Plenty of movies to choose from this fall

Starting last weekend and running until after Labor Day, we find ourselves in a bit of a lull when it comes to movie-going. Summer is wrapping up — students are headed back to school and vacations are coming to an end — which puts us in a damper mood and the movie studios in one as well. Last weekend’s new releases, “Conan the Barbarian,” and “Fright Night,” both underperformed; this week’s “Our Idiot Brother” isn’t getting a lot of love from critics and Paul Rudd fans alike; and next week’s “Seven Days in Utopia” is a G-rated flick about golf — I can’t see a lot of people flocking to theaters on their Labor Day weekend just to see that.

And so we wait. We wait for this three-week lull to pass. And when it does, we are in for a surprisingly great fall movie season. Here’s a list of seven movies I’m looking forward to this season — believe me, it was tough to pick and choose. And so, following my picks, there is also a brief listing of other possibilities that might interest you. Enjoy!

“Contagion”; Kate Winslet, Matt Damon; Sept. 9

Beware: If you’re not a germaphobe yet, this movie will surely put things into perspective for you. Directed by Steven Soderbergh (“Erin Brockovich,” “Traffic”), this thriller takes germs to a whole new level, when a virus wipes out millions of people worldwide in just a few days. Panic spreads as doctors try to find a cure before the whole world gets wiped out. It features Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judd Law, and how each of their characters’ lives cross paths during this devastating time.

“50/50”; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogan; Sept. 30

A comedy about cancer — can it be done? I think it can with “50/50.” Based on the real friendship between actor Seth Rogan and a friend of his who was diagnosed with spinal cancer (and who also wrote the screenplay), “50/50” follows their friendship from the initial phases of diagnoses and throughout his treatment. It’s 50 percent comedy (using cancer to get the girls) and 50 percent drama, showcasing the real moments that cancer deals with, such as chemotherapy. It’s a nice balance, which is what makes it work.

“Young Adult”; Charlize Theron; Dec. 9

Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman, the writer and director of “Juno,” team-up again for this adult comedy starring Charlize Theron. Theron plays a successful novelist who heads back to her hometown after receiving a marriage announcement from her high school sweetheart. From here on out, she’s on a mission to regain her sense of popularity and reclaim her sweetheart. If Cody and Reitman can recreate any of the success they had with “Juno,” this is a sure thing for some gut-busting laughs. Plus, it’ll be interesting to see Theron in a comedic role.

“Drive”; Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan; Sept. 16

An intense action-thriller about a Hollywood stunt driver (Gosling) who uses his skill to take on a second job as a getaway driver. During one heist, things get out of hand and he must escape some seriously dangerous men; from here he takes you on one crazy drive. It’s dark and gritty and Gosling proves he’s more than just a pretty face.

“The Big Year”; Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Steve Martin; Oct. 14

Two words: competitive bird-watching; three laugh-out-loud stars.

“The Muppets”; Jason Segal, Amy Adams; Nov. 23

Who doesn’t love the Muppets? Actor/writer Jason Segal has been working hard to bring the lovable puppets back to life, along with director James Bobin, and he’s succeeded with their first big screen debut since “Muppets From Space” back in 1999. It’s a star-studded musical comedy that involves saving the Muppet Theater from being destroyed by an evil, empire of an oil company. “The Muppets” is a must-see attraction for both adults and children; all your favorite Muppet characters will be there — Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and even a new Muppet named Walter.

“The Artist”; Nov. 23

The first things you should know about “The Artist” is that 1). It’s a silent film, and 2.) It’s also a French film. But don’t let either of those aspects deter you! I adore silent films, particularly Charlie Chaplin films, and you should give them a chance in an age full of CGI, blow-em-up movies — it’s a nice change of pace. “The Artist” in particular was quite popular at this year’s Cannes festival. The plot takes place during the transition from silent films to talkies, and how one actor’s career comes tumbling down with the transition. It’s also a great way to learn some film history while you’re at it.

