It's been so long since Pam Halpert (née Beesly) has had anything remotely interesting to do on The Office that it's easy to forget the actress playing her, Jenna Fischer, has more range than almost anyone on the series not named Steve Carell. In the first two seasons, she perfectly captured the awkward reserve of a woman so locked onto a specific life course (a dull, but stable clerical job and a looming marriage to a dull, but stable blue-collar guy) that she couldn't -- or wouldn't -- let herself see the professional and personal opportunities cropping up right in front of her. Then when she took the plunge and hooked up with Jim, Fischer took great pleasure in showing how Pam's inhibitions fell away. Certainly, moving to New York to pursue a graphic design career would have been unthinkable to the Pam of Season One. And even now as a happily married mom and office manager at Dunder Mifflin, Fischer is able to occasionally find ways to break through her character's general stasis and show off a little of Pam's newfound swagger and attitude. She's done some strong work outside of The Office as well, from goofy supporting roles in broad comedies like Blades of Glory and Walk Hard to a surprisingly emotional turn in the recent Farrelly Brothers joint, Hall Pass.

The Sundance-approved drama Another Earth is built around an idea that has fueled countless late-night, substance-enhanced dorm room discussions: what if, somewhere up there in the heavens, there was a parallel Earth where another version of you existed. Only instead of following your life path exactly, this Earth-2 you has opted for the opposite of every single decision you've ever made. Instead of Political Science, he/she majored in Marine Biology. Instead of losing the phone number for that hottie at the coffee shop, he/she called it right away. Instead of having Count Chocula for breakfast, he/she had a half-grapefruit. Are they any happier because they picked the second of these two divergent roads? Is their life more complete, their bank account fuller, their work and/or personal relationships more fulfilling? And here's the million dollar question: Would you trade places with them if you could?

The real-world superhero genre has been getting a real workout lately. The teenage wish-fulfillment fantasy Kick-Ass is the most recent and high-profile example, but before that, Defendor and Special followed grown, troubled men in homemade costumes as they pursued a life of crime-fighting. Super walks down a similar road to the latter two, but with Kick-Ass's sense of humor and blood spatter, and the path it takes and the place it ends up are both different enough from the rest to make it worth watching. The mid-notch comedic cast helps, with Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page doing their regular things and Kevin Bacon stealing every scene as the alternately hilarious and scary villain, but the film also surprises the audience with its hallucinatory dream sequences and unadorned brutality, which keep things interesting. Plus, as everyone knows, everything tastes better with Bacon.

Cyrus is the newest film that features Jonah Hill, and in no way is it affiliated with Judd Apatow. Unfortunately, this is pretty much the only thing surprising or interesting about the whole movie.

James Bond fans have had plenty to say about the art-housening of Bond films lately, with the last two films having more in common stylistically with the Bourne films than the Bond franchise. Well, they ain't seen nothing yet. Sam Mendes, director of American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Revolutionary Road and Away We Go, will direct (or at least consult on) the next James Bond film. Additionally, writing chores will be partially handled by Peter Morgan, who also penned such tepid dramas as Frost/Nixon, The Queen and The Other Boleyn Girl. Looking back at their mostly sedate filmographies, we have some predictions as to what we'll see in the forthcoming action spectacle currently known only as Bond 23.

If it's Tuesday, this must be when ill-advised yet financially successful but ultimately disappointing blockbuster sequels are released to DVD. Also, it's the time of year when the Criterion Collection reissues their Christmas movies and snuff films. Classy!

Looking to find out what the big movie releases of the fall are? Well, barring any unfortunate incidents like last year's surprise postponement of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, MWoP has put together the essential guide to the final season of 2009, broken down into five convenient categories: Comedies and Dramedies, Serious Dramas, Chills and Thrills, Animation and Sci-Fi, Action and Adventure. There's a bit of cross-pollination in there, but all of the big releases this season are covered in one of those galleries, as well as some little gems we can't wait to see. Sure, there are a lot of Oscar-bait movies and horror flicks, as is the season's wont, but there are also a lot of big spectacles and even a few potential blockbusters, so start planning your calendar appropriately!

I don't know if it's simply the cyclical nature of the DVD market or something more sinister at work, but there are more exciting TV shows coming out today than there are movies, including two of my favorite shows of all time. The first one is pictured at left. Can you guess which the other one is? (Hint: It's British, and it's about nerds.) Good luck!

In the movie The Perfect Storm, two weather patterns merge with a hurricane to form a George Clooney-killing whirlwind of death. I wouldn't say that Away We Go was my perfect storm, but a bunch of me-friendly elements collide in this film, and let's just say there was some light flooding in my pants.

As a TV comedy fan, I have a huge man-crush on The Office's John Krasinski, and have been waiting for him to appear in a movie that did not make me want to hang myself. (Leatherheads was okay, but License to Wed is a license to kill anyone whose name appears on the poster.) Similarly, I miss Maya Rudolph from SNL something awful, and have been looking forward to her film follow-up to Idiocracy. I'll admit to being slightly biased towards these two, but the pair of them teaming up in this movie makes me think the Make-A-Wish Foundation got my letters and bought the whole "I've-got-lupus" story.

Despite the humorous trailers and the "From the director of Superbad" tag, Adventureland is not an Apatow-esque comedy. In fact, Judd Apatow had absolutely nothing to do with this movie. And in many ways, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig's interludes not withstanding, comedy has very little to do with this movie. While the non-SNL-related situations in Adventureland may at times veer into the realm of comedy, they just as quickly veer out, and get very sad. Not sad as in pathetic -- I mean sad as in depressing. Adventureland is a bleak indie film disguised as a teen sex romp, and while the joke may be on the people who come to the theater looking for a good time, the last laugh may go to people like me, who go in with low expectations and are pleasantly surprised by the movie's depths.