The Darkest Hour is a 2012 American Sci-Fi horror film directed by former Art Director Chris Gorak (Right At Your Door) and follows two software developers as they try to survive an alien invasion. Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) and Max Minghella (The Social Network) star as the software developers with Olivia Thirlby (Juno) and Rachael Taylor (Transformers) starring as two young love interests and Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) as a crafty antagonistic Swedish businessman.

It's hard to know where to start with The Darkest Hour as even the film itself does not know where to start. We are initially introduced to Minghella as the main character, with Thirlby as his love interest, as he arrives in Moscow to sell some social networking software to some Russian businessmen that is already being sold to them by Kinnaman (not sure how that works).

Having just travelled halfway across the world and walked straight into the businessmen's boardroom without being interrupted or receiving any prior knowledge or warming about what Kinnaman was up to, Minghella and Hirsch decide to drown their sorrows at a bar where they (completely coincidentally) manage to run into Kinnaman who is chatting up the girl that (completely coincidentally) they were interested in. Mere moments later, two young tourists arrive after contacting Minghella via his social network software and following some awkward pleasantries, are forced to band together with the developers as Moscow falls under siege from invisible human-vaporising aliens. After a few days hiding in a basement, the group (coincidentally now joined by Kinnaman) begin their journey of looking for survivors in an adventure that include hiding under cars, looting clothes shops, impossibly well-prepared Russian scientists, a tribe of armed resistance fighters and a submarine.

This may sound simple enough but The Darkest Hour is bizarrely inconsistent, both when it comes to how the aliens work and when it comes to the how the humans act. After the first half hour Hirsch becomes the main character and suddenly Thirlby becomes his love counterpart whilst Taylor who was previously teased as being attracted to Hirsch has now lost complete interest in him.

The previously cowardly Kinnaman is also the only character to nominate himself to be left alone and even then runs straight into the face of danger whilst Taylor is the most Australian sounding American, I've ever seen… or heard. Characters also have a bizarre talent of being able to teleport themselves over great distances almost instantly, especially in a scene where Hirsch and Thirlby are dumped into the river and whilst Hirsch manages to swim towards their target, Thirlby managed to –completely unseen – get out of the water, head away from their destination which was within yelling distance, run into the city, fire a warning flare and build a shielded compartment in a disused coach all within a matter of minutes. Yet when the main cast stay hidden in a basement for five days, both their hair and clothing stay in the exact same condition.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with the safe direction, the dialogue is surprising bland and uninspiring considering it comes from the writer of Prometheus (the Alien prequel out later this year), and Tyler Bates continues his hit-and-miss career with a rather boring soundtrack. The Darkest Hour also holds the claim to the most pointlessly use of 3D in 2012 thus far, a record that it stands to maintain for quite a while.

On a brighter note, there are several elements that Darkest Hour gets right, one of which is the most important part of the film: the aliens. It is hardly unforgivable to consider the concept of invisible aliens as lazy or cheap, but the lack of visual reference really enhances the tension and poses a serious threat. The florescent orange glow giving off by the aliens and their orange lasso-like tendrils add a great deal of colour, warmth and clarity to the darker scenes and creates a very visually interesting dynamic to the aliens. Their primary form of attack is a phenomenal vaporisation technique that looks amazing as long as you forget that it has been completely lifted from 2006's X-men: The Last Stand. Sadly it's not all good news though, as there are some discrepancies and plot holes that distract greatly from their appeal: when you actually get to see the creatures they are a boring brown colour and disappointingly look like a horrible CGI accident between the Super 8 monster and Doc Ock's tentacles from Spider-Man 2; they are portrayed floating yet one had to ability to crush a car by walking over it; they can only see electrical impulses yet when they set off electrical devices these remain completely unseen in their vision; perhaps I missed it by why exactly are they damaged by microwaves; and these creatures are hunting for metal so why hide inside a massive submarine?

