Golden Globe Predictions

Now I'd like to preface this list by saying that I haven't seen a number of the pictures nominated.

To be really fair. No one outside of the movie industry has been able to see five of the nominated films because they havn't come out yet. (Nine, Avatar, It's Complicated, Sherlock Holmes, The Lovely Bones)

I also like many of you out there no I don't live anywhere near an indie movie theater which means that just about all of the indie and foreign films were inaccessible to me.

None the less I will do my very best to guide you through the nominees and give my predictions about who will win.


1. BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

1. AVATAR

I certainly am looking forward to seeing it, but as it is not in theater yet I must reserve judgment.

2. THE HURT LOCKER

It's one of those movies that did not make it to my local movie theater. None the less I have eard good reviews of it.

3. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

I am a shameless Quentin Tarentino fangirl. So naturally I loved this movie, but I can hardly call myself objective when it comes to this movie.

4. PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE

This movie actually did come to my local theater, but it looked so damn depressing that I couldn't work up the will to watch it. I'll see it when I can cry in the comfort of my own home thank you very much.

5. UP IN THE AIR

I haven't seen Up in the Air yet, but I have heard good reviews. Quite frankly I don't think it will win because it's a comedy/drama staring George Clooney, it's a little too mainstream for the people voting.

Who I want to win: Inglorious Bastards
Who I think will win: Precious: It has everything that award shows look for. A lower budget film with intense emotion and an unknown lead.

2. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

1. EMILY BLUNT in THE YOUNG VICTORIA
2. SANDRA BULLOCK in THE BLIND SIDE
3. HELEN MIRREN in THE LAST STATION
4. CAREY MULLIGAN in AN EDUCATION
5. GABOUREY SIDIBE: PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE

I'm going to be honest I haven't seen any of these either but Emily Blunt and Helen Mirren are tremendous talents.

Who I want to win: Gabourey Sidibe: What can I say I love it when an uknown underdog wins the race. And I especially love it when credit is given to actresses who are not a size 6 (hell lets face it in Hollywood size 2 is standard)
Who will win Sorry no clue

3. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

1. JEFF BRIDGES in CRAZY HEART
2. GEORGE CLOONEY in UP IN THE AIR
3. COLIN FIRTH in A SINGLE MAN
4. MORGAN FREEMAN in INVICTUS
5. TOBEY MAGUIRE in BROTHERS

I havn't seen any of these movies either. However I have been reading reviews. I have heard tremendous things about the performances given by Morgan Freeman and Tobey Maguire.

Who I want to win: Jeff Bridges: because the Dude Abides. Also because he has been nominated four times before and has never gotten a Golden Globe or Oscar.
Who will win I'm going to narrow it down and say it's between Morgan Freeman, Tobey Macguire, and Jeff Bridges. Two seem to have given remarkable performances and the other has been snubbed a few times.

4. BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

1. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER

It is the perfect indie romantic comedy. It's quirky and artistic without trying too hard to be quirky, and unlike so many movies of the same drama it avoids being overly pretentious. I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt really did a great job acting.

2. THE HANGOVER

The Hangover is by far one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. However straight up comedys never seem to fair well at award shows.

3. IT’S COMPLICATED

It's not in theaters yet

4. JULIE & JULIA

I did not see this movie, largely because the reviews I heard of it made it seem a bit boring. I am however a big fan of Amy Adams and Meryl Streep.

5. NINE

Is also not in theaters yet.

Who I want to win: The Hangover - lets face it award shows rarely recognize real comedy movies. They generally hand over the prize to dramadies, and indie ironic flicks that are funny but not laugh out loud funny. The hangover is a hilarious well written comedy that has a lot of heart. I have to say that Zach Zach Galifianakis also turns in a great performance, it's very hard to play a character like Alan who needs to be a completely bizarre screw up of a man yet still be believable and lovable.
Who will win: It's Complicated has the most seasoned and well respected cast so I think it will win this category.

5. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR
MUSICAL

1. SANDRA BULLOCK in THE PROPOSAL

I saw The Proposal it was a trite romantic comedy, there was nothing really worth noting about it. The fact that it is nominated means that there were very few movies with strong comedic female leads this year.

2. MARION COTILLARD in NINE
3. JULIA ROBERTS in DUPLICITY
4. MERYL STREEP in IT’S COMPLICATED
5. MERYL STREEP in JULIE & JULIA

I didn't see the rest of these movies but I have a prediction.

Who I want to win: Meryl Streep
Who will win: Meryl Streep


6. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY
OR MUSICAL

1. MATT DAMON in THE INFORMANT!
2. DANIEL DAY-LEWIS in NINE
3. ROBERT DOWNEY JR in SHERLOCK HOLMES
4. JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT in (500) DAYS OF SUMMER
5. MICHAEL STUHLBARG in A SERIOUS MAN

The only movie of the bunch that I have seen is (500) Days of Summer. I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt carried that movie and did a great job, but boy does he have tough competition. Daniel Day-Lewis and Robert Downey Jr are two of the best actors of their generation, and Matt Damon is also a fantastic actor.

Who I want to win: Joseph Gordon- Levitt he is a very talented young actor. I have been following his career since Third Rock From The Sun, and he just keeps getting better. I'm really glad he has finally gotten some recognition for work he has done as an adult.
Who will win: Daniel Day Lewis because he is fricking Daniel Day Lewis and he is awesome in every role he attempts, he drinks your milkshake. Robert Downey Jr is a great actor as well, but Sherlock Holmes is an action comedy and those tend to do very poorly at award season.

7. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

1. CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS
2. CORALINE
3. FANTASTIC MR. FOX
4. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
5. UP

Who will win: Up lets face it the animated category almost always goes to Pixar

8. BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1. BAARIA (ITALY)
Medusa Film; Summit Entertainment
2. BROKEN EMBRACES (SPAIN)
El Deseo SA; Sony Pictures Classics
3. THE MAID (CHILE)
(LA NANA)
Forastero; Elephant Eye Films
4. A PROPHET (UN PROPHETE) (FRANCE)
Chic Films/Page 114/Why Not Productions; Sony Pictures Classics
5. THE WHITE RIBBON (GERMANY)
(DAS WEISSE BAND – EINE DEUTSCHE KINDERGESCHICHTE)
X Filme Creative Pool/Les Films Du Losange/Lucky Red; Sony Pictures Classics

Yep I havn't seen any of these and I don't know enough to even make guesses.

9. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A
MOTION PICTURE

1. PENÉLOPE CRUZ in NINE
2. VERA FARMIGA in UP IN THE AIR
3. ANNA KENDRICK in UP IN THE AIR
4. MO’NIQUE in PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
5. JULIANNE MOORE in A SINGLE MAN

I don't know and to be honest I don't feel too strongly about any of these actresses.

10. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A
MOTION PICTURE

1. MATT DAMON in INVICTUS
2. WOODY HARRELSON in THE MESSENGER
3. CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER in THE LAST STATION
4. STANLEY TUCCI in THE LOVELY BONES
5. CHRISTOPH WALTZ in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

The only movie of the bunch I have seen is Inglourious Bastards and I think Christoph Waltz deserves to win. He steals every scene he is in, and manages to be remarkably charming while playing a character that is despicable.

11. BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE

1. KATHRYN BIGELOW: THE HURT LOCKER
2. JAMES CAMERON: AVATAR
3. CLINT EASTWOOD: INVICTUS
4. JASON REITMAN: UP IN THE AIR
5. QUENTIN TARANTINO: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Much like the last category I have only seen Inglourious Bastards, and I am a complete Quentin Tarentino Fangirl. I can't be objective when my hero and favorite director is concerned. Obviously I want him to win, but I can't be a fair judge.

12. BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE

1. NEILL BLOMKAMP, TERRI TATCHELL - DISTRICT 9
2. MARK BOAL - THE HURT LOCKER
3. NANCY MEYERS - IT'S COMPLICATED
4. JASON REITMAN, SHELDON TURNER - UP IN THE AIR
5. QUENTIN TARANTINO - INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

I have only seen one of the films listed. However, there is more then one way to judge. Typically science-fiction and comedic moves do not get nominated. My money is on The Hurt Locker or Inglourious Bastards.

13. BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE

1. MICHAEL GIACCHINO - UP
2. MARVIN HAMLISCH - THE INFORMANT!
3. JAMES HORNER - AVATAR
4. ABEL KORZENIOWSKI - A SINGLE MAN
5. KAREN O, CARTER BURWELL - WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

I think this contest comes down to James Horner who has written dozens of beautiful scores (Titanic, Braveheart, House of Sand and Fog) and Karen 0 and Carter Burnwell who brought a really fresh sound to Where the Wild Things Are

14. BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE

1. “CINEMA ITALIANO” — NINE
Music & Lyrics by: Maury Yeston
2. “I WANT TO COME HOME”
EVERYBODY'S FINE
Music & Lyrics by: Paul McCartney
3. “I SEE YOU” — AVATAR
Music by: James Horner, Simon Franglen
Lyrics by: James Horner, Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell
4. “THE WEARY KIND (THEME FROM CRAZY HEART)” — CRAZY HEART
Music & Lyrics by: Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett
5. “WINTER” — BROTHERS
Music by: U2
Lyrics by: Bono

It's between U2 and Paul McCartney because the voters are probably most familiar with their work.

