The Office: Deangelo Vickers - Initial Performance Review

Last night Steve Carell officially passed the torch off to Will Ferrell as manager of Dunder Mifflin.  Read on for thoughts on last night's episode after the jump!

Movie Review: I am Number Four

The first installment in the film adaptations of the book series of the same name by Pittacus Lore opened today.  Because he apparently does not have a single thing better to do on Friday nights, Butler decided to see if it was at least entertaining.  Find out more after the jump!

Now Hiring: Michael Scott's Replacement

With this week's episode, The Office brought the 'Michael Scott Farewell Tour' in full swing with the meta-retrospective premiere of Threat Level Midnight!. The big question on every fan's mind this season has been about Michael's replacement. WordsFinest writers Butler and Aaron are throwing their top picks into the ring for your humbled enjoyment. These candidates aren't who we think will be picked; they're who we think should be picked.

Butler's Candidate: Ricky Gervais

OK, just hear me out here, because this isn't the ranting of some kind of Anglophile stubbornly insisting that the British version of the office is infinitely superior.  It isn't.  It is simply a different animal.  Qualifications out of the way, let's start justifying.

We all remember Gervais' cameo back in January, and while some felt that it was simply a hackneyed bit of fanservice, thrown in to appease Brit-backing naysayers, I thought the chemistry between the two of them was hilarious (and certainly more believable than the chemistry Scott has with Holly, who I consider functionally retarded).  Granted, I know that they wouldn't be interacting, but it did demonstrate to me an ability to integrate his character with relative ease.  And we can't forget that the bit concludes with David Brent asking Michael if they're hiring, with Michael promising to "keep him posted".  Foreshadowing, or potential red herring?

The obvious issue with replacing somebody as integral to the show as Michael Scott is the upset it would cause in the group dynamic.  Some hail this as a long awaited change in a show running stagnant with incessant "Jim and Pam are still happy" plot lines, but with a show like The Office's longevity, an abrupt change to the status quo may not quite be the way to go, as it risks the strength of the relationships of the established cast.  Enter David Brent.

While possessing the awkward qualities and self-perceived hilarity of Michael Scott, I've always noticed a more malicious edge to David Brent's management style.  While Michael's goal has always been to be the most popular guy in the office, Brent is much more focused on the strength of his perceived authority.  Jokes are used to denigrate, rather than as awkward bonding attempts, and he can never resist letting people know how unimportant he feels whatever they are working on is.  Bringing in a character akin to Michael Scott, with a few noteworthy motivational differences (the desire to be powerful, as opposed to simply liked), could be precisely what the show needs to push it gently towards a new cast dynamic, rather than throwing them in to the deep end and assuring them that whatever asshole the studio pulls out will have sufficient life preservers.

Aaron's Candidate: Will Arnett

As usual, my colleague Butler is incredibly thoughtful and sexilicious. But sometimes, he gets it wrong. So wrong, in fact, that I would shove a flaming bag of popcorn kernels down his throat were it not for 'physics' depriving me of the obvious desired result.

For the record, I love the British version of The Office, and I completely agree that one show isn't superior to the other - they're too different to fairly compare. I think Ricky Gervais is hilarious, and I even saw Ghost Town (that's not an endorsement, it sucked). But if Gervais took over the lead role for the American Office - our Office - it would be a total disaster.

Make no mistake, the American Office found its stride when it stopped trying to emulate the British series. It became more colorful, more slapstick, more absurd, and most importantly - more endearing. Unlike David Brent, we don't love Michael Scott because he's a jerk. We love Michael because he's a moron with a heart of gold. In breaking from the UK Office by becoming less dry (and for some UK fans, less witty), the American Office won an audience with lovable underdog characters and a willingness to walk the edge of 'reality' more liberally than its British counterpart. Granted, I think that it's gone overboard in the last few years, resulting in an increasingly stale show where the characters are starting to take on the personalities and spur-of-the-moment whims of the show's writers - I can't tell you how how much I hated this year's Halloween episode and its unnecessarily topical costumes. But you simply can't transplant David Brent into this show. We already had David Brent in the American Office - it was Season One's Michael Scott, and it didn't resonate.

I'm proposing Will Arnett because if the Office is going to succeed without Steve Carell, it needs a lead who brings a different brand of comedy to the show while preserving the qualities of the American Office that worked: you need someone who can be stupid, insensitive, slapstick, but still redeemable - just like the show feels as a whole. Carell's replacement needs to be someone you can root for in the same way that you root for every other misfit on our Office. With Arrested Development, Running Wilde, and his excellent recurring role on 30 Rock, Will Arnett has show that he can play all of these things without showing Office fans something they've already seen before. Yes, the show might change, but the show is going to change no matter who they pick. With Arnett, we get someone who can change the show without changing the reasons we love the show.