Moving away from the plot hole-ridden aliens, the other element that the film got spot on was the Mad Max-style society of 'armoured' Russian resistance fighters, complete with flamethrowers and an 'armoured' horse. These characters were interesting, exciting and contained the potential for a far more emotional and intelligent storyline. Had the story focused on the young Russian survivor Vika, portrayed by Veronika Ozerova, discovering this post-apocalyptic tribe then The Darkest Hour might stand as I film that I could recommend but as it stands, that is not so much the case.

Ultimately The Darkest Hour has some genuinely good ideas but fails to execute them properly from a lack of creative storytelling to unlikable characters to a complete missed opportunity with some potentially exciting aliens. If you have to watch The Darkest Hour then don't bother watching in 3D and if you end up missing it, then that's no real loss at all. Or better yet, just sit in a room, turn off all the lights and enjoy your own darkest hour – at least the dialogue would be better.

Two and a Half Men's Angus T. Jones/CBS photo

The winter Television Critics Association "press tour" remains fresh in the memory while your dogged correspondent is in the final throes of toweling off. Here are some tasty leftover nuggets from Pasadena, all of them generated by locatetv.com questions in various hotel ballroom settings.

*****Angus T. Jones, still the half-man of CBS' Two and a Half Men, was just nine years old when the show started. His Jake Harper is now a lippy teen, but Angus remains pretty mum about all the Charlie Sheen-spiked drama of the past year.

"Just in the interests of including you . . . what are your thoughts about all that's gone on with the show?" he's asked.

"I mean, my thoughts, I'm just really along for the ride," Angus replies with some discomfort. "I don't know. I try not to worry about it too much -- like if worrying would be an issue.  I just go to high school, do normal things. It's a job."

OK then. But no fair writing a tell-all book down the road if times get tough as an adult.

***** Cheech Marin, forever famous as an integral part of the Cheech & Chong pot-smoking duo, is now playing Rob Schneider's conservative, car wash-owning father-in-law on the new CBS sitcom Rob. In fact, the character's views on immigration are to the right of Michele Bachmann's. He advocates cannons along the border. Anything for a laugh.

"Many Mexican-Americans are conservative," Marin says. "I mean, he's kind of in the Archie Bunker range, and that's exactly how I wanted to play him. He's not a bleeding heart liberal. He's a hard-nosed businessman."

"The idea that Hispanic people just have to be all liberal is not true," Schneider chimes in. He's "shocked," for instance, that many of the major supporters of Arizona's restrictive "racist" immigration law are Hispanics.

"All of the Texas Mexicans are all Republicans, man," Marin adds. "That's really what shocked me."

*****Primo producer J.J. Abrams' new Fox series, Alcatraz, is centered on the mysterious disappearance of 302 inmates and their guards just before the famed island prison closed down in 1963. They then reappear in present times, with further foul play on their agendas.

Alas, two of Alcatraz's most famous inmates, Al Capone and Robert "The Birdman" Stroud, were transferred out before the 1960s. Still, this is a J.J. Abrams series. So anything's possible from the mind behind Lost and Fringe. Right?

"Well, it's definitely a bummer that they weren't there to be time-traveled," Abrams says. "I mean, that really is unequivocal for us. But having said that, who's to say we can't flash back a little bit further? And that would be fun to do."

Co-executive producer Jack Bender notes that the show tries to tell the back stories of various featured prisoners. "And we've often made jokes about going by the cell of a guy who has 400 parakeets in a cage. But we haven't done that yet."

*****Season 6 of Showtime's Dexter brought Debra Morgan closer than ever to her adopted brother -- and the show's serial-killing title character. They're not genetically related, so any romantic entanglement next season wouldn't be strictly taboo.

But in real life, Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall met on the show, got married and then were very messily divorced. So it seems fair to ask the network's entertainment president, David Nevins, whether this particularly touchy plot development had to be OK'd by both actors. "It's got to be a little difficult," he's told.

"It makes for an interesting ripple in the show," Nevins says. "But we do have conversations. When you have actors like Michael and Jennifer . . . they know what's going on. Michael and Jennifer have a very good relationship, so it's quite comfortable. But that has been a conversation, and will continue to be a conversation."

And oh to be a fly on the wall.

