "

" - I didn't get to the seventh-season finale of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" until last night. With the season now complete, I renew my call for Larry David to end the show. The "Seinfeld" arc was fun and a few episodes had me in hysterics, but too many tipping jokes and fights over social trivialities showed that David's formula is maxed out.

- This week "Dexter" rebounded from a tumultuous Nov. 22 episode that, though good, dropped some disorienting bombs. Dexter showed the Trinity Killer's family a flash of his ulterior motive for befriending them during a stomach-turning Thanksgiving conflict at their home. Rita kissed another man. And the reporter, Christine, is revealed as playing a much larger part in the season arc than that of mere observer. With a solid race-against-time structure, the Nov. 29 steadied the story by making sense of the previous week's events while probing deeper into Trinity's M.O.

- Want a free new copy of "James Cameron's Avatar" for Xbox 360? Read my game column Dec. 10, in which I review "Assassin's Creed 2," which is quite good.

-David "

"

If ever a movie won me over by exceeding low expectations, it's "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra."

The casting of Marlon Wayans as Ripcord and rumors of director Stephen Sommers ("Van Helsing," "The Mummy") being locked out of the editing room sank my already anemic hopes for this big-screen adaptation of the same toy/cartoon franchise that devoured most of my second-grade afternoons.

But it really wasn't that bad.

Sure, it sometimes felt like "Team America" without the self-aware ambition toward total satire, or "James Bond" without the sympathetic awe toward the totally implausible technology. But there really wasn't anything actively wretched about this popcorn tale of a military spy team trying to stop another evil spy team from disintegrating the modern world with metal-eating nanomachine missiles.

Probably the dullest spot of the movie was Channing Tatum as Duke. Having shown some more-than-a-meathead potential in "Stop/Loss" and "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," Tatum surprised me by absolutely failing to convey any trace of feeling - despite occupying most emotionally conflicted space of the film. Instead, his face seemed like it was paralyzed by some concoction of Cobra Commander's.

Speak of the devil - Joseph Gordon-Levitt's turn as the arch-foe of the Joes steals the film. His hilariously stilted walk and gravelly talk make the villain a blast to watch even among the over-the-top personalities of Storm Shadow, The Baronness and Destro.

It was almost awesome enough to make me want the clearly set-up sequel.

-David "

"

The $40 "God of War Collection" for PS3 remasters the two blockbuster PS2 action games in high definition, adds trophy support and includes a demo for the spring 2010-bound "God of War 3."

I got it for the demo.

Sure I traded in my copies of the first two "God of Wars," but high definition and trophies motivated maybe half of the $30 (with trade-in credit) I spent. It was the chance to play through part of the work-in-progress "God of War 3" that lured the other half out of my wallet.

Even before playing I felt that sinking feeling prompted by foolhardy spending, but it really set in after I finished the demo. Don't get me wrong, "God of War 3" will very likely be great. And yes, it was a very rough demo, as evidenced by the stuttering video and obviously placeholder (or at least I hope) voice work.

Still, I wasn't all that impressed. The most disappointing change was moving the QTE buttons to their corresponding side of the screen. ("God of War" QTEs require the player to quickly press a button signaled on-screen in order to proceed through an animation of the anti-hero, Kratos, slaying a foe.) In the center of the screen, the prompts of previous "God of Wars" required much more attentiveness, which made for a more thrilling sequence. Moving them to their corresponding sides makes the QTEs more automatic - mindless, even.

Fighting hordes of foot soldiers is still crisp beat-'em-up action, and over-sized enemies are still just as exciting to dissect with precision dodging and striking. As a sample of the greater game to come, the demo had less platforming than I hope "God of War 3" contains. But the fun flight sequence that closed the demo gave me hope for a third "God of War" that shares the jaw-dropping aura of its predecessors.

-David "

" For a second there it looked like the shrieking young female film-going crowd was going to win a major fight on the box office battleground. But the second part of the "Twilight" saga, "New Moon," couldn't eclipse (ha ha) "The Dark Knight's" $158 million opening weekend record.

"New Moon" did nab its share of box office records - fastest to $100 million, highest single-day gross - but I can't help slighting those achievements because this franchise is just so awful. I saw "Twilight," and it was mildly nauseating when I wasn't laughing. Maybe it's because of the age gap - after all, the "Twilight" films are squarely aimed at teen and tween audiences. Maybe it's because I didn't read the books and feel too foreign to the story. Maybe it's because I'm a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fan, and there's only room for one (non-sparkling) rendition of the blood-sucking race in my heart. Or maybe it's because the first film was marred by shallow writing and acting that alternated between boring and hilariously hammy.

