Time Wasters

Round Two is on! Please check out our Amazon Election page to vote for your favorite movie president. In this bracket is our second grouping of real-life presidential portrayals. You contributed to the final list of contenders, and now you can make your voice heard for the winner! Pick from:

Tom Berenger as Teddy Roosevelt in Rough Riders
Paul Giamatti as John Adams in John Adams
Gary Sinise as Harry Truman in Truman
James Brolin as Ronald Reagan in The Reagans
Michael Gambon as Lyndon B. Johnson in Path to War

Tune in Tuesday for a new round of voting. -- Ellen

Heroes is back, and the early word is that it's back strong. Fans went wild for what they saw at Comic-Con over the summer, and anticipation is high with Volume 3 ("Villains") set to launch tonight on TV (and then commercial-free at Amazon Video On Demand). Recently, I had the chance to take part in a wide-ranging Q&A with series creator Tim Kring and series star Zachary Quinto, who plays uber-villain Sylar (the watchmaker's son with a deadly taste for other people's powers). They discussed their plans for the new volume (which will be 13 episodes long), how Heroes helped Quinto get the role of Spock in the much-anticipated movie reboot of Star Trek, what the future holds for Sylar and the fans' impact on the show. Specifically, they heard the complaints about Volume 2 (too slow, too much time spent with new and not-super-engaging characters). Kring says this season "we are not really introducing any new characters that have their own storylines. We are concentrating very much on the core characters that we've had for, you know, two seasons now." And in "Villains," they "are all feeding one, giant story." And Quinto adds, "for a cast as large as ours, I think all of my fellow actors would agree that each of us gets a significant amount to chew on in all the episodes that we're in. There's never a feeling that one storyline is suffering in favor of another." And if you're new to Heroes, Kring says they've worked to make it comfortable to dive in. "We didn't want to feel like you had to have watched two years of this show to catch up. We wanted to answer things really quickly so that you could move forward on this volume and have a kind of clean path in front of you." See the rest of the Q&A here. -- Stephanie Reid-Simons, TV Demander

So the kudos are rolling in for Tina Fey's turn as vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, not surprisingly. It was perhaps the most anticipated SNL impression ever, and Fey lived up to the hype. She didn't just fall back on her surface resemblance, she rocked the voice, and added silent business like a shotgun-cocking gesture. (It helps when you've got a comedic partner like Baby Mama co-star Amy Poehler -- as Hillary Clinton -- at your side, of course.) Even more impressive: Fey was busy shooting her own show (30 Rock, in case you live under one), so it wasn't certain that she'd even be available. I didn't get a chance to see the show until Sunday night, which meant I spent the whole day dealing with people who wanted to talk about it. Don't let this happen to you! Get a free peek at Amazon Video On Demand. (The rest of the episode is pretty funny too -- athlete-hosts can sometimes be stiffs, but Michael Phelps did all right.) -- Stephanie Reid-Simons, TV Demander

The polls are open! Please visit our Election '08 headquarters and vote for your favorite president on DVD. There are two brackets for real-life presidents and two for fictional ones, and a different set of voting every week. May the best President win! -- Ellen

First impressions of upcoming movies, based on trailer (Click on the title to watch the high-resolution trailer: You may need QuickTime for most). Release dates are subject to change. --Ellen

Doubt (dir. John Patrick Shanley): Based on a Tony-winning play, Meryl Streep stars as a nun who suspects a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of molesting a boy and sets out to ruin his name without evidence. Amy Adams co-stars as a young nun who follows, then questions, Streep's convictions. Streep, who was sunned and singing in the Greek isles this summer in Mamma Mia!, now sneers behind a bonnet like the Wicked Witch of the West. Seeing her and Hoffman yell at each other is a breath of fresh air after the past month of summer druthers. (Dec. 5)

