- 7 movies and television

Goofy time travel sinks 'Men in Black 3'

'Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' scores with top-notch actors

TBS launches a 'Sex and the City' for men

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Local events for the week of May 25-31

New on DVD May 29: 'Man on a Ledge'

Uneven comedy blunts bite of 'Dark Shadows'

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Danny Masterson music master

May 25

Beehive Mug

Danny Masterson makes sweet musicRead more →

Tension not enough to save 'Chernobyl Diaries'

May 25

Other than the setting, there's little about "Chernobyl Diaries" to distinguish it from all of the other horror films where a group of good-looking people find themselves in a deadly situation and make silly decisions as they are picked off one by one. As with so many of these films, it's not the destination but the journey that either makes or breaks the movie.

The journey here has six tourists taking a trip to the abandoned city of Pripyat. This was once the home for the workers at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor until the accident left the area lifeless. The extreme tourist trip goes bad when the group's van won't start and they soon realize the city is not as abandoned as they thought. Read more →

Goofy time travel sinks 'Men in Black 3'

May 24

It's been a decade since the last "Men in Black," and time has not been good to the franchise.

"Men in Black 3" shows the lack of energy of an aged film franchise made even more cinematically wrinkled by a plotline that includes the always tricky twist of time travel. Read more →

'Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' scores with top-notch actors

May 24

Blending multiple storylines is a tricky task for a director. Done right and you have a film as magical as "Love Actually." Done wrong and you end up with "What to Expect When You're Expecting."

Director John Madden (no relation to the NFL coach and sports announcer) blends the multiple plot threads of "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" so perfectly, he's created a cinematic tapestry that celebrates life and the wide assortment of those who have lived it. Read more →

New on DVD May 29: 'Man on a Ledge'

May 24

There's a wide variety of new DVD releases hitting stores this week.

"Man on a Ledge," Grade B-: The purely escapist filmmaking from novice director Asger Leth looks at the efforts of former New York detective Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) to prove he's been falsely charged with the theft of a $40 million diamond. The falsely accused cop gambit has played plenty of times before, but it gets a fresh twist from the towering setting. Read more →

'Battleship' barely stays above water

May 17

Watching "Battleship" is like getting ready to play the board game on which the film is based but then having to sit through an hour of vacation photos from a trip to Boringville, USA, before you can start. If you can make it through that hour, the rest is kind of fun.

The first half is the plodding introduction of Lt. Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), a renegade who's saved from his failed life when his brother, Stone (Alexander Skarsgård), makes him enlist in the Navy. The film's full of trite dialogue, such as the speech Stone gives Alex when he says, "Who do I call to teach you humility? Sorry, I don't have that number." Read more →

TV briefs: Jason Gedrick has joins cast of 'Dexter'

May 25

Killer part: Actor Jason Gedrick has joined the cast of Showtime's drama series "Dexter" for season seven. Gedrick, who will appear in a multi-episode arc, will play the manager of a Miami-area gentlemen's club that becomes linked to a high-profile murder case.

Production begins this month in Los Angeles and the show will premiere at 9 p.m. Sept. 30. Read more →

Kidman returns to TV for HBO mini-series 'Hemingway & Gellhorn'

May 25

PASADENA -- Nicole Kidman hasn't worked in TV since the 1989 mini-series "Bangkok Hilton." Since then, she's been busy as a movie star.

That's why it took a project like the HBO film "Hemingway & Gellhorn" to get the Aussie actress to return to the small screen. Read more →

'Love Boat' star voiced 'Lancelot Link' character

May 24

Actor Bernie Kopell spent more than a decade sailing the sexy seas on "Love Boat" as Dr. Adam Bricker, but he is also know for doing some interesting voice work.

He was the voice of Baron von Butcher on the 1970 Saturday morning series "Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp," where the good guys of the Agency to Prevent Evil (APE) battled the villains of the Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan (CHUMP). Assisting the Baron was a band of bad apes, including Creto, Wang Fu, the Duchess, Dragon Lady, Ali Assa Seen and Dr. Strangemind. Read more →

TBS launches a 'Sex and the City' for men

May 22

LOS ANGELES -- Actor Danny Masterson describes his new cable comedy, "Men at Work," as a male version of "Sex and the City."

He's not talking about how the four stars -- Masterson, Michael Cassidy, Adam Busch and James Lesure -- strut around in hot fashions. He's referring to the storyline of four very different friends talking about their different sex lives. Read more →

Networks shake up fall TV lineups

May 18

The five major TV networks have announced their plans for the 2012-13 season and that means 21 new shows will launch in the fall with the hopes of becoming the next big hit.

But if past years are any indication, many of the new programs will miss. For the 2011-12 season, the networks added 27 shows and only 10 will return for a sophomore season. Overall, the networks either canceled or ended the runs of 37 programs, including "House," "Desperate Housewives" and "One Tree Hill." Read more →