You didn’t think I’d let the season finale of Parks & Rec go by without a writeup (however late), did you? Well, given my inability to balance it among The Office recaps and the usual movie reviews and whatever else is kicking around in my head and just oozing to be ignored, I can’t blame you.

I did, in fact, have a recap of the season’s best episode “Ron and Tammy II,” but it ran to over a 1,000+ words, and I still hadn’t scratched the surface of its brilliance (“Real piece of work…”), so sometimes quality overtakes quantity regarding something or other that probably likely also begins with “q.”

But that’s not to say that recapping the final two episodes is a mild attempt to do them justice, it’s just a shorter, briefer form of justice. A McJustice. Plus both of them were awesome enders to an equally awesome season.

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For those who have been waiting for their first glimpse of the brand new Muppet Movie trailer, it’s here!….sort of. Disney is getting a bit tricky with their first trailer for the film by disguising it as a campy romantic comedy starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams called Green With Envy.

It’s actually quite brilliant of Disney, if they can pull something like this off (which they will). We can only imagine why they’d want to uncover the film this way, except for the possibility that the film’s name is still in debate. The original title was proposed as The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made, which has later been rejected by the studio. We just hope Green with Envy isn’t the film’s final title. Here’s the “synopsis.”

Love struck meets star struck when a small town couple (Amy Adams, Jason Segel) head to Hollywood and discover their dreams of hitting the big time may cost them the one thing that matters most – each other.

Those who feel like Segel won’t be able to capture the original spirit of The Muppets, know that this trailer has it all from self-referential humor, to full choreographed musicals, to Sweetums!

We don’t want to ruin any more for you, so be sure to check out the trailer after the jump, and catch “Green with Envy” in theaters on November 23rd.

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This week’s pick is the 1980 release of James Glickenhaus’s ‘The Exterminator‘ which takes us from the jungles of war torn Vietnam to the urban jungle of the crime stricken and bankrupt New York City of 1980.

The Film stars Robert Ginty (John Eastland), Steve James (Michael Jefferson), Christopher George (Detective James Dalton), Samantha Eggar (Dr. Megan Stewart), Dick Boccelli (Gino Pontivini), and Patrick Farrelly (CIA Agent Shaw).

The film opens with an explosion which propels an individual mid air. It’s quickly revealed to be the film’s protagonist John Eastland (Ginty) as he and his army ranger unit are ambushed and captured by the Viet Cong. Eastland and his unit are taken to a camp where they are interrogated in order to divulge information about an upcoming American offensive in the area. Eastland refuses to give up any information and one of his men is brutally decapitated by a Vietnamese officer.

Eastland is hesitant but the information that is given forces the Vietnamese officer to stop. Eastland’s buddy Michael Jefferson (James) breaks free from his bonds and strangles one of the Vietnamese captors with a piece of wire. Eastland and the others take a cue from Jefferson and aid in taking out their captors. Severely wounded, the Vietnamese officer tries to crawl away to safety but is executed by Eastland. Eastland, Jefferson, and the surviving rangers make it to a helicopter LZ and are airlifted to safety. The film then cuts to an aerial sequence of present day New York City where the story begins.

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The Company Men is a corporate drama by first time writer, producer, and director John Wells that first premiered at Sundance in 2010.  Starring Ben Affleck (The Town, Good Will Hunting), Tommy Lee Jones (Men in Black, No Country for Old Men), and Chris Cooper (American Beauty, Adaptation), this film obviously has a strong cast of seasoned actors that together couldn’t make a bad film if they tried.  With it’s high production value, timely script, and strong cast, the question isn’t whether this is bad film, but rather if it is as relatable or socially relevant as the filmmakers want it to be.

Personally, this film is just not my usual genre.  I understand that there definitely could be a sizable market for this film, but what some people might find to be a relevant story about the hardships of today’s economy, I find to be lacking in realism and slightly melodramatic.  It is one of those films where every few lines the audience is suppose to be nodding in agreement thinking, “Yes, I feel your pain.”  Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand the need for films to comment on the troubles of society, but this just seemed forced and exaggerated.

The film is about the effects of corporate downsizing, how it ultimately effects people the same way regardless of job title or salary, and what is really important to treasure in your life.  Affleck plays Bobby Walker, a white-colar corporate employee who gets laid off in the first round of downsizing at corporate giant GTX.

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Lately, everything seems to be coming up Batman. This year alone, we’ve got the sequel to the successful video game Batman:Arkham Asylum, a possible new first-person shooter follow-up, the start of the viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight Rises, and now a LIVE Batman stage show happening overseas.

How do we know that this film will be different/better than the 3-year mess of a show Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark has been? DC guru Geoff Johns will be penning the script, there is no music, and most importantly: no rubber nipples.

Here’s what Johns had to say about the show’s premise:

We want to bring out a whole other level to Batman by looking at Robin’s journey from a circus performer to an orphan after his parents are killed, to a superhero. Batman lost his parents, but he can cope with his pain and owns it. Then he sees this boy and it reopens all those wounds. Robin’s journey very much brings up Bruce Wayne’s journey. [...] I think very much that Robin brings out a whole new level to Batman. I actually think it is more about Bruce Wayne and Batman than almost any story.

We’ve got a glimpse at the costumes and characters from the show for you after the jump, so check it out!

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It is remarkable to think just how long and varied of a career Woody Allen has had.  His decades long body of work has already earned him the status of a legendary filmmaker, yet that has hardly slowed him down from constantly pushing himself to be a better writer and director.  And recently, we are seeing a freshness in his work that only reaffirms his true talent as a filmmaker.