Butler's Rebuttal: I shall make this short (like my cohort's sexual endurance) and sweet (like the tender yet firm loving I bestow upon the ladyfolk): I think that Will Arnett is goddamned hilarious and easily made Arrested Development what it was.  That having been said, his brand of humor is something that is almost entirely rooted in the premises of the shows being patently absurd (30 Rock appearances in no way breaking the Gob mold).  There is a tinge of realism to the show that is its most endearing quality, and I foresee that were Brent to be made the new boss, we could see some surprising new alliances formed in our existing and increasingly beloved side crew as a result of this subtle change to the status quo.  With a change as drastic as what I foresee Arnett bringing to the table, I simply don't see the characters realistically adapting to the sudden upheaval.

But what are your thoughts?  Who do you think would make a worthy replacement for Michael Scott?

TV Review: Glee

I was a little bit disappointed by the post-Super Bowl episode of Glee, but I do think they brought it back for the Valentine's day ep, mostly because of BBW Lauren's (that's big beautiful woman for those not up on newspaper personal-speak) complete badassery. Oh, and that one line from Santana: "I've had mono so many times it turned into stereo."

So what effect do greco-roman wrestlers and infectious diseases have on McKinley High? The rest of the gleecap, along with allison levin's rambling commentary, follows after the break!

TV Review: "Episodes"

Showtime brings Matt LeBlanc out of whatever hole he was hiding in since the demise of Joey to do what he does best: play himself.  Does it work as well as they had hoped?  Find out after the jump!

About Last Night: House Mid-Season Checkup

In Monday's House, a drill sergeant gets stricken with an unknown affliction, House trains Cuddy's daughter, and Chase tries to track down an identity thief, with hijinks aplenty!  Read on for Butler's thoughts!

About Last Night: Fringe Mid-Season Checkup

Because Alias was great and Lost was good until the finale, Butler steps in to the ring for more abuse from J. J. Abrams with Friday's return of Fringe.  More after the jump!

Dead Space 2's Ad Campaign: Tough to Watch for All

The latest commercials for Dead Space 2 have Butler bristling, but his complaints have nothing to do with the game.  Find out what's getting his goat after the jump!

Butler's 2010 Favorites

Butler keeps the pop culture superlative train running smoothly with his pick for top video game, movie, and novel of the year.  Is he completely full of it? Find out after the jump!

Dylan's 2010 Favorites

It's been a pretty good year. We all saw highs and lows in pop culture, be it music, TV, movies, games, etc. We here at Words Finest are pop culture fanatics, so naturally, we couldn't wrap this year up without sharing some of what we thought were the "best of" when it comes to all things media and gadgets.

I'm up first, so read on for some of my picks!

Thoughts On The Golden Globe Noms

Ah, the Golden Globes. They're like the younger brother of the Academy Awards-the one that wants to be just like his older brother and tries to do what he does, but in his own way at the same time. A Golden Globe may not be as prestigious and recognized as an Oscar, but it holds esteem of it's own (otherwise, why would be it be on DVD covers in big letters?) In addition, unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes include television categories (also, of course, covered by the Emmys).

This year's nominations were announced this past week, and there are some interesting inclusions...read on for my thoughts!

Review: The Fighter

It's Oscar season...and that means the release of a lot of dramas that include redemptive true life stories, period pieces, and examinations of the human psyche in war/the holocaust/other bad times in history. Some of it feels like it was put out there just to win awards, but you also find those films that are truly quality and possibly worthy of said awards.

The Fighter seems like one of those Oscar bait movies at first glance-it's the true life story of a boxer from a small, blue-collar Massachusetts town who overcomes the odds to win a title and be called a hometown hero. Luckily, it falls into the category of a film that is actually good quality. Read on for my review!

About Last Night: Dexter Season 5 Finale

Hey, so there's this show on Showtime called Dexter that had a season finale last night.  Perhaps you've heard of it? Obligatory spoiler alert! Now read Butler's thoughts!

Review Black Swan

Ahhhhhh Darren Aronofsky. He seems to really enjoy movies that are heralded as being higher art (in some ways they are I suppose), but are really known for just being super depressing. The kind of films where when you finish watching, you can only sit there and wallow in the utter depression he's created...people having their entire lives ruined by drugs, a man haunted by the fact that he couldn't find a cure for cancer in time to save his dying wife. You know, real sunshiny stuff.