But there's more to this oddly victorious sensation I'm feeling after this weekend. It seems I'm not immune to the box office battle lines drawn not by age, but sex. As a "Star Wars" and Batman fan, I feel this weird sense of co-ownership over "my" movies that's wounded when they're topped by "theirs," such as "Titanic" or "New Moon." That same sense felt triumphant last summer when "The Dark Knight" smashed several dozen box office records.

Then again, maybe I'm of perfect maturity to be seeing "New Moon."

-David "

" "Curb Your Enthusiasm" has gotten steadily better as its "Seinfeld" reunion arc builds up. The Nov. 1 episode was your traditional mix of Larry getting upset about tipping protocol and putting his foot in his mouth in public. The week following was far funnier, with sharp storytelling, as Larry argued with children and wore women's underwear to cover Jeff's adultery.

But the Nov. 15 episode was by far the best of the season. The four "Seinfeld" principles, plus a few guest stars from the show, rehearse the reunion taking place within the "Curb" universe on the actual "Seinfeld" set, fully refurbished. Not only is this semi-fictional glimpse behind the scenes of the best sitcom of all time a treat, but the show is packed with great comedy.

Marty Funkhauser hilariously intrudes on the set to annoy Larry and tell probably the most profane joke I've ever heard to Jerry. And Leon is deployed by Larry to impersonate a Jewish accountant who has a disease Michael Richards fears he's developed, and their meeting plays off Richards' infamous standup racist rant a few years ago in maybe the most hilarious fashion possible.

One more week and another season of "Curb" will have passed. If it wasn't for the "Seinfeld" crutch I'd have said "Curb" has enough comedic life to continue another season, but as it is, I hope we're just being treated to a spectacular bow-out.

-David "

" Two quick thoughts:

- I watched "Monsters vs. Aliens" the other day. Both tightly made and fun, the movie was also clearly designed for 3-D. The lack of 3-D power in my HDTV/PS3 didn't sour the experience at all, but it did make me wonder how far off we are from such a setup (maybe not very).

- Glad to see the Auburn Movieplex is reopening, and with more communication between it and the Fingerlakes Mall theater, perhaps we can see more niche programming, such as first-run foreign and independent films. Perhaps.

-David "

" Last week I watched a striking counterpoint to a blog entry I made in late October about Nine Inch Nails. There I talked about the type of concert video born from an open camera policy - in this case, a raw, rough-hewn patchwork of audience perspectives that captured NIN performing "The Downward Spiral" in its entirety for the first time ever in New York City this summer.

The Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense," directed by Jonathan Demme, is about as much of an opposite concert film as one could find. The shaky view, oversaturated sound and heavy audience presence in the Nails show is replaced by static, long-held shots recorded on professional film with a crisp soundtrack and next to no sign of spectators - sight nor sound - in "Stop Making Sense." Frontman David Byrne apparently went out of his way to blacken as much of the musical equipment as possible and even forbade water bottles from the stage.

The heightened focus on the music makes "Stop Making Sense's" clever setup even more fun to take in. Byrne begins the set playing "Psycho Killer" with an acoustic guitar and a programmed beat on a drum machine, with only his epileptic movements and anxious voice to hold everyone's attention. He's gradually joined by the other members of the band and a full cast of backing players, about 10 in all, as they giddily stomp through Talking Heads classics like "Burning Down the House" and "Life During Wartime."

Unlike the Nails video, you don't at all feel like you're actually at the concert as you watch "Stop Making Sense." But you definitely want to be.

-David "

" Yikes - almost a week without an update? My apologies. I recently fell behind in my "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Dexter" viewings, so I'll have to give my thoughts on the happenings of the last three weeks of both series on Wednesday or Thursday.



"The Office" has continued surprising me with its consistent quality the last two weeks. The Nov. 5 episode saw the usually cheery Pam Beesly possibly at her darkest. Just recovering from the news that her emotionally stunted boss is dating her mom, Pam is once again enraged when Michael abruptly dumps Ms. Beesly - over her birthday lunch double date with him, Jim and Pam. After an outpouring of affection toward Ms. Beesly that even wins Pam over, Michael ducks out of the relationship when he learns that the grandmother-to-be is many years his senior. Instead of shouting out her frustrations, though, Pam stays restrained - almost intimidatingly so - until Michael offers her a chance to release her anger on Michael's face in the form of a punch.

I've seen complaints online that Pam's character is changing for the worst, but I don't quite agree. Given the change in her life - marriage, pregnancy, a new job - she clearly can't stay the carefree office "cool girl." As I've said before, her relationship with Jim had become a bore in the last two seasons because they were kept out of the audience's reach in their perfect happiness. As a happy but imperfect couple that makes mistakes and gets upset, they're far more interesting.

