CliqueClack

Psych interview: The cast teases what’s coming up for their characters in season 7

The wait to find out whether Henry lives or dies finally comes to an end when Psych season 7 returns in “Santabarbaratown 2.” Once that situation comes to a resolution, Psych continues the season with several themed episodes, including: The Clue-themed 100th episode, Single White Female episode, and the much awaited two-hour Psych musical.

While on set, we had the opportunity to speak with James Roday (Shawn), Dule Hill (Gus), Maggie Lawson (Juliette), and Tim Omundson (Lassiter). They are just as funny in person as they are on the show. Below is a edited portion of the interviews, including  a few of the funny exchanges.

Season 6 ended on a pretty dark note, are you worried that the audience might think the show took a bad turn?

Omundson: We’ve ended pretty darkly in the past, especially when James is at the helm. I think our audience appreciate it when we can mix it up a little bit like that. And it’s not just always, you know, Pez dispensers and unicorns. I think they like it.

Lawson: Pez dispensers and unicorns.

Roday: There’s a colloquialism that has been around for many years.

Omundson: Come on. We’re happier, pez dispensers and unicorns.

Roday: The truth is creatively we’ve been trying to figure out a way to get Corbin off of the show for years. So it was a sense a relief … when we thought that this could be it finally. But you know what I think after six years, you basically shown every pitch that you have in your arsenal, and it’s fun to come up with something that the audience hasn’t seen yet and you know, it still Psych. It’s always going to be Psych at the end of the day. But, if we can make your heartbeat a little bit faster every now and then, I think it’s probably healthy for everybody.

Omundson: I really think we should’ve gone with the mauled by a wombat though. Instead of the shooting, but whatever.

Lawson: Well, that was.

Omundson: Wombats are hard to work with.

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Best of Warner Bros. 20 Film Collection: Musicals – DVD Review

Warner Brothers has been celebrating its 90th year in the business of making motion pictures, and have been releasing some of their key titles in new Blu-ray editions (Driving Miss Daisy, Grand Hotel, Mrs. Miniver, Singin’ in the Rain), a Blu-ray collection containing 50 films, and individual DVD sets with 20 Best Picture Oscar winners, a Romance collection, and a Musicals collection. MGM really cornered the market on movie musicals in the 1950s, but Warner Brothers really got the whole thing started with the classic The Jazz Singer, billed as the first all-talking, all-singing motion picture (a bit of a misnomer, but it was the first movie projected with synchronized sound). So in honor of 90 years of Warner Brothers movie musicals, they have recently released a new 20-disk DVD collection featuring their best (and some of MGM’s best) movie musicals. The set includes movies with stars like Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Elvis Presley, Gene Kelly, Al Jolson, James Cagney, Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Julie Andrews and … Divine!

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Did ABC’s Scandal contribute to Private Practice’s cancellation?

Whew, the past two weeks have been rather busy for me, but rest assured, I’m back with a new installment of Clacking in Color in addition to some good news! During those two eventful weeks, I discovered a new television show, one to fill the void left by Desperate Housewives — ABC’s hit primetime drama Scandal! Now, I bet I know what you’re thinking: Really, Jaylen? That show is now in its second season! Well, pipe down. I know that. However, I had a little preconceived hostility before hopping on board.

You see, the reason why I never was so gung-ho about giving Scandal a try was because I kind of saw it as the reason why one of my favorite TV shows was canceled. It’s no secret that Shonda Rhimes is a powerhouse screenwriter and producer. As an African-American writer, I respect her drive. She’s a strong sistah’. However, it can be pretty tough work balancing three different TV shows — Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal … at least that’s my opinion. Now, I may be wrong, but the way I saw it was that Scandal had a little something to do with Private Practice ending.

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CliqueClack has free passes for 21 and Over in Baltimore and DC

CliqueClack has teamed up with Relativity and Allied Integrated Marketing to give our readers in Washington D.C. and Baltimore, MD a chance to see the new comedy 21 and Over before it opens on March 1. Both screenings will be held on Thursday, February 28th at 7:30 PM.  The D.C. screening will be held at the AMC Georgetown and the Baltimore screening will be held at the Landmark Harbor East. We have 50 Admit Two passes per location, and all you need to do is comment on this post to request a special code. Important: You must include which screening you wish to attend, Baltimore or D.C. Without this information, we will not be able to respond to your comment. Information and the unique code will be emailed to you as soon as possible. We will give out passes until they are gone, or until 2:00 PM Thursday, February 28. So don’t wait … leave your comment now!