This completes the movie portion of the Golden Globes Predictions. Stay Tuned for the much better informed Television section.

Dollhouse Canceled

A moment of silence please for Dollhouse.

That's right folks the wonderful Joss Wheadon creation known as Dollhouse has officially been given the ax. Although Dollhouse has managed to gather a very devoted fan base, it never appealed to a large enough audience for Fox to keep it around. And so it is another brilliant Joss Wheadon show has been given the ax by the Fox network, and sadly there is nothing we can do about it.

Ok, that may not be true. Maybe if we complain enough they will turn it into a movie like they did with Firefly. Sadly Dollhouse isn't as good as firefly and probably won't translate as well as well to the big screen. We can still hope though.

But I digress. The show is currently on a break but will return on December fourth to finish out the second season. There are 8 whole episodes that have yet to air, and fortunately we will be able to see them all without having to buy the DVD boxed set.

If you have never seen Dollhouse you should do so. The first four episodes of the second season are available on Hulu

http://www.hulu.com/dollhouse

For more information on the show http://www.fox.com/dollhouse/

Put Roman Polanski in Jail

Recently Roman Polanski was arrested on a long outstanding warrant. People from all areas of film have come fourth to demand his immediate release. Woody Allen, Tilda Swinton, Martin Scorsese, Monica Belucci, John Landis, and many others have come fourth in support of Roman Polanski.

As much as I wish I could be, I am not really part of the film industry. I stand outside the real world of film it as a small critic on a mostly unknown blog. All the same I have a voice, and I can't remain silent about this subject.

Roman Polanski drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, when he was in his forties. He admitted he was guilty in court, but then fled before he could serve any punishment. Being a brilliant artist does not give you a license to do whatever you want. Roman Polanski forced himself on a young woman, and it is a completely inexcusable crime. No amount of brilliant and beautiful movies can erase the ugliness of that one act.

In the Declaration of Independence it states that "All Men are created equal". I believe that this statement was never meant to be taken literally, clearly some people are born with more talent then others. At it's core this statement means that all people should be treated and valued equally under the law. If Roman Polanski was an auto mechanic or a school teacher as opposed to a director he already would have served his time in jail. I don't understand why so many in the film industry are apt to absolve a man of his crimes simply because he is a genius director who faced a great deal of personal tragedy.

Here is a very good article on the subject

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/09/28/puzzle-activity-time/#more-16939

And here is a less biased article

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/29/polanski.filmmakers.protest/index.html

Seriously, another post will be happening sometime in the near future.

The Vampire Diaries Review

Last Thursday The CW premiered it's newest show The Vampire Diaries.

As the name suggests it involves both vampires and diaries. The Vampire Diaries takes place in a small Virginia Town known as Mystic Falls that seems be suffering from an angst epidemic. The Main Character is a girl names Elena who recently lost her parents in a car crash, is currently dealing with a little brother who is swiftly becoming a drug addict, and is about to be caught in a tragic and dangerous love triangle with vampire brothers. You heard me right vampire Brothers one brother is good the other one is evil, and both are interested in Elena because she looks exactly like a girl they used to know.

The show is based on "The Vampire Diaries" series by LJ Smith. The "Vampire Diaries" series was written at least a good decade before Twilight, but somehow the show comes off looking like a weaker version of Twilight. This is probably due to the fact that the Twilight movie is better written and acted then this show, and yes I too am shocked that I just wrote that sentence. There were many changes made in the story as "The Vampire Diaries" made the transition from book to television, I think most of them were for the better.

In the book Elena is the most popular girl at school who has an army of minions who do her bidding, she is blond, has just returned from a trip of France, seems considerably less upset about her parents, and is obsessed with getting Stefan Salvatore. The TV series made Elena a little more like Bella Swan; a smart, well liked brunette girl, who is often quite awkward. Instead of Elena strongly pursuing Stefan and Stefan resisting her advances like the brooding responsible vampire he is; they meet and get to know each other in a fairly normal way.

The acting in the series is pretty weak but passable. The only characters that really stood out in their performance were Katerina Graham who played Elena's best friend Bonnie, and Ian Somerhalder (Better known as Boone on Lost) who clearly enjoyed playing an over the top villain Damon Salvatore, the rest were very generic in their performance.

The writing in the series isn't particularly strong either, yet I have hopes that it will improve as the series moves along. The first episode had to establish a lot about the series and sometimes things got a bit mixed up. Sometimes it felt like the series ran from one character to the next establishing why each was angsty, as opposed to following the real plot line of love and murder and letting the angst develop in it's own time. Also, the way it was shown on camera it wasn't clear if Damon had the ability to turn into a raven, or if he just sends a random raven around to freak people out. I also found the Dear Diary format to be a bit annoying and overplayed, hopefully this aspect will fade away or be used more effectively as the story progresses. Hopefully the next episode will have a little more action and a little less angst.

I suppose the bottom line is "The Vampire Diaries" is an ok show. It's nothing spectacular but I have decidedly seen worse. Vampires are a very popular genre right now so you can expect this show to hang around till at least the end of the season. Lets hope the acting and writing tighten up a bit by then.

Melrose Place: The Next Generation

Melrose Place premiered tonight on the CW. premier

Much like the origional Melrose Place the story centers around a group of young and very attractive people living in LA. The plot follows the various tenants of an apartment as they experience various degrees of scandal and corruption while looking very pretty.

On the Surface everything about Melrose Place is great. The TV show is filled with beautiful people, great wardrobe, beautiful locations, a fun soundtrack, and the cinematography is quite good. Yes, with it's focus on all things pretty it's somewhat understandable that the creators of such a shallow and pointless remake could forget to add some things which give a show depth.

The writing is questionable. It almost seems like the writers came up with a bunch of sexy and or scandelous things for the characters to go through, and put little thought about how or why they made sense. Early in the show a person is found brutally murdered in the swimming pool. Miraculously by the end of the day the cast seems to have completly recovered and not be the least bit shaken up by the murder. Of course it's easy to understand how some people might be a tad distracted by getting engaged, or plotting to steal a priceless work of art, or making the decision to whore themselves out to pay for medical school. I know that soap operas work by throwing improbable scandal over improbable scandal, but couldn't they have showed the characters a bit more upset and perturbed by the murder. I don't mind when shows have crazy amounts of drama, so long as characters react appropriately and it makes sense in terms of plot and character development.

Of course maybe I shouldn't blame this all on the writers. Maybe the script called for the actors to be acing a bit more scared, on edge, or pensive on the state of their own mortality; but the actors just didn't deliver. I sincerely doubt that the cast of Melrose Place could collectively act their way out of a paper bag. Ashlee Simpson-Wentz should quit trying to be an actress, the ability to lip-sync and the ability to read lines are very different things. In fairness to Ashlee most of the cast was pretty terrible.

I see few if any redeeming qualities about this show. Watching Melrose Place is like looking into the eyes of Paris Hilton, sure she is beautiful and stylish but there is something missing in her cold vacant stare that tells you she has no soul.

History tells me that many people enjoy the shallow mindless fun of a soap opera. If you don't mind bad acting and improbable plots, so long as it leads to sexy scandals; then by all means do watch this show. It's airs on The CW Tuesday nights at 9.

Honestly I'd recommend holding out for a different guilty pleasure show to come around this fall.

Boondock Saints 2 Trailer

OMG after years of rumors it appears as if Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day is actually coming out.

The trailer usually shows us the very best moments of a movie, and I have to say judging by the trailer it looks like this movie won't be as good. Yet I still want to see it.

Glee Review

The Fox network is a strange a fickle mistress.

On the one this network created some groundbreaking shows yet has tied to a very conservative news network. Fox created Family guy only to destroy it, and then bring it back once more. It has offered some of the trashiest reality shows known to man, but at the same time it has created some high quality programs like Arrested Development and Firefly.

This year Fox subjected us to a cruel and unusual treatment. They created a good show, and wouldn't alow us to see it. Glee centers around a high school Glee Club. It's a comedic musical, that ends up looking like High School musicals more intelligent, talented, and well put together cousin that stars people who can actually act and sing. The dialogue is current and funny, the music is fantastic, and the characters and setting are just quirky enough to make the show genuinely lovable.

Glee originally premiered on May 19th 2009, just after most of the big shows had their season finales and networks drifted off into dreary reruns and reality television. The show was great, loved by critics and average viewers alike. Yet there was a problem, only one episode was aired. Yes, Fox in a rather cruel gesture showed us a great pilot for a very promising TV show and then told us we wouldn't be able to watch it till September. To make matters worse Fox taunted us with constant commercials for Glee, taunting us with the promise of a good show during a season where almost nothing is on TV. I must admit this tactic was quite effective in building up excitement for the show, but it was kind of mean of them.

