Neil Patrick Harris guest stars as Bryan Ryan Will’s high school rival (is it really a rivalry if one side always wins?) who tries to cut the glee club, Artie dreams that he will one day walk and dance (cue Phil Collins and Genesis), Rachel almost finds her mom (Rachel’s mother’s identity is revealed to us and she happens to be Idina Menzel a.k.a. Shelby Corcoran, Vocal Adrenaline’s coach) “That’s what you missed on Glee”

To begin I was happy to see, though briefly, Molly Shannon and John Michael Higgins. I hope to see them again. NPH fit in just perfect as Bryan Ryan and though I don’t foresee many reoccurring appearances (unless How I Met Your Mother gets canceled, which it won’t).

Idina Menzel should be around more (get it?) after Rachel finds out that Shelby is her biological mother. I’m not sure what to think of Shelby’s scheme involving Jesse to reveal her motherhood to Rachel. I do think that knowing your biological mother is more important that finding out your boyfriend was faking (watch it!) but still Rachel’s in for some hurtin’. What do y’all think?

Also what did y’all think of Tina and Artie’s story? I was glad to see them get back in the spotlight, it had been a while.

Finally what do you make of the social commentary expressed through Mr. Ryan and Sue that both the arts and athletics have been made extinct in most schools?

The first images from the forthcoming live-action Smurfs movie have hit the web. Check out Hank Azaria as the evil wizard Gargamel.

ComingSoon.net posted several pictures yesterday from the New York set of the movie, one of which is below. For the others, head on over to their original post.

He’s almost a perfect match for the cartoon, isn’t he? Still, I don’t know what to think about this movie. The basic story is that our favorite little blue guys (Voiced by Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Alan Cumming, George Lopez, Gary Basaraba, Anton Yelchin, Fred Armisen, John Oliver, Paul Reubens, Kenan Thompson, B.J. Novak, Jeff Foxworthy, Wolfgang Puck) stumble into a portal. Which takes them into Central Park in Manhattan where they meet a couple (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays) who help them thwart Gargamel’s evil plot.

Well I’m torn. I love the Smurfs but I don’t know whether this film is going to be another fun adventure or a catastrophic failure. Is anyone really looking forward to this?

The web phenomenon Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is coming to Blu-ray on May 25th.

Dr. Horrible, starting Neil Patrick Harris as the titular character, Nathan Fillion as his arch-nemisis Captain Hammer, and Felicia Day as his crush Penny, was created by Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Serenity fame) during the 2008 Writers’ Strike.

The Blu-ray disk will retail for $19.95 and will feature the entire 42-minute series as well as 92 minutes of special features.  The special features include:

• Commentary with cast & creator Joss Whedon
• Audience favorite “Commentary! The Musical” where they don’t talk about the movie at all and instead talk about the Writers’ strike and how they’re better than one another in some way
• Behind-the-scenes featurettes on the creation of the story line and musical numbers
• Video applications to the Evil League of Evil, submitted by fans
• Blooper reel
• Rehearsal footage
• Interviews with members of the Evil League of Evil

Neil Patrick Harris will also appear on the hit FOX show Glee sometime this season, an episode that Joss Whedon directed. Whedon, usually famous for his twisted plots (that aren’t always happy endings), is a fan of the show. Glee executive producer and co-creator Brad Falchuck called Whedon a genius, explaining “There’s a reason why that guy is as well known and as well respected as he is.”

Principal photography for The Smurfs kicked off on March 26 in New York. The film, based on the long-running cartoon franchise, is a mixture of animation and live-action.

In the Smurfs’ first adventure on the big screen, they are chased out of their village by the treacherous Gargamel and are transported into the middle of central park.

The movie stars Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays as a couple whose lives are turned upside down when they encounter the little blue guys. The Smurfs are voiced by a fantastic cast that includes Anton Yelchin as Clumsy Smurf, Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, Katy Perry as Smurfette, Alan Cumming as Gutsy Smurf, Fred Armisen as Brainy Smurf, and George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf. The cast is rounded off with Hank Azaria playing the evil wizard Gargamel.

In the director’s chair is Raja Gosnell whose previous filmography includes Home Alone 3, Scooby-Doo, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua with Jordan Kerner producing a script by J. David Stem & David N. Weiss and Jay Scherick & David Ronn. The story was written with the approval of Veronique Culliford, Smurf creator Peyo’s daughter.