Best actress in a supporting role

• Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
• Jessica Chastain, The Help
• Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
• Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
• Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best actor in a supporting role

• Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
• Jonah Hill, Moneyball
• Nick Nolte, Warrior
• Christopher Plummer, Beginners
• Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Best actress in a leading role

• Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
• Viola Davis, The Help
• Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
• Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Best actor in a leading role

• Demián Bichir, A Better Life
• George Clooney, The Descendants
• Jean Dujardin, The Artist
• Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best director

• Michel Hazavanicius, The Artist
• Alexander Payne, The Descendants
• Martin Scorsese, Hugo
• Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
• Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best original Screenplay

• The Artist
• Bridesmaids
• Margin Call
• Midnight in Paris
• A Separation

Best adapted screenplay

• The Descendants
• Hugo
• Ides of March
• Moneyball
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best foreign language film

• Bullhead
• Footnote
• In Darkness
• Monsieur Lazhar
• A Separation

Best animated film

• A Cat in Paris
• Chico And Rita
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Rango
• Puss in Boots

Best picture

• War Horse
• The Artist
• Moneyball
• The Descendants
• The Tree of Life
• Midnight in Paris
• The Help
• Hugo
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Art direction

• The Artist
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• War Horse

Cinematography

• The Artist
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Costume design

• Anonymous
• The Artist
• Hugo
• Jane Eyre
• W.E.

Documentary feature

• Hell and Back Again
• If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
• Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
• Pina
• Undefeated

Documentary short subject

• The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
• God is the Bigger Elvis
• Incident in New Baghdad
• Saving Face
• The Tsumani and the Cherry Blossom

Film editing

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• Moneyball

Make up

• Albert Nobbs
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
• The Iron Lady

Music (original score)

• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
• The Artist
• Hugo
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• War Horse

Music (original song)

• The Muppets
• Rio

Short film (animated)

• Dimanche / Sunday
• The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore
• La Luna
• A Morning Stroll
• Wild Life

Short film (live action)

• Pentecost
• Raju
• The Shore
• Time Freak
• Tuba Atlantic

Sound editing

• Drive
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• War Horse

Sound mixing

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• Moneyball
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• War Horse

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

No surprise here really! The final Harry Potter film hit the big screen worldwide in July grossing a massive $1,323,111,219 - that number is phenomenal! The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 ranked third in 2010, behind Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland. Regardless, Harry Potter is currently the highest grossing franchise of all time mainly thanks to the huge success of DH: Part 2, with James Bond coming second (and I'm sure JB will rank first in a few years time when a few more movies are released).

2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The third instalment of Transformers grossed an impressive $1,123,746,996 - impressive because it wasn't that good! I loved Transformers 1 & 2, but the story line in the third movie was pretty weak. The Transformers franchise currently ranks seventh in the highest-grossing franchise list with DOTM being the highest grossing movie out of the three.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The fourth Pirates film grossed $1,043,871,802 at the box office and is the 8th highest grossing film of all time (Dead Man's Chest is number 6). I am yet to see this film, but it's in my Picks so hopefully it'll be on TV soon...I have heard good things about it. The fifth instalment of POTC is expected to be released in the summer of 2013.

4. Kung Fu Panda 2

Jack Black was back with the second instalment from the Kung Fu Panda series, grossing $665,692,281 worldwide. Haven't seen this one yet, but if it's as funny and entertaining as the first film, I'm sure I'll love it. It is the highest-grossing animated film of 2011.

5. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

I'm quite surprised that Breaking Dawn Part 1 is fifth on this list. I expected it to rank slightly higher, but I suppose the previous four films are for all ages, whereas Twihards fit a certain demographic. This film grossed $659,523,854 - less than New Moon and Eclipse. Personally I thought it was the best movie out of them all...

6. Fast Five

Anything with Paul Walker in it is a winner in my eyes, but bringing back the original team from The Fast and the Furious = immense. Also I loved the twist right at the end, after all the credits had rolled. Fast Five grossed $626,137,675 worldwide. It's the highest grossing movie of the franchise so far... so far as Fast & Furious 6 is due to be released in 2013.

