Celebrate the New Year with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Hard to believe this is the last post of 2011, but here we are! Time to get out your party clothes, pop that champagne and start 2012 with a bang.

So what's the best way to bid the year adieu? How about this adorable (adorkable?) duet from former (500) Days of Summer cohorts Zooey Dechanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Keep going after the jump and take a listen to the simply sweet "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"...



Happy New Year, everyone!

My Top 10 Movies of 2011

It's that time again: My Top 10 Movies of the year. I've been keeping tabs this year, watching how the list evolved—yes, at one point Never Say Never: Justin Bieber 3D was on there—and I must say that 2011 was quite an interesting year.

I began my list after the Oscar season was over, starting with I Am Number Four—which, by the way, ended up at #33 with a C+—and tracking every movie I've seen that was released this year. Of course, there's still two months until the Oscars are handed out, so there is quite the laundry list of movies I have yet to see that would most likely make a good case for inclusion on the 2011 list. My apologies to War Horse, Drive, 50/50, Young Adult and many more. I'll get to you soon. I promise.

Looking back at my 2010 list, I think I was more passionate about that Top 5 than this year's and I remember having a very difficult time figure out their order. This year, however, the fight for the Top 10 was way more intense. 2010 had maybe 11-12 duking it out; 2011 has at least 20. So, in the interest of honoring as many films as possible, I'm going to do a bit of a cheat and give Honorable Mention to the five films that were still in the "A" range but didn't quite make it to the finals. It's my list, I can cheat if I want to.

So, without further ado, here are my favorite movies of 2011...

My Favorite TV Discoveries of 2011

While figuring out how to properly end 2011 here on Please Welcome Your Judges, it became clear that a farewell to a year's worth of television needed to be made in addition to my normal Top 10 Movie list. Of course, I write about my TV favorites so much and have already covered the highs and lows with regards to award shows like the Emmys, so merely writing a Top 10 TV Shows list seemed to be a bit redundant.

Instead, I've compiled a list of my favorite shows that I discovered in 2011. Some of them are brand new shows, some of them are shows that I finally caught up with, others are shows that I cannot believe I missed out on during their original runs, and all of them are fantastic. If you've seen them already, use this as a way to celebrate these phenomenal series; if you haven't, then let this be a solid endorsement: go get these DVDs, stream them on Netflix, add them to your DVR. You'll thank me later.

So, in alphabetical order, here are my favorite TV discoveries of 2011...

DJ Earworm Releases "United States of Pop 2011"

It's hard to believe we are only a few days from bidding 2011 adieu and ushering in 2012. As the year wraps up, it's time for Top 10 and Best Of lists to overwhelm our newsfeeds, but one of my favorite parts of this time of year is the annual release of DJ Earworm's mega-mashup of the year's top songs, "United States of Pop."

After the jump, find out a little bit more about this year's installment and take a listen to "United States of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)"...

Trailer Tuesdays: The Hobbit

Are you ready to return to Middle-earth?

It's been almost eight years since The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was crowned Best Picture by the Academy and that epic trilogy came to a close. Now, Peter Jackson and company are back with the highly anticipated story that started it all: The Hobbit. After years in the making and more rumors than can be counted, a trailer has finally been released. Check it out after the jump...

'Portlandia' Understands How I Watched 'Battlestar Galactica'

Portlandia is one of the (many) shows on my "I have no idea why I'm not watching this" list. The Fred Armisen-lead sketch comedy series on IFC has gotten fantastic reviews, and its second season debuts on January 6th, giving me ample time to catch up on the six Season 1 episodes during the holidays.

And in case I needed anymore convincing, here's a clip from Season 2 that pretty much mimics my experience with Battlestar Galactica (and Friday Night Lights, Party Down and Game of Thrones for that matter)...

Sterling Archer is Now an Author

Sterling Archer. Womanizer, Krav Maga specialist, martini master, Emmys dream nominee, ISIS secret agent... and, now, author.

Yes, that's right. Archer—well, the creators of FX animated series Archer—are releasing a book next month titled How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails Ever Written.

More information on this sure-to-be best-seller after the jump...

Golden Globes 2012: Nominations Announced

Not to let the Screen Actors Guild have all the fun, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assocation (HFPA) announced their cracktastic Golden Globe nominations this morning. Even though everyone acknowledges these are crazy every year and says they don't matter when it comes to the Oscars, every year we make a big friggin' deal about them because 1) they are televised, 2) sometimes they do effect the Oscars and 3) we just can't help ourselves.

