On the ABC comedy series Last Man Standing, actor Tim Allen (Home Improvement) plays Mike Baxter, world voyager and one daredevil of a marketing director who must spend more time in his female-dominated household after his wife (Nancy Travis) receives a promotion at work.  Not the best at finding common ground with 20-year-old Kristin (Alexandra Krosney), who’s trying to raise her own son, celeb-obsessed Mandy (Molly Ephraim) and sporty Eve (Kaitlyn Dever), his old-fashioned, hot-headed ways create all kinds of friction for the family.

During a recent visit to the set, Tim Allen (best known as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story features and shorts) talked about how much of what’s on the show resonates with his own life as a dad, what it’s like to work with girls this time instead of the boys his character on Home Improvement had, whether being an outdoorsman comes naturally for him, and what he still loves about doing stand-up.  He also talked about the possibility of more Toy Story shorts or features.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

The first image from the new Toy Story short, Small Fry, has popped up online.  We reported in August that short film would have Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) getting left behind at a fast-food restaurant and trying to find his way back home with the help of less popular, Happy Meal-like toys.  It turns out there’s a bit more to it because one of the Happy Meal-toys kidnaps Buzz and tries to take over his play-filled existence.  Jane Lynch (Glee) will make her Pixar debut as the Happy Meal toys’ narcissistic support-group leader Neptuna.

Hit the jump to check out the full image and adorably tiny Lightyear feet.  The seven-minute short will be attached to The Muppets, which opens November 23rd.  Toy Story: Small Fry also features the voices of Tom Hanks, John Ratzenberger, and Joan Cusack. [We have added a new image, and updated the story with a hi-res version of the previously-released image]

Disney is hoping that the voice-chemistry Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have in the Toy Story movies will translate into live-action gold.  Deadline reports that the studio is transforming their adaptation of the theme park ride “Jungle Cruise” into a family flick starring the two actors.  No director is currently attached, but the studio has hired Robert S.H. Schulman (Shrek) to pen the script.  Mandeville’s David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman (The Fighter) will produce.

Hanks just started shooting on Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  He’s also attached a family film based on the Mattel toy Major Matt Mason, Kathryn Bigelow’s international crime drama Triple Frontier, and an adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas.  As for Allen, he recently signed on to star in the ABC comedy pilot The Last Days of Man.

Last September we heard that Tim Allen was looking to make a big return to primetime television. The stand-up comedian made a huge splash in the 90′s with the family sitcom Home Improvement, but has since opted to take one decent turn in Galaxy Quest, his best role as Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story franchise, and a whole slew of terrible parts in wretched family films. Well, EW reports the actor has finally chosen the project for his return to TV with The Last Days of Man, a new comedy series on ABC. The series follows Tim Fitzgerald as he’s fighting for his manhood in a world that is being increasingly dominated by women. Could turn out all right, but it’s going to take a lot for me to get excited about a Tim Allen project. Of course, ABC scored some comedy points with me for making Modern Family such a current TV staple, so who knows what could happen?

For once, it wasn’t the red carpet fashion dos and don’ts that overshadowed the Golden Globes but host Ricky Gervais’ politically incorrect jokes. And while the majority of viewers found him funny, Judd Apatow clearly wasn’t amused by his caustic humor, tweeting “I thought Joan Rivers did a wonderful job hosting the Golden Globes tonight” and “Ricky Gervais should do an episode of extras where he hosts the golden globes and is out of tune. Cut to female friend looking disappointed.”

The director felt that the Brit had gone too far in his quest to deflate some overinflated Hollywood egos. So he asked his Twitter followers to send him funny but less mean-spirited jokes for his stint as host of the untelevised PGA Awards, Check them out after the jump.

Every filmmaker stumbles from time to time. Even the greats like Hitchcock and Kubrick have a few boners in their pantheon, along with other movies that do the job and not much more. Part of the ballyhoo over Pixar stems from the fact that they alone seem to have avoided that trap. Everything they produce stands head and shoulders above its competitors, throwing off the filmmaking curve like a genius in remedial English class. At worst, their efforts are pretty good, and at best? Well, at best they produce movies like Toy Story 3. Hit the jump for my full review.

Back during my childhood when families sat around together to enjoy a TV show right on time (because we didn’t have a DVR, and recording them to tape just required too much effort), it didn’t get much better then watching Tim Allen bring the funny as Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor on Home Improvement. Since then the long-time comedian has fallen victim to terrible family comedies like The Shaggy Dog and Christmas with the Kranks. Though he’s had the occasional quality film like Galaxy Quest and the recent revival of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3, there’s no doubt that Tim Allen needs a comeback. Well, it looks like he’s well aware of that fact as EW reports the comedian is looking for a big project to make a comeback to primetime television in the fall of 2011.