The Nov. 12 episode focused more on Jim as rumors of Dunder-Mifflin declaring bankruptcy spread through the office. Jim tries to be the workers' rock by asking them to continue doing their jobs, but Michael chooses a hilarious New Orleans-set murder mystery role-playing game to provide distraction.

The episode illustrated how Jim's character has also changed. First, he's no longer the perfectly-adept-yet-apathetic employee in his new co-manager position. Michael's fun-seeking strategy eventually proves more potent at allaying the office's fears, but Jim seems agitated by the thought of fun getting in the way of work. Second, Jim suddenly has something to lose - of course, his family's well-being. When Dunder-Mifflin previously faced the threat of downsizing, Jim showed next to no fear, just flippancy. Now, with a wife, a house and a child on the way, he truly can't afford to not care. And it's interesting to see how our once-perfectly carefree office "cool guy" responds to these new risks.

-David "

" Last Friday that familiar red envelope was waiting in my mailbox.

But my latest delivery from Netflix didn't contain a movie - it contained a key to several hundred of them.

As a PlayStation 3 owner, I had until then no way of using Netflix's Watch Instantly service through my game system. But last week, the online movie rental service shipped free discs to PS3 owners that gave them access to the service through the Sony console.

One major drag of the setup is obvious: the disc. Having to swap whatever game I'm currently playing for it whenever I want to watch a movie is kind of cumbersome. Thankfully, a permanent PS3 menu option to replace the disc has been promised for the near future.

The other main problem is the interface. Movies can't be blindly browsed through the PS3 except by selecting a genre and scrolling through un-alphabetized lists of 100. The best method of picking movies is searching through one's computer, adding movies to the Watch Instantly queue and zipping right to the queue from the PS3.

My last major gripe is the size of Netflix's Watch Instantly library, particularly the HD titles I can enjoy through my PS3. But the bargain of unlimited viewing at $10 a month balances this complaint out pretty swiftly.

To test-drive the viewing process, I watched the still-amusing "Hot Shots! Part Deux" and encountered no hiccups, save for a delay that was the fault of my spotty wireless setup. I next loaded up the fascinatingly gritty "The Proposition" in HD, which also played back as smooth and pristine as a Blu-ray despite the heavier data load.

Once Netflix streamlines the browsing process, PS3 owners will be able to enjoy a highly affordable, first-rate film delivery service on their systems.

-David "

" I can't say I've been in a hurry to blog about this week's episode of "South Park."

Not because I didn't enjoy it - on the contrary, the episode reached that rare peak quality where provocative ideas are packed between hilarious gags.

Still, those ideas weren't presented too tidily. Perhaps it was the absence of the "I learned something today..." monologue traditionally given by Stan or Kyle, but I wasn't sure exactly what creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted to say about this week's topic: the F word.

No, not the four-letter one. It was the epithet commonly used against gays that this week's "South Park" explored. Cartman's use of that word to describe engine-revving motorcyclists who roam the streets of South Park sets off a 20-minute testament to the elasticity of meaning when the town's adults accuse the children of spreading hate speech.

In a broad sense, the episode's message is simple: Words mean different things to different people, and at different times.

While Parker and Stone make no attempt to say that the F word shouldn't trigger outrage when spoken hatefully, they do emphasize that it isn't always spoken hatefully. Part of the "South Park" creators' message seems to be that people should not treat words as immutable carriers of meaning - they should always mind the context. At the same time, people who say sensitive words should not argue that their intended meaning must be the one another person interprets.

On second thought, maybe "confusing" was the right direction for Parker and Stone to take with this message.

-David "

" After its lackluster third installment, "The Last Stand," the X-Men franchise seemed poised for one of the two fates that awaits a tired series based on popular (read: lucrative) source material: Endless revisitation, or a reboot. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" suggests the former much more than the latter, but it indeed moves the franchise in both directions.



I admit to basing my reboot claim solely on the castings of Danny Huston as Col. Stryker and Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed, also known as Sabretooth. Both characters' original actors - Bryan Cox and Tyler Mane - had stated in interviews that they wanted to reprise their roles. After all, Patrick Steward received that awkward-looking computer-generated youth cream as a younger Professor X in "Origins" - surely the gifted Cox could have gotten the same. Yet the characters were not only recast - in the case of Creed, they were also reimagined.

Whereas Wolverine's clawed nemesis was a one-note thug in the first "X-Men," he's instead presented as a parallel figure (and half-brother) to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine in "Origins." The comic-inspired blond locks are traded for Schreiber's wooden brown crew cut, and Mane's black contact lenses are discarded altogether. Creed and Wolverine don't just literally rip into each other, they engage in psychological warfare rooted in a century of shared history.