To be honest, it use to be that Woody Allen was kind of hit-or-miss.  Of course, he has his classic films like Annie Hall and Manhattan, but more recently, for every Match Point or Vicky Christina Barcelona we would find films like Whatever Works which, despite starring Larry David, seemed to fall flat and felt more like an off-Broadway play than a feature film.

Luckily, Allen seems to be on a roll recently.  Midnight in Paris is one of his films that is able to achieve that rare combination of brilliant dialogue and strong performances that we have come to know and love.

It is here that I would normally give a quick plot recap of the film to give context to the review, but I really do think this film is most enjoyable if you go in knowing nothing more than what was given in the trailer.  I know some people don’t like going into films completely blind, but I do suggest that you skip the next paragraph if you want the full experience.

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It has been an exciting couple weeks at the Cannes Film Festival, which a number of talented filmmakers showcasing a high number of films to be excited for.  Last night, the official jury for the 64th Festival de Cannes revealed the prize winners during the closing ceremony.

Some highlights from the list include Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life winning the most prestigious award, the Palme d’Or, despite half the crown booing at the screening while the other half cheered with enthusiasm, Kirsten Dunst winning Best Actress after her film’s director Lars von Trier made some anti-Semitic comments at a press conference earlier this week, and Nicolas Winding Refn winning best director for his film Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, proving that he is one of the most prominant up-and-coming directors.

He previously directed Bronson, starring Tom Hardy. Take a look at the full list of winners and award winners after the jump.

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Here we are, week 3 into a seemingly never-ending summer of huge named blockbusters, and the first film to come close to $100 million in the domestic box office is the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

With a budget of nearly $250 million, the film opened wide this weekend to over 4,100 screens across the country and pulled in an estimated $90.1 million since Friday. Not to mention its overseas numbers, which totaled in over $250 million worldwide.

Coming in behind the film, Bridesmaids only went down $4 million from last weekend’s $26 million to an estimated $21 million. This is a perfect example of word-of-mouth helping a film out, as the marketing normally dies down after the first weekend of a film’s release.

Doing less impressive, Paramount’s Thor lost half of its totals from last weekend, bringing it in at third with an estimated $15.5 million. Worry not, however, as the film has brought in nearly $400 million worldwide since its release date.

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We don’t usually post highlights from Saturday Night Live here at the site. However, in the case of last night’s season finale with host Justin Timberlake and musical guest Lady Gaga, the footage is just too funny to pass up.

Obviously, others agree as the finale scored the best ratings for the show in seven years, Plus, we got another in the series of digital shorts with Timberlake and Andy Samberg, which started several years go with Dick in a Box, then Motherlover and now with last night’s new one: 3-Way.

The new short also features Lady Gaga and goes a long way to explain the rules, well at least the “Golden Rule”, when it comes to a threesome. Yes, that means exactly what you think it means.

Okay, enough talk. Click through to check out highlights from the show. Great job SNL.

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Just in time for the weekend and, perhaps, the end of the world as we know it comes this brand new Green Lantern trailer from Warner Bros via Yahoo Movies. In it we get a lot more action and see what that power ring can do in the hands of an expert.

Plus, we get a lot more about the origin of the Green Lantern Corps as well as a bunch more footage not seen yet, at least to the general public. This trailer will be shown in theaters in 3D. Sadly, we only go 2D here (for now).

Check out the brand new trailer after the break. Green Lantern arrives on June 17th.

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Tides opens with Jack Sparrow in London, putting together a crew for his next expedition: to find the Fountain of Youth. As always, the work is cut out for him, as several others are likewise on the trail, foremost and mysterious among them is a figure known as The Spaniard, who’s been commissioned to not only seek out the fountain, but destroy it as well.

In addition to that, his old foe Captain Barbarossa (Geoffrey Rush), now down a leg and bereft of his beloved Black Pearl, has returned and is now working as a privateer for King George II (Richard Griffiths), another fountain-seeker. And rounding out the stranger tide is Angelica (Penelope Cruz), a former lover of Jack and daughter to the dreaded Captain Blackbeard (series newcomer Ian McShane), who seeks eternal life to bypass a prophecy that a one-legged man shall kill him.

However merely finding the fountain and juggling adversaries and fellow adventurers isn’t enough, to unlock the power of eternal youth, Jack must first acquire the tear of a mermaid, which entails capturing a mermaid (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) and getting her to cry. That doesn’t seem like a particularly ardent task, especially when you have several men with knives and a Blackbeard, but, wouldn’t you know it, the missionary Philip (Sam Claflin) has fallen in love with her. But that’s easily remedied, right?

I’m not much of a Pirates fan and don’t find Depp’s Jack Sparrow as endearing as everyone else seems to (he’s like Chevy Chase in that both simply make deadpan observations of the flagrantly obvious), but I didn’t mind On Stranger Tides. It’s a hefty 137 minutes and yet is the shortest of the quartet. It drags, but no more so than the previous installments and has one truly inspired sequence with the mermaids.

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We’ve been following HBO’s new fantasy series Game of Thrones since before it aired the first episode. The potent mix of action, drama, intrigue, sex and several nice looking females has made the show a must-watch.

As we’ve been doing for a few weeks now, we’ve got a preview for Sunday’s new episode to share with you today. In this new episode, entitled “A Golden Crown,” Ned is back in action as the Hand.

While sitting in for the King while Robert is on a hunt, he issues a decree that could have long-term consequences throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Meanwhile, at the Eyrie, Tyrion confesses to his “crimes,” and demands that Lysa give him a trial by combat.

Also in the episode Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) apologizes to Sansa, Viserys receives his final payment for Daenerys from Drogo (Jason Mamoa) and other equally visual and visceral goings on. Should be fun.

Check out both preview videos after the jump. Games of Thrones airs on Sunday at 9/8C on HBO.

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