5 Performances That May Surprise You This Fall

As summer draws to a close, it’s nice to remember what’s in store for moviegoers as the autumnal equinox approaches: films with characters you care about. Deliver me from the superheroes, sweet season! As part of our extensive fall preview, we’ve picked the five most promising-yet-under-the-radar performances to anticipate in the coming months. Please straighten your tie when approaching the cross-dressing Glenn Close. Seth Rogen in 50/50 Of all the Apatow players, Seth Rogen is the one whose knack for dry punchlines and snark seems to conceal layers of interesting depth and sensitivity. (Take for instance, his character Ken Miller from Freaks and Geeks, who became a powerhouse in the last few episodes.) In 50/50, he plays the buddy of a cancer-stricken Joseph Gordon-Levitt, hopefully he’ll lend the same amount of self-aware cynicism to the character that he brought to Funny People. Alan Alda in Tower Heist Though Alda is lovely in lite romantic comedies like the old Bernard Slade adaptation Same Time, Next Year, he is even greater as a total bastard. Who can deny that his greatest screen moments are in Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, where he plays the pompous Lester, and The Aviator, where he plays the blowhard Senator Owen Brewster (and received his only Oscar nomination)? We’ll be seeing more of the dickish Alda in the upcoming comedy/actioner Tower Heist, where he’ll play a Bernie Madoff type who screws his Trumpian underlings (Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, among others) out of their life savings. Bring on the condescending sneers! John Goodman in The Artist The grandeur of Michel Hazanavicius’s silent, black-and-white ode to classic Hollywood is dazzling enough — as, apparently, are the lead performances by Gable-lookalike Jean Dujardin and Claudette Colbert-conjurer Brnice Bejo — but it’s John Goodman pounding his fist as Al Zimmer that really brings back a lost world of screen stars. His grit is very Charles Laughton — an Oscar winner with no true contemporary parallel. Unless, of course, the flawless Goodman is up to the task. Armie Hammer in J. Edgar I can’t say that the angle Clint Eastwood is taking on J. Edgar Hoover’s sexual orientation sounds fascinating (or even worth filming), but I’m still intrigued by the part of Hoover’s alleged paramour, Associate FBI director Clyde Tolson. While DiCaprio is sure to give us scrunched-up face acting as Hoover, the part of Tolson seems destined to be more subtly complicated; a little more knowing. Armie Hammer’s turn as the entitled Winkelvi in The Social Network may set him up for the poised nature of Tolson, but I’m thrilled to watch him add sensitivity and ’50s polish to that act. Mia Wasikowska in Albert Nobbs We’ve thought long and hard about the implications of a Best Actress faceoff between Meryl Streep, for her trailer-mesmerizing turn in The Iron Lady, and Glenn Close, who is seriously gunning for her first statue with the gender-bending star role in Albert Nobbs. We haven’t dwelled on Close’s co-star Mia Wasikowska yet, who plays the male-disguised Nobbs’ lady friend Helen. Wasikowska’s been verging on true critical acclaim with fine performances in The Kids are All Right and an astounding arc on In Treatment, and now it appears she may have the august, difficult part to pull that adulation together.

USA Renews White Collar for Season 4

White Collar Break out your fedoras, White Collar fans: USA Network has just renewed the series for a 16-episode fourth season, TVGuide.com has confirmed. Tiffani Thiessen on White Collar's finale The series, currently filming the second half of its third season, averaged 4.3 million viewers for the first part of Season 3. "We're thrilled to offer our viewers another season that promises some of the best writing in television, unexpected twists and generous helpings of America's favorite bromance," said Jeff Wachtel and Chris McCumber, USA Network co-presidents. White Collar is expected to return in January 2012.

Two more ride 'Streetcar'

Daphne Rubin-Vega and Wood Harris have signed onto the approaching Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire," joining topliners Nicole Ari Parker and Blair Underwood. Rubin Vega ("Rent," "Jack Goes Boating") will have Stella opposite Underwood as her husband Stanley, with Harris ("The Wire") aboard as Mitch, the mark suitor of southern belle Blanche (Parker). Multiracial "Streetcar" may be the second diverse-cast manufacture of a Tennessee Williams play from producer Stephen Byrd, whose 2008 revival of "Cat on the Hot Container Roof" -- which starred Anika Noni Rose, Terrence Howard, James Earl Johnson and Phylicia Rashad in Gotham -- did strong biz about the Rialto and continued to experience a West Finish run. "Streetcar" reteams Rubin-Vega with helmer Emily Mann, whose last Broadway pointing credit was the 2003 manufacture of "Anna within the Tropics," where the actress also made an appearance. New Orleans-based trumpeter Terrence Blanchard provides music for "Streetcar." Revival targets a spring opening in a theater to become determined. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

