CliqueClack

Win free passes to see Bad Grandpa in Baltimore or DC

This offer is now closed. Follow @CliqueClack on Twitter for updates on contests, news and reviews.

CliqueClack has partnered with Paramount Pictures and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer readers in the Baltimore and DC areas a chance to attend an advance screening of the new comedy Bad Grandpa starring Johnny Knoxville and Jackson Nicholl. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling us which location you would prefer, BALTIMORE or DC. The screenings will be held on Tuesday, October 22, 7:00 PM at AMC White Marsh in Baltimore and AMC Georgetown in DC.

Please read and follow the rules for entry:

• ONE comment per person and/or email address. Duplicates will be discarded. CliqueClack reserves the right to discard any entry that appears to be a duplicate.
• You may comment for a single location. If duplicate comments are recorded for each city, only your first comment will be registered.
• Please make sure your email address is correct before submitting your comment. We cannot notify you if that information is not correct.
• Please make sure your email account’s spam filters are set to accept email from @cliqueclack.com.
• Contest ends Sunday, October 20 at 3:00 PM. Winners will be selected from a random drawing.

Have a look at the official trailer after the break, and then let us know where you want to see Bad Grandpa!

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We Will Rock You will … rock you

Twelve years ago, a musical opened in London’s West End built around the music of classic rock group Queen. After playing in venues around the world, We Will Rock You finally comes to North America with a tour that opened October 15 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre.

The story takes place in a futuristic world controlled by a worldwide conglomerate, GlobalSoft, which forbids any kind of musical creativity. Instead, the company, run by Killer Queen, creates and programs music which the people of the world stream and download for their enjoyment. No one is allowed to write or play music on their own, but one man who calls himself Galileo Figaro keeps dreaming words and music that are about to drive him crazy. He believes the dreams are a message, so he has to break free from GlobalSoft and the clutches of Killer Queen and Kashoggi to find out what his dreams mean.

Along the way he meets a girl who he names Scaramouche (the GaGa kids all have URLs for names) – because it was better than Barenaked Lady – and they stumble their way across the desolate landscape to Las Vegas and the Hard Rock Cafe. There they meet a band of Bohemians who are the keepers of the planet’s musical history, giving themselves names like Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Ozzy Osbourne, Britney Spears, and Miley Cyrus, and discovering that Galileo, or Gal for short, is the Dreamer they’ve been waiting for to bring music back to the world – real music, not Computer Recorded Auto-tuned Pop – but the only clue is a mysterious poem, of sorts, that talks about the Seven Rivers of Rhye, a hidden axe, and music that hangs silently in the air. What does it all mean?

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Agents of SHIELD needs characters I can connect with

I fell in love with the pilot of Agents of SHIELD. As I’ve said to others, it had the stink of Joss Whedon all over it, and I was taking it all in. Alright that sounds gross, so let’s just say it had all the elements I love about Joss’s writing style, and it glued me to the TV. I admit I’m a big-time fan of all things Whedon, but I  don’t let that get to my head and simply flat-out love everything he does unconditionally. Dollhouse, for example, was not what I consider a fine example of what Joss is capable of, and I had a pretty hard time finishing that short-lived series. For me, Dollhouse had the same thing plaguing it that SHIELD now does: I’m unable to connect with its characters.

After that fantastic pilot, for me, the show took a slight downward turn in its enjoyability somewhere. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I knew it was clearly not as strong. After the third episode, things were pretty much level with the second, but not improved. I started to peel back the layers to put my finger on what was wrong. I put aside that this was a Whedon project, that this was an awesome geek-fest of Marvel shout-outs and cameos, and Chloe Bennet’s cuteness. What I was left with was the story and the characters. The stories weren’t faulty: it was the characters. With the exception of robo-or-something Coulson, I don’t give a shit about any of them. They’re not exactly unlikeable; I just don’t connect with them at all. I care about Coulson and what happened to him … or what he really is. But I don’t care about Skye and who she’s working for, what the deal is with Fitz and Simmons, or anything, really, about Grant Ward. The only other character I might have some interest in is Ming-Na Wen’s Melinda May; I admit she’s definitely bad-ass, but she’s not given enough to do beyond being tough.

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Get your free passes to Last Vegas in Baltimore

CliqueClack has partnered with CBS Films and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer readers in the Baltimore area an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new movie Last Vegas, starring Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline and Mary Steenburgen. The screening will be held on Thursday, October 17, 7:00 PM at Cinemark Egyptian, Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, MD.

To claim your free passes, simply leave a comment on this post and ask us for passes. You may request up to two pairs of passes for you and your friends! Requests will be taken until 3:00 PM Thursday or when passes run out, whichever comes first. Please note that passes do not guarantee you seats. Please plan to arrive early. CliqueClack has no control over the number of passes that have been distributed or seating at the theater. Seating is first-come, first-served. You will be contacted by email with special GoFoBo codes and instructions. Please make sure your email address is entered correctly in the appropriate space. Do not put your email address in the comment box.