Tonight Fox aired the a Directors Cut version of the Pilot episode for Glee, and Next Wednesday at 9 the first new episode of Glee will finally air. I have to say I have high hopes for the series, and I hope it doesn't get canceled like some of Foxes other brilliant shows.

If you have yet to see Glee the first episode is available for free on the fox website http://www.fox.com/glee/

Inglourious Basterds Review

I saw "Inglourious Basterds" opening night and have been avoiding writing this review ever since. Don't get me wrong the movie was good, I just not sure I can write this and keep from giving into my Quentin Tarentino fangirl tendencies.

Ad you may have heard, "Inglourious Basterds" is a very messed up fairy tale set in World War II. The movie is not a historic look at what happened during World War II, but rather a fantastical alternative history that would have been so much more dramatic and rewarding way to end World War II.

As is typical of Quentin Tarentino the story is not told in an entirely linear fashion. There are separate intertwining stories, and they are not necessarily shown in exact chronological order. As the title suggests one story centers around The Basterds, a group of Jewish soldiers led by Lt Aldo Raine (played by Brad Pitt) who go about Germany brutally killing and scalping Nazi's. Another story centers around Shosanna, a Jewish woman who is hiding her heritage and running a movie theater in France. The third story is all about spying and intrigue, and it is the binding element for the above mentioned stories.

This movie gave me a lot of what I was expecting lots of dead Nazi's, violence, and brilliant dialogue. Yet the movie held a few surprises for me as well, I had no idea that the majority of the movie would be in subtitles (not that it's a bad thing) or that the quality of acting would be so fantastic.

As I have said before I am a raging Quentin Tarentino fangirl. I like all of his movies, but If I had to rank them 1 being the best the list would go as follows.

1. "Pulp Fiction"
2. "Kill Bill" (I count both volumes as one movie)
3. "Inglourious Basterds"
4. "Resevoir Dogs"
5. "Death Proof" (P.S. a great movie to watch if your a woman who just had a bad breakup)
6. "Jackie Brown"

Granted everyone is going to have their own opinion, sometimes you just connect to one movie more then another. Yet I think most people would agree that "Inglourious Basterds" is one of Quentin Tartentino's better movies. Certainly I would say that "Inglourious Basterds", despite all of it's violence shows more maturity and emotional depth then his other films. If you notice in past films most characters are not shown in a sympathetic way, in this film Shosanna has a very emotional role and is in some ways more human then a lot of previous Quentin Tarentino's characters.

When you see a Quentin Tarentino film you expect a lot of style and some great dialogue, and certainly this movie had all of that, yet the best part of this movie was the acting.

Brad Pitt is a tremendous actor whose talent is often overshadowed by his good looks. Brad Pitt plays the character of Aldo Raine to perfection and completely steals every scene he is in, he is lovable and hilarious despite doing some rather gruesome things. You know someone has done a tremendous job when you think about the role and honestly can't imagine anyone else being able to play the part as well. I still crack up a bit when I think about Aldo speech about "The Bear Jew".

The other Actor who managed to steal every scene he was in Christoph Waltz, who plays the flamboyant Col. Hans Landa better known as "The Jew Hunter." He manages to be completely menacing while still being rather humorous and charming. You can't take your eyes off of him when he is on screen.

Another fantastic performance comes from Mélanie Laurent who has an emotionally demanding role. Micheal Fassbender also shines in his performance as a British officer. Til Schweiger also shines in a small part as one of the Bastards. Really every actor did a great job in terms of acting.

Ok so I have gone through the good, now lets get to the bad.

There were parts of this movie that seemed to lag, and a few things that could have done with a bit more editing. I know that the intention was to build suspense, but in particular the scene where the Donny Donowitz aka "The Bear Jew" was about to make his entrance the camera has a close up on an empty cave entrance for longer then a minute was a bit much. The parts of this movie that were good were so good that you forgive the parts where it lagged.

I have heard that there were more detailed back stories for The Basterds that got left out of the film, and personally I would have loved to see them. The Bastard known as "The Bear Jew" is known for beating Nazi's to death with a baseball bat. What they don't show you in the film is that he had all of the Jews from his neighborhood sign the bat before he left for war. I think little things like that add a lot to the movie, and I wish it would have been left in.

One of the most frequent criticisms that I have seen from other critics is that the movie has no real point, in some ways it is a valid argument. However I don't think a movie needs to have a point or definite message. "Inglourious Basterds" is an extremely entertaining movie and a clear work of fantasy, why spoil it by trying to shove morality down your throat. We know the Nazi's were very bad, we know they did evil things, your not going to be teaching us anything new on this subject. This is a revenge film fulfilling a need for justice that was never truly experienced here in the real world.

I think "Inglourious Basterds" is a great movie, and it seems like the type of film that only gets better each time you watch it. Yes it's violent, yet it's a complete work of fiction, yea it doesn't have a moral; but it's a damn good movie not despite these attributes but also because of them.

Tonight MTV premeired a new show called "Pranked" I was not a fan.

Prank shows have a long standing tradition on television from the origional "Candid Camera" to "Trigger Happy TV" prank shows have certainly earned their place in Television.

The Main Problem that I have with "Pranked" is that it uses amateur videos while at the same time telling people not to send in their own videos. Am I the only one getting a mixed message here? There are a lot of pranks that have the potential for danger and serious consequences, so it's understandable why MTV insists that no one try to recreate these pranks send videos to them. Yet by creating a show that takes all of it's videos off of youtube it is encouraging people to do potentially dangerous stunts.

Now not all of the pranks shown on tonight's episode were dangerous. Some of them were classic good clean fun like rigging a sink to spray the person who turns it on next, yet a few of the pranks were dangerous and downright disturbing. I saw more then two clips that could have resulted in serious injuries.

Pranks aside, the hosts of the show are annoying. I completely understand why MTV chose Streeter Seidell and Amir Blumenfeld from CollegeHumor.com to host the show. The is a legendary prank war that went on between Amir and Streeter, all of it caught on camera and available for viewing on http://www.collegehumor.com/tag:prank-war/articles. While the prank war between the two is brilliant and hilarious, their hosting skills are sub-par. Their rhetoric is spiked with infantile humor and meaningless gags that just aren't funny.

Honestly I think this is a show to skip. You can find any of the videos featured on the show on youtube, and you won't be forced to listen to the stupid banter between the hosts.

The CW Fall Preview

"Blonde Charity Mafia" is a reality series about high powered women who apparently run the DC social scene. It sounds like The Hills, meets Gossip Girl, with just a hint of social awareness. What can I say I have a difficult time believing that this will be a hit. Then again I would rather stab myself then watch The Hills, and that turned out to be a very popular show.

"Life Unexpected" is a series about a young women who has been in foster care her whole life. As the young woman attempts to have herself declared an emancipated minor, she discovers her real parents, and in an odd twist of fate the court grants custody to her biological parents. If another network was producing this show I might think of it differently; if NBC, HBO, hell even Fox Family was making this show it might end up being really good. Yet this is The CW people, the thing this network does best is creating trash-tastic and delightful guilty pleasure shows like America's Next Top Model or Gossip Girl. The premise of the show demands that the subject matter be treated in a somewhat serious way, I'm afraid this show could turn into one giant messed up soap opera.

"Melrose Place" is an update of a classic 90's soap opera. "Melrose Place" has all the makings for a successful soap opera; beautiful people, money, murder, and boat loads of drama. It's a classic formula but one that rarely fails to be amusing. Lets face it a lot of people just want to watch a trashy over the top soap opera, and I feel like the new "Melrose Place" will be successful in providing just that.

"The Beautiful Life" is about the lives of fashion models. It's pretty clear that CW decided to combine two of it's most popular shows (America Next Top Model and Gossip Girl) into one show. It looks young, hip, trash-tastic, and drama filled. I think this could be my new guilty pleasure show.

Finally we have "The Vampire Diaries" I've written about this show before in some previous entries. It's based on a book series of the same title by LJ Smith. The store is about a girl and the two brother who are fighting for her affection. The Twist, the brothers are vampires. One Brother is good, one brother is evil, and obviously the girl is in danger. I think just about any show with vampires is guaranteed to attract a lot of viewers at the moment. I seriously doubt that this show will be as well acted or complex as true blood, but I think it could be a fun gothic melodrama. I hate to admit it, but as a fan of the vampire genre I really can't wait to see this show.

CBS Fall Preview

CBS is introducing four new shows this fall, and I have to be honest I'm not crazy about what they have presented.

First they have the new spin off of "NCIS", "NCIS: Los Angeles". Quite frankly I'm sick of forensic crime dramas. It all seemed very cool and high tech at first to see minute evidence and high tech equipment to solve crimes, but there have been so many shows about the subject that I doubt this one has anything new to bring to the table. Admittedly "NCIS" is one of the better shows of the forensic crime drama. Yet the success of "NCIS" is largely due to the cast having great chemistry, it's a factor that is very difficult to duplicate. Call me cynical but with "CSI", "CSI Maimi", "CSI New York", "Bones", and the origional "NCIS" I have difficulty believing that this show can bring anything new to the table.