Details on his potential future on television after the jump.

After the more outside-the-box family films of Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up, Pixar is going back inside the toy box with Toy Story 3.  There’s nothing wrong with being inside the box when there are lots of toys, loads of fun, and plenty of jokes.  It’s wonderful to see Woody, Buzz, and the gang team up for another adventure (even if it’s the same rescue/escape narrative structure of the first two films).  But Toy Story 3 is so eager to entertain, that it almost never takes a moment to breathe.  Instead, it’s a movie that’s a roller coaster in the best sense of the term.  Set in the mold of a prison break movie, Toy Story 3 may not break with convention or out from under the shadow of the first two films, but it’s a welcome break from this dreary summer.

With Toy Story 3 getting released next weekend, we’ve been given 5 clips and 18 high resolution images from the film.  Also, Matt was just at Pixar to do interviews with the voice cast and the filmmakers, so you can expect a lot more Toy Story 3 coverage next week.  Until then, check out the clips and images after the jump.

It was less than fifteen years ago that Toy Story debuted for the Holiday season of 1995. At the time Disney was taking a chance with an entirely computer animated film, especially after their amazing resurgence and recent run of cel animated films – they were only a year off of The Lion King. Now, Pixar essentially runs Disney animation and cel animation is the experiment – completely out of fashion in part due to Disney ruining the brand name (and to some extent DreamWorks making equally mediocre films). But you can’t blame Pixar for being good, and it was the wild success of the Toy Story films that helped cement their legacy. They tell the story of Woody (Tom Hanks), a cowboy doll who is ousted from his position as the sole favorite toy by Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), and how the two go on an adventure in the real world. The sequel has the duo facing a toy kidnapper (Wayne Knight), who wants to send Woody to Japan with the toy line he originally came from while Woody confronts his own mortality. My review of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on Blu-ray after the jump.

A new trailer for Toy Story 3 has been released and as you might expect from the company that only makes amazing movies (Pixar), the trailer makes me wish TS3 was in theaters this weekend.  Loaded with funny scenes and action, the trailer is a perfectly cut piece of awesome.

And unlike the first clips that have been released from Toy Story 3, this one starts to show what the movie is really about and how some of the new toys are not so friendly.  I promise you want to watch this trailer.  Also, I’ve posted 10 new high resolution images that show the new characters in greater detail.

Pixar will be unveiling a new trailer for Toy Story 3 tomorrow.  But if you can’t wait till then, 30 seconds of the trailer has already hit the net and it’s after the jump.  Featuring some of the new characters in the film, the spot is definitely worth watching.  Also, points to Disney/Pixar for finding a way to make us cover the movie twice.  After all, we’re posting the full trailer tomorrow as soon as it’s online.  Toy Story 3 gets released June 18 and the official website has been updated.

Hit the jump for the full synopsis and the 30 second clip:

On New Year’s Eve, before the clock struck midnight, director Lee Unkrich tweeted, “Enjoying the last day I can say ‘Toy Story 3′ doesn’t come out next year’”.  Indeed we have entered 2010, the year of the latest update in the Toy Story franchise, and today a clip that introduces a crucial new character, pretentious thespian hedgehog Mr. Pricklepants, has hit the net.  The sequel will follow the toys we know and love (Buzz, Woody, Hamm, Rex, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, and more) plus a few new playthings (Lotso and Mr. Pricklepants) when they head to a daycare center as owner Andy heads off to college.  Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, and Estelle Harris will reprise their roles, while Ned Beatty and Timothy Dalton will voice new the aforementioned new toys.

Look for the clip of Unkrich talking about Toy Story 3 and Mr. Pricklepants after the jump.

When you talk about the year of cinema that was 1999, there are the films that come immediately. Fight Club, The Sixth Sense, The Matrix, Eyes Wide Shut. I love The Insider, have a soft spot for eXistenZ and Three Kings and then it starts getting complicated, as films like American Beauty, Girls Don’t Cry, and The Green Mile haven’t exactly weathered as well, while films like Office Space have only grown in estimation.  At the time, most wouldn’t have listed Galaxy Quest as one of the great films of 1999, and yet ten years later, someone like David Mamet can call it a perfect movie. And it is. By Grabthar’s Hammer, my review of Galaxy Quest after the jump.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that writer-director Ron Shelton (“Tin Cup”, “Bull Durham”) will be returning to the golf course to direct “Q School”, a comedy starring Tim Allen and Dennis Quaid as a couple of friends competing to get into the PGA Tour.  More info after the jump