Tell it to the chair, Clint

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THE MOB DOCTOR: Grace (Jordana Spiro) is a brilliant life-saving surgeon caught in a complex web between her promising medical career and her family. (POSTMEDIA)

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Zeljko Ivanek as Dr. Stafford White on the new drama, 'The Mob Doctor,' premiering Monday, September 17 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT)

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Revolution (CP)

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Nelly Furtado (CP)

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Trouble with the Curve (CP)

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," but these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what's on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big release: Trouble with the Curve (Sept. 21)

Big picture: Clint Eastwood plays Gus Lobel, an aging baseball scout whose best physical -- and mental -- days are behind him. His employers (the Atlanta Braves) are deeply concerned. And with GOOD reason. Gus is one step away from spending two hours interviewing a stadium chair, and then recommending the team draft it to be their starting pitcher. Amy Adams plays Eastwood's estranged, career-driven daughter who puts her job in jeopardy to accompany her dad on his final scouting trip. In a "stunning" departure, Justin Timberlake plays a handsome, charming, successful guy. In this case, a younger rival scout who has always looked up to Gus -- and will probably end up hitting a home run with his daughter before the credits roll.

Forecast: For the boys: a lot of tough old-guy talk and baseball shenanigans. For the girls: Timberlake's 500-watt smile, and a lot of maudlin, touching moments of atonement between daddy and daughter.

Bottom line: Trouble with the Curve may have the right lineup to win the box-office game. In one profound moment, Eastwood snarls at his daughter: "I'm just a broken down old man, you oughta get as far away from me as you can." Betcha Mitt Romney wishes Clint had given HIM that advice.

Honourable mention:: Judge Dredd (Sept. 21): The Republicans should repurpose this trailer as an attack ad with the tagline "America after four more years of Obama." In a dystopian future, the U.S. East Coast has merged into one giant, lawless mega city full of drugs, gangs and prostitutes (Read: crazy "liberals"). Meanwhile, "Judges" working for the Hall of Justice are allowed to be judge, jury and executioner of anyone on the spot (now that's what I call "government overreach") . . . Based on the comic book, Karl Urban (Star Trek's new Dr. McCoy) is Judge Dredd in this franchise re-launch - imbuing the role more grit and plausibility than Sylvester Stallone. The film's co-stars include Olivia Thirby, Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) and what appears to be present-day downtown Detroit.

TV

Big event: Revolution (NBC, Citytv, Sept. 17, 9 p.m.)

Big picture: It's The Hunger Games meets Jericho meets the creative mind of executive producer J.J. Abrams (Lost). Created by Eric Kripke (Supernatural), we're welcomed to a post-apocalyptic world frighteningly reminiscent of our own. One day the lights -- and all technology -- literally disappear in a massive blackout. Planes fall from the sky. Markets disappear. Online gamers emerge bleary-eyed and sloth-like from their parents' basements. Cars stop working (In Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford presumably curls up in the fetal position, weeping). Parents are forced to make small talk with their gadget-less children.... It's a true nightmare. The series picks up 15 years later with the rag-tag survivors of an electricity-free planet fighting to survive. What caused the downfall of civilization is still a mystery. But our cities have become urban jungles, overtaken by nature -- and it looks like most office drones were forced to learn real-world skills and become deadly militiamen, warlords or thieves.

Forecast: The series stars Winnipeg-born Tracy Spiridakos as the orphaned, teenage survivor (of the only guy who seemed to know why the lights went out). Armed with a bow and arrow (thank you Katniss), she joins forces with her super-soldier uncle (Billy Burke) to track down her brother. A small-scale human drama with a big-scale mystery at its heart, you'll want to see the plan for this Revolution.

Honourable Mention: The Mob Doctor. (Fox, Sept. 17, 8 p.m.). The show also airs on Sundays on CTV (it bowed Sunday, Sept. 16). Dr. Grace Devlin (Jordana Spiro) is a brilliant young surgeon in debt to the mobsters and forced to moonlight as their doctor while keeping her above-board job at a prominent Chicago hospital. Two big reasons to watch: the underrated Zeljko Ivanek (Damages) as Devlin's hospital boss and the wonderfully-talented Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights) as her blue-collar boyfriend.

It's House meets The Sopranos meets ... seriously? This is what the Hollywood "idea" people are doing now? Just tossing genres into a hat and picking them out to create a series? Let me try this at home -- give me second to get a hat, a pen and some paper. OK, draw time! Vampire drama . . . legal drama ... police procedural... sitcom in which an obese man is inexplicably married to a beautiful woman. Done! Series name: The Long Tooth of the Law. A dramedy about an overweight vampire attorney, working the Los Angeles night court, in a constant battle to hide his true nature from his sarcastic, ever-forgiving detective wife (who teaches a glee club on weekends).

MUSIC

Big release on Tuesday: Nelly Furtado (The Spirit Indestructible), Carly Rae Jepsen (Kiss), Pink (The Truth about Love)

Big picture: It's a three-way battle of the sirens! Victoria-native Nelly Furtado goes from being Loose and Promiscuous to being The Spirit Indestructible (I guess she got over trying to compete with the Britneys of the world). An eclectic mix of R&B, hip-hop, rock, dance and even reggae, this marks Furtado's first English album in six years. Meanwhile, Jepsen looks to add a few new hits to her repertoire. The alternative is a career in her 40s that consists of playing Call Me Maybe four times a night at bowling alleys and amusement parks. But the Mission, B.C.-native has the talent and savvy to plant more musical kisses on the pop charts. The effort marks Jepsen's full-length debut in the U.S. and includes the song Beautiful, a duet with Justin Bieber. And, finally, pop princess Pink offers The Truth about Love (we're guessing it isn't pretty). Oddly enough, these three albums could also double as chapter titles in a dating self-help book.

Honourable mention: Mother Mother (Sticks). One of Canada's finest, the Vancouver group's fuzzy guitars and relentless keyboards are often outshone by lead singer Ryan Guldemond's unique, high-range vocals -- which somehow manage to sound equally sweet, cynical and chiding. The band's strength is its triple vocal threat on harmony. They never sound better than when Jasmin Parkin and Molly Guldemond compliment their front man. The big-name pop sirens can have their call, but this week I'm crying for my Mother Mother.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 16, 2012 ??65525