So without further ado, some thoughts on the 2012 Golden Globe nominations and the full list of nominees...

The Best and Worst of the 2012 SAG Nominations

This morning, the Screen Actors Guild announced the nominees for their 2012 awards and, much like tomorrow's Golden Globe announcements are sure to, there were a slew of surprises both good and bad on the list.

From movies to TV, here are the best and worst of the SAG nominations...

Sick Day Reviews: Game of Thrones

Sick days are not fun. And we've all had enough of them to know that, so I won't go into any further detail. The only upside to a sick day? Some time to catch up on the movies and TV shows we've been too busy to watch otherwise. Throughout the day, I'll be posting some mini-reviews of the things I'm catching up on.

After cringing through The Change-Up and falling in love (again) with The Help, it was time to finish catching up on Season 1 of HBO's Game of Thrones, a show I had neglected to watch when it premiered this past April. Thanks to the wonder of U-verse OnDemand, I finally took the opportunity to see what all the hype was about. My thoughts (and a sneak peek at Season 2) after the jump.

Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead!

Sick Day Movie Reviews: The Help

Sick days are not fun. And we've all had enough of them to know that, so I won't go into any further detail. The only upside to a sick day? Some time to catch up on the movies and TV shows we've been too busy to watch otherwise. Throughout the day, I'll be posting some mini-reviews of the things I'm catching up on.

First up was The Change-Up, which ended up being quite the disappointment. In need of some quality cinema, The Help came in to save the day.

Sick Day Movie Reviews: The Change-Up

Sick days are not fun. And we've all had enough of them to know that, so I won't go into any further detail. The only upside to a sick day? Some time to catch up on the movies and TV shows we've been too busy to watch otherwise. Throughout the day, I'll be posting some mini-reviews of the things I'm catching up on.

First on the docket? Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds summer flick The Change-Up. My mini-review coming up after the jump...

Magical Monday Moments: Date Schmidt from 'New Girl'

When promoting New Girl's premiere this fall, the FOX marketing team put all of their eggs in the Zooey Deschanel basket. It was "adorkable" this and "adorkable" that. And while Deschanel is certainly a wonderful part of New Girl as crazed lunatic adorkable Jess, they forgot to mention the show's secret weapon: Max Greenfield as Jess' roommate Schmidt. From his catchy lines ("You just got Schmidt on your face") to his charming douchebaggery to the way he is incredibly overprotective of his kitchen, Schmidt is hands down the best part of New Girl.

So imagine my delight and surprise when Deschanel's site, Hello Giggles, "uncovered" an old online dating profile video for Schmidt. It's everything you would expect and about 1000 times more. Check it out after the jump...

Happy Family Jules: Express Christmas

We are steadily approaching TV's annual holiday hiatus, which means we will all have plenty of time to catch up on shows we've been meaning to watch—ahem, Revenge—and have some good ol' fashioned marathons with the DVDs we get for the holidays—ahem, Harry Potter 8-disc Blu Ray collection. Of course, before any of that happens, our favorite shows have one last chance to bid 2011 adieu, and what better way than with a holiday episode?

So ho-ho-hold on to your hats... let's talk about last night's Christmas-centric episodes of Modern Family and Happy Endings...

Trailer Watch: The Five-Year Engagement

The adorable picture above should be enough to convince you to see The Five-Year Engagement.

Need more convincing? Then continue on after the jump and watch the trailer...

Happy Family Jules: Situation Walk Space

Okay, fine. The last new episodes of Modern Family and Happy Endings aired two weeks ago. Let's just chalk up this (super) late post to Thanksgiving hype and a tryptophan-induced coma. At any rate, what better way to get hyped for tonight's new episodes than to remind ourselves how funny these shows are?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Let's do this thing...

Kelly Clarkson Will Be Home for Christmas

Last week, I went to the 96.5 All Star Christmas concert in Wallingford, CT for some holiday cheer—and by that, I mean I went to see the incomparable Kelly Clarkson do a mini-set preview of her upcoming tour. The Fray, Gavin DeGraw and the lovely Christina Perri also performed, but really I was just sitting there anxiously anticipating Kelly's headline act.

And while I adored her performances of classics like "Since U Been Gone" and "My Life Would Suck Without You" and new hits like "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)," "Mr. Know It All" and "Dark Side," what stuck with me was her stirring rendition of holiday favorite "I'll Be Home for Christmas."

Take a listen to her performance—including some adorable on-stage banter—after the jump....