CBS is also premiering a new medical drama called "Three Rivers". "Three Rivers" takes place in Pittsburgh, PA is all about the complexities experienced by people involved in all sides of organ donation. The concept sounds a bit heavy handed and maudlin to me. I'm not a fan of overly sentimental shows that make you cry and then try to inspire you, and with the given subject matter it's hard to imagine this show breaking from that mold. I know some people love shows like that, but it is not for this tv critic.

"Accidentally On Purpose" is a sitcom starring Jenna Elfman as a woman who gets pregnant from a one night stand with a younger man, and decides to keep the baby and the man who got her pregnant. Somehow this all fells a bit like "Dharma and Greg" meets "Knocked Up." It could be funny, Jenna Elfman has certainly proven herself as a charming and comedicly gifted actress in the past. However, the idea of the show doesn't come off as being very origional, that of course doesn't mean that it couldn't be successful.

Finally we come to the show that I am most excited to watch, and certainly the most origional show on CBS's fall lineup "The Good Wife." At some point or another we have all watched a politician give a speech acknowledging that he had some sort of extramarital affair, often with his wife standing with him. This show delves into the life of that good political wife who has to stand by a husband who just betrayed her. I think this show has a lot of potential, and I cant wait to see how it turns out.

True Blood I will rise up

Normally I try to be objective with my reviews. Yet when it comes to some shows like True Blood, I just can't hold back my inner fan girl.

This is a spoiler free review which means I won't be saying much. Yet what I will say is that this episode proved that True Blood wasn't just about sex, blood, and murder; the show is capable of being a lot deeper and more meaningful then that. This particular episode was very emotional.

We finally get to see the human side of Eric. I know most of you won't think it possible but Alexander Skarsgård somehow becomes even more attractive when the script calls for Eric to show a more vulnerable side, ok that and he was half naked and didn't slick his hair back in a scene.

Honestly this is the best show that we have seen yet from this series, I can't wait to see what else they have in store for us.

ABC Fall Preview

We are in what may be best described as the doldrums of August. All of the major network shows have been showing repeats for the past few months, almost all of the summer reality series have come to a close, and the new fall season has yet to begin. Excluding shows from HBO and Showtime which continue to show new episodes throughout the summer, tv has been a complete bore lately.

What is a TV writer to do with so little material for inspiration?

Well my friends the answer is simple, I'll write about all of the fantastic things you just can't see yet. I'll be doing a small series about upcoming shows on some of the major networks.

In this Edition I will be discussing some of the new shows on the ABC network. There are 11 new shows scheduled for the fall line up, some are based on ideas we have seen before but a few are rather origional.

"Shark Tank" appears to be based on the British series Dragons Den. Ordinary people have the chance to pitch their inventions and ideas to millionaires who have the power and money to to turn dreams into an industry. Of course the millionaires could also brutally shoot down the ideas on national television.

"The Middle" is a sitcom about an average yet dysfunctional family. The idea is hardly a new one, yet the cast seems very capable and the show seems just quirky enough to win over an audience.

"Hank" is a sitcom staring Kelsey Grammer as a former CEO trying to reconnect with his family. What can I say I'm not exactly wowed by the premise. Call me crazy I don't think America is really in the mood to see a lovable former CEO on TV just yet.

"Cougar Town" is yet another sitcom , it stars Courtney Cox. As the title suggests the show is all about cougars in a small town, and honey we ain't talking about Animal Planet type of cougars. It's a fun and interesting twist on the traditional sitcom, with more then ample opportunity for humor and drama.

"The Deep End" is a legal comedy about four young interns coming to work for a prestigious. I have a feeling that "The Deep End" is trying to be to legal dramas, what "Scrubs" was to medical dramas. It's a show with definite potential.

"The Forgotten" is a drama which centers around a group of amateur crime solvers who take up cases that the police have given up on. This group called "The Forgotten Network" is lead by Christian Slater. With a show like this everything depends on the writing, it could be fantastic or it could be too heavy handed and sappy. I guess we will just have to wait and see how it all unfolds.

"V" is a sci-fi series about aliens who come to earth with false promises of peace, and a plan to take control of the planet. This could be interesting, yet traditional sci-fi shows have a way of getting canceled quickly. I can't say I know how long this show will last.

"The Modern Family" is a fake reality show, but unlike "The Hills" everyone is suppose to know it's a fake reality show. I have to admit I am a huge fan of the mockumentary genre, and I have never seen a mockumentary TV series before. I can't wait to see how this show works out.

I have to admit I have saved the best, or at least the most intriguing till last.

First there is the heavily anticipated "Flash Forward." The story centers around an unexplained global event where everyone simultaneously blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, and sees a glimpse into the future. I bet Philadelphia's own M Night Shyamalan is kicking himself for not thinking up this idea instead of making his movie "The Happening". I think ABC is gearing up to make this show the next "Lost" but we will have to see if it lives up to the hype.

"Happy Town" looks like a horror tv series, and I am looking forward to it. So far it looks a bit like they are trying to do an update on "Twin Peaks" with a dash of "Harpers Island" thrown in. A seemingly perfect Midwestern town, a serial killer who has powers bordering on the supernatural, and lots of very strange people. It sounds like my kind of show, the question is will the general public be up for such a weird show.

Finally we have "Eastwick" Based on the movie (and a novel which predates the movie) "The Witches of Eastwick." I am expecting this to be supernatural campy fun, and nothing more but that doesn't mean it won't be enjoyable to watch. From the previews it looks a bit like "Charmed" meets "Desperate Housewives" I think it will be a really fun show to watch.

You can go here to find out more

http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/index

Vampire Diaries Promotional Stills done in very poor taste

Promotional stills for The Vampire Diaries came out today, and I have to say they were a little shocking.

I have to say there is a fine line between edgy and sleazy, and even within the vampire genre a fine line between sexy and creepy. I think The CW may have gone a bit over the edge on both fronts.




I think the thing that really bothers me is the vacant dead stare of the guy licking her neck.

Oh and the knowledge that the two dudes kissing her are supposed to brothers.

Yep CW you have yet again shown your true colors as a classy and tasteful establishment.

I know what your thinking what could they possibly do to top that picture. Well the answer is clear, show a shocking depiction of abuse.



Seriously does this make ANYONE want to watch this show?

There is a hand wrapped tightly around her neck, a hand from a second man is caressing her hair while she is being choked, and that hopeless and tear filled expression. It just makes me sick.

The first picture was an example of using sex to sell a show, I have to be honest I have no idea who the second picture is marketed towards. Abuse should never be a selling point for a show.

This is not cool CW, not cool at all.

Dorian Grey Trailer

There are some stories that deserve to be told over and over again, the story of Dorian Grey. The story has been recaptured on film every decade or so since the invention of film, each version makes their own little changes but it's core character and message remain the same.

The newest version is set to come out 9/9/09 and features what I consider to be nearly perfect casting. Ben Barnes, perhaps best known for his role as Prince Caspian is set to play Dorian Gery and really I can't imagine a better choice for the role. Also starring in the film is Colin Firth.

I definitely want to see this movie.

More to Love Review

On Tuesday Evening Fox premiered it's newest reality dating show. With so many reality dating shows out on the market (The Bachelor, Next, Daisy of Love, ect) FOX recognized that they had to do something a little different. As the title suggests, More to Love is a reality dating show featuring overweight people.

The concept is a sound one. It's a fact over half of Americans are overweight or obese, it makes sense that one entire half of the population might be drawn to a dating show featuring people who share a common struggle with the audience.

Usually the type of people who are drawn to reality shows are desperate for fame or money, with "More to Love" you get the definite sense that the contestants are actually there to find love. I can't seem to decide if this is a positive or negative for the show.

On the one hand the emotions are genuine, and you don't have any idiots attempting to use the show as a platform to launch their music career. On the other hand you have a bunch of people with very low self esteem who are about to be rejected on national television.

In some ways the premier of "More to Love" was quite depressing. I watched beautiful girl after beautiful girl talk about how they honestly saw this show as their only chance at love. Some of the female contestants admitted that they had never been on a date before, or that they had been with men who were embarrassed to be seen with them in public.

Reality dating shows are all about wish fulfillment. Weather you want to be perused by twenty gorgeous potential mates, live in a mansion, go on romantic excursions to tropical islands, or perhaps you simply want to be loved. Reality dating shows offer us all a chance to experience all of that by living vicariously through the contestants. There have been shows dedicated to dating millionaires or rock stars, and one can certainly understand the appeal. Yet on some level I find it sad that the greatest fantasy of many overweight Americans is simply to find someone who will find them attractive and love them.

I am predicting that the elimination ceremonies will be heartbreaking to watch, but for some reason I plan on watching them anyway. "More to Love" appears on FOX on Tuesdays at 9/8 Central.

So You Think You Can Dance 100th Episode

I am a huge fan of SYTYCD and have been since season 2.

