Every time an opportunity arises to review "Sesame Street" products, I jump at the chance. The Children's Television Workshop has been creating masterful programming for little ones my entire life. Now that I have a toddler, its a wonderful way to review material that I can watch with my son.

Time is of the essence these days, so working and enjoying family time is a treat. Children of the United States aren't the only ones who have a chance to spend Sunny Days on the Street. My little guy and I often watch the Latin American version "Plaza Sesamo". It's a wonderful way to expose him to the Spanish language and cultural diversity.

"Shalom Sesame" offers a similar window to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people of the world. Disparate cultures are dealt with in an inclusive way that is a boon to young ones in our global community.

A single scene can elevate a mediocre film into a great film. By the same token, a single scene can take a mediocre film and taint it to the point that it's all audiences will remember.

At this point, I'm thinking the Farrelly brothers have to still be debating whether or not it would be worth the cost to recall all the prints of DUMB AND DUMBER TO just to excise about thirty seconds -- little more than a cameo, really -- that drew groans from preview audiences.

Crag Banyon is a private investigator cut from the same cloth as Sam Spade and Mickey Spillane. Unfortunately, his world is a Terry Pratchett-like mishmash of Christmas elves, underworld demons, anthropomorphic personifications of ideals -- and superheroes. If it's a science fiction trope, it's just another client to Banyon.

In FLYING BLIND, the latest installment of the Crag Banyon Mystery series from James Mullaney, Banyon has to put aside his hobby -- drinking -- to take on two cases: tailing a husband whose rich, smoldering wife suspects of cheating, and sleuthing out the identity of a super-villain who has taken it into his head to be the arch-enemy of the latest cape-and-tights wearing flying super do-gooder, Minus. (Actually, the identity isn't the issue -- it's Doctor Cohen -- but do you know how many Doctor Cohen's there are in the city? And that's just assuming all the MDs!)

During the first few episodes of the seventh and final season of TRUE BLOOD, it was starting to look as though the question wasn't "How was it going to end?" but rather "Who was gonig to be left?" Death after death of recurring characters drove home the finality to the viewers -- it was really going to be over, these characters really were not going to come back.

And yet, the seventh season was also one of exactly that -- characters coming back. Whether it was as a ghost, the way Tara (Rutina Wesley) returned in the V-fueled dreams of her mother, or as a prodigal son in the return of Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack) who comes back from Alaska, still having amnesia of why he left Bon Temps.

Almost as regular a tradition as Charlie Brown now is the Doctor Who Christmas Special. And, bonus, it's always something new instead of a repeat!

The teaser for this year's Chrissy Pressy from the TARDIS looks almost nothing like Christmas, and a whole lot more like a Ridley Scott outer space thriller! But fear not -- as The Doctor so aptly puts it, "It's Christmas, at the North Pole! Who are you going to call?" Well, it's sure not Ghostbusters! (Can I squeeze a third Sigourney Weaver flick into this description? Probably not.)

So just enjoy the teaser below, and start counting down the days til the arrival of that magical man in the strange flying conveyance who can get around the world without even a second passing. (And I may or may not be talking about The Doctor!)

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. And sometimes, fiction is a lot more fun.

For much of my life, I've heard the strange tales about Area 51, Groom Lake, Nevada and the Roswell, New Mexico UFO story -- always connected, even though the two sites are a 14 hour drive apart. Oh, the theories that were generated about the strange lights in the sky, the rousting of trespassers, the autopsies of aliens and all advanced technology that we simply couldn't have come up with on our own. It was the seed from which the best science fiction stories blossomed.

DisneyToon Studios (not Disney*Pixar, as would be an easy mistake to make) brings us the next installment of PLANES -- set in the world of CARS -- with PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE. Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook) continues to make a name for himself as a world famous racing plane, which makes his small airport town of Propwash Junction a tourist mecca as the annual Corn Festival approaches.

But during a routine training session with his coach, Skipper (Stacy Keach), Dusty experiences an irrepairable mechanical failure. If he pushes himself to maximum torque any more, he risks his engine flaming out entirely -- and the part that's failing is out of production.

Oh Les Claypool, you misunderstood genius, what in the world have you done?

“Big Hero 6”…are you kidding me? When I heard that Marvel had greenlighted this project sometime back, I just shook my head. “Ant-Man?” “Guardians of the Galaxy?” “Big Hero 6?” Did somebody lose a bet? How are they going to get movies of these screwball comics when they haven’t yet mined obvious gold from the classics, like Power Man and Iron Fist, Black Panther, Dr. Strange, or put out a Black Widow solo feature? Then I heard it was going to be a Disney animated film. Oh, well, okay then. Disney knows a thing or two about making successful animated films.

Got a problem? Odds against you? Call The Equalizer. 212-555-4200.

Back in the 80s, those action packed nights of television drama, Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) was a sort of one-man A-TEAM. Disillusioned with his former career as a secret agent, McCall chose to retire and start standing up for the little guy. No situation was too large and no situation too small (although the smaller ones usually turned into subplots, while the larger ones drove the episode). Whether you were a high school kid being bullied or your invention has been stolen by a corporate giant, whether the bad guys are international terrorists or just a crumb-bum of a slumlord, anyone who called upon The Equalizer and truly needed him found him at their side -- and the fee was always quite reasonable.

My favorite version of ANNIE is the 1982 version with Albert Finney and Carol Burnett -- even though every version out there is the same story, with the same songs. All you can basically do is change the actors and alter the dialogue a bit. That's a challenge to any director who wants to make his mark on the long-running franchise about the plucky little orphan girl who goes from rags to riches by warming the heart of a tycoon.