The Sabretooth name isn't even uttered in "Origins," but its listing in the credits - not to mention the fact that any "X-Men" comics reader knows the character's real name - affirms that the franchise is, in essence, doing what its source material has done countless times - ret-conning.

I realize it's a wide leap to infer "re-boot" based on two characters' recasting, when that could have been motivated by dramatic preference (in Creed's case) or who-knows-what (in Stryker's). But I believe the recasting betrays a flexible attitude toward the franchise that could very well result in a more sweeping reboot, to some degree, in the near future.

(SPOILER)

As my last bit of evidence, look at Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson/Deadpool character. The wisecracking mercenary of the comics is instead made a mute mutant with Cyclops' optic blast and protruding swords grafted to his skeleton by "Origins'" end. (He looks far more like Baraka from the "Mortal Kombat" video game series than Deadpool.) Yet news was announced soon after the film's release that Reynolds would portray a more true-to-the-source Deadpool, without the host of powers he had in "Origins" and presumably his own altogether different origin, in a spinoff. The actor will also play the DC hero Green Lantern, but that's a whole other mess.

-David "

" Last week's episode of "The Office" affirmed what seems to be the secret to the show's success in its sixth year. After making Jim and Pam happy by pairing them up and removing the romantic tension that marked the first three seasons, the show's producers have finally found the right response: make them jerks.

After a few cold moments from Pam in previous weeks, it was Jim's turn to join in the unpleasantness last week. When he and co-manager Michael take a business trip, the more buffoonish Dunder Mifflin boss takes an accidental spill into a koi pond. The sight of his soaked suit draws much mockery from the office, and Jim must manage the mean-spiritedness in such a way that keeps the workers amused while keeping Michael from losing his cool.

The joke shifts to Jim when the Dunder Mifflin staff tracks down the security camera that captured Michael's fall - and Jim's neglectful backing away when he clearly could have grabbed his fellow manager. It's the latest in a humanizing sequence of events that has made Jim and Pam interesting again, just when their perfect little courtship looked to have placed them out of our touch.

-David "

"

I don't know what Cartman singing Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" had to do with ferocious whaling by the Japanese, but last night's "South Park" was funnier for it.

The episode's main gag - a horde of cursing Japanese men murdering dolphins and whales with spears while children weep at aquatic amusement parks - was mildly funny in the show's typically absurd way. An outraged Stan seizes command of a vessel featured in a whale-saving reality TV show and wages war against the Japanese - but Americans are only impressed that Stan's boldness bumped the show's ratings.

When Stan and the fame-hungry Cartman and Kenny are held captive and escorted to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the show builds expectations for a sympathetic root to the Japanese's hatred of whales and dolphins. Instead, things take a hilariously absurd turn by revealing an American-doctored photo of a whale and a dolphin dropping the A-bomb as the Japanese's casus belli. Though the overall episode lands with the rest of this ho-hum run in terms of humor, the photo's reveal was a rare comic explosion.

-David "

"

Sunday's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was a major step up from the previous couple episodes - mostly due to the presence of Jerry Seinfeld.

In addition to advancing this season's arc of a "Seinfeld" reunion, Jerry's presence held a sympathetic mirror to Larry's neuroses. Really, how can anybody not like Jerry? And when he agrees with Larry - that, in this case, a personal assistant's midriff-baring shirt is inappropriate for their office - Larry seems less grouchy and more likable. Together, their banter about typical Seinfeldian sociological minutiae was not only funny but, somehow, still fresh.

The presence of Richard Lewis and his witty, backbiting rapport with Larry was another boost to an episode that finds our bald hero's propulsive urinary tract and propensity for making messes with food getting him into more trouble with total strangers.

"Dexter" continued from its cliffhanger double shooting of Debra and Agent Lundy. The pace of the episode was a heady sort of slow, but not much less enjoyable than last week's crescendo that brought us here. And the revelation at the end of the episode was not only shocking (in an earned, not-cheap way), but it strengthens Dexter's connection to John Lithgow's Trinity Killer in a way that transcends vocational fascination. (It's hard to get into more detail without spoiling a plot point revealed toward the beginning of this week's episode, so I'll stop there.)

-David "

"

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails - and his fans - are some of the most forward-thinking entities in the entertainment industry.

After the "Year Zero" ARG, the surprise free LP "The Slip" and the remarkably brilliant "Lights in the Sky" tour (pictured above), Reznor recently threw his fans another goody: A free 720p video of NIN performing its 1994 album, "The Downward Spiral," in its entirety for the first time ever at Webster Hall in New York City in August.

Reznor's decisions to a) Permit an open camera policy at all his shows and b) Perform the whole album laid the groundwork for the project, but it was the fans in attendance who filmed and edited the show that realized this latest surprise for NIN fans.