The Mentalist’s Red John: Poems, pigeons, agraphobia and … Thomas

I admit that I’m one of those odd folks who held very strongly onto the theory that Patrick Jane is actually Red John. Though I’m unable to cite the interview at the moment, I was sure at one time that The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller had said that the Red John story was intended as a series-long arc, whereby his identity would not be revealed until the show’s finale episode. It turns out that what I likely actually read — and perhaps what Heller meant — was that the Red John saga would end with the series, not that we’d know his identity at that time as well. Now that we know Red John’s identity will be revealed very soon and that this is likely not the show’s final season — and that Heller has said time and again that the “list of seven” includes the actual Red John — I’m definitely ready to drop my Jane-is-John cruscade. Not to mention Heller has gone on the record as saying my old theory is flat out wrong.

With the clues The Mentalist writers are throwing at us lately, it’s clear we’re at the home stretch toward the Red John reveal. The question is, though: who are these clues intended for?

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TV on DVD October 15: The Clone Wars, Vikings, Defiance and more

With almost all of the fall shows rolled out, there are only a few stragglers from last season left to hit home video, including Hart of Dixie and Defiance. The fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars makes its video debut along with a box set of the first five seasons. The History Channel’s hit, Vikings, also gets a season one release, as does a second set of Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management. For the kids, new DVDs featuring The Smurfs, Rocko’s Modern Life, and Looney Tunes come to DVD, while classic TV fans can own full series sets of I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched and The Partridge Family. To see all of the home video releases for October 15, take a look at our shopper’s guide and click on a link to make a purchase or to get more information.

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Pacific Rim, The Heat, Maniac and The Haunting come to home video

Big stars, big monsters, big robots and more come to home video this week with the release of two summer hits, Pacific Rim and The Heat, as well as Elijah Wood’s remake of the sleazy 80s slasher film Maniac. If you’re looking for some suitable family fare, the Broadway musical Shrek the Musical comes to home video for those who can’t make it to the Great White Way. As Halloween quickly approaches, some classic titles are getting new Blu-ray and DVD editions to send chills down your spine, most notably the classic — and arguably best — haunted house movie, The Haunting (starring the recently deceased Julie Harris), John Carpenter’s cult classic In the Mouth of Madness and Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath starring Boris Karloff. Universal rolls out more of their Decades collection on DVD and Blu-ray including Weird Science and Love Actually. These are more are available October 15, so have a look at our shopper’s guide to see all of the week’s highlights and click on a link to make a purchase or to get more information.

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The Walking Dead: An uneven season 4 premiere

As low key as the conclusion to last season was, many interesting dynamics from the characters emerged. Especially from Rick. That’s something I’ve continued to welcome in The Walking Dead every step of the way.

AMC’s powerhouse has always been more about character interaction and the human element rather than the ever-present walkers, the least attractive thing about the show in my opinion, literally and figuratively. But the walkers do hold an important position. They’re the canvas, they’re the backdrop to what takes place while the stories of Rick and company unfold.

So coming into the new season? It didn’t bother me in the least it started out a bit slowly, methodically, somewhat calculated.

Season 3’s premiere — “Seed” — started out that way in the very beginning … calm, cool, collected and without a single, solitary word spoken between any of the group. And as the season unfolded it began looking into the characters with more depth than we’d seen before. The promise of this season? Looks like we’ll be doing more of the same if the premiere is any indication. Continue reading 'The Walking Dead: An uneven season 4 premiere' »

American Horror Story: Coven almost redeems last season

Let’s face it: if you liked the first season of American Horror Story, then continued to enjoy the second season … I dunno who I’m talking to. Unless you’re Chuck. Sorry, Chuck. I love you, man, but last season was pretty damned awful, confusing and just downright … bad. It was a far cry from the first self-contained season of the series, which itself wasn’t exactly perfection. However, that first season was good enough to make me look forward to the next which, as I said, fell flat.

This season of American Horror Story takes on yet another different “horror” to follow, this time with witches (which some people think is an overdone subject these days — it’s not like it’s zombies!) Many people were pretty excited for the addition of Kathy Bates to the cast, who we’ve already come to know on the show as being — presumably — a witch, with one hell of a serious past. So far her casting has proven to be right on the mark.

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Win a Blu-ray copy of Pacific Rim

This contest is now closed. Please follow @CliqueClack on Twitter for alerts on contests, news and reviews.

Who doesn’t love giant robots and giant monster, especially when they’re in a fight to the death against each other? CliqueClack, through our friends at PartnersHub and Warner Home Video, want to give one lucky reader a copy Pacific Rim on Blu-ray! The rules are simple: leave a comment on this post telling us why you want a copy of Pacific Rim. Be sure to fill in your complete name and email address in the form. The winner will be contacted by email. If we can’t reach you, a new winner will be selected. One entry per person, per email address. The deadline to enter is 6:00 PM Eastern, Sunday, October 27. Tweet your friends about the contest using @CliqueClack and #PacificRim.

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