7. The Hangover Part II

The Wolfpack was back! Although not as original or unique as the first movie (but c'mon, let's be honest - how could it be!?), it was still hilariously cringeworthy. This time the 'pack' was joined by Stu's future brother-in-law Teddy for the wild and temporarily forgettable night out. If you haven't seen it, why not!? The movie grossed $581,464,305 worldwide.

8. The Smurfs

I loved The Smurfs a child - I even had the album on cassette - yes cassette! Some time in the early 90s.... So you'd think that I would've rushed to the cinema to watch it, right? Well you'd be wrong - I didn't. I'm waiting for it to come onto TV...but I do love the fact that Katy Perry voices Smurfette, considering her parents didn't let her watch the series as a child. Despite receiving negative responses from critics, the movie grossed $562,547,576 worldwide.

9. Cars 2

Another movie I really wanted to see but never got round to it! Michael Caine joined the cast for the sequel, as did Eddie Izzard, Jason Isaacs, Emily Mortimer and even a few F1 drivers!  I've heard a few bad reviews about this one, so I hope I'm not disappointed when I eventually get round to see it. Cars 2 grossed $559,852,396 worldwide.

10. Rio

This musical comedy did quite well to get onto the top 10 considering it's not a sequel, grossing $484,635,760 - although it was advertised to death in the UK. It had an all star cast of will.i.am, Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg to name a few - even Taio Cruz is on the soundtrack! The movie charts the story of Blu, a male macaw who is sent to Rio in order for him to reproduce. Of course nothing goes to plan, and Blu falls in love with Jewel (played by Hathaway) and together they must flee from an evil cockatoo.

It was a night of wins for the British at The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards yesterday which was hosted by fellow Brit Ricky Gervais. Hosting for the third time in a row, Gervais managed to tone down the gags this year and had the audience in hysterics with his jokes about Kim Kardashian and other American celebrities. English actor Idris Elba, actress Kate Winslet and the cast of Downton Abbey were all winners on the night proving that there is a lot of talent this side of the pond. Actress Meryl Streep who won an award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in 'Iron Lady' even thanked the people of England during her acceptance speech for letting her 'trample over their history'. But these are just a few who grabbed gongs at the Golden Globes 2012, others are listed below.

What are your thoughts on who won, what did you think of Ricky Gervais as a host and who wowed on the Golden Globes red carpet? Let us know and leave your comments.

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Winner: The Descendants

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Winner: Meryl Streep - Iron Lady

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Winner: George Clooney

Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Winner: The Artist

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Winner: Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Winner: Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Best Animated Feature Film

Winner: The Adventures of Tintin

Best Foreign Language Film

Winner: A Separation (Iran)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Winner: Octavia Spencer - The Help

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Winner: Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Best Director - Motion Picture

Winner: Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Winner: Woody Allen - Midnight In Paris

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Winner: Ludovic Bource - The Artist

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

Winner: "Masterpiece" - W.E.

Best Television Series - Drama

Winner: Homeland

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama

Winner: Claire Danes - Homeland

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama

Winner: Kelsey Grammer - Boss

Best Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

Winner: Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

Winner: Laura Dern - Enlightened

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

Winner: Matt LeBlanc - Episodes

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television

Winner: Downton Abbey

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Winner: Kate Winslet - Mildred Pierce

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Winner: Idris Elba - Luther

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Winner: Jessica Lange - American Horror Story

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Winner: Peter Dinklage - Game of Thrones

Russell Brand at TCA/FX photo

It ended early Sunday afternoon with the wild-eyed musings of Britisher Russell Brand, who will be shepherding the FX network into the late night arena with Strangely Uplifting.

"I'm not from here, am I?" he asked rhetorically. "I'm English. So it's like the perspective of an alien to understand this peculiar time, this peculiar country. I think it's a bit like Mork (from the old ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy). He had to understand he was an extraterrestrial. He was trying, I think, to get a green card. And essentially that's what I'm doing."

It's all due to dawn in April, with a six-episode run for starters. Brand obviously intends to make the show his own. Of that we can be certain.