The "Wave Goodbye" tour on which the show took place signals a saddening end to Nine Inch Nails as a live act. But Reznor, an outspoken critic of record label practices and a pioneer in self-release price models, will continue making music. And hopefully continue making people think about the way they make, market, buy and indeed watch it as well.

-David "

" Sorry for neglecting the blog. "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves," which I'll review this week in Go, has devoured just about all my free time. I'll try to make up for it with a mega-post of sorts recapping the week in TV.

* Last Sunday's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" did little to convince me that this show should go past its current and seventh season. Larry's courting of women with disabilities for the perks - good parking, approving nods from strangers - felt like pedestrian egocentrism from old L.D. Guest star Rosie O'Donnell was merely there, Leon was barely there and Cheryl not being there was once again clearly a detriment to the likability of both L.D. and the show.

* "Dexter," on the other hand, delivered in masterful style. The complication of Dex's family turned from comic inconvenience to a fascinating complexity as he hunts down a policewoman who murdered her husband and child to, as she says, "escape" from domestic trappings. Like all of Dexter's prey, she catches his eye because she also escaped justice. But while Dexter pursues her, he wonders to himself whether he seeks the same thing that drove her to kill. And his rumination is earned - we've seen how Rita and the children have strangled Dexter's nocturnal hobby. After one of Dexter's best homicidal hunts the show has depicted, both for its suspense and the heated, vaguely sexual give-and-take between Dex and the murderer, he shrink-wraps his target (a plastic ritual to prevent evidence from popping up). Before killing her, Dexter realizes that his family has truly claimed his heart - a triumph for a protagonist whose cold, hollow personality has ruled our impression of him for three and a half seasons.

* Wednesday's "South Park" came up with a 10-years-too-late story that amused in few spots. It satirized professional wrestling as an outlet for theater divas to grandstand with Jerry Springer-esque stories that gullible rednecks buy as gospel. Like the dead celebrities episode, the comedic climax was just another recycled joke - this time, "They took errr jobs!" But the South Park Elementary wrestling coach attempting to teach the WWE-starstruck boys the referee's position was mostly hilarious.

* "The Office" was surprisingly solid Thursday. Revealing that Michael is dating Pam's mother brought both Jim and Pam to previously unseen heights of emotional volatility - both even spat swear words. But their reaction felt organic - not totally out of character, a direction to which the show's writers have become disappointingly prone. In a few spots Pam's outrage seemed a bit much - especially in light of the abundance of patience she has shown putting up with all of Michael's past acts of mean-spiritedness, selfishness, sexual harassment and more. But overall, it was a rewarding high point for the season.

* Last, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" was once again mediocre. The show has settled into an unambitious groove where many of the jokes just don't seem inspired. But if its pattern this season continues, we're bound for a good episode soon.

-David "

" Hi Auburn,

I should emphasize that I said "first-run" movies. The Auburn Public Theater has a great cinema, but many of its movies are already available on DVD at the time of their screening. There are exceptions, though, such as "In the Loop," which was screened at the theater Oct. 9 and has yet to see home release.

I should also note that no matter the film's age, there is no substitute for the type of cinematic experience the Auburn Public Theater provides.

-David "

" David,
Have you never been to Auburn Public Theater's Movie Theater? There are often independent and foreign films run in their clean, cozy, Downtown location. Food Inc., for example, has run many times by popular demand and there have been discussions after that movie. The movies are usually $5 and open a new world of various genre right here in Downtown Auburn. I applaud their efforts to bring such movies to this area and urge you to attend so you will see that there is no "absence" of great thought provoking movie material in Auburn. "

" Hopefully Auburn doesn't stay a four-screen town for too long now that the Auburn Movieplex is closed. The absence of independent and foreign options in the city was already bothersome, but if the only first-run film options are some combination of "___ Movie" spoofs, Nicolas Cage action flicks and insipid romantic comedies, our movie scene will really turn depressing.

-David "

" At 18 chapters into "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves," I'm ready to call this the game of the year. It's the best I've played since "Metal Gear Solid 4," and along with that title the only other short-lister for the distinction of best PlayStation 3 game ever. I'll have more in my review next week.

This week I'll be discussing the Wii rail shooter "Dead Space: Extraction," itself a standout game. I'll also be giving away a free new copy of a Nintendo DS game!

-David "

" It seems there has to be balance between my Thursday night comedies. This week's "The Office" amused with Michael's paranoia about an Italian-American insurance salesman being "connected" - especially when that paranoia is stoked by Dwight and Andy's preposterous advice.

