1. Based on “public safety and quality of life concerns,” Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer has rejected a permit request from MTV to shoot upcoming episodes of a Jersey Shore spinoff featuring J-Woww and Snooki in her town. Smart lady. [via Fox News]

2. In other MTV-related news, the network is teaming up with Logo on It Gets Better, an hour-long special on the struggles of LGBT teens; hosted by Dan Savage, the show will chronicle the stories of three young people and include appearances by celebrities like Zachary Quinto, Margaret Cho, and Chaz Bono. [via EW]

3. Rumor has it that after the stock market closes today, Facebook will submit its paperwork to regulators for a $5 billion IPO, making it one of the biggest market debuts in US history. (For reference, Google’s IPO was a mere $2 billion.) [via The Daily Beast]

4. Taran Noah Smith — aka gawky Mark, the youngest and most forgettable of the Home Improvement brothers — was arrested last night and charged with a DUI and possession of hash. This is what happens when you’re a child star who grows up in the enormous shadow of Jonathan Taylor Thomas. [via Gawker]

5. It looks like Ridley Scott is interested in directing The Counselor, Pulitzer-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy’s first attempt at a spec script; given that the “disturbing and powerful” story features two women in its leading roles and is set in the Southwest, we think that the Thelma and Louise helmer could be an excellent fit. [via Vulture]

Bonus Buzz: NASA Engineer Reveals Secret Of Space Cats

Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, the fourth installment of the venerable action franchise, is in theaters now (well, sort of; they did this tiered release where it went to IMAX screens last Friday, but everywhere else on Wednesday, so if you’ve got an IMAX screen in your city, you can go see it there, but if not, later, and… yeah). When it was in pre-production last year, much ink was spilled over the casting of Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner in one of the supporting roles, with speculation running rampant that the young actor was being groomed to take over the series’ leading role from producer/star Tom Cruise, who is, at 49, perhaps getting a touch long-in-the-tooth for all this running/fighting/climbing 100+ story building nonsense.

There does seem to be something of a dearth of young actors equipped to take over the action-hero mantle from folks like Cruise, Will Smith (43), Jackie Chan (57), and the stars of The Expendables. So we got to thinking about some of the twentysomething actors who we’d like to see take a shot at action stardom. Check out our picks after the jump, and add your own in the comments. Read More »

For all the remakes and reboots and 3-D blockbusters, 2011 was a great year for film actors, with a wealth of terrific performances for us to choose from. What’s more, in sharp contrast to most years in recent memory, there was a bumper crop of terrific roles for great actresses — a trend that we’d like to see stick around for a while. After the jump, we’ll tell you about some of the best performances we saw this year, and why we’re still talking about them. Read More »

Back in September we told you that the talented Bryan Fuller (the creative mind behind such cult TV favorites as Dead Like Me, Wonder Falls, and Pushing Daisies) was working on a new series based on the character of Hannibal Lecter. Today brings the exciting news that NBC is interested in the project, and will be picking it up for a full 13 episodes as long as execs like Fuller’s first script. While normally skipping the pilot stage would seem like an insane gamble, as The New York Times just pointed out, NBC failed to produce a new hit show this past fall — and arguably, it was the network that needed to find one the most. Also important to remember: Fuller was a consulting producer and writer for Heroes, one of the Peacock’s most popular dramas in recent memory.

Not much is currently known about the show, other than the fact that the hour-long drama will “center on Lecter’s early days, namely his time going head-to-head with FBI agent Will Graham,” and casting is still undecided. Does anyone else think that this would be an excellent opportunity for Fuller to reunite with Heroes star Zachary Quinto? We’ve definitely seen that the guy is capable of playing a charming serial killer (in fact, Sylar makes Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal seem almost cuddly), and his recent appearances on American Horror Story have only left us wanting more. [via Slashfilm]

In an interview with New York Magazine published this morning, the much speculated-about Zachary Quinto publicly identified himself as gay for the first time. In the past, the actor, most famous for his portrayal of Spock in 2009′s blockbuster Star Trek and for his role as the evil Sylar on Heroes, has been non-committal about his sexuality, refusing to comment on it as recently as last year in an interview with the New York Times. However, it’s not a complete surprise. Quinto has been a staunch advocate of gay rights, often spoken out against bullying, and even made a video for the “It Gets Better” project last year, all without commenting on his own sexuality.

Now, touching on the issue in the New York Magazine piece, Quinto says, “It’s like, you have the legalization of gay marriage in the state of New York and three months later you have Jamey Rodemeyer killing himself, yet another gay teenager bullied into taking his own life. And, you know, again, as a gay man, I look at that and say there’s a hopelessness that surrounds it. But as a human being, I look at it and say, “Why? Where is this disparity coming from and why can’t we as a culture, as a society, dig deeper to examine it?” We’re terrified of facing ourselves, we’re terrified of what we’ll find and so, instead, we seem to waste time and energy with small-mindedness and intolerance and with bigotry and with hatred and with fear.” Truer words have never been said.

Ah, fall. The fall movie season is when we film lovers do our very best to shake off a summer’s supply of Transformers, ‘80s remakes, and wilted comic book heroes, and open our arms to the “prestige pictures”: the smart movies for grown-ups that studios trot out as close to Oscar time as possible, so that they can pretend like these are the kind of movies they make all year long.

Of course, those studios still have bills to pay, so it would be a mistake to presume that quality and intellect will be the sole flavor of the season. Too often, your fall movie previews tend to focus on the most promising releases, as though Oscar bait is all we’re going to see this autumn. Make no mistake: there will still be plenty of dumb comedies, mindless action, and copious amounts of 3-D. So in order to present the most complete picture of fall 2011 at the cinemas, we’ve assembled a comprehensive list of the major fall releases, good and bad alike. Of course, that’s quite a big list of movies, so we’ve boiled our comments down to the basics: who’s in it, what it is, who it’s for, and if we’re in or out. Break out your calendars and join us after the jump.

Read More »

1. Don DeLillo talks about his new 117-page novel, Point Omega, which comes out next week. [via WSJ]
2. Zachary Quinto — who played Spock in JJ Abrams‘ Star Trek — will take on the role of George Gershwin in a Steven Spielberg-directed biopic. [via Deadline Hollywood]
3. Parks and Recreation has been renewed. [via Reuters]
4. Now that they’re unemployed, some former staffers at The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien are starting their own web series. [via Pop Candy]
5. Chevy Chase and Bevery D’Angelo are reuniting as the Griswolds! For a Super Bowl ad… [via TV Squad]

Bonus link: Meet the man behind “Previously, on Lost … “