CliqueClack

Mark Sheppard of Supernatural (and everything else) on remaining a surprise

At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, I got to talk to actor Mark Sheppard (currently on Supernatural as Crowley, though you may have seen him on many other shows: Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse, Leverage, 24, Warehouse 13 … just to name a few. Three years ago I’d met up with Mark at SDCC, when he was at a signing booth with his son. At that time he’d kinda-sorta hinted he hoped to be included in the then-upcoming Avengers movie, when I asked if he was going to be working with Joss Whedon anytime again soon. Being that I apparently like to beat a dead horse, I asked Sheppard about it again at the following SDCC. Mark didn’t appear in the movie, though we may never know if he was ever really vying for a part in it.

Yet that horse still looked like it needed another beating.

This year I asked Mark what new we’d be seeing him in, seeing as Leverage was over and Warehouse 13 (where, yes, his character died) is ending. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., perhaps? Watch the video for his answer.

Community, Smash and The Thick of It come to home video

This week sees the release of the fourth season of Community, which was a shadow of itself but hopefully the return of Dan Harmon can bring back some of the spark — even if Donald Glover is leaving after five episodes. The second, and final, season of Smash gets a home video encore, while reality TV scores with Duck Dynasty, Top Gear and Auction Kings. Classic TV gets a boost with the long-awaited release of the cult classic late night sketch show Fridays, and if you’re scratching your head trying to figure out who the new Doctor Who is, Peter Capaldi’s series The Thick of It gets a four season set on DVD. To see the highlights of the August 6 TV on DVD releases, have a look at our shopper’s guide and click on a link to make a purchase or to get more information.

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Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Gosling are coming home

Three big stars — and many others — come to home video this week with the release of Oblivion, Mud and The Place Beyond the Pines. The well-reviewed but little-seen The Sapphires also gets a video debut and the out-of-nowhere Eli Roth presentation Aftershock, which is shaping up to be a cult favorite, comes to home video as well. Many other smaller films with familiar faces round out the new releases. Deeper into the catalog, many films from the 70s and 80s are getting high def releases including Swamp Thing, Ishtar, Silver Streak, Passenger 57 and the theatrical release of the original Battlestar Galactica pilot, complete with a Sensurround soundtrack! To see the highlights of this week’s video releases, have a look at our shopper’s guide and click on a link to make a purchase or to get more information.

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Devious Maids fills the Desperate Housewives void rather nicely

Good television shows can be so hard to find. While that may not be a documented Nielsen statistic exactly, it’s certainly my unadulterated opinion. It’s common knowledge among my friends and colleagues that I’ve been on the search for a good TV show to watch ever since Desperate Housewives went off the air in 2012. I’ve tried several programs and, well, they all left something to be desired. Luckily for me, a new summer drama has come to the rescue – and it’s from the minds behind Desperate Housewives no less.

The Awesomes is a superhero satire that may be worth a second look

The Internet’s getting into it, boys and girls! From the mind of Saturday Night Live writer (and soon to be Late Night host) Seth Meyers comes The Awesomes (watch the first two episodes on Hulu), a Hulu original production. It’s basically a sort of spoof of superhero cartoons and tropes, with a bit of “adult” humor and imagery added in because it’s entirely an online show.

Seth Meyers voices “Prock,” short for “Professor Doctor,” in a joke that rapidly becomes less funny, who is ostensibly the leader of a team of odd superheroes. Prock is the son of the powerful Mr. Awesome (Steve Higgins, another SNL writer) who has literally flown away from the planet in retirement, playing on concepts of Superman and Dr. Manhattan from the Watchmen. It’s really all setup here, because without the big guy, all heck breaks loose. The former team “The Awesomes” disbands, forcing Prock to rapidly form his own team of rejects and weirdos to maintain his precious government funding, arguing against a bureaucrat played by Rachel Dratch, another SNL alum. This conflict gets resolved in a predictable and bland manner, but the promise of more shenanigans is really the best part of that subplot. Prock must create his own superhero team and show his ability to be a leader; typical sort of arc, it would seem. Naturally, it’s all necessary to consider the ridiculous and offensive team.