Each season has it's own sort of style and feeling. I think the remarkable thing about the current season (season 5) is how close everyone is in terms of talent. In years past there has been that one dancer that stood head and shoulders about everyone else in terms of talent, like Travis in Season 2 or Danny in season 3. Or there have been contestants that had tremendous amounts of charisma like Benji and in season 2, Sabra in Season 3, or Joshua in Season 4. There have even been dancers that have stood out for being completely unique like Cedric or Hok from Season 3 or Mark from season 4.

Every fan of the show has their own personal favorites and can list them from each season. Here is my own little list
Season 2: Benji, Donyelle,and travis
Season 3: (my favorite season) Hok, Domenic, Lauren, Sabra, Jamie, and Danny
Season 4: Joshua, Katee, Chelsie Hightower, Twitch, and of course Mark

With season 5 my favorites have been switching around depending on what dance they did this week. Honestly I didn't want any of the top 8 to go tonight.

It's beautiful to have a reality show that takes extremely talented people and makes them even better. The show isn't about humiliating contestants or taking everything to trashy new lows. This show elevates and inspires people, and for a reality show that is very very rare.

Tonight was the 100th episode and I was so happy to see the show reach this point. I really hope to see it reach another hundred episodes. It was so good to see some of my favorite routines again, especially the Hummingbird Routiene with Hok and Jamie, and "Ramalama Bang Bang" zombie prom dance.

My only complaint: Katie Holmes

Literally for months they have been reporting that Katie would be doing some big dance number on SYTYCD. It was supposed to be a big tribute to Judy Garland. I thought it was an odd choice since Katie Holmes isn't exactly know for being a signer or a dancer. I thought it was crazy but thought that maybe, just maybe it would all turn out. There are so many people in Hollywood who turn out to be triple threats. I mean who would ever think that the man who plays Wolveriene would also be a great singer and dancer.

As it turns out Katie Holmes isn't very talented. Her performance on the show was easily the worst part of the entire hour.

It takes very little talent to do what she did. She lipsinked to a pre-recorded song. She performed a "dance" which required her to walk, pause, and let herself be lifted by attractive men. To top things off she didn't have the balls to perform it live in front of the audience.

I'm sorry but I feel like my time was wasted. I would have much rather seen another performance from a past season. There are so many fantastic ones to choose from.

I would have loved to see Katee and Joshua perform the Mia Michaels dance to "Hometown glory" by Adele

Or Lacy and Kameron's dance to "Dancing" by Elisa also choreographed by Mia

Or Mark and Chelsie's "Bleeding Love" routine by Napoleon and Tabbitha

Or Lauren and Pasha's Transformers routine choreographed by Shane Sparks

Or Sabra and Neil's dance to "Sweet Dreams Are Made of These" choreographed by Mandy Moore.

The list could go on and on.

But instead of seeing a great performance we see a star who was seriously lacking in star power. She sauntered about lip sinking for a pre-recorded number. It was pretty clear that the voice track for her song had been heavily filtered, and it was still mediocre at best. Any idiot off the street could have done her part of the dance routine, and it was an insult to put her on the same show with so many talented dancers.

Perhaps most offensive of all was the way in which she sang the song "Get Happy". Did she not listen to the lyrics she was singing? "Get Happy" is meant to be sung with a real edge to it. Look at the lyrics she is telling people to get happy about the apocalypse, you have got to do that with a wink or a bit of sarcasm in your voice. Katie Holmes sung the whole thing in a weak and wavering voice gently asking us to be genuinely happy.

Judy Garland was a Star and she deserved a better tribute then that. In case any of you non Broadway types were wondering here is how it should be done folks.



I know what your thinking: "But Renegade Film Snob, it was all done for charity. Why are you being so mean."

Well I'll tell you. First off I am The Renegade Film Snob, I am not in the business of being nice. Secondly it wasn't the most efficient way to raise money for charity. You see if Katie Holmes forked up a ton of her own cash for the privilege of living out her little fantasy on stage I would have been all for it. Yet you see what Katie Holmes donated her performance fee to the charity. So she made the show pay her to pay the charity attached to the show.

Yes I know that money came from FOX and is now in the charities budget but really it's the principal of the thing.

I'm very happy to see SYTYCD be so successful, but please next time just let us see the good dancing. If you have to let a less then talented celebrity perform make them fork up their own money for charity in order to do so.

The Movie Psychic: A Perfect Getaway

Allright this is a new segment to the blog and I hope it works out.

I am notorious for ruining the endings of movies. Obviously I avoid giving spoilers when I am writing here, but often when I watch a movie for the first time I call the ending a few minutes into the story, and I have a pretty good accuracy rating. Mind you I don't claim to have any mystical powers, I just have a very good knowledge of film and how plot lines tend to go.

This is to be for entertainment purposes only. I have not seen this movie, nor do I know anyone associated with the film. There is a chance that this could be a spoiler for "A Perfect Getaway" but then again it might not be. Honestly if I can guess the ending just from seeing the TV spot, it probably doesn't deserve to be called a spoiler.

I give to you the TV spot for "A Perfect Getaway"



Prediction: With a "Twist you won't see coming" I can only assume the killer is Steve Zahn.

Here's my reasoning:

1: He is Steve Zahn there is something really lovable about him and it's hard to imagine him playing a killer.

2. It all seems too obvious of a set up. The spot makes the second couple who joins Zahn and Milla Jovovich look really shady. It would be way too easy if it was then.

3. Steve Zahn is the most clean cut looking guy there, which makes him look less suspicious. Or more suspicious depending on which type of serial killer you are thinking about.

4. The trailer also seems to set up Zahn and Jovovich as the main characters, now that is a twist most people won't be expecting.

Now another Trailer seems to indicate that a couple may be responsible for the killings. But if that is the case I still stand by my prediction that Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich are the killers.

I generally don't like thrillers and have no plans to see this until it's free on HBO, so if you have seen this film or plan on doing so please leave a comment and let me know if I am right.

Where the wild things are trailer

I'm not going to lie my favorite part of seeing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was getting to see the trailer for Where the Wild Things are. It looks like it is going to be beautiful, magical, and make everyone feel like they are a kid again. I can't wait to see it.

It comes out October 16th 2009 and I can't wait to see how Director Spike Jonze's adaptation of the book turns out. I am a huge fan of his work as a music video director and I loved Being John Malkovitch. Spike Jones has such a wild imagination (Honestly who else could have thought up a video where Christopher Walken was tap dancing on the ceiling)I am genuinely excited to see how he handles his first kids film.

Spoiler Free Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Review

It seems fairly redundant to do a spoiler free review for a movie based an an absurdly popular book, but I shall try to do so.

Whenever you move a story from one medium to another things will inevitably be lost in translation. The pacing in the movie is vastly different from the pacing of the book. The first part of the movie is almost entirely dedicated to an obscene amount of awkward teen drama going on around Hogwarts, while the second part of the movie covers more of the actual important plot points of the story. While the teen awkwardness does provide some much needed humor in a rather dark story, I feel it goes on for far too long. I'm being honest when I say that there are probably more then 15 minutes of this film devoted solely to awkward silences. For me the movie moved along quite slow until we reached the point where actual story begins, intrigue and danger tend to do that to a film.

Overall I would say that they did a very good job with this movie. As is expected with the Harry Potter franchise the acting, sets, and special effects are all fantastic. Again I could have dealt with a lot less of the teen awkward moments, but overall they did a good job staying true to the story.

My only real complaint is that there is a villain on screen who is never properly introduced. If you have never read the books you will probably wonder who the hairy dude on screen is, and why they seem to devote so many closeups of him while never mentioning his name or why he looks so creepy. He is Fenrir Greyback, he is a werewolf who is into cannibalism, and I am sad they didn't devote a little more time to introducing a very creepy well made villain.

Oh that and a big battle was left out, but that is not the point here.

Naturally the movie isn't as good as the books, but it's quite enjoyable.

Bruno Das Ubber Fantastich Review

I'll admit it the title is a bit overblown. It's more like Bruno the very mediocre review. Sadly I don't remember how to say mediocre in German, I came really close to failing that class.

Anyway...

I saw Bruno in theaters today, and the overall verdict is that it's good. It's not the funniest movie I've ever seen, and it was offensive as hell, but it was funny and certainly worth watching.

I have to warn you if you are easily offended do not see this movie. I mean seriously Y'all. I mean unless your a difficult person to offend I wouldn't go see this movie.

I know I stand pretty much alone here, but I did not like the Borat movie. I found all of the humor infantile, the racial and cultural jokes made me so uncomfortable I couldn't laugh. Much of Borat was centered around making fun of American's. While I can't say we don't deserve it, some of the movie was hard to watch for me.

I laughed really hard at Bruno, I don't know what that says about me, but I thought that this movie was actually funnier then Borat. The humor was every bit as crude, but perhaps I felt more comfortable with it because it was mostly poking fun at fashion and pop culture.

You should go see this movie because (if you aren't hideously offended) you will have a good laugh.

From a film studies perspective the movie is actually quite fascinating because it blends the lines between fiction and reality. Some of the skits in the movie are set up, some of them are real and often it's difficult to know for sure which is not.

