Watch us fall in the passion pit

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Passion Pit. (CNS)

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An aerial view of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium in east London. (ALASTAIR GRANT / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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Jennifer Lopez. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

'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: The Watch (July 27)

BIG PICTURE: With apologies to The Avengers, get ready for the most dangerous, heroic team of the summer! Sure they don't have Iron Man and The Hulk, but they have... Evan! and Bob! and Franklin! and... Jamarcus? And while they don't have a spinning shield or robotic suits, they all have guns and Fonzie-esque jackets featuring a tiger with wings (evolution truly let us down on that account). Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade headline as a group of suburban shlubs who create a neighbourhood watch to stave off boredom. Of course, when they discover the town has been overrun by aliens in human disguise, the fate of the neighbourhood -- and the world -- is left in their bumbling hands.

It's Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Men in Black meets Paul Blart: Mall Cop... meets Jonah Hill flipping the bird at his recent Oscar nod.

FORECAST: Stiller and Vaughn proved they could conjure comedic magic together in Dodgeball -- and Hill displayed deft comedic hands long before branching out into dramas like Moneyball. Put it all together and The Watch should be eminently watchable. (That said, I'm hoping next summer brings us a horror movie about a tiger with wings; I'm sure Samuel L. Jackson would sign on to play the hero.)

TV

BIG EVENT: London 2012 Summer Olympics: Opening Ceremony (July 27, TSN/CTV, 3 p.m.)

BIG PICTURE: The three-hour show, featuring a volunteer cast of 10,000 people, is being directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire). Apparently Boyle was getting too grandiose -- and was asked to cut a number of sequences (including one with stunt bikes) to ensure the feel-good festivities end on time. Boyle's ceremony is called Isles of Wonder -- and draws inspiration from Shakespeare's The Tempest and the English countryside. The ceremony will feature live farm animals, including 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens, nine geese -- and Paul McCartney. As for the rural, green decor, England's rose, Scotland's thistle, Wales' daffodil and Northern Ireland's flax will be represented on the field of play.

FORECAST: Vancouver's winter ceremony featured hockey icon Wayne Gretzky with the Olympic flame in the back of a pickup truck -- a trail of seemingly drunken, Canadian hosers running behind him. My guess is the Brits will try to top our colonial production. I'm picturing Doctor Who, Elton John, Prince Harry, James Bond, Mary Poppins and Mr. Bean driving with the torch on one of London's famous double-decker buses -- a trail of Manchester United soccer hooligans behind them. Jolly good show!

HONOURABLE MENTION: Spoilers (SPACE, July 27, 4:30 p.m.). Loudmouth director and fanboy Kevin Smith has your dream job (no, not the neighbourhood watch!): being a lazy, armchair critic of the summer's blockbusters. Each week Smith brings a group of average movie fans to the theatre to watch the latest blockbuster and asks them to become the common man's Ebert & Roeper. No movie snobs allowed! Watch them offer praise, mock praise or just plain mockery. The show made its Canadian debut earlier this month at spacecast.com , but tonight marks its network premiere. Expect special guests such as Carrie Fisher (Star Wars) and Damon Lindelof (Prometheus) to join the debate.

MUSIC

BIG RELEASES ON JULY 24: Passion Pit (Gossamer), Jennifer Lopez (Dance Again... The Hits)

BIG PICTURE: Nothing like a greatest hits album to cure what ails you -- especially if what ails you is a failed attempt to steal the spotlight as an American Idol judge (blame Steven Tyler) and the fact your famous booty has been supplanted atop pop's pedestal by the likes of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Beyond her big hits, Lopez offers two new tracks: Goin' In (featuring Flo Rida) and Dance Again (featuring Pitbull) -- a single which has reached No. 1 on the Billboard dance chart. (Maybe she's still Jenny from the Block after all?) Or, for the indie crowd, there's Passion Pit. With its second album Gossamer, this Cambridge, Mass., band aims to continue its upward trajectory. Songwriter Michael Angelakos's quirky lyrics again find a welcome backdrop amid addictive, electropop beats.

FORECAST: Lopez may want us to dance again, but Passion Pit's Gossamer will find the band sprouting wings and soaring to greater heights of popularity.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 22, 2012 A11