You need educating; I’m here to help

“You need coolin’, baby, I’m not foolin’,
I’m gonna send you back to schoolin’,
Way down inside honey, you need it …”
– Led Zeppelin

Hokay … ready class? Good. Because, apparently, you need a little edjumacatin’ with regard to Ten Commonly-Misused Expressions From British English and concerning 8 New Punctuation Marks We Desperately Need.

Let’s take a gander at a few of the Commonly Misused Expressions first, then we’ll get into the fun stuff. Work before play, after all.

Now, if you know any of the expressions in the above article, chances are you may mis-know them. In other words: You know them incorrectly. Me? I know all of them and have used all of them … and in their proper form. It’s not because my aim is to feel superior. And it’s not because I’m a know-it-all — far, far from it if fact. It’s simply because I’m in love with the English language and all its vagaries, quirks and kinks. Some call me a freak (and they would be right) but I just think these things interesting. It stems simply from my thankfulness I don’t speak another language and am forced to learn English, an exceedingly difficult tongue to master.

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Stephenie Meyer screens The Host in Philly

Although I attended a The Host screening expecting the worst, the film and its stars pleasantly surprised my aging hipster sensibilities.

I’m not a Twilight fan by any stretch of the imagination. When the initial film premiered, I attended it with other science fiction-loving English PhD candidates. Needless to say, we spent the entire film guffawing at Edward’s ridiculous stalker actions, his Liberace style piano playing and the film’s over-dramatic language. Although I attempted to read the book, I stopped, offended by the egregious use of passive voice. When my oldest friend confessed her love of the Twilight series (novels AND films), I gave her a scathing diatribe lasting ten minutes. I will not lie. I temporarily considered disavowing her.

All the same, when I received the PR announcement regarding Stephenie Meyer’s press tour for The Host, the latest flick based on the novel, of course I had to attend. Regardless of my feelings on a book that lowered the intelligence quotient of half a nation, Meyers is a pop culture legend who inspired other pop culture legends (50 Shades of Grey) and legendary YouTube videos (see Buffy vs. Edward, Twilight vs Harry Potter and every single other Twilight mockery on-line). If it weren’t for Twilight in the theaters, we wouldn’t have True Blood, the US Being Human or The Vampire Diaries on our TVs. Considering my clear distaste of the first film and book, my enjoyment in this potentially new film series caught me off-guard. The Host, for those who haven’t memorized every single line, surrounds earth’s future occupation by peace-oriented alien parasites inhabiting human hosts.

The screening attendees likewise surprised me, possibly reflecting the film’s more mature reach. While I expected adolescent females, I saw a good mix of women AND men beyond their thirties and forties. Admittedly, the true believing adolescent females sat closer to the front, while those closer to my age  sat towards the back. Additionally, not everyone came for a pure Meyer love. When I asked those closer to my age group (and above) why they attended, they confessed to the draw of free tickets. However, when I asked younger women who appeared physical doppelgangers for any of Meyer’s on-screen female leads, they enthused their love of the novel. While I didn’t do a parallel exit poll, the people around me appeared quiet after the film ended and restless (almost forgetting Meyer and her two leads would soon appear).

The Q &A proved equally interesting. In case you’re wondering, Max Irons does an EXCELLENT American accent. Everyone in the audience, including myself, took a major pause when he grabbed the microphone. It happens around 1:05 in the clip below. It’s hilarious watching an entire audience swoon at his accent while realizing “OH, he isn’t American.” I will not lie, not having seen Irons’ previous work and not having made the connection between himself and his father, Jeremy Irons, I did not know he was British either. However, when he started discoursing in his native tongue, he instantly became 159% hotter to me.

