Who would have thought that a cutout animation featuring four potty-mouthed kids, one of the first viral Internet videos, would go on to become an international phenomenon?  

Julie and Jason take notes as the arrival of children seems to rip the romance out of the relationships of their coupled friends, the ever-horny Ben and Missy and the humorously rock-solid Leslie and Alex. The six are lively and cultured New Yorkers enjoying their version of Sex and the City, but all of them are vaguely aware, in theory, that kids will challenge their ability to dine out in style and vacation with ease.
  

American remakes of British television shows tend to be hit or miss. The Office certainly found a place in America’s heart, but countless others just didn’t quite make the trip across the pond. Showtime’s Shameless gives an award-winning Brit series a Chicago-style makeover, resulting in one of the grittiest portrayals of lower class family life on U.S. television.   

A Separation presents Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Maadi), a couple caught in a legal battle. Simin wants a divorce, so she can take their daughter and flee the social oppression of Iran, with its restrictions on women, education and civil liberty.  

Little people in the media have come a long way since the munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. Today, there are countless reality shows revealing the lives of dwarves, like Little People, Big World and even Pit Boss. Peter Dinklage, an actor with achondroplasia (a common cause of dwarfism), has escaped stereotypical size-based roles to play serious characters in television in film.  

Few contemporary filmmakers can claim a career as interesting as Gus Van Sant’s. The 59-year-old director studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design before shifting his studies to film. He tried his hand at Hollywood after graduation, but soon moved his home base to Portland, Ore., a place where his artier leanings would flourish.   

A show about horseracing might seem too niche to captivate a wide audience, but HBO’s Luck is entertaining for all types of viewers thanks to the varied perspectives from inside the track. Dustin Hoffman stars as Ace, an organized crime man fresh out of his stint in federal prison.   

Some television characters are so ridiculous, yet somehow so true-to-life, we have a hard time separating the actor from the role. Like Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon or Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, comedian Danny McBride has truly made Eastbound and Down’s Kenny Powers an extension of himself. (Go ahead, make a boner joke — Kenny would.)   

The idea of “dance theater” (“Tanztheater” in German) evolved from expressionist dance in 1920s Vienna, with a new form developing and spreading throughout Central Europe beginning in 1917. The term re-emerged during the 1980s and Pina Bausch, a student of one of the leaders of this school of dance, became a new school practioner of note.    

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, this Year of the Dragon, Bruce Lee, the legendary “Little Dragon” returns to screens for a select two-night-only event in 60-plus cities across the country. I Am Bruce Lee, the new documentary feature from Pete McCormack offers up the cultural icon as a mirror into the interwoven matrices of life, spirituality and philosophy.  

When filmmaker George Romero directed 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, he surely had no clue zombies would turn into a cultural phenomenon. While tons of horror films give way to camp, sex or bad special effects, Living Dead remains a classic and has prompted a cult of the zombie-obsessed.   

Let the games begin. For audiences tired or uninterested in the arcane goings-on of the numerous guilds and critics organizations all attempting to exert some power and influence over the hearts and minds of Academy voters, Tuesday, Jan. 24, must have seemed like the arrival of Christmas after a series of unimaginable postponements and botched rainchecks  

An American testifies against the Russian mob, forcing him and his family to enter the Witness Protection Program, move to New York City and … make a reality show about it! This is the premise of Adult Swim’s sleeper hit Delocated (midnight Thursdays, Cartoon Network).  

Lake Superior State University recently released its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness. Annoying terms such as “baby bump,” “man cave” and the worn-out “amazing” made the list. Now, I can’t argue with the retiring of these words, but I’d like to add one to the list — hipster.  

Danger has been a factor in the recent films of David Cronenberg, but the tension and anxiety has been focused on the physical, the threat of bodily harm and the need to determine where said harm would originate.