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For people who have always wanted Kenny Powers’ autograph: Eastbound & Down: The Complete Second Season

Comedian Danny McBride’s career thus far is indicative of someone who has powerful friends but not enough fans. Between Land of the Lost and Your Highness, his career as a Hollywood leading man has started roughly as well as Tom Arnold’s did. Still, super producer Adam McKay and Hollywood power player Will Ferrell continue to champion McBride as a potentially great funnyman.

Eastbound & Down represents a strange programming decision for HBO. Two seasons of television reflects a whopping 13 episodes of content. That’s the type of network order we see from the BBC, not HBO. And we will not be seeing much more. The previously announced third season will be the last for this tale of a former Major League pitcher reduced to a career as a physical education teacher.

Those of you who watched season one know that the lead character, Kenny Powers, thought he was about to make his triumphant comeback with the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays. When that didn’t happen, Powers went into hiding rather than face all the people he had informed of his return to glory. Fast forward to season two and we find that Powers has been playing in the Mexican League, and that is the location as well as the basis for the first six episodes. The final one sets the table for season three. Without giving away too much, Powers as a character amazes me in that the show is not that popular yet he has gained endorsements within the sports culture. Ordinarily, the studio makes all the money and handles all the publicity. Kenny Powers has broken out in a way that hasn’t helped the ratings any yet it has allowed McBride to heighten his presence among sports fans everywhere. That alone is a significant feat. And if you are on the fence about whether to watch season two, let me say the magic words that would sell me if I were undecided: Deep Roy co-stars.

For Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Last Night

Are you seriously considering leaving your spouse or maybe just cheating on them? If so, I have just the movie for you. Very attractive people named Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes and a French dude you don’t know named Guillaume Canet portray a quartet of star-crossed lovers. Knightley and Worthington’s characters, Joanna and Michael, are a semi-happily married couple yet that doesn’t stop Joanna from becoming very suspicious when she notices Michael laughing it up with Laura (Mendes), a work colleague he has never mentioned to his wife before. After that, the situation degrades further when Joanna bumps into a former flame, Alex. And from there, the whole movie becomes one extended hump fest with the occasional bout with guilt thrown in for good measure. If you believe that love is nothing but sex mixed with human suffering, this is just your sort of film, you miserable bastard. If you want a movie that ends with “and they lived happily ever after”, I recommend Tangled instead.

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