While the film highlights Irons’ uber-chiseled chin and Abel’s pretty boy eyes, in the screening they looked like average 20-something lads, utterly careless of their good looks, who just fell out of bed to attend class. However, they struck me as men with their heads screwed properly on their shoulders. Both Abel and Irons flirted good-naturedly with each other while Abel cheekily joked with Meyer. Their casual, comfortable relationship reflected a potentially positive working environment. Considering Meyer is the J. K. Rowling of the American Young Adult Novel and the Shonda Rhimes of Young Adult films, I didn’t expect their mutual ease. Another great moment included a rolling joke between Meyer and Abel surrounding Percy Jackson catalyzed by a fan. Did Abel enjoy his PJ character? Of course. He was a bad-ass. But, Meyer should write more so he can play Ian again. What if Meyer kills off his Host character? That’s OK, he has Percy Jackson stuff. Check out the bantering laugh Irons and Meyer share while Abel fields the fan’s question. Personally, I enjoyed this film as a stand-alone, so I hope Meyer doesn’t write the follow-up she mentioned.

On a side note, this is the second set of pictures I’ve taken of a writer/actor affiliated with a vampire series that returned with red eye. I’m too tickled by the odd coincidence between the photos I took of her and Paul Wesley to color correct. Overall, screenwriter/director Andrew Niccol and the cast did an excellent job.

Host opens 3/29. Follow the Twitter feed at #TheHost!

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Dreams and Shadows is a dark, exciting debut of urban fantasy

It’s a common feeling that there’s more to reality than we can perceive — whether or not there’s a massive government conspiracy running things, ghosts and bigfoots in plain sight, or just that there’s a hidden world of magic. The hidden world is a very common concept in modern fantasy, meaning stories that take place in the modern era. The Harry Potter series was a lighter look at this concept (albeit one that got darker later on), and similar adult ones are Lev Grossman’s The Magicians or Neil Gaiman’s Americans Gods.

Dreams and Shadows is the latest to approach this intriguing idea, from first time author C. Robert Cargill (previously only known for writing the screenplay for Sinister). Much like many others in this genre, it’s a story about young men becoming adults — of a sort. And of course, test their friendship to the absolute extreme. We follow three main characters: Ewan, who was kidnapped and switched with a changeling to be raised by faeries near Austin, Texas, Colby, a young boy who makes a fateful wish that changes his life, and most interestingly, the changeling himself, who has his own contrary interests to everyone else.

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Psych returns soon for season 7, so let’s celebrate with a giveaway!

As I slog through the mostly just-OK TV on lately (no offense, folks — it’s just the picky way I roll these days), I can’t help but get a bit excited at the return of USA’s Psych next Wednesday, the 27th. It’s just good fun and rarely takes itself too seriously, and it’s been pretty consistent from day one (with the exception of its odd choice of changing up the actor for young Shawn). To celebrate the show’s return, we’ve got a Psych-themed desk set to give away to one lucky commenter!

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Mob Wives puts the real in reality TV

I have been known to watch a few of VH1’s trashy celebrity reality shows in the past (when they were dubbed CelebReality by the network), but I had never really tuned in to the show Mob Wives for a very simple reason: I had no idea who these people were or why they had their own show. It wasn’t like The Surreal Life, with a cast of D-list celebrities cooped up in a house carrying on for several weeks, and it wasn’t a competition show for D-list celebrities who either needed to lose weight or deal with their addictions. So why should I tune in to see loud, brash, “Noo Yawkers” (Staten Island to be exact) yelling at and fighting with each other?

Oddly enough, it was Joel McHale and The Soup that made me want to watch with their hilarious clips of someone named Big Ang featured on a weekly basis. After about three weeks, I finally scheduled the show on my DVR and got caught up with the first four episodes of season two. And I was hooked … even though Big Ang wasn’t even a core member of the Mob Wives cast (although she eventually got her own spin-off show between seasons two and three).

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Get your free passes for a special DC screening of Dark Skies

Would you like to be among the first to see the new alien thriller Dark Skies? CliqueClack has teamed with Dimension and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer our readers free passes to the advance screening in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, February 21, 7:00 PM at the AMC Georgetown theaters. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and we will email you a special GoFoBo code that will allow you to print out two Admit One passes.  We have 50 codes available, so leave your comments now! This offer will end as soon as the passes run out. Please note that passes do not guarantee seats, so you must arrive early. Advance screenings are overbooked to ensure a full house. Have a look at the official Dark Skies trailer, and let us know if you want passes! We will offer one unique code per email address.

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