WHAT ELSE IS COMING
Sports films:

“Warrior” (mixed martial arts); Tom Hardy; Sept. 9
“Moneyball” (baseball); Brad Pitt; Sept. 23
“Real Steel” (robot boxing); Hugh Jackman; Oct. 7

Top-notch director films:
“Pearl Jam Twenty”; Cameron Crowe; Sept. 20
“J. Edgar”; Clint Eastwood; Nov. 9
“Melancholia”; Lars von Trier; Nov. 11
“Hugo”; Martin Scorsese; Nov. 23
“The Adventures of Tin Tin”; Steven Spielberg; Dec. 23
“War Horse”; Steven Spielberg; Dec. 28
“Carnage”; Roman Polanski; TBA

Animal films:
“Shark Night 3D”; Sept. 2
“The Lion King 3D”; Sept. 16
“Piranha 3DD”; Nov. 23
“Dolphin Tale”; Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd; Sept. 23
“Puss in Boots”; Antonio Banderes, Salma Hayak; Nov. 4

Documentaries:
“Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”; Oct. 21
“Revenge of the Electric Car”; Oct. 21
“The Whale”; Sept. 16

Remakes, sequels, trilogies, etc:
“Footloose”; Kenny Wormald; Julianne Hough; Oct. 14
“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”; Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner; Dec. 21
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”; Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law; Dec. 16
“Paranormal Activity 3”; Oct. 21
“Happy Feet Two”; Elijah Wood; Nov. 18

Highly anticipated:
“The Rum Diary”; Johnny Depp; Oct. 28
“The Iron Lady”; Meryl Streep; Dec. 16
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”; Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig; Dec. 21
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1”; Kristin Stewart, Robert Pattinson; Nov. 18
“My Week with Marilyn”; Michelle Williams; Nov. 4

Comedies:
“Jack and Jill”; Adam Sandler; Nov. 11
“A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas”; John Cho, Kal Penn; Nov. 4
“Tower Heist”; Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy; Nov. 4
“What’s Your Number?”; Anna Faris; Sept. 20

Kutcher vs. Danson: Who are you more excited to see return to TV?

In a TVGuide.com poll this week, the site asked “Who are you more excited to see return to TV this fall?” The choices were between Ashton Kutcher, who will be taking over for Charlie Sheen in “Two and a Half Men,” or Ted Danson, who will be taking over for Laurence Fishburne in “CSI.” Out of nearly 16,000 votes, 59 percent of people answered they’re more excited to see Kutcher return than Danson.

What’s wrong with this picture?

There is no way that people would rather watch Kutcher over Danson — I just don’t see it.

On the one hand, you have Kutcher — best known for his role as dim-witted Michael Kelso on “That ’70s Show” for eight seasons — which, I’ll admit, is a great character — and for marrying Demi Moore, a woman 16 years his senior. He also “PUNK’d” a bunch of celebrities for five years, and worked his magic in Nikon camera commercials, which was more amusing than any of his movie performances. Oh, and his biggest accomplishment yet — aside from snagging Sheen’s role — is being the first person on Twitter to have a million followers, narrowly beating out CNN. If that’s not a win, I’m not sure what is… (catch the sarcastic tone there).

On the other hand, you have Danson — best known for his 11-season stint as Sam Malone on “Cheers” — a role that earned Danson two Emmy wins and two Golden Globe wins. From there, Danson went on to a number of successful TV series — “Becker,” “Damages” and “Bored to Death” — as well as big screen performances such as “3 Men and a Baby” and “Saving Private Ryan.”

I understand that Danson has been in the game a lot longer and Kutcher still has time to prove us wrong, but at this point where Kutcher is making $700,000 an episode over Danson’s $225,000 — making Kutcher the highest paid actor on television — I don’t understand it. After all, Danson has talent, whereas Kutcher is just a pretty face.

The way I see it, people cast their votes for Kutcher because they’re more excited to see what the writers have up their sleeves for “Two and Half Men” without Playboy Sheen in the house, rather than actually being excited to see Kutcher take over their television sets. Or maybe they’re just excited to see Kutcher fail. At least that’s what I hope.

Until then, give Danson some love and check out some old episodes of “Cheers” — it’ll put more of a smile on your face than Kutcher will any day.

Get to know the charming Emma Stone

Emma Stone. Some of you may not recognize the name — after all, at 22 years old she hasn’t been in the acting game all that long. Yet, within the last five years she’s managed to be a break-out star in every role she’s taken — leading her to snag a part in next summer’s Spider-Man remake as Peter Parker’s first love interest, Gwen Stacy.

But that’s next summer. This summer Stone takes on a central role in the anticipated release of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel “The Help,” released in theaters Wednesday. Stone plays Skeeter Phelan, an aspiring writer in the 1960s who decides to write a tell-all book about the life of black maids. Alongside actresses Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, Stone showcases her dramatic side, which we haven’t seen much of in her previous work. It’s a role that will surely move her out of the supporting actress category and into the spotlight.

For now, get to know Emma Stone a little better by looking back at four of my favorite performances from her.

