More Lily pics

Pardon me if you've already seen these. But seriously, can you blame me for posting them?

"Get Smart" trailer

Don't know about you, but I loved watching old reruns of Get Smart when I was a child. I think it aired on TV at 10:00 p.m., after which we were quickly ushered away to bed. Don Adams was supremely silly, and the show was just enough of the James Bond-esque spy world to feel cool to a 10 year old boy. (I also think I remember Jennie pretending that her pink jellies were her shoe phone...)

Now Steve Carell is starring as Maxwell Smart in the film adaptation of the 1960s TV show, with Anne Hathaway as his romantic foil, Alan Arkin as his boss, and The Rock as a fellow agent. While the following trailer didn't blow me away, it did have a few good chuckles. This could be a silly diversion for the summer movie season; I just hope they stay true to the show's innocent sense of humor. Watch the trailer here.

What do you think? Will you pluck down $8.50 to go see this?

Random movie tidbits

Here are a few interesting movie-related nuggets I've read about over the past day or two (click on the included links for more info):

• Moviegoers across the country are loving Cloverfield, the new movie that is Godzilla meets Blair Witch. Only problem is a lot of people are getting motion-sickness from watching the movie (like The Bourne Supremacy times 10). Now I'm as excited to see it as the next guy, but seriously, is it worth having to take Dramamine just to get through the movie?
• Ain't It Cool News has a potential Indiana Jones trailer description that seems pretty cool. Don't know if it's real, but sounds like we'll get our first peek on Feb. 15.
• Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday. Since I haven't seen most of the movies, I don't really care much...but I can't help but be excited for Johnny Depp, who looks fantastic in Sweeney Todd (and was robbed a few years ago by losing for the original Pirates). What do you suppose the Clearplay version of Sweeney Todd will look like?
• The new James Bond movie has apparently been given a title: Quantum of Solace. My first reaction to the title was the taste of bile in my mouth...which was quickly erased when I read the next piece of news:
• Disney/Pixar are going to be re-releasing Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3-D, in anticipation of the June 2010 release of Toy Story 3. The original Toy Story is among my all-time favorites, so the chance to see it again in a new format feels really exciting to me. Maybe by then Lily will get into the action!

Ledger's work on "The Dark Knight" complete

Although it's pretty superficial to think about at a time like this, people have obviously been asking where Heath Ledger's death leaves The Dark Knight. From Ain't It Cool News:

There's a lot of rumors swirling around right now in regards to Heath and where his involvement with THE DARK KNIGHT was. I got it confirmed from a source involved in Post-Production on THE DARK KNIGHT. Heath's post work was complete. He had indeed finished it, as to not interfere with the production of the film he was doing with Gilliam. We're now working to find out what's going to happen there. The last known photo of Heath was as a clown in that film. Will Terry re-cast? What will happen? We'll try to find out for all of you. But there will be no-dubbing on Heath in THE DARK KNIGHT - his performance was finished.

The Dark Knight is still scheduled to hit theaters on July 18, 2008.

Heath Ledger found dead in NYC

Though not much detail has been released, here's what police have released so far.

Such a shame that a promising life and career come to an end so early. We'll see him next as the Joker in the upcoming The Dark Knight, which has already finished filming. I'm not sure if that was his last film.

What a sad sad story.

Alternatives to our favorite MIA shows

Robert Bianco, an excellent and personable TV critic for USA Today, has a great feature in today's edition for those of us that are mourning the absence of our favorite shows: customized alternate recommendations for fans of 24, The Office, Pushing Daisies, etc. Most (if not all) of these recommendations are on DVD, so you may have to put them in your Netflix queue or try to find them at Blockbuster, but he makes a compelling case for some shows that we might not have caught the first time around, at least until our writers get back to work and start making our favorites again.

I'm most curious about Wonderfalls, the recommendation for fans of Pushing Daisies, both created by Bryan Fuller. For the rest of Bianco's recommendations, grab a copy of USA Today or click here.

This one's for you, Jon

If you hadn't heard already, production has already begun on the as-yet-untitled X-Files movie sequel. Though little is known about the plot, creator/director Chris Carter promises that the new movie will not focus on the alien mythology/conspiracy plot from the series or the previous film: "We want a stand-alone movie." Here's an ambiguous little photo from the new movie:

As if we needed another movie to look forward to this summer, The X-Files sequel hits theaters on July 25.

"So You Think You Can Dance" to audition in SLC

Now this, Kristen, is what I call a guilty pleasure. Producers have announced that auditions for the fourth season of the hit summertime dance-off will take place in six cities across the country, including Salt Lake City (for the first time). I'm guessing that this decision stems from the fact that last year's winner, Sabra, was from SLC, as well as several of the finalists from the past couple of years. Read the press release here.

I think I owe it to all of you to show up at the Capitol Theatre on Feb. 4 and give it my jazziest. I'm certain that by this time next year, you'll all be wishing I had been cast as Edward in Twilight...

New "Indy" pic

Go ahead and click on it for a closer look. There's only about four months to go. I'm guessing the first trailer will probably show up sometime during the Super Bowl, but if not, we'll probably see something exciting attached to The Spiderwick Chronicles in February.

HP7 in two halves?

This report states that Warner Bros. is planning on making two parts to the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Considering all the stuff I hope makes it into the movie, I really hope this is true.

Read all about the rumors here.

Lily Marie Allen

Well, she finally arrived. Yes, to those of you who had been watching the baby-counter down in the bottom left corner of this blog, our little Lily Marie Allen was born on January 2, 2008 (about five days late). Both she and Wendy were very stoic during labor and delivery, and are equally blessed with good looks.

Lily weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. She has been healthy and happy and a genuine blessing to our little family. I'd like to upload more photos, but I'll wait to put them on a yet-to-be-created Allen Family-centric blog. In the meantime, don't mind if I borrow this space to brag about our pretty little princess.

She's blessed with daddy's chin(s).

She loves her Grandpa Allen, but maybe not as much as he loves her...

She has her dad's strange pointy little pinkies, but you can't really tell here.

She's much happier now that she's not stuck in a birth canal.

"Aww Dad, you're embarrassing me!"

Pardon the diaper shot, but I just couldn't resist.