Some of the movies more offensive bits are done to make a point. Sure it's absurd and offensive that Bruno would adopt a baby from Africa with as little thought as if he were getting a fashion accessory. It's sad but it does seem like some celebrities and others are adopting for reasons of image, not out of a desire to actually raise a child. Just look at the Sex and the City movie. Charlotte's adopted Asian daughter is really treated more like an accessory then a child, the movie even goes on to make a very big deal about Charlotte getting pregnant showing that she can now have a "real child". It makes me sick but celebrities tend to get caught up in the strangest trends involving adoption, dangerous diets, and religion. Bruno makes fun of celebrity culture and all the things one must do to achieve celebrity.

But I digress.

Really I feel like the previews for Bruno gave away too much already so I won't say anything else about the movie. If you are not easy offended it's a pretty funny movie, if you are easily offended don't even think of seeing it.

Inglorious Bastards International Trailer

Just when you thought that Inglorious Bastards couldn't get cooler they come out with a trailer that just makes me want to see it more. This reveals a lot more about the plot, so stop reading this and watch it already.

The Popularity of Medical Dramas

Admittedly most of my rants on this little blog are informal and frivolous in nature. Every now and then my education kicks in and I am drawn to write about the bigger topics at hand then my likes and dislikes.

There are many academic areas of study in film, and many ways in which to study. You can study something from the historical perspective and talk about what pieces influenced it. You can study a film from a more artistic standpoint and pick apart every last bit of symbolism. You can study a film for it's technical achievements. Tonight I am going to focus on a new and rather exciting (to nerds like me) branch of film studies, anthropology.

Film is an excellent way to study the development of culture and society. Naturally non-fiction pieces and news reels play their part in documenting what is going on with a society, and that is all well and good. Yet I have this strange theory that in time the fictional works of a culture will be able to tell us a lot more about what people were like then documentary.

When we look at popular works of fiction during any given time period we can't help but notice themes. The films that we classify as Film Noir were never advertised as being Film Noir when they first came out, it took a few years and critics from France to recognize that all of the dark crime movies coming out from the US were deeply connected even if no one planned it that way.

As is often the case with movies, if you have one hit in a specific field (vampires, super heroes, ect) many similar films will suddenly be developed in an attempt to try and duplicate it's success. The financial motivations behind putting out a lot of similarly themed movies makes sense; however the really interesting question is why do audiences keep going back for the same type of movie.

Much of the time popular films represent little more then wish fulfillment, when a certain genre suddenly becomes popular it often says a lot about the wishes of general population. For example shortly after 9/11 superhero movies became extremely popular. Why? Because many Americans found themselves wishing for greater security, or wishing we could have some sort of vengeance, and perhaps most importantly we found that we were no longer the invincible superpower we thought we were. At a time when we felt so scared, and angry, and powerless we needed to see some heroes up on the silver screen. We needed to see good triumph against evil, we needed to see heroes who didn't die trying to save innocent lives, and we wanted villains that were clearly defined and easily thwarted.

A new trend has sprung up in American popular culture that has struck me, the popularity of the medical drama. Now Medical dramas have been around for years, but the most recent crop of shows seem to be closely tied. "House", "Nurse Jackie", "Mental", "Royal Pains", and "Hawthorne" all feature medical professionals who break rules and often work outside traditional medical systems in order to save lives.

If you want to take a financial standpoint on this you can blame the popularity of House for all of these new shows, but again lets not think about the studios producing these shows lets think about the audience who watches it.

I think the popularity of "House" is largely due to the fact that so many Americans are deeply dissatisfied with with the current state of health care. Even if you are lucky enough to have insurance it is a nightmare trying to get anything treated. There are so many insurance companies who refuse every claim as a matter of policy and promote workers who turn down the most people in need of medical care. There are hospitals that charge $60 for an aspirin, and miles upon miles of red tape to get proper referrals and treatments done. There are many good doctors who are forced to leave their practices because of an utterly fucked system which constantly raises rates for malpractice insurance even if they have made no mistakes, and forces doctors to settle out of course regardless of weather or not the person suing them is telling the truth.

We have a medical system that is so utterly and completely broken that the only foreseeable way for some people to be saved is doctors and nurses occasionally ignoring the rules. All of the new medical dramas popping up fufill a wish of the American populous. That if you became ill or injured you would not only be able to get the procedures and treatments you need, but that you would also have someone competent who was willing to break and bend rules in order to make sure you live.
Sure Dr House is a jerk, but if something was going horribly wrong with you he is the man you would want to hire.

Right now we are not seeing a lot of sitcoms which show loving families, or Gossip Girl rip offs which focus on being super wealthy, right now we are seeing a huge crop of Medical Dramas. Ok and Vampire related stuff, but I have no idea what that trend means yet.

Back to the point

What does it say about America that right now one of the greatest wishes of it's people is to simply have decent health care?

You know what it says to me, it says that there needs to be some changes made in the system. I am but a simple film snob, so all I can do is give you a link to a place where you can actually make a difference.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/health-care-action-center/?source=feature

I know I know, I'm sorry for turning this post all political, honestly I didn't start out with this intention. Alas I am a selfish blogger. I am currently covered under my Mother's health insurance plan, if for some reason I stop being covered I will be in big trouble. Legally insurance companies have the right to refuse me because of my serious pre-existing illness Lupus (sorry House sometimes it is Lupus), insurance companies also have the right to charge me far more then other people, most likely I will be unable to afford health insurance on my won, without insurance I will also be unable to afford my current medications and doctors visits, and I will without question become extremely ill and be in constant pain.

I promise not to make my blog a political one, but this is an issue that my life literally depends on. So if your a US citizen please at least look at the site and get involved if you can. Donate, Call your Congressmen, sign the dam petition.

True Blood Season 2 Premier Review

Season one of True Blood left us on a bit of a cliff hanger with Tara, Sookie, and the Sherif discovering a body in Merlott's parking lot. Most people believed that the body belonged to Lafayette, because in the book series Lafayette's death is what starts off book two.

I won't give spoilers as to who the body really belongs to but I am very relieved to say it is not Lafayette.

It seems as if Season two of True Blood will be making further departure from the book series, and in a lot of ways I think it is a good thing. In the origional novels Lafayette is a very small character, the creators of the TV series really breathed a lot of life into that character and I'm glad they will be keeping him around for a bit longer. Who knows what other twists and turns will happen this season.

In the book series Jason never gets involved with The Fellowship of the Sun. I'm not sure how I feel about a man-ho former v addict like Jason getting involved with the fellowship, but I'm interested to see how it all plays out. Another change from the books is the newly sired vampire Jessica who simply does not exist in the series, at least not this early on. Those two major changes will undoubtedly impact how the rest of the series turns out, and especially in Jason and Lafayette's case change a lot of what happened in the origional series.

Overall the first episode was quite good, but it felt a tad disjointed, like they were trying to do too many things at once.

Highlight for spoilers

In one tiny little hour True Blood attempted to cover: a murder in Metlotte's Parking lot, Romance between Bill and Sookie, Bills relationship with the new Vamp he made, Lafayette in a fricking dungeon, Tara and the new love interest, Maryanne and Sam's history, Jason getting involved with The Fellowship of the Sun.


Call me crazy, but I feel like things would have run a bit smoother if they only tried to tackle 3-4 of the 7 storylines currently going on.

It still has all the things you love about last season: the romance, the mystery, the supernatural, and of course a certain dark sense of humor; it's all still there. Yet they seem to have gotten into a bit more them most people can chew this season. If anyone watched tonight's episode without watching the previous season they would have been completely lost. But really you can't expect an edgy series like this to baby their audience, so I forgive them. Let's just hope episode two flows a little more smoothly.

The Season two premier "Nothing But the Blood" was entertaining. I wouldn't say that any loose ends from season one got tired up, but a whole host of new questions are on the table. There are a few mysteries that need to be solved this season.

Looks like this is gearing up to be another good season, although I highly suggest that everyone go back and do their homework. If you haven't seen all of season one, or you don't remember it very well I highly recommend another viewing before you jump on in to watching season two.

The Hangover Review

This review is going to be a short one.

The hangover was hilarious. I don't think I went for more then five minutes at any given time without having a good laugh. It's one of those comedies that is greatly enhanced by being in a theater filled with other people who are laughing, so I recommend you go out and see it.

Literally there were so many funny things that happened in this movie I have difficulty thinking of just one. I mean sure was it a little gross and immature at times, but that's par for the course with this type of movie. Naturally here is some cursing, adult situations, drug references, and comic male nudity.

It was kind of like "Superbad" meets "Dude Where's my Car." It's a buddy movie that involves a journey to figure out what the heck happened to them last night. Unlike so many films of it's genre, it has a solid plot that makes sense. There is a ton of random hilarity, but it is all done in a context where it makes sense.

Here is the basic plot. Three friends and one soon to be Brother-In-Law travel out to Vegas for a bachelor party. They get there, pay for a fantastic hotel room and everything is going great. However they wake up the next morning to a completely trashed hotel room, and a host of bizarre problems like the groom to be going missing. They must travel around Vegas trying to figure out what the heck they did last night, and try to find their missing friend, hilarity ensues.