Jules in “Superbad” (2007) — Emma Stone first showed off her acting chops in this Judd Apatow directed flick. Stone plays Jules, the love interest of man-boy Seth (Jonah Hill) in the R-rated summer hit. You can easily see why Seth would like her — Stone’s character comes across as both funny and genuinely nice, despite being portrayed as the popular girl in the film. She’s a character who’s able to hang out with the boys, and I think it’s a role that most resembles the girl-next-door aura that Stone gives off in real life.

Wichita in “Zombieland” (2009) — Wichita was just one great aspect of a fabulous movie staring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Abigail Breslin in which zombies take over America.

Stone plays a zombie survivor, who along with her sister, are simply trying to survive, even if it means conning others to get what they need. On the way, the two girls come across Columbus (Eisenberg) and Tallahassee (Harrelson), and the four actors play off each other well. Wichita is slightly more devious than Stone’s “Superbad” persona, but still just as fun.

Natalie in “The House Bunny” (2008) — An underrated flick, I might add — “The House Bunny” stars Anna Faris as Shelley, a former Playboy Playmate who gets kicked out of Hef’s mansion for being too old. With nowhere to go, Shelley stumbles upon a socially-awkward sorority that happens to need a den mother, as well as a major makeover. Stone plays Natalie, the president of the sorority, as well as the resident geeky girl who can’t catch the boy of her dreams.

It’s hard to believe Stone could ever be the resident geeky girl — her character actually comes off quite normal among the other girls of the sorority — but Stone plays the role in a charming way, and it shows most when she’s interacting with the bubbly, yet slightly dimwitted Shelley.

Olive in “Easy A” (2010) — A new-age take on “The Scarlet Letter,” “Easy A” casts Stone as high school student Olive who gets caught in the middle of a rumor involving her losing her virginity to a college guy. Rather than trying to defend herself from everyone, Olive decides to embrace the image the rumor has created of her. From here, she starts a mock business for boys who have trouble catching the attention of girls. Olive takes their money, and in exchange the boys get to say they had sex with her, therefore boosting their popularity.

Stone’s performance outshines the storyline here — there’s a wonderful scene that will have you in tears involving Olive constantly singing Natasha Bedingfield’s “Pocketful of Sunshine” — and the one-liners she’s given are right on point, especially in the scenes opposite her overly-religious fellow student Marianne (Amanda Bynes)

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There's a doc for everybody

In terms of the TV stratosphere, I hope you’re not feeling too overwhelmed this week. I know there’s a lot going on. We’ve got Shark Week taking place on the Discovery Channel, Mob Movie week over on AMC and my favorite late night host, Craig Ferguson, has taken us all on a trip to Paris for the week. And saddled in between all of that, the fourth season of everyone’s favorite guilty pleasure, “The Jersey Shore,” debuted.

Aside from all that greatness (Admit it: You want to see “The Jersey Shore” kids make a fool of themselves in Italy just as much as the next person.), Current TV is airing a weekly segment going by the title of “50 Documentaries to See Before You Die” that I suggest you check out. It’s hosted by “Super Size Me” creator Morgan Spurlock, and focuses on documentaries released in the last 25 years. From sports (“Hoop Dreams”) to animals (“March of the Penguins”) and to global warming (“An Inconvenient Truth”) to spelling bees (“Spellbound”), this documentary series touches on them all — one of my personal favorite being Errol Morris’ “The Thin Blue Line.” And what makes it even better is Current TV is airing many of the documentaries on the list throughout the month.

I might add, that aside from the typical countdown aspect of the series, host Spurlock also tracks down and interviews some the filmmakers whose movies are on the list, as well as “characters” of the films.

For instance, in the first segment Spurlock drives out to Florida to snatch a few moments away from Billy Mitchell, a main player in the 2007 documentary “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” by Seth Gordon. Mitchell, at the time, held the world record for most points in the arcade game “Donkey Kong.” In the film, Mitchell is challenged by Steve Wiebe, an underdog in all aspects of life, who claims he can beat Mitchell’s high score. Throughout the film, we get an inside look at the world of competitive gaming — and just how intense it really gets.

The first hour-long segment of “50 Documentaries to See Before You Die” aired Tuesday, but don’t fret, you can find reruns playing constantly throughout the week, and practically up until the final installment premiers on Aug. 30. So take some time away from the shark-infested TV set, and sneak a peak at the realistic side of film — it’ll be well worth it

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NOTE: The next four segments of “50 Documentaries to See Before You Die” will air every Tuesday at 9 p.m. from here on out, with the last installment premiering on Aug. 30. For Comcast subscribers, you’ll find Current TV on channel 107. For all other subscribers, check www.current.com for channel listings.