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2 Guns does buddy cop right, but fails in nearly every other way

The way the business of films is covered in the media and on the internet these days, it is rare that I get an invitation to screen a flick that I know next to nothing about. It is something I wish would happen more often: not knowing what actor is going to show up next, or how much of the story was completely spoiled by the trailers makes watching a new story so much more enjoyable … as long as the story is worth watching. And so it was with my screening of Baltasar Kormákur’s latest flick, 2 Guns.

The flick stars Denzel Washington (the only thing I knew going in) and Mark Wahlberg as two partners-in-crime … or a pair of undercover agents who each believes they are working with a real criminal. (Don’t get me started on Wahlberg’s character’s backstory; I’m not sure they could have been more technically inconsistent if they tried.) The rest of the cast is surprisingly solid on paper: Edward James Olmos plays a the leader of a drug cartel the duo are trying to take down, Paula Patton is Denzel’s control officer while James Marsden is Wahlberg’s boss and Bill Paxton rounds out the cast as mysterious character whose bad side the duo quickly find themselves on.

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Win passes to see Kick-Ass 2 in Chicago and Indianapolis

The commenting period for this contest has ended. Winners will be notified by email. Follow @CliqueClack on Twitter for alerts on news, reviews and contests!

CliqueClack has partnered with Universal Pictures to offer readers in Chicago and Indianapolis a chance to be among the first to see the new action movie Kick-Ass 2, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Morris Chestnut, John Leguizamo, Donald Faison and Jim Carrey.

The screenings will take place as follows:

• Tuesday, August 13, 7:00 PM, Kerasotes Showplace ICON, Chicago
• Tuesday, August 13, 7:00 PM, AMC Castleton Square, Indianapolis

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Win free passes to see Elysium in Baltimore, DC or Norfolk

The commenting period for this contest has ended. Follow us on Twitter @CliqueClack for alerts on news, reviews and giveaways.

CliqueClack has partnered with Sony Pictures and Allied Integrated Marketing to send readers in the Baltimore, DC and Norfolk areas on a trip to Elysium. In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined planet. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the crime and poverty that is now rampant throughout the land. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission — one that pits him against Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces — but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well. Elysium is directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9).

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MasterChef – A bold (or foolish) plan for saving your ass as a contestant

I’ll say again: spoilers for last night’s MasterChef follow. …

A few weeks ago, as I was watching an episode of MasterChef with Deb, a contestant — I can’t remember who it was — presented a dish to the judges that was crap. It wasn’t just presented poorly or simply underdone; it was raw. And by raw I mean it was inedible. If someone ate it, they’d likely become ill. As this contestant was being berated by the judges for having served them that trash, I paused the episode and said, “I have a ballsy move someone on the show should try sometime to save themselves. It would be a huge risk and would be a one-off trick, but it might just save their ass in a situation like this.”

“Drop the plate on the way up?” Deb asked.

“No! That would never win the judges’ sympathy, and they’d see right through that bullshit. I’m saying they walk right up there either empty handed or — in an even more ballsy move — take their dish up there and do the honors of dumping it right in the trash.”

Deb, of course, thinks I’m insane. But hear me out!

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Throwback Thursday: Land of the Pharaohs

Howard Hawks was one of the greatest directors of all time with an unprecedented string of hit films between 1938 and 1952. Hawks directed classics like Bringing Up Baby, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, Sergeant York, Ball of Fire, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Red River, I Was a Male War Bride, The Thing from Another World (although credited to Christian Nyby), The Big Sky, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes … there wasn’t a genre Hawks couldn’t handle. Until 1955.

The mid-1950s saw a boom in the “Biblical epic” genre of film with Samson and Delilah kicking the cycle off in 1949, followed by David and Bathsheba, Salome, Quo Vadis? and The Robe. With most of the major studios cranking out big budget spectacles, Warner Brothers wanted to get back in the game after the debacle that was The Silver Chalice (the film that introduced Paul Newman to movie audiences), so they hired Hawks, who was very interested in the building of the pyramids, to come up with a film that could rival the other epics. With Hawks in the director’s chair and William Faulkner having a hand in the screenplay, they came up with a pre-Biblical epic, Land of the Pharaohs.

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