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," meanwhile, was mildly decent. Aside from a hilarious joke that played on Charlie's illiteracy, it felt like a half-baked idea centered around the waitress's marriage. Motivated by envy, Dee goes after the groom - a guy she dumped in high school. Motivated by their will to live, Dennis and Mac try to set Charlie up with another woman to prevent the homicidal rage the news would provoke from their mentally unbalanced friend. But the matchmaking angle just doesn't take off like it should, and the episode doesn't either.

-David "

"

Last night's "South Park" was a bit better than last week's "dead celebrity" dud.

The story: When Butters' classmates learn he's never kissed a girl before finishing fourth-grade, they arrange a smooch with Sally, who sells them behind the bleachers at recess. The kiss convinces Butters that he's approaching manhood, so he figures he has to start earning money. He does so by leading other love-starved boys behind the bleachers and taking a cut of Sally's profits. As more girls join Butters' "kissing company," he starts to really stack the cash - and attract the attention of the buffoonish South Park police.

Turning Butters into a pimp and exploiting the contrast between his cute disposition and the misogynistic language coming from his mouth felt dated by a few years, but it was funny anyway. The police chief's unusual approach to undercover prostitution stings - arresting the John after "exchanging services" with him - was another steady source of laughs. The episode underscores the strength of the show's supporting characters, who can always be called upon to deliver an amusing story in lieu of the four boys.

-David "

"

I forgot to post my thoughts on last week's episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," which was a return to hilarity. The gang's attempt to force Frank into an intervention falls apart before it begins as Mac woos another middle-aged woman (Nora Dunn) and Charlie, Dennis and Dee discover the magic of drinking wine from a soda can. Sure enough, the gang getting drunk and being jerks equals laughs.

-David "

" Want to know why video game criticism is a joke? The French edition of PlayStation 3 Magazine recently awarded "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves" a 21/20 score because it "combines all the qualities you can find in a videogame, and more!"

Why don't they just ask the developers to write the review for them?

(I'll be picking up "Among Thieves" this week for review soon in The Citizen's Go entertainment guide.)

-David "

" It pains me to say, but I hope "Curb Your Enthusiasm" doesn't continue past its current and seventh season.

While funny, Sunday's episode just felt like Larry David's misanthropy has been ground down into a tired formula. His gripes with other people's behavior have become predictable and interchangeable. What's worse is that, without Leon or Cheryl in last night's episode, all we got was 30 minutes of incredulous, aggravated old L.D. And I'd like to remember him that way - and not become aggravated myself.

-David "

" Rumor has it Kanye West is headed to a Hindu ashram in India. One could speculate that this represents the "time off" West told Jay Leno he needed after five workaholic years since the 2004 release of his breakthrough album, "The College Dropout."

Such a retreat could help West resolve the emotional rifts clearly lurking below last year's half-brilliant "808s & Heartbreak," many of which were inflicted by the sudden death of his mother in 2007. It could also grant him the perspective to prevent any more acts of public malice as vicious as him bludgeoning Taylor Swift over the skull with a microphone at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

I'm sorry, is that not what happened? Because the indignant fury West's buffoonish stunt provoked from fellow entertainers and the public would lead one to believe he did something far worse than steal another entertainer's spotlight at an awards show that's woven its lack of decorum into its identity.

If West's retreat to India is the result of personal reflection, so be it. But I also wouldn't be surprised if the massively insecure hip-hop star is planning this journey because he's been demonized by a grossly overreacting public for the type of bad awards show behavior that's rewarded with talking head reverence a year or two later.

And that would be a drag. If all entertainers were more well-behaved and less passionate about their art, awards shows would be an even bigger bore.

-David "

" Boring as they've become since hooking up, "The Office's" Pam and Jim still emit residual light from one of TV's most endearing courtships.

Their union doesn't always translate into great TV (though they're not the reason the show has sputtered since season three - cheap, lousy writing is). But it's hard to argue that the characters didn't earn the right to be happily boring through three seasons of heart-tugging flirtations, misunderstandings and other awkward gushes of feeling.

Which is why it was kind of a letdown to see "The Office's" writers base Pam and Jim's long-awaited wedding on a viral video set to an autotuned Chris Brown song. The dancing was cute enough, but people not familiar with the meme (like me) were probably pulled out of the moment by their confusion. That, and a song by a young man who viciously assaulted his girlfriend earlier this year doesn't set the most romantic mood.

The idyllic scenes of Jim and Pam's secret ceremony aboard a ship near Niagara Falls gave their marriage some emotional heft. I'm not saying the wedding shouldn't have amused - that would have been equally unjust to both the spirit of "The Office" and Jim and Pam's relationship. But turning their hard-earned moment, five seasons in the making, into a viral video recitation was - like much of "The Office" these days - a bit cheap.