Zach Galifianakis completely stole the show. He played a stupid, odd, but strangely sweet and lovable kind of man. Honestly it's a very hard role to play and only a master of awkward humor like Galifianakis could have pulled it off. Because honestly if the character was played even a little bit more dumb, awkward, or strange everyone would have hated him and it would have ruined a lot of the movie. He played this role to perfection, and I laughed at literally almost everything he said. The other cast members did a great job too.

It's just a really funny movie, go see it if your not too easily offended.

RIP David Carradine

Apparently David Carradine was found dead this morning in a Bangkok hotel. He will be missed.

Carradine is best known for his work on the TV series Kung Fu and his role as Bill in Kill Bill. He has had an extremely prolific career starring in over 200 movie and television projects, he has been a continuously working actor from 1963 till present.

He was also an author. I read his book "The Kill Bill Diaries." On top of being a great actor and martial artist he seemed like a man with great insight and a wonderful sense of humor. If you get a chance (and liked the movie Kill Bill) I highly recommend you pick it up.

My heart goes out to his friends and family. He will be missed, but the body of work he left behind ensure that he will never be forgotten.

100 favorite movies to celebrate my 100th post

What can I say I figured I had to do something a little special for my 100th post, and for some reason the idea of doing a 100th post that had something to do with the number 100 sounded like a good idea to me.

So I am listing 100 of my favorite films. It's a pretty big number and a pretty broad range of films so to keep myself organized I will have 10 films representing 10 different genres (although naturally there is some crossover). I'm not saying that these are the best films ever made but they are some of my absolute favorites. I recommend seeing them if you haven't seen then already.

Making up a list of 100 films is hard enough so I'm not going to explain my choices, feel free to comment and question my decisions though.

Action/Adventure

Lord Of The Rings

Snatch

Kill Bill

Pulp Fiction

Natural Born Killers

Boondock Saints

Dark Knight

Fight Club

Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc

Once Upon a Time in Mexico


Classics

Sunset Boulevard

Singing in the Rain

Gentleman Prefer Blonds

Rebel Without a Cause

Asphalt Jungle

All About Eve

Arsenic and Old Lace

Auntie Maime (The version starring Rosalind Russell)

Jane Eyre

Lawrence of Arabia


Commedy

Monty Python's Holy Grail

40 Year Old Virgin

This is Spinal Tap

Drop Dead Gorgeous

Rat Race

Superbad

Caddyshack

Dogma

A Fish Called Wanda

Young Frankenstein



Drama

Almost Famous

The Deaparted

The Chumscrubber

Dancer in the Dark

Donnie Darko

My House in Umbria

Requiem For a Dream

Virgin Suicides

Waking Life

Eastern Promises


Documentary

Endless Summer

Trekkies

Super High Me

F**k: A Documentary

Sicko

Spellbound

Blue Vynil

The Weather Underground

Grizzly Man

Manufacturing Consent


Foreign

A Very Long Engagement

Life is Beautiful

Carindiru

City of God

Rashimon

Hero

La Haine

Mongol

Run Lola Run

A Band of Outsiders



Kids Movies

Mirror Mask

Surf Ninjas

Labyrith

Three Ninjas

The Mighty Ducks

Enchanted

A Goofy Movie

Newsies

Bed knobs and Broomsticks

Marry Poppins



Romance

True Romance

Moulin Rouge

Don Juan Demarco

When Harry Met Sally

Penelope

I.Q.

Ever After: A Cinderella Story

Chocolate

The Notebook

10 Things I Hate About You


Sci-fi/Horror

Star Wars (Episodes 4-6)

2001 A Space Odyssey

The Matrix

Nightwatch

Stardust

The Fifth Element

The Terminator

Terminator 2 Judgement Day

Willow

Serenity


Other

Please note this category is dedicate to things that could fit in multiple categories (The Graduate could be a classic or a comedy) things that didn't fit in a category listed (Shaun of the Dead), or Cult Classics.

The Graduate

Harold and Maude

Shaun of the Dead

Garden State

The Lost Boys

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Battle Royale

The Crow

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

OMG New Moon Trailer

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD


I offer to you a second by second analysis.

6 Seconds In: the screen final fades away from the rating of the trailer and fades to black. I can hear the fan girls somewhere out there freaking out at this very point of the trailer.


9 Seconds In: There is an ominous boom and a shot of the coastline

13 Seconds In: Bella's crappy truck pulls up and there is a voice over from Bella saying its her birthday. Already I have noticed how ridiculously flat the acting is. Bella wants a birthday kiss, is Edward seriously that much of a prude. Like at this stage of their relationship shouldn't they be able to just kiss each other without it looking really awkward and passionless.

24 Seconds In: Bella and Edward declare their love for each other with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Can they ever just be happy with each other and not all awkward and pouty.


32 Seconds In: The Cullens are throwing a swanky Birthday Party for Bella

43 Seconds In: Bella goes to open a birthday gift and gets a major paper cut. I smell trouble.

46 Seconds In: Jasper fulfills my long time wish and moves in to kill off Bella Swan for good.

49 Seconds In: Edward slams Bella out of the way pretty violently, preventing Jasper. Sadness...

56 Seconds In: Edward begins breaking up with Bella because he is afraid one of his family members will try to eat her again. I am sad they don't show Bella crying hysterically. I can't help but wonder why they are giving away half the plot in the trailer.

1 minute 14 Seconds In: The Black vampire with the sexy accent tells Bella that Edward never really loved her or else he wouldn't have left her. Looks like Bella is going to get eaten, and looks like she is ok with the whole death thing.


1 minute 25 Seconds In: Jump cut to a very built and shirtless Jacob. Suddenly I want to see this movie, and feel guilty about thinking a 17 year old is that hot.

1 minute 27 seconds in: Jacob is suddenly wearing a shirt and jumping away from a house.


1 minute 28 seconds in: The Vampire moves in and looks like he is about to fulfill my wish of killing Bella Swan when soemthing grabs his attention.

1 minute 29 seconds In: Jump cut to Jacob running, there is the sound of a dog snarling whatever could it be?

1 minute 30 seconds in: Bella moves to run away. Snarling scared her but being killed by a vampire doesn't, girl has messed up priorities. Jump Cut to the vampire, Jump cut to Bella yelling for Jacob to run away.


1 minute 33 Seconds In: FURSPLOSION, and I can't stop giggling at the terrible effects.

Honestly I'm thinking they made no attempt at making a decent movie this time. They knew they could grind out any old crap with having to do with Twilight and people would still be lining up to go to it.

A trailer should show the best most exciting parts of the movie if this is all they can come up with this movie will be even worse then the last one.

Vampire Mania: A look at yet another upcoming vampire tv show "The Vampire Diaries"

As stated in previous entries Vampires are the new black. With Twilight and True Blood being such big hits every company out there is trying to get their hands on vampire related projects. Perhaps the most interesting part of the trend for me is that very few people are producing big origional vampire stories, almost all are being based on book series.

Naturally when you make a movie or a tv show based on a book series you automatically have an fan base guaranteed to watch your show. I have talked earlier about the "Anita Blake" series being produced on IFC, I have also learned that the rites to the popular young adult series "House of Night" have been purchased as well; but neither of them are in production just yet.

The newest vampire series is "The Vampire Diaries" being produced by The CW and scheduled to be shown this fall. It is based on a relatively popular series by LJ Smith. When I was younger I was quite a fan of LJ Smith (Specifically the Nightworld and Forbidden Game series) but even at the tender age of 13 I could never could get into Vampire Diaries because I thought they were utter crap.

I know that The Vampire Diaries has an actual fan base, but recently found my old copy of the book and found that it was almost unreadable. I'm being honest here when I say that Twilight and even it's Heroine Bella Swan are both far more likable then what is presented to us in The Vampire Diaries. The TV writers are going to have to change a lot in order for this series to be remotely likable.

The series centers around a giant Mary Sue by the name of Elena. She is the hottest and most popular girl in her high school, she essentially runs the place and has scored of willing minions. She returns home from a summer in Paris and decides to dump her current boyfriend when she sees a super hot guy who just started going to her high school. And OMG the super hot guy turns out to be a vampire, who was in love with a girl who looked just like her many many years ago. And OMG the super hot vampire has a super hot brother who has a grudge against his brother but also desperately wants Mary Sue ... I mean Elena.

Oh did I mention that Elena's best friend and lackey is decedent of Druids and is psychic? Also the boyfriend Elena dumped the minute she saw Mr Sexy fangs has no problems with being dumped, still worships the ground she walks on, and is totally ok in helping her with her plans to seduce Stefan.

I'm not saying the show can't work, because with some rewriting it totally can. If they modernize it a bit (the book came out in 1991 and the fashion descriptions are hilarious), make the characters a bit more likable, and take out some of the more over the top elements it could be good. If they make it a series about a pretty girl who is in a love triangle with vampire brothers it could work out nicely.