"It's about authenticity," he said about the riffs he intends to deliver on anything that comes to mind. "We live in a time where we're stupefied by plasticity. Where we have this toxic sequined wave of vapid culture polluting our minds, denigrating our consciousness, distracting us and removing us from our spirituality. So gossip-based stories would have less value, other than in an analytical context. I don't want to further celebrate the overly elaborate brittle plastic structures of nonsense that are constantly fired into our minds."

That apparently would include his recent split from wife/pop star Katy Perry. Or as Brand assessed things, "If I had done something actually newsworthy in some bizarre world, then I would cover it. But if it was just more lacquered nonsense designed to distract us from truth, then I would wisely ignore it."

FX says Brand will delve into politics among other things. Well, he might, although "I don't know much about them," he said when asked by locatetv.com to assess the current Republican presidential candidate field.

He did weigh in a bit on frontrunner Mitt Romney, describing him as "so rich that . . .  other billionaires to him would seem like Dickensian street urchins eating gruel with fingerless gloves."

Not that it makes any real difference. In Brand's world view, "we don't believe any more that Mitt Romney or Barack Obama would make any difference at all . . . The whole thing is an illusion.

"So I'm not going to fill my head with data about Mitt Romney or the one whose surname sounds like 'sanitorium.' (Rick Santorum). Because they are part of a meaningless spectacle. It's like describing individual termites. He's just a mound of meaningless nonsense, and it's time for us to disregard it. We know this."

But Brand later worked Republican candidate Newt Gingrich -- "a ludicrously amphibious bizarre name for anyone to have" -- into one of his free-form connecting flights.

"He attacked Mitt Romney because he talked some French. He said that makes him elitist and like a bit of a 'whoopsie.' Like he was sort of speaking French in a boudoir, in a homoerotic fashion. This is so extraordinary to me, that someone would be criticized for that . . . It's vacuous. It's nonsense. It's a sort of pink gas being fired into our eyes. I consider contemporary culture to be like sort of a pink pony trotting through the world (defecating) glitter into our minds."

After the session, Brand noted that "I have a tendency to fly off. I'm tangential. I'm also narcissistic."

Even so, let him entertain you. The overall aim of his show is "for people to feel better than they do now. That's all I want, is to make people laugh and to make people happy. And as long as I stay in alignment with that, then I'm served by great forces."

John Landgraf at TCA/FX photo

So on the final day of the annual winter Television Critics Association "press tour," he didn't duck or even dodge locatetv.com's questions about how and why his network bit on a new Charlie Sheen comedy series adapted from the 2003 feature film Anger Management. He also was the only high level exec to appear onstage in jeans.

Sheen and veteran television producer Bruce Helford (The Drew Carey Show) pitched the show to a number of networks, Landgraf said Sunday. "I walked into the pitch as skeptical as you might imagine I would be."

But Sheen supposedly has cleaned up his act of late. And his character in Anger Management reflects that work-in-progress turnaround, with the former Two and a Half Men star positioning himself as a man with a checkered past who's "got a complicated relationship with his 13-year-old daughter and a positive relationship with his ex-wife," Landgraf said.

Still, FX committed to a 10-episode order based on "just a snippet of a storyline," he acknowledged. "We haven't seen a script yet. So one of the reasons we didn't do a full-blown session here (during FX's Sunday morning presentations) is because I really don't know what the show is yet, other than the pitch I heard and a few storylines."

Answering a followup query, Landgraf conceded that he's never before bought a show with such little information at hand. For better or worse it's scheduled to premiere in June, airing on Thursday nights after FX's back-to-back helpings of Two and a Half Men.

"I believe really deeply in the pilot process," he said, referring to initial episodes of series that generally make or break their chances of making a network schedule. "You learn things about tone and casting. And even some of our best shows have had substantial reshoots and re-working before they've gone on the air."

But Anger Management is significantly being under-written by Lionsgate productions, with FX making a comparatively minimal financial investment, Landgraf said. "We don't have the same level of creative input or control . . . But, you know, we're a network that likes to take risks."

Another writer later asked whether the unusual deal with Sheen is mostly about drawing attention to FX.

"I don't think it's a cynical publicity stunt," Landgraf said before describing Anger Management as a potentially viable "back end property" that also would allow FX to get a slice of the syndicated rerun rights if it proves to be a long-term success.