-David "

"

Taking on this year's dead celebrity mania seemed like a natural move for "South Park," but Wednesday's episode severely lacked focus - and laughs.

The show's return from a four-month layoff finds Kyle's Pez-head younger brother, Ike, seeing dead celebrities (mostly Billy Mays) "Sixth Sense"-style. Yet all Mays' presence amounts to is a running joke about Chipotle Mexican Grill's underwear-staining menu. The rest of the episode meanders from unimaginatively mocking "Ghost Hunters" to unimaginatively mocking child beauty pageants to unimaginatively mocking Michael Jackson. (The Jacko humor was especially rote, because all the jokes were recycled from season eight episode "The Jeffersons").

I was hoping "South Park" would strike at the heart of the real reason so many celebrities have died recently. With reality shows, blogs, YouTube, MySpace and other democratized media, we're creating celebrities more rapidly than ever and for less reason than ever (see: DJ AM, a background character on this week's "South Park," or Billy Mays - would they be nearly so known without the Internet?). So it's only natural that we'd recognize more names in the obituary section these days.

That "South Park" creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone would skirt this issue in favor of rehashing jokes about Michael Jackson's nonsensical tics is plainly ignorant, as Parker and Stone's spectral King of Pop says so often.

-David "

" (Warning: minor spoilers)

"Dexter," its dialogue as coarse and graceless as ever, remains one of TV's most addicting dramas.

Season four brings long-time funny man John Lithgow into the fold as the Trinity Killer, an ice-blooded serial murderer. His activity in fellow killer Dexter's (Michael C. Hall) home town of Miami draws back retired FBI agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine), who wants to nab Trinity before truly leaving his work behind.



The other major change in "Dexter's" setup is Dexter's child with new wife Rita (Julie Benz). The 24-hour commitment to raising the baby gets in the way of Dexter's nocturnal hobby of slaying wrong-doers. When he tries to cram both duties into his schedule, we get the events of the fourth season's initial "Living the Dream"/"Remains to be Seen" arc.

After committing a hasty murder due to drowsiness, Dexter drives off the road and totals his car (at the end of the first episode). He panics when emergency crews arrive because of the dismembered body in his truck, but Dexter is briefly relieved that to learn (due to amnesia) that he did not stow it there. Through the rest of "Remains to Be Seen," Dexter scrambles to patch together his memories and find his victim before anyone else does.

The same imperfections continue to drag "Dexter" down: hammy writing and mediocre acting (especially Jennifer Carpenter as Dexter's sister, Debra). Though the only premium acting talent on the show, Hall narrates with some cringe-inducing lines about his lost soul that any wayward teen would be quick to crib.

But as life-or-death storytelling goes, "Dexter" is the gooiest of treats. Dexter has a mile-long body count, he deceives his wife and cares little for other people, but we still can't help rooting for the guy as he continues cleaning up his bloody evidence trail in season four of one of TV's most guilty pleasures.

-David "

" Sorry everyone, I won't be reviewing "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" this week - I've yet to get through the game. I'll be talking about "Mini Ninjas" instead.



I'll still be offering a free new copy of "Ultimate Alliance 2" in tomorrow's Go, so be sure to read to find out how to win it. "

" I recently watched "Sunshine Cleaning" on Blu-ray. Amy Adams is Rose Lorkowski, a single mother working in a cleaning service and playing mistress to police officer Mac (Steve Zahn). When her precocious son is expelled from elementary school, Lorkowski scrambles to find the money to support his education. She follows a tip from Mac about the money in cleaning messy crime scenes, then enlists the help of her screw-up sister, Norah (Emily Blunt) in starting the titled service.

The Lorkowski sisters' childhood trauma from discovering their mother dead of self-inflicted wounds looms over their morbid new profession, particularly when Norah goes out of her way to locate the daughter of one of Sunshine Cleaning's "messes." For Rose, the more pressing conflict is her perceived failure to succeed while high school classmates marry money or, in the case of her once-sweetheart Mac, simply marry.

As a comedic drama, "Sunshine Cleaning" strays a little too far toward the latter strain of its genre for the humor to always feel welcome. Instead, the laughs mostly come uneasily; they are neither frequent nor potent enough to provide relief. Even Alan Arkin, as the Lorkowskis' father, fails to lighten up the movie with his never-ending line of get-rich quick schemes. Unlike his show-stealing turn in that other comedy with "Sunshine" in the title, Arkin is simply there in "Sunshine Cleaning."

What carries the movie above mediocrity is Adams' performance as Rose and, to a lesser degree, Blunt's as Norah. The sisters wear their psychological wounds well, and when Adams experiences triumph in her new profession, she truly brightens up the proceedings.