Four Christmases (dir. Seth Gordon): Reese Withspoon's first comedy since 2005's Just Like Heaven teams her up with Vince Vaughn as a couple who normally avoid their divorced parents for Christmas but must visit all four when their vacation plans go sour. We love Robert Duvall as Vaughn's dad and Jon Favreau as his mohawked, UFC-fighting brother, and really hope this is not one of those cases where all the funny bits are in the trailer. (Nov. 26)

Changeling (dir. Clint Eastwood): Not a feel-good movie by any means, this latest from Clint Eastwood follows the true-life tale of a 1928 kidnapping of a 9-year-old boy and his mother (Angelina Jolie), who was sent to a psychiatric ward for claiming the boy the police returned was not her son. Is it police corruption? Conspiracy? Or Oscar gold? (Oct. 24)

The Soloist (dir. Joe Wright): Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Jamie Foxx) was a Julliard-educated cellist who was found playing on the street (with missing strings) by a reporter (Robert Downey Jr.). Inspirational or cheese-tastic? This true story reads like perfect Oscar material for Foxx, who won the Oscar for Ray, but most of the emotional scenes belong to Downey. Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) directs his first film without Keira Knightley. (Nov. 21)

Milk (dir. Gus Van Sant): Sean Penn's last acting job, the critically hyped--then pounded--All the King's Men, did not serve him well. But this next go-round as a politician looks promising: Penn plays Harvey Milk, the first ever openly gay elected official. This civil-rights drama, based on Milk's run for office in San Francisco, includes James Franco as his lover and Josh Brolin as the city supervisor opposed to him. It's also Van Sant's first major studio film since 2000's Finding Forrester.  (Nov. 26)

So the kudos are rolling in for Tina Fey's turn as vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, not surprisingly. It was perhaps the most anticipated SNL impression ever, and Fey lived up to the hype. She didn't just fall back on her surface resemblance, she rocked the voice, and added silent business like a shotgun-cocking gesture. (It helps when you've got a comedic partner like Baby Mama co-star Amy Poehler -- as Hillary Clinton -- at your side, of course.) Even more impressive: Fey was busy shooting her own show (30 Rock, in case you live under one), so it wasn't certain that she'd even be available. I didn't get a chance to see the show until last night, which meant I spent all day yesterday dealing with people who wanted to talk about it. Don't let this happen to you! Get a free peek at Amazon Video On Demand. (The rest of the episode is pretty funny too -- athlete-hosts can sometimes be stiffs, but Michael Phelps did all right.) -- Stephanie Reid-Simons, TV Demander

Do you love quirky and sometimes awkward comedies? Were you a fan of Arrested Development? Then you should watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The quick wit, obscure humor and underdog appeal have definitely made this FX comedy a hit. With it's third season about to release on DVD (9/9) and fourth season about to premier (9/10), you still have time to catch up on all the ridiculousness of a show that is surely ahead of its time. Want to know more? Check out an interview with the cast of this self-proclaimed "snorf" comedy. Have no idea what that means? Well then, like I said, you better watch the interview below and get in with the cool kids.

--Kelsey

I've been enjoying the Olympics... commercials. Especially the Visa ones ("Go World") narrated by Morgan Freeman. As I was commenting on how well his voice fits to narrate over Michael Phelps' slo-mo swimming, much like Patrick Dempsey's for State Farm Insurance or Jeff Bridges for Duracell, my husband replied, simply, that "Morgan Freeman is the voice of God."

As in what? I asked. When he played God in Bruce Almighty? Many actors have played God (and non-actors like Alanis Morissette) before. But he just meant that if the heavens were to open up and a voice were to speak, to him it would sound like Freeman, as opposed to that of, say, James Earl Jones, whose boom always makes me think of either Mufasa's command from the sky in The Lion King (which he voiced) more than Darth Vader's.

Which got me thinking: If you were to cast anybody to be the voice of God (however you think it should sound), whose would you pick? I vote for Freeman and also like the idea of Patrick Stewart's voice thundering above, but that may be too traditional. But I think someone like Zach Braff's may be a wee too upbeat. (Perhaps St. Peter in a quirky mood.) -- Ellen