"I think Charlie really wants to do this," he added. "I think he's really committed. He's a really gifted comedic actor and arguably may be one of the best sitcom leads you could possibly get just by dint of skill and background . . . Beyond that, everything we do is a role of the dice. Sometimes it comes up the number you want. Sometimes it doesn't."

After the session, Landgraf contended that Sheen was "adored by the cast and crew on Two and a Half Men. And then he had probably the most epic meltdown in the history of television."

Betting on him again is "about instinct, it's about risk," he said. "It's about having a sense of not only who's talented but when to be in business with them. Right?"

We'll see.

Larry Hagman, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy at times felt their ages amid the younger generation actors sharing the stage with them.

Josh Henderson, who plays J.R. Ewing's bad seed son, John Ross, remembered the original Dallas as his grandma's favorite TV show during the 1970s and '80s.

"I guess I was born in like Season 4 or something," he said. "I literally would run around the TV and be told to shut up while they (his family) were watching it."

Larry Hagman, Josh Henderson/TNT photo

Henderson later was asked how it felt "to be slapped by the iconic J.R." during a clip shown to TV writers before the cast and producers took questions from a hotel ballroom full of TV writers.

"It was an honor, actually," he said. "And I asked for more takes. I told him, 'Just go ahead and hit me.' It's amazing to see them and their characters come back to life, and to be a part of it."

TNT initially has ordered 10 episodes of Dallas, with the completed first episode sent to "press tour" attendees several weeks before Saturday's gathering. Duffy's Bobby Ewing easily has the most screen time among the "Big Three." And his opening scene health scare (to say more would be a heavy-duty spoiler) fuels much of the action to follow.

Answering a question from locatetv.com, Duffy said the three originals are in every episode so far, with eight of the 10 hours already filmed on location in Dallas.

"That's why we wanted to do the show, because we're trying to tow the load as much as everybody else," he said. "The younger people have more stamina. But we're here and we're performing the functions we did in the original Dallas."

He then dubbed Hagman the show's "Obi-Wan" before co-executive producer Cynthia Cidre emphasized that the "Big Three" were never intended to be used as "bait for the new show . . . It was really to integrate them fully with the new cast."

Hagman, recently diagnosed with an undisclosed but treatable form of cancer, is mostly working half-days on the new Dallas. But he's still very much a key player, whether slapping Henderson's John Ross or spitting out dialogue such as "I hate to hit a man below the belt, but you know I will."

He re-booted himself as J.R. in order to "work at 80," Hagman said. "How many people do you know working at 80? And doing a job that he loves with the people he loves. Oh yeah, I'm a very lucky man."

Gray, who as Sue Ellen Ewing endured numerous indignities from J.R. before divorcing him, got a chance to slap him in the chops in a scene filmed the day before the cast headed West for Saturday's interview session.

Hagman blurted this out before Gray said, "Sshh, you're not supposed to say that."

"Oh, sorry, I take it back. Don't print that," he said before Gray rejoined, "But it was great."

The Big Three made several Dallas TV movies and then had a cast reunion special after the series ended its 14-year, 357-episode run on CBS in 1991. But Duffy said he never envisioned doing a weekly Dallas series again.

"It was the heartbreak of my career because these are my two closest friends," he said of Hagman and Gray. "And I knew somewhere in my heart that we would never work together again because the three of us couldn't come into a scene without everybody saying, 'Oh, there's J.R., Sue Ellen and Bobby.' And that hurt me. I really wanted to work with them again. So this is the best thing that could happen in my career life."

"I got a tear in my eye," Hagman said, seeming to actually mean it.

"He woke up again," Duffy jabbed before Gray said the original Dallas "should have been a sitcom because I laughed every single day we were on the set. And nothing has changed. Nothing."

Well, there is the matter of shower scenes. Bobby took the most famous one in TV history in May 1986 after Duffy left the show a season earlier to pursue a movie career that never really clicked. Bobby supposedly had died in a fiery car wreck, with J.R. and wife Pam (Victoria Principal) among those gathered around his death bed. But the writers brought him back to life by having Pam awaken to find him happily sudsing. The previous season and its creative misdirections were then written off as Pam's bad dream.