Out of love for the series, I have to say that this still seems like a formulaic, uninteresting version of numerous other family films out there today. However, I still have hope that the talent involved can make this a fun new Smurfs adventure.

The Smurfs, a joint production of Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, is due to be released in 3D August 3, 2011.

Following the box office success of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Blue Sky Studios and Fox Animation are collaborating again on the animated flick Rio.

Ice Age director Carlos Saldanha has already signed on to direct Rio, and the studios are currently negotiating to add Anne Hathaway and Neil Patrick Harris to the voicing cast for the film.

Rio tells the story of a macaw in Minnesota who escapes from his cage in the north to make his way to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The film is scheduled to be released in April 2011 and, continuing with the trend, will be released in digital 3D.

Having grossed almost $2.5 billion with five animated films since 2002, all but one of which saw Saldanha’s involvement, Blue Sky and Fox undoubtedly expect to see large-scale success with Rio as well. Given those involved with the project, that success likely will be achieved.

In addition to having two studios strong in animation and a director who has also done much animated work involved in Rio, the film is being produced by Chris Jenkins and Bruce Anderson, who produced (respectively) the animated movies Surf’s Up and Horton Hears a Who.

Even though the inevitable re-re-release of Beauty and the Beast is on it’s way from the folks at Disney, CBS Films have took it upon themselves to breathe life into their own monster in the form of the book adapted film Beastly. Originally a novel written by Alex Flinn, this feature and re-telling of the fable of sorts for a more teenage orientated audience stars the likes of Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer, Neil Patrick Harris, Mary Kate Olsen and others.

A modern-day take on the “Beauty and the Beast” tale where a New York teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love. Coming out in July 30, 2010 from director Daniel Barnz, here’s your first peek of photos from said film below:

He has to fill up time before Act 4 of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in some way.

Neil Patrick Harris, known for his roles in How I Met Your Mother & Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, forces himself to get busy with the addition of two films onto his resume. The first of them is The Best and the Brightest, centering on a fresh-faced young couple, Samantha and Jeff, who have only recently moved into town. The couple then has a dawning realization of the lengths they must go to in order to get their five-year-old daughter into school. Written by Josh Shelov & Michael Jaeger and directed by Josh Shelov, this feature comes out in 2010.

The second one on the list is Beastly, a modern-day take on the “Beauty and the Beast” tale where a New York teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love. Neil Patrick Harris plays a blind tutor who becomes good friends with the monster boy played by Alex Pettyfer. Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olsen are among those in the cast at the moment. Written and directed by Daniel Barnz, this film is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Alex Flinn. Beastly will be released on July 30, 2010.

So I’m looking over the tech blogs I visit on a daily basis and I run into a story about Joss Whedon. Yeah, that Joss Whedon…the guy that gave Buffy the Vampire Slayer a life and let us join in on the fun times the crew of the Firefly were having. Now Joss has gone back and made a musical unlike any other musical ever created. Yes, you heard me correctly….JOSS WHEDON MADE A MUSICAL.  I know that a few of you are now muttering to yourself that I have no clue that Joss had done a musical prior to this as an episode of BTVS. You’d be wrong.  See, I just noted that I know what he did when I said you’d be saying I had no clue.  See, my mind does work in it’s own wonders at times.

This musical is called ”Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” and is about a mad genius, Dr Horrible, that wants to join the Evil League of Evil as well as get to know the girl he sees at the local Laundromat during the week. His nemesis is Captain Hammer, the do-gooder of all do-goodiness. This three-part epic will be available online for FREE up to midnight, July 20th. You can get it on iTunes for a very good season pass of $3.99 and watch it from now to eternity on your Apple TV, iTunes, or iPod/iPhone.  A DVD will be out sometime this fall, look for the announcement from Comic-con sometime in the next week.

So who stars in this tour-deforce of a musical? I’ll tell ya so listen closely. Dr Horrible is played by Neil Patrick Harris (Doggie Houser), Captain Hammer is played by Nathan Fillion (Mal on Firefly), and the lady that Dr H is interested in, Penny, is played by Felicia Day (Vi on BTVS in 2003).

Click on over to www.DrHorrible.com and enjoy the musical fun that is “Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”