He's got no string to tie him down -- just a boundless curiosity, an eager enthusiasm, and metal parts.

Neil Blomkamp directs and co-writes this Hugh Jackman / Sigourney Weaver vehicle that, at first blush, appears to be a little bit of WALL-E and a whole lot of SHORT CIRCUIT. And to be certain, a lot of the memes of the latter are evidenced in the trailer for CHAPPIE, as we see the robot go through scenes of artistic expression and melancholy, scenes of comic misunderstanding and of panic when attacked for being different. If I could put a tagline on the film, it would be something like, "You will believe a robot can cry."

In this trailer for Blomkamp's modern PINOCCHIO, I found my initial cynicism dissolving until, by the end, I was actually excited to see this film. With MARVEL'S AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON also coming next year, 2015 may just be the Year of the Artificial Intelligence.

Check out Sony's trailer below and see if you dig it as much as we do.

When unknown actor Michael May gets cast in the lead role of Captain Liberty, he thought it was the beginning of a dream. Instead, it was the first day of a living nightmare. While participating in a full-dress script reading with his co-stars in the "Defenders of Liberty" movie, May finds himself suddenly fighting off a zombie apocalypse alongside the likes of Kevin Could-Be-Hart, Dwayne Might-be-Johnson, Tom Looks-Like-Cruise, Bryan Not-Bad-Cranston, Selena Gotta-Be-Gomez, and Shia Quite-Possibly-Labeouf. God help us all.

There's so much to like in this pop culture parody that marries together elements of ARMY OF DARKNESS with zombie films like ZOMBIELAND and Yard Dog Press's BUBBAS OF THE APOCALYPSE. The script from Ralph Tedesco and Joe Brusha is, in my estimation, screenplay ready for this to be adapted into one of the best science fiction B-movies, if only the right actors could be convinced to take on their roles.

Roland Joffé started his career with back-to-back Oscar nominations for best director on the strength of “The Killing Fields’ and “The Mission” in the mid 1980s. He followed that with a string of Razzie nominations for “The Scarlet Letter” and “Captivity,” and he was also hand in the live-action “Super Mario Bros.” which was an absolute train wreck. His latest film, “Before I Go to Sleep,” isn’t even worth wasting a perfectly good Razzie on.

Dan Gilroy has always been a solid screenwriter, He wrote one my favorite early 90s sci-fi movies, the under-appreciated “Freejack,” which starred Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Anthony Hopkins and Gilroy’s wife, the beautiful and talented Rene Russo. He followed that up with “Chasers”, a silly comedy featuring Baywatch beauty Erika Eleniak, Tom Berenger, and Crispin “George McFly” Glover. More recently he wrote “Real Steel,” the robot boxing movie with Hugh Jackman and “The Bourne Legacy” starring Jeremy Renner. Most of his films have done pretty well, and with his most recent effort, “Nightcrawler,” he finally gets to sit in the director’s chair. With one of the most versatile lead actors in the business and a couple of always-reliable supporting actors, and a juicy story to tell, Gilroy’s first directorial effort is not only a hit, it could get some Oscar nominations.

Syfy knows its audience. With so much fan support for CONTINUUM, it makes sense to bring in another time-travel story about someone from the future trying to prevent a catastrophe by going into the past. This time, the network looks to an established storyline, springboarding off the Bruce Willis film, 12 MONKEYS.

Justin B. Williams is a busy man these days. In addition to work he was already performing with his HI FIVE Community Development Corporation and his career in music as part of 23n PIMPIN featuring Day Walker and TheGIFT.I.C. he has also become a correspondent for the Allman in the Morning show on 97.1 FM, as well as Susie Moore's podcast, Q with a View.

What's propelled Williams -- a.k.a. The Day Walker -- into the spotlight is a combination of being the right person in the right place. In this case, the place happens to be Ferguson, Missouri, where The Day Walker has been in the thick of the peaceful protests, while working in cooperation with Emerson Electric to help revitalize Ferguson.

Critics weren't kind to DIVERGENT, but audiences held a different opinion (41% to 71%, respectively, as ranked by Rotten Tomatoes). So how to ensure a better take on the sequel, THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT?

By going 3D, of course! Summit Entertainment has made it official, and to get fans of the series pumped up for the March 20, 2015 release, they've released a set of interactive 3D character posters.

This contest has ended. The two randomly selected entries are:

CINDY B. from TACOMA, WA

and

JENNIFER H. from ARLINGTON, TX

Congratulations!

We've got a special contest this time around. Not only do we have a great show on DVD as the prize -- but because we have two seasons of the show, we're giving away a copy to two winners! That's right, TWO lucky people will walk away with this one!

When Timbo, a stuffed elephant, arrived at Andrew's apartment, he was thrilled -- especially when Timbo starts talking to him! Together, this pair of new friends set off on adventures of imagination... which all too soon come to an end when Andrew learns the package that brought Timbo to him was meant for his neighbor, Louise.

ELEPHANTASTIC! is a gorgeously told and illustrated story from Michael Engler and Joelle Tourlonias. It is emotionally evocative of both Milne and Watterson, and expertly communicates through the artwork the overlay of the imaginary over the reality. When Andrew learns the truth, the reader is just as crestfallen as the child -- and they simultaneously share in his elation when the story reaches its heartwarming conclusion.