Still, his films are usually worth seeing once, as he can employ a pretty good visual style and you often see good performances. His latest is Black Swan, a melodramatic thriller that explores the light and dark sides in a fragile ballerina played by Natalie Portman.

Holiday Special: Staff Wish Lists - M. Butler

This week on WordsFinest, our talented and sexy writers reveal what they're hoping to unwrap this holiday season.  Last minute shoppers take heed as Butler gets the ball rolling!

About Last Night: Venture Bros.

For too long Butler has left his precious brothers Venture neglected on WF.  Well no more!  More after the jump....

Thoughts On The "Green Lantern" Trailer

The first trailer for Green Lantern was officially released yesterday. There's a bunch of awesome stuff in it, and a couple noteworthy problems.

What Works

First, Ryan Reynolds is a great choice for Hal Jordan. There's been a lot of concern as to whether he could pull it off (I recall Bradley Cooper was the fan-favorite), but the trailer gives a pretty solid indication that Reynolds was a good choice. His delivery evokes an excellent blend of plucky troublemaker and contemplative hero. Moreover, the trailer establishes very quickly that this movie isn't the The Dark Knight, and it rightfully shouldn't be. The tone of Green Lantern stories just isn't as troubled and serious as the Batman mythos. Green Lantern should be a fun, action-packed space epic, and that's exactly what this trailer promised.

I'm very glad they didn't skip over the character's origin story. I heard early drafts of the script only glossed over the origin, but I think it would be totally foolish to assume that audiences would already know about Green Lantern as a character. We get a lot of origin stories in superhero films, but Green Lantern's can be one of the better ones if it's done right. We see a great deal of the character Abin Sur and his passing the ring to Hal, and this is a good sign.

The art design for this film looks fantastic. Lovable aliens like Kilowog come to life in full, wrinkly detail in this trailer, and Mark Strong looks totally badass as the cunning Sinestro.

The planet Oa (the home of the Green Lanterns) looks spectacular. Everything looks truly alien - even the planet's architecture. This movie needed to have the scope and grandeur of a modern day Star Wars (no, those ones don't count). This shot of Oa is a great taste of what's in store.

What Doesn't Work

The costume still doesn't look right. It was a bold move to make Green Lantern the first superhero to don a fully-CGI costume. Based on this footage, the effects need to be tightened, because it's looking too tacky and cartoony - even for Green Lantern. I'm glad that they went for a very alien look, and I like that the Green Lantern emblem is always glowing. But some of the muscles are over-emphasized (even though I'm sure Reynolds got ripped like crazy for this movie), and the costume's coloring just isn't quite right yet. I'm glad they ditched those white gloves that he wears in the comics.

I think giving his face an orange, fake suntan hue might be a mistake, which was most noticeable while he was flying. By the way, the flying didn't look great either - it reminded me a lot of the Human Torch's cheesy flying in Fantastic Four 2. There's still a lot of time to work this out, but I'm just surprised the flying doesn't look good, since we already nailed computer-animated flight in Superman Returns.

Overall? I'm psyched. Now when is this movie coming?

3D And Movies: A Blessing, A Curse, or Both?

3D isn't anything new. It's been around for nearly 60 years, in many different formats and mediums. It's been thrilling people since it was developed at the end of the 1940s, whether it's at the movies, in magazines, and now, even on Television.

Despite the expansion of the 3D format, it's undoubtedly most recognized for it's role in movies. 3D movies were a huge trend in the 50s, 60s, and into the 70s, and now the craze is back, as in the past few years almost every other film is being released in 3D. Is it a blessing or a curse? Read on to find out my opinion!

About Last Night: Dexter Mid-Season Check-Up

Butler's brain is still spinning from last night's episode of Dexter.  See if they're the good spins or the bad spins after the jump!

The Return of Conan: Yay or Nay?

We all know what happened 9 months ago. Conan O'Brien, the new host of the Tonight Show, left NBC after he refused to move his show to a later hour to make way for a schmuck whose show he was taking over in the first place.

The whole ordeal launched one of the biggest fan campaigns of all time, creating "Team Coco", a name that was actually thought of by none other than frequent guest and good friend Tom Hanks. There was artwork, a twitter trend, pins, shirts...you name it. Still, despite the campaign, NBC decided to NOT listen to a key demographic and insist that Conan be put on later.

And so, in the best interest of both himself and his crew, Conan decided to leave NBC. For a while, nobody knew what was next for Conan-he talked with a bunch of different networks, and we wait with baited breath. Finally, it was announced Conan had signed with TBS for a new late night talk show, and it would be premiering in November. Most people reacted with a mix of intrigue and excitement-Conan's back! But on TBS?! Yes, TBS, and Conan made his return on Monday after months of anticipation.