Here is the official clips for "The Vampire Diaries"







Already it looks like they are changing a few things. In the book Stefan lived during the Italian Renaissance, but in the trailer he talks about returning home. Elena seems to be less of an annoyingly perfect southern bell, she has no accent and has been changed from blond to brunette. Based on what Elena was writing in her diary I'm bettering the series will focus more on how Elena is dealing with the death of her parents, which is somehow overlooked a bit in the book. Hopefully the series will also get to the dangerous elements faster then the book which spends roughly the first quarter on explaining how Elena is determined to have Stefan.

It looks like it could be a fun series if they do it right, but I'll reserve my judgment till I actually see the first episode.

Angels and Demons Review

There are many things which can cause me to dislike a film. "Angels and Demons" merely happens to hit on one of my pet peves, a film that does not live up to it's full potential.

"Angels and Demons" Tells the story of Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks)a symbologist who gets called in by the Vatican after some strange happenings. There is some evidence that the Illuminati a long gone Anti-Catholic group appears to be reemerging and seeking revenge in violent ways. How violent you ask, I'm taking killing Priests in messed up ways and threatening to blow up all of Vatican City with antimatter. Yea, that kind of Violent. Like the Da Vinci Code Robert Langdon must use his superior brain power to follow a set of clues through lots of churches in order to save the day.

We have talented actors like Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor. We have frickin Ron Howard who has directed some really good films like "A Beautiful Mind", "Apollo 13", and most recently "Frost/Nixon." We even have all the ingredients for an interesting story. The Vatican, conspiracy theories, really twisted murders, and a race against the clock.

"Angels and Demons" has so much going for it, yet none of it comes together in the right way to make a good movie. Is it the worst movie I have ever seen, no, not even close. But all the same it's just an ok movie, when it could be a fantastic movie.

I blame the writers. Yes I know it's based on a book by Dan Brown, and like any snob I have a certain amount of contempt for such an over rated author. However I have to say that the book (I have read roughly half of it) is far better organized then the movie.

I don't know what Ron Howard was thinking, but the opening could have been sequenced a lot better. It starts out with the death of the Pope and a discussion of the traditions surrounding such an event, then it cuts to bad things happening in a Lab somewhere, then it cuts to Tom Hanks in a speedo. It doesn't give you time to care about any of the characters, and it is somewhat confusing as it is not immediately apparent what the Vatican has to do with something being stolen from a Lab. Say what you will about Dan Brown but the man knows how to create a fast paced and enjoyable novel. The movie would have been a lot better if it had began the movie like the book where Tom Hank's character Robert Langdon is brought in to investigate a murder and theft at a Lab, and then moves on to the Vatican. Or if they had been really smart they would started with Langdon giving a lecture at Harvard about the traditions surrounding the death of a Pope, then have him called to investigate stuff.

Another weird change is the order of the movies. The book Angels and Demons predates The Da Vinci Code, however the order of the movies is revered. This causes a major plot conflict. You see if Robert Langdon does all the controversial Da Vinci Code stuff (aka saying that Jesus had kids with Mary Magdalene) before hand why does the Vatican go to him for help. It would have made more sense had they simply made the movie a prequel, as opposed to giving a lame explanation that the Vatican is so desperate for help that they don't care he has put in a lot of work to undermine their religion.

Ok so we will ignore those strange and easily avoided choices and get down to some of the more offensive things about this movie. For one thing Tom Hanks is a great actor, honestly one of the best of his generation and he is not put to good use in this movie. Robert Langdon is a rather flat character, perhaps we are supposed to love him because of his never ending knowledge of trivia. They attempt to give him some depth by having him be an agnostic in a very religious setting, but in the end they don't give Tom Hanks a hell of a lot to work with. The same goes for his side kick, who stands as little more then arm candy throughout the film. The only person who really gets a character in this is Ewan McGreggor, he does a good job but it's not enough to carry the film.

Everything starts out kinda slow, but then 3/4 though the movie everything turns into a pretty cool fast paced action flick. Yet there are some problems. One of the few things I liked about the "The Da Vinci Code" was the way clues would pop out out at you or be all glowey and highlighted. No clues popped out at you but none had to, instead of following some clues that with some thought could be figured out by the audience clues were limited to obscure facts about Vatican city, or statues pointing at stuff. It didn't have the lovely "Blues Clues" for grown up's edge that "The Da Vinci Code" had.

While some of of the clues that the movie followed around the city were rather obscure, the big one was fricking obvious. I mean seriously they put the antimatter in the most obvious place you could possibly put it, and some idiot would have thought to check there before things got all dramatic.

Another problem that I had was the ending. Here Ron Howard made a particularly bad choice in following the book. The movie could have addressed some really deep philosophical stuff like science vs religion, or what constitutes a miracle, or what is faith, or any number of things more important then the finite ending it gave. Instead it goes for a cheap twist at the end, which really did not add to the movie in any way.

Again the movie isn't terrible but it had the potential to be so much better then what it was. It tries to be an intellectual thriller but fails, if you go in expecting a decent action film you will find it. If you go in expecting to find a movie where you have to think to solve things before the characters can, you won't find it unless you know a lot about the art and churches in Vatican City.

It's entertaining, has fantastic production values, and a soundtrack by the always great Hans Zimmer. I'm serious Hans Zimmer saves so many scenes because he managed to write a score that would make anything seem interesting and exciting. If you take just about any song used in "Angels and Demons" and set it against a clip of an old lady drinking tea, you would think that something sinister or interesting was about to happen.

Bottom line: It's ok, it will entertain you, but it's something that you probably don't want to rush out and spend $10 to see.

New Moon Poster

Ok, Ok, Ok, maybe I will suffer through another installment of the Twilight Saga. Last time I was a member of Team James, I was rooting for the bad guy to kill off Bella and Edward just so I wouldn't have to deal with their one dimensionality. This picture may have converted me to be on the side of the wolf pack.

If nothing else it will be interesting to observe fan girls in their natural habitat. I may even attempt to provoke a defensive response from them by yelling "Edward is a pillow Biter!" It should be fun.

Star Trek Review

This weekend I saw "Star Trek" the way God intended on the big screen. And by big screen I mean a really big screen, as in the IMAX experience.

Normally I end with a bottom line statement about the movie in question. But at this moment at time I feel like it deserves to be at the beginning of the post.

Bottom Line: Go see this movie while it's still out at theaters. It is Star Trek at it's best.

This my friends is how you do a prequel. Normally prequels are more boring and predictable then whatever story comes after them. For goodness sakes just look at the monstrosity that was Star Wars Episodes 1-3. You knew what was going to happen, you know who was going to live and die, so there was never any real anxiety. Not to mention you also had worse acting and dialogue. All the flashy new effects just weren't enough to make you ok with Hayden Christensen's unforgivable lack of acting skills, and a whole lot of other problems.

"Star Trek" is the anti-Phantom Menace. It takes place in an alternate reality where someone traveled back in time and has changed the course of events for characters, so you don't know who how things are going to turn out. The acting is infinitely superior to that or the origional Star Trek, and the writing is also very good.

Allow me to nerd out for a minute here. For Star Trek fans there has always been one crucial question: Who is better Kirk or Picard. Many fans side with Picard simply because Patrick Stewart is a much better actor then William Shatner. Now I know that the following statement will probably piss off a lot of Star Trek fans, but in my own humble opinion Chris Pine finally played Kirk the way he was meant to be played. He played a real character that was in many ways larger then life, but he never went too over the top with it. I had always leaned more to the side of being a Picard fan, but this movie made me love Kirk from the moment he stole his step dads car and started blaring the Beastie Boys. While Picards wisdom is something I have a lot of reverence for, I think this new movie converted me to liking Kirk's wild and unconventional style was more badass.

Overall the casting in this movie was fantastic. Literally the casting agent deserves a hug because there was not a single character that I thought could have been cast better. The actors managed to breathe new life into old characters and even managed to keep up accents like the origional cast. I have to say Carl Urban did a great job, I am so happy that after being in so many crappy movies after his success in Lord of The Rings (Pathfinder, Chronicles of Riddick) he finally gets to show that he can in fact act. I also want to say that Zachary Quinto did a great job. As a huge Heroes fan I was a bit concerned that Mr Quinto would be creepy, but have no fear there is not a single hint of Syler in this performance.

The special effects were great, and for once I was actually excited to see the battles in space. In most sci-fi films a scene with space ships fighting is just an excuse to have a pretty light show with lots of special effects. In "Star Trek" these space battles had actual strategy behind them and made sense within the plot.

A big part of my philosophy for writing reviews is that you have to judge a movie for what it is and for what it is trying to be. For a big budget sci-fi prequel this movie literally could not have been any better. I'm not comparing this to "Citizen Cane" or anything, but this movie delivers everything that you want from this type of genre. The alternate reality setting allows for some changes and updates to be done in ways that won't piss of fans from the origional.

All and all I loved it and had no complaints. And for the record that doesn't happen too often with me.

Again I say go see this movie, it is one of those things that was made to be seen on the big screen.