So you’re lounging around after Thanksgiving, wondering how on earth you could have eaten so much, and you want to do something that does not require a lot of energy. Well thankfully, that’s what movie theaters are for! So let’s see what you might want to see this weekend!

New This Weekend

Frozen — PG

This doesn’t look like something I’m personally all that interested in — but then, I’m known to be a little bit cranky about goofy looking films every now and then. I try not to be but I can’t help it. I mean, honestly this thing just looks too stupid. But you and/or your kids might enjoy…

TJ fills you in on ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ from director Francis Lawrence. It is TJ’s opinion that this film improves upon the first in every possible way, even if it’s not without it’s flaws. The film is very emotional and heavy as you might expect at the mid-point of a story such as this one, but Francis Lawrence deftly brings this one safely in for a great landing — one that will of course having coming back to the theaters for ‘Mocking Jay’.

I love these sorts of things, especially for films that were as good as Thor: The Dark World. And I always love seeing/hearing about those things that we think are probably digital, but are actually practical effects. Obviously a film like Thor: The Dark World is going to have a lot of digital stuff going on but I’m a firm believer that the more actual, real practical effects and real things we can have on film, the better the film will be. Yes, we’re getting to the point where we can digitally recreate people, but even so we can’t quite make them look real yet. I have no doubt that we’ll get…

THR reports that Martin Scorsese’s upcoming epic—with the trade also confirming recent reports that it runs 2 hours and 59 minutes—was initially returned with an NC-17 rating thanks to “abundant, explicit sex (not to mention drugs).” Of course, no major studio movie is ever going to get released with an NC-17, so trims, cut and edits were made (though it’s not clear how extensive they were) to ensure the movie got an R rating, and it seems everyone is happy (or at least not making their concerns public).

That quite can’t be said for Evan Rachel Wood who heatedly took to Twitter this week to…

It may be an obvious thing to most, but I thought it worth mentioning. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the national holiday of Thanksgiving here in these United States. It’s when we take a little time out to spend with family and friends, and remember what we are thankful for. The tradition is in honor of The Pilgrims who came to what is now the U.S. back in the early 1600s. And even though they had very little, they were very thankful for that which they had. It’s a good tradition to pause and take stock of what you have and give thanks and so I love to do it. Plus, you know, FOOD! And family, that’s…

I would argue, however, that the hire of Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence can not be overlooked as we begin to measure the success of the Hunger Games film franchise. He might not attract as many eyeballs as the pop-culture-savvy J-Law, who’s entrenched – at the moment – as the media’s darling. But his contributions behind-the-scenes are ensuring that those “eyeballs” are satisfied with what they are seeing … and will continue to be satisfied as the series progresses.

I agree. As was mentioned on The MovieByte Podcast Episode 70, Lawrence showed us how good The Hunger Games could be…

The vocal performance by the actress in Spike Jonze’s new romantic drama Her has been ruled ineligible by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for a supporting actress bid, according to sources close to the submission process. The final decision came today after an appeal from distributor Warner Bros.

Just last week, the Rome Film Festival gave Johansson its Best Actress award for the film. 

In the Her, which opens in limited release Dec. 18, Joaquin Phoenix plays a meek man in the near future who falls in love with the artificial intelligence program who helps run his computer…

Set to air on December 10th will be The Bridge, listed as the first in a two part story. Looking at the roster of returning actors you’ll see that J. August Richards, Ajani Wrighster, Cullen Douglas and Ruth Negga are all scheduled to return.

I’ve never been unhappy with the show yet. Indeed, it’s one of the highlights of my week. But even as I’m happy with it, I see room to grow and more potential for the show so I’m excited to seem the start to pull an wider story arc together and to bring back some characters we’ve already met and almost forgotten about.

In a shocking cliffhanger…

Join TJ, Chad, and Mike Fissel to discuss a few of the latest TV shows their watching. Then dive into a review of ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’. Of course there’s some analysis and general thoughts about the first film and how Garry Ross the director handled that film and what it’s strengths and weaknesses are. And of course, how this film blows that one away.