-David "

" The monotonous button-mashing against screenfuls of robot enemies in "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" feels like such a bore - both for my hands and my eyes - after the flowing finesse of "Batman: Arkham Asylum's" combat.

I'll have more about Activision's latest Marvel beat-'em-up/RPG hybrid in my Thursday Go column.

(Also, I'll be giving away a new Xbox 360 copy of the game! Find out how to win it Thursday.)

-David "

" Did anyone catch Pitchfork's top 200 albums of the 2000s list?

I'm not going to get into the placements - except to say that I agree Radiohead's "Kid A" belongs at the top. Listening to it still gives me the creeps in an oddly warm way. Musically, it still sounds like it penetrates the mindspace of listeners whose lives are forever fused with technology and cultural shorthand that take shape at the speed of light.

But that's not the point - it's the fact that Pitchfork even made the list. Given that, you know, it's still 2009. Not only are there still five months (if you go back to when they probably started compiling the list) left in the decade, but also however much perspective one needs to weigh the relative merits of a decade's worth of music (I'll leave that variable up to you).

To illustrate the impact of that perspective, I point to Andrew W.K.'s "I Get Wet." The album was given a measly .6 rating by Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber when it was released in 2001. Yet it made the No. 144 spot on the webzine's best albums of the 2000s list. Daft Punk's "Discovery," given a 6.4 upon its 2001 release, ranked No. 3 - ahead of all sorts of 8- and 9-rated albums.

The only redeeming part of Pitchfork's list is the write-ups for each album. The webzine - alternately revered for its next-big-thing radar, reviled for its pretentious prose and respected for its influence on popular taste - comes through with 200 mini-reviews/retrospectives ranging from insightful to laughably esoteric and self-important. (It wouldn't be Pitchfork if they weren't). But as a list, it's worth about as much as any other list written by anyone else.

-David "

" Now for a TV comedy that's truly delivered this season - "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Larry David's misanthropy continues taking hilarious form, namely disputes over leaving tips, dinner party invitation etiquette and sexual behavior in a moving vehicle.

What looks to really prop up the show's seventh season, however, is its "Seinfeld" reunion arc. The fab four of '90s sitcoms is back, and it's already a thrill to watch their "real" personalities clash with Larry as he selfishly orchestrates the reunion to win back his estranged wife, Cheryl.

-David "

" My two favorite Thursday comedies are each off to surprising starts.

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" has been a bit underwhelming, especially this week's episode lampooning the recession and government bailouts. Frank (Danny DeVito) trying to off himself when a door-to-door knife sale goes bad was about the only time I laughed out loud.

The first week of "Always Sunny's" fifth season, a mortgage crisis/Octo-Mom riff, was consistently fun but rarely hilarious; the next week's road trip episode was similarly average. Here's hoping the show rediscovers its footing and delivers a half-hour on the level of the "Gas Crisis" and "Manhunters" episodes last season.

"The Office," meanwhile, is recovering from two subpar seasons with a storyline that first reeked of TV comedy hijincks but, so far, has produced many fun moments. Making Michael (Steve Carell) and Jim (John Krasinski) co-managers of the Dunder-Mifflin paper company has given the writers the chance to deepen the characters while delivering classic personality clash humor. As the rest of the characters shed the unrealistic behavior that bogged the show down in its fourth and fifth seasons, "The Office" slowly recovers from what was a disheartening drop in quality.

-David "

" (Hello readers. Citizen Pop replaces The Citizen's Cinema by widening the focus from movies to all forms of pop culture. I hope to update this more regularly than my last blog, if only because I have many more topics to talk about.)

I love Wes Anderson. And Marty Scorcese, and Woody Allen, and David Lynch, and so on. But their collective calling for the release of Roman Polanski following his arrest for a 31-year-old rape charge tests my ability to reconcile great art with the warped personalities that create it.

Could someone please give me a legitimate reason why this man should be released and his crime (one he confessed to, no less) disregarded? It seems all the defenses raised for Polanski range from character-based pleas ("His wife was brutally murdered by the Manson family," "He survived the Holocaust," "'Rosemary's Baby' was pretty cool") to pure legal idiocy ("he sort of 'did his time' abroad," the victim doesn't care anymore).

But there is no circumstance of this case that excuses Polanski from the fact that he raped a 13-year-old girl under the influence of drugs he force-fed her, consented to a 42-day psychiatric evaluation then fled the country when he learned a judge would likely imprison him further. Polanski has yet to face justice for his crime.

For the record, "Chinatown" is one of my favorite movies. But you'd think after OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson and so on that people would be wiser than to continue turning career triumphs into halos.

-David "