That was then, though. At age 62, "I don't do showers anymore. That's these guys," Duffy said, pointing to Henderson and Jesse Metcalfe, who plays Bobby's son, Christopher, on the new Dallas.

By the way, Metcalfe was born in the same year the original Dallas premiered.

"They really bring the history," he said of Hagman, Duffy and Gray. "We're just kind of, you know -- I don't want to say 'the fresh legs' -- but we're the next generation. We're just carrying the torch, but they set the tone."

Henderson then upped the ante, recalling his first scene with Hagman's J.R.

"If you guys saw the pilot, you saw the scene where his eyes opened and he just looked at me. I don't want to say I almost peed my pants, but it electrified the room. It's amazing to see them and their characters come back to life."

Duffy said it's all been a "seamless transition" from the Dallas of old to TNT's new day.

"It was like snapping your fingers," he said. "And we were Bobby, Sue Ellen and J.R. again with no interspersing of time in between."

From left: Ed Harris, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Danny Strong/HBO photo

PASADENA, Calif. -- Be assured that Julianne Moore has been transformed into an astonishing facsimile of Sarah Palin in the HBO movie Game Change.

She didn't look the part Friday at HBO's interview session. But on-screen, Moore is more than a match for  Tina Fey, whose Saturday Night Live sendups of Palin captured both her looks and cadence.

Premiering March 10th, the solidly entertaining film also stars Ed Harris as 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Woody Harrelson in what often is a scene-stealing depiction of campaign strategist Steve Schmidt.

"Oh wow, I did a tremendous amount of research," Moore said. Specifically she worked with a vocal coach; watched "hours and hours" of Palin footage (including the post-campaign reality series Sarah Palin's Alaska); read her book, Going Rogue, and "absolutely everything I could get my hands on."

"It's really a daunting task to play somebody who is not only a living figure, but a hugely well-known one," Moore said. "I wanted to be as accurate as possible -- certainly even her physicality."

Unlike the bestselling book on which it's based, HBO telescopes the McCain-Palin campaign and leaves out the pitched battle for the Democratic nomination. Ample archival footage is deployed, with Harrelson's Schmidt at one point saying of eventual opponent Barack Obama, "A man of no accomplishment has become the biggest celebrity in the world."

The movie's co-executive producer and writer, Danny Strong, said that Palin's rise from obscurity to McCain's charismatic but increasingly frazzled running mate "felt like the best movie we could make in a two-hour version" of the Game Change book. Otherwise it would have taken a miniseries.

Moore's portrayal of Palin is the lightning rod role, of course. The real-life Palin declined to participate in any way, as did McCain. But neither comes off as a caricature.

"When he decided to go into politics, his ambition and ego were in constant conflict with this sense of honor, duty and patriotism, "Harris said of McCain. "It was interesting thing to play with."

Palin's emotional ties to her family are underscored in the film. And Moore's portrayal also convincingly recaptures what a wonder she was before her lack of political depth became glaringly evident during what proved to be a devastating interview with former CBS News anchor Katie Couric.

"The entire country had a collective gasp when she walked onstage," Moore said of McCain's startling announcement that Palin would be his running mate. "People were like, 'Oh, my gosh, who is she? Where did she come from?' "

Harrelson, who described himself as "more an anarchist" than a Republican or Democrat, was the only principal actor to meet the person he's playing.

"I did get the chance to hang out a bit with Steve Schmidt," he said. "And I actually really liked him. I guess we probably think a little bit differently politically, but I thought he was a really charming, interesting, passionate guy. He does care."

Moore diplomatically spoke of a "profound respect for the historical nature of her (Palin's) candidacy" and said she has some momma grizzly in her as well.

"I chased down an ice skating coach once because they messed up the music to my daughter's program," Moore said to laughter.

Writer-producer Strong said the film is "not designed to change anybody's minds" about either member of the 2008 Republican ticket.

"I think people are just locked in how they feel," he said. "There's not an agenda here."