Survey: Old Is Gold For Endorsements

If you want to sell a product, don't kid around. That's the clear message if you buy theresults of a survey just released by global market research firm Ipsos. The hottest huckster: 89-year-old Betty White. She is Americas favorite and most trusted personality and would be most likely to drive business with an endorsement, according to the survey. She received the highest "favorability" rating among 100 well-known personalities with 86% of those surveyed expressing a favorable opinion of her. Next on the list: Denzel Washington (85%) and Sandra Bullock (84%). Also in the top 10 are: Clint Eastwood (83%), Tom Hanks (81%), Harrison Ford (80%), Morgan Freeman (also 79%), Will Smith (77%), and Johnny Depp (76%). Most of the 100 personalities rated in the survey, which polled more than roughly 2000 adults, come from the world of entertainment, news and sports. Elected officials were deliberately excluded. Here is the complete list:

Bad Movies We Love: In Honor of Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, Check Out Can't Stop the Music

Ryan Murphy — the candid, theatrically hostile Svengali behind Glee — would have you believe Glee: The 3D Concert Movie is the first cinematic musical with high production value, recognizable pop hits, and abject homosexuality. Not so! In 1980, director Nancy Walker (YES, OF RHODA) blessed us with Can’t Stop the Music, the hip-poppin’ extravaganza starring the Village People, Steve Guttenberg, Bruce Jenner, and other American forefathers. It is marvelous, enchanting, stupid, a little too long, gay as an elf’s sneeze, the first Razzie winner for Worst Picture, and unforgettable. Respect. Let’s revisit. How cliche would it have been to choose Xanadu this week? I’m glad we’re all cool enough to understand the wit behind a selection like Can’t Stop the Music, which is both under-loved and under-hated. Its story concerns a budding young DJ named Jack (Steve Guttenberg, xoxo) who seeks the help of his roommate Samantha (the comely Valerie Perrine) in ascending the NYC club scene and becoming a pop sensation. When she decides the vocals on his demo tape won’t do, she recruits the assistance of some of her friends, who turn out to be the Village People. The rest of the story deserves no real explanation, since we’re mostly just here for the glittery, extraordinary gay majesty of this picture — but please know that a major athlete makes his startling debut here. We’ll get to that in a second. Here are the five greatest perks of Can’t Stop the Music, the movie that takes macho men, strips them to their thinnest t-shirts, and teaches them the lost art of thrusting. 5. Put down your damn Jamba Juice and “do the Shake”! I swear that great musical numbers with eye-popping production value are to come, but let’s begin our descent into disco doo-doo with a look at “The Shake,” a highly choreographed, high-in-dairy routine that would make Kelis say, “Isn’t this a little suggestive?” Note Oscar nominee Valerie Perrine’s mega-feathered getup. Like a 40-year-old JonBenet Ramsey at an intergalactic LGBT gala. I told you you’d love this. 4. The thespian prowess of the Village People During some unfortunate stretches of this 120+ minute excursion, acting tries to happen. Please don’t watch those! Worse, the familiar Village People — the Indian, the construction worker, the G.I., the police officer, the biker — give the sourest attempts of all. The Indian is a particular weak point, and at one juncture, he enacts a rain dance after water is spilled on him. But let us not dwell on the Village People’s scant few shortcomings; here’s the construction worker opining about stardom in “I Love You to Death,” a number that combines the tiered backdrop of “Jailhouse Rock” with the freakish libidos of an actual jailhouse. 3. Steve Guttenberg The Gutte! With years to go before Police Academy, Short Circuit, and Three Men and a Baby, he has all the time in the world here to roller-skate through Manhattan, push his demo tape through the gay ranks, and puff up his pseudo-afro like a swaggering Bert Convy. He is, frankly, super hot. His biceps glisten like his darling eyes, and though he’s constantly drumming his fingers and singing, he manages to be damn charming. I cannot say the same for Valerie Perrine, whose femininity in this film seems so unnecessary here. Because it is so redundant. 2. Bruce Jenner, as you’ve never wanted to see him Children today may not know that Bruce Jenner — now famous for stepfathering those amebic Kardashian things — was once the greatest athlete in the world. In ‘76, Jenner won a bunch of gold for his Decathlon antics, and his extreme fame warranted a quick foray into film. He didn’t land the titular role in 1978’s Superman even though he auditioned, but he did land the role of an edgy dude with fetching John Davidson tresses in Can’t Stop the Music. Same thing. He was nominated for a Razzie, which is probably what dissuaded him from future movies — well, that and the glory of wearing a half shirt and daisy dukes. He probably figured costuming got no better than this. Behold, an outfit that really showcases his javelin-tough physique. 1. There’s magic in the music! Aside from “Y.M.C.A.,” the perennial “favorite” of wedding receptions that shows up here in a decadent montage at a real Y.M.C.A., we get a couple of fabulous disco tracks amid this glitterball gluttony. The title song is a musical journey that kicks off the film, and it’s beyond glorious. It’s an aural map of the Big Apple. “Listen to the sound of the city!” it calls. “Listen to the sound of my town!” Yes, sir! Sounds like a two-star bathhouse! The other gem is “Magic Night,” an ebullient exploration of love, jazz hands, and excitement. It’s the Cucamonga rap of Can’t Stop the Music — that is, its most ethereal, energized moment. Forget that Xanadu also featured a song about magic; this one’s threatening to pull a rabbit our of your hat and give it a job as a burly bouncer at Studio 54. Abracadabra!

