It’s Vegas ticket mania on So You Think You Can Dance

We’re barely a couple weeks in and a sour taste forms in my mouth each time So You Think You Can Dance lights up my cathode ray tube.

It started with last Tuesday’s premiere. By the end of the hour, it seemed as if the show was handing out Las Vegas tickets to the contestants like they were candy. The next night? Wednesday night? More of the same. Those Vegas tickets were flowing just as fast as a winning one-armed bandit pull.

Then came this week’s 2-hour episode. Good gordness: Tickets were flying hand over fist. The judges were beside themselves, thrusting them in the grasp of any willing outstretched hand. That’s the way it felt, anyway.

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The Wolfpack reunites one last time in The Hangover Part III

You pretty much had to have been living under a rock for the last few years to not have heard about The Hangover movies and the epic drunken adventures and hijinks the “Wolfpack” have been on after wild nights of partying and drinking. With The Hangover Part III being billed as the third and final film in the series it had the difficult task of being fresh and unique enough to set itself apart from the first two films, while still keeping consistent with a level of crazy humor.

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The Looney Tunes Show – Cartoons for Adults

There’s a difference between the old school Looney Tunes cartoons and Cartoon Network’s Looney Tunes Show. Although the old school WB cartoons focused on a child audience, with a secondary layer for adults, the new school Looney Tunes Show focuses on savvy adults while including comic pratfalls to entertain the elementary aged viewer. Basically, these contemporary cartoons are geared towards former Saturday morning watchers who want cartoons they can watch with their kids while the old school Merry Melodies were geared towards our younger selves with elements our parents could appreciate.

Cartoon Network’s Looney Tunes Show clearly targets an older audience while maintaining slapstick for the younger crowd. If you haven’t caught an episode, Bugs and Daffy are adult male roommates, a la Bert and Ernie, who handle dating while snarking on contemporary society. In the “Black Widow,” Daffy takes a spring vacation while Bugs recreates a 1930s mystery with his girlfriend, Lola. Is it like the original Tex Avery/Chuck Jones cartoons? No. The Looney Tunes Show is closer to its mid-90s WB cartoon siblings who used pop culture to comment on contemporary society for a more aware adult audience. There’s a great opening moment when Daffy snarks about the number of vacation and holidays in the American education system while deciding his low-employed self should vacate instead. The episode includes mild unspoken commentary on adults who recreate their former youth and deliberately enact mischief while fearing facing the consequences. Porky’s ongoing “I left my iron/curling iron/magnifying glass/etc. on”, will resonate with every single vacationing adult.

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A closer look at Game of Thrones’ Daario Naharis

The third season of HBO’s epic fantasy series Game of Thrones has done a wonderful job of slowly raising the stakes over the second half of the season. While these last few episodes have been criticized by some as being a little slow, the ratings over this time period have been some of the best that series has ever seen. While in a lot of ways this season has been building up to the ninth episode and beyond, there still has been a great deal of plot movement in the meantime.

Admittedly, one of the storylines that has been guilty — at least in the last several episodes — of moving slowly is Dany’s in Essos. A marked improvement over last season’s pace, the story this year has two big moments: the victory in Astapor and the coming fight in Yunkai. As we move closer to the latter, a polarizing character in the ASOIAF fandom has finally been introduced: Daario Naharis. This week, Bob and Ivey will take a deeper look at the sell-sword who has crossed Daenerys Targaryen path.

As usual, a quick reminder about the spoiler scope of Beyond the Wall. This column is written from the perspective of folks who have read all of the novels by George R. R. Martin in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. So if you weren’t left wondering why Daario Naharis’ hair wasn’t blue, then you should probably not keep reading this column.

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True Blood and Teen Wolf go from TV to DVD

Vampires, werewolves, more werewolves and … Mel Brooks hit home video this week at the last seasons of True Blood and Teen Wolf arrive just in time for their new season premieres. A look at the life and career of Mel Brooks which was recently broadcast on PBS also arrives on DVD for your viewing pleasure. More complete sets of the past season’s TV series are also available, and some old favorites also get the DVD treatment. Have a look at our shopper’s guide to see what else is released on May 21, and click on a link to get more information or to make a purchase.

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Big stars and Beautiful Creatures come to home video

May 21 has some big home video releases including the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the big screen in a lead role, The Last Stand, more of what Jason Statham does best in Parker, Steven Soderbergh’s possible theatrical swan song, Side Effects, and the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of the YA novel Beautiful Creatures … which landed with a thud at the box office. Having never read the book, I thought the film was quite good, but the fans were dismayed by the major changes made to plot and characters which may have doomed future films in the series. If you skipped it, now is your chance to see it on video, and if you’re a fan of the books, watch it with an open mind. The leads have some great chemistry and it would be interesting to see where the series could go. There are a lot more releases from classic gangster films to classic horror films, so have a look at our shopper’s guide to see all of this week’s new home video releases. Just click on a link to get more information or to make a purchase!

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Win free passes to the Baltimore screening of Now You See Me

CliqueClack has partnered with Sony Pictures and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer our readers in the Baltimore area free passes to the advance screening of Now You See Me, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco and Morgan Freeman.

The screenings will take on Wednesday, May 29, 7:30 PM at Cinemark Egyptian, Arundel Mills Mall, Hanover, MD.

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Win free passes to After Earth in Baltimore or D.C.

CliqueClack has partnered with Sony Pictures and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer our readers in the D.C. and Baltimore areas free passes to the advance screening of After Earth, starring Will and Jaden Smith.

Screenings will take place as follows:

• Wednesday, May 29, 7:00 pm, Regal Gallery Place, Washington D.C.
• Wednesday, May 29, 6:30 pm, AMC White Marsh, Baltimore, MD

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American Idol and its huge finale flub

As was typical for a season finale, American Idol padded the two hour’s worth of show in an attempt to close it out in grand fashion. In the process, they stumbled and fell spectacularly with one particular faux pas.

And that faux pas wasn’t the awful jacket Randy Jackson wore. (He had to have picked that up at “The Eyesore Store” …)

And it wasn’t the gratuitous flailings of the return of Jennifer Lopez to the Idol stage.

And it wasn’t the final song Candice Glover and Kree Harrison sang together to end the night, proving The Powers That Be continue to call on oldies which are unconnectable with the viewing audience. (One Less Bell To Answer and A House Is Not A Home … ??? Deciding to showcase those songs was one prime example why Idol has lost viewership. They bordered on cheestastic. Leading directly into the winner’s announcement, the final tunes should have been upbeat and should have left the audience on its feet cheering. Being somber was not the order of the evening.) Continue reading 'American Idol and its huge finale flub' »