Vigilante, Vigilante: The Battle for Expression

A Palisades Entertainment release of an Open Ranch production. Produced by Max Good, Nathan Wollman. Executive producers, Fredric King, John Madigan. Directed by Max Good.With: Stefano Bloch, Joe Connolly, Shepard Fairey, Max Good, Fred Radtke, Steve Rotman, Jordan Seiler, Jim Sharp, James Q. Wilson, Nathan Wollman. Narrator: Michelle Brown."We have met the enemy and he is us" said Walt Kelly's comicstrip character Pogo 40 years ago, a phrase that might apply to the fanatical graffiti-abatement citizens in "Vigilante, Vigilante." Max Good's film touches on larger issues around free expression and blight while focusing on three individuals who've taken their opposition toward taggers to extremes that could be argued as unhealthy, unaesthetic, and/or unlawful. Engaging docu , in which the filmmakers themselves sometimes play a part, opens Aug. 12 at San Francisco's Roxie Cinema, with modest further prospects likely to skew toward VOD. A graffiti artist himself, Good argues the form democratizes blandly uniform or commercialized public surfaces by putting a personal, inherently agitating stamp on them. One foe, however, calls it an illegal "privatization of public spaces," delivering messages (however indecipherable) the public is forced to witness without its consent. The trio of middle-aged white men who are the film's principal subjects consider themselves as performing a community service by wiping out graffiti in their geographically disparate environs. But it's hard not to see their behavior as obsessive, at times creating more of a nuisance than the problem they're addressing. Garrulous Los Angeleno Joe "Graffiti Guerilla" Connelly considers himself engaged in a sort of friendly, sportive rivalry with the taggers whose work he habitually seeks and wipes out, even attending their occasional gallery openings -- though they hardly feel the same way about him. He's happy to have the filmmakers along as an audience for his nonstop gab -- unlike the docu's other two main figures, "Gray Ghost" Fred Radtke, a New Orleans ex-Marine who's gotten in trouble for painting out officially sanctioned artwork (and for physically menacing those who confront him), and Berkeley, Calif.'s "Silver Buff," an elusive wee-hours "preservationist" (his term). Good and producing partner Nathan Wollman stake out the Silver Buff, and discover him to be Jim Sharp, a man who not only sprays over graffiti but scrupulously removes flyers, stickers, private-lawn campaign signs and invasive weeds, among other things. Since his "corrective" moves can paint over a shop's display-window or consign even a missing-child poster to the trash bin, many locals in the diehard liberal burg consider him an out-of-control nutcase. Good and Wollman enjoy harassing the taciturn Sharp, first saddling him with motor-mouthed Connelly as a visiting helper, then by painting over his silver erasures with their own more colorful spray-blots. All three of the anti-graffiti subjects seem a tad crazy, their individual crusades working out some private pain we glimpse with variable clarity. Their solutions to graffiti as blight are indiscriminate and simple, but the docu doesn't really wade into the gradations of what constitutes blight to different mindsets. Graffiti writers interviewed -- many masked to protect their identity -- disdain "amateur" tags while admiring work with boldly individual calligraphy or muralistic value. The voices of private-property owners, who figure to have the strongest legit objections to graffiti, are notably absent here. Input from graffiti experts, academic theorists and others do add a sense of background and broader inquiry to what would otherwise be an entertaining but narrow portrait of a few contrarian personalities. The outstanding element in often verite-rough package is Julien de Benedictus' editing, which organizes the potentially unwieldy mix of materials cogently, and with nary a dull moment.Camera (color, HD), Good; editor, Julien de Benedictus; music supervisor, Katherine Stanford; animation, Owen Cook; sound, Dave Nelson. Reviewed at Roxie Cinema, San Francisco, July 28, 2011. Running time: 86 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Marg Helgenberger Departing 'CSI' in The month of january

Watch Anna Faris Describe 'the Ideal Girl' to Chris Evans in New What's Your Number? Clip

After Marvel’s widespread Captain America campaign this summer, you’ve grown accustomed to seeing Chris Evans as a musclebound, shield-toting superhero. But what happens when the actor is given a Bud Light, a flannel shirt and an impromptu lesson on women by the adorable Anna Faris? Watch this new clip from What’s Your Number? to find out. What’s Your Number? — which co-stars Zachary Quinto, Andy Samberg, Martin Freeman, Chris Pratt, Anthony Mackie, Joel McHale and Thomas Lennon as Faris’s cavalcade of past love interests — premieres September 30. Can we just fast forward through August already?

Magical Elves: On the slate

'Fashion Star' with Elle Macpherson Magical Elves has no plans to rest on its laurels following its 10th anniversary. For starters, they are developing a new show for Lifetime that is still under wraps. But here is a partial list of what else the company has on tap in the coming months: