Not your average film blog

Golden Globe Predictions

2009-12-15T22:28:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-11T23:17:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-30T02:33:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-27T02:35:00.000-04:00

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

The Vampire Diaries Review

2009-09-12T23:10:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-08T23:36:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-03T11:07:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-03T00:59:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-02T12:25:00.003-04:00

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.

2009-08-28T01:05:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-21T13:37:00.002-04:00

"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

2009-08-20T00:14:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-17T00:31:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-13T21:58:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-07T23:24:00.006-04:00

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

2009-08-01T18:24:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-29T23:33:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-23T22:41:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-23T19:58:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-18T13:50:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-17T00:06:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-12T19:46:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-30T20:34:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-16T00:04:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-14T23:33:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-06T13:48:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-04T11:00:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-03T11:07:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-01T00:50:00.003-04:00

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"

2009-05-31T20:30:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-20T23:38:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-12T11:51:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-11T00:55:00.003-04:00

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.

Inglorious Bastards Poster Analysis

2009-05-06T19:03:00.007-04:00

Ok, I have said it once and I will say it again, I am a shameless Quentin Tarentino fangirl.

Like all other fans of Mr. Tarentino I am super excited to see Inglorious Bastards when it comes out in theaters in August. Not too long ago he released the Trailer for the film, and now he has begun releasing posers for the movie.

A good movie poster not only tells a story, it becomes more interesting the longer you look at it. Although several movie posters have been released I chose my two favorites for a deeper analysis of what to expect in Inglorious Bastards.

Now I show you exibit A

Once Upon a Time in Nazi occupied France...

Isn't that just a beautiful phrase. That automatically tells you that this movie is a piece of fantasy. A gritty, bloody, and undoubtedly sometimes disturbing fantasy but a fantasy none the less. Because lets face it, most of us would love to kick a bit of Nazi ass.

On the other end of things the poster tells you that it will not be a complete fantasy. Notice the weapon of choice, a knife. In most World War II movies the main focus is on guns and bombs, things that allow you to kill from a distance. There is one Inglorious Bastards poster that features a rifle. As you can see above this poster shows a knife and another one shows a blood soaked baseball bat. These are weapons that you have to get up close and personal to use. On the poster the mans arm is covered in blood, showing that the people in this movie are not afraid to get their hands dirty.

Put those two things together, in a genre already known for favoring gritty realism, with a director that is not afraid to show some violence and we are gearing up for one bloodbath of a film. But remember there is still the promise of "Once upon a time".

Quentin Tarentino will most likely mix very gritty violence, with more fantastical aspects. Think of it in terms of Kill Bill, there will be a lot of blood and guts but a lot of it will happen with an edge of humor or irony which will help it to transcend gritty realism into something else completely.

This is going to be an interesting blend of genres

I give to you now exhibit B

First let me acknowledge how cool it is that this poster is being honest. I'm not talking about Brad Pitt being a bastard, I don't know him and guessing from the amount of charity work he does he is most likely a good person. I'm talking about the fact that they use his real name, not the name of his character in this poster.
Let's face it a lot of times the Star sells the movie. Here they make no pretensions that his face and name are on the poster to do anything but that.

His expression and hairstyle give us a hint that he is going to be a real character. He isn't selling the movie by saying "look at me I'm pretty." No they have made some vague attempts at making him less attractive, like having him push his jaw out to the camera making it look larger then it is. He is selling this as a character, and perhaps he will be acting as more of a character actor in this movie as opposed to being a leading man. But that last bit is just my humble guess.

It's a bit hard to see on the small image I have posted above, but Brad Pit is sporting some serious scars around his neck. This tells us that the character has survived (or will survive) having his throat slit.

Meaning, Brad Pitt's character is most likely a Major hard-ass or a major bad-ass, most likely a bit of both.

I know I can't wait to find out if my predictions are right.

Trailer for True Blood Season 2

2009-05-05T18:08:00.003-04:00

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

2009-05-02T23:49:00.002-04:00

It's that time of the season. The world is getting greener, the birds are singing a little louder, and the sun is shining a little brighter.

It can only mean one thing, the season for big budget action films has almost arrived.

Wolverine seems to be the first of the big budget action flicks to arrive and it's a decent movie.

Now, Wolverine has everything you could hope for in terms of action. There are wonderfully redonkulous fight sequences, good special effects, and as you may have noticed in the trailer there is a scene where wolverine jumps at a Helicopter and takes the whole thing down.

If you walk into the theater expecting to see some really cool fights, stunts, and effects then it is a really fun enjoyable movie.

That being said, it kind of failed in it's other obligations as a film.

You see X-Men, even in comic book form was designed to function as an ensemble cast. Sure some characters like Wolverine have some real back story or emotional depth. Yet it doesn't work very well when you have a feature length film about just one character. Sure we get to see a bit about Sabretooth, Cyclops, and Gambit; but there were so many times in the movie when I was more interested in their back stories then I was with Wolverines.

Don't get me wrong Hugh Jackman is a very competent leading man, I blame this on the scrip and how the writer decided to portray Wolverine.

Wolverine is the ultimate anti-hero. He is rough around the edges, doesn't really play by the rules, and often times he can be a real jerk; and that is what makes it so amazing when you see those few moments where he shows a softer side of Wolverine so special.

Naturally in this movie we are seeing Wolverine before a very major event happened to him in his life, so it is understandable that he his personality may be a bit different and perhaps more mild then usual. We get to see an understandably emo lovey-dovey Wolverine, and I just don't like it. I like Wolverine to be mostly grumpy but humorous, and although we did get some good comebacks from Wolverine there could have been more.

I felt like this movie would have been so much better if they occasionally veered away from the whole Wolverine Angst storyline, and took a break to tell us more about some of the other mutants. Some of the scenes felt forced, as if they had been written very quickly and not very well thought out. There were some plot holes, some places where emotions felt very forced, and some places where things just felt over the

The Bottom Line

This is a very fun entertaining movie to watch, but don't expect to be exactly blown away by Wolverines back story. I recommend watching it with your mind turned off, just enjoy the awesome fight scenes and you will will walk out of the theater a happy camper.

Vampires are the new Black: The Anita Blake TV Show

2009-04-28T23:01:00.003-04:00

Since epic force known as Twilight his the main stream every company has been trying to match or rival it's success. HBO came up with True Blood and had an instant hit. Now the IFC has gotten the rights to turn another popular supernatural book series onto the small screen.

That's right folks the Anita Blake books are coming to the Independent Film Channel sometime in 2010. Honestly I'm surprised the rites to produce this show didn't go to a larger network with more experience making fictional television series. All and all it's a very smart move for IFC. The Anita Blake series has a huge following.

The Anita Blake series is about a woman who lives in an alternate version of earth where all creatures of myths and legends are true, and Vampires have just been made full fledged citizens. Anita is an Animator, a person with the natural ability to raise the dead. She also does side work helping out the cops with supernatural cases and she is also a licensed vampire executioner. Naturally she ends up getting mixed up in all sorts of supernatural politics.

I think a lot of fans are going to be excited about this series. Mainly because it will be starting at the very beginning of the Anita Blake books, way back when they were still kickass supernatural mysteries and not sleezy supernatural romance novels. A lot of fans (including myself) gave up on the series after the content got too racy. I think all of the fans would be happy to return and see the old hardass wise-cracking Anita Blake.

The first few books of the Anita Blake series are really well done enjoyable stories, and I think they will translate very well to TV. I am predicting that this will be a real hit.

The only foreseeable problem (for the first season or two) is that it will be hell trying to do casting for men as good looking as the ones described in the novels. But that's a small problem.

Anyway here is the address to the official press release.

http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Anita/AnitaBlakeRelease.htm

A Clip from Season 2 of True Blood

2009-04-22T16:30:00.001-04:00

I can't say it surprises me, but that's probably because I've read all the books. Never the less looks like we are in for another good season.

Knowing 1/2 review

2009-04-17T00:03:00.004-04:00

A friend asked me to review Knowing, largely because he had watched it and was so utterly disappointed by it that he wanted me to seek verbal revenge on the evil creature known as Nicholas Cage. In some ways I have failed, you see I didn't make it all the way through the movie. I took a bathroom break and never came back "Knowing" that there was no way for the movie to ever redeem itself. A good film critic would have walked back in there and finished their job, but I just didn't feel like it.

Let me start out by saying that I'm biased. I hate Nicholas Cage with a passion. In his very prolific career he has done two good movies (Moon Struck and Raising Arizona)a few decent ones, and many many bad movies. I know that somewhere out there he actually has fans but I just don't get it. He is a mediocre actor at best, his voice is annoying as hell, and honestly if it weren't for the fact that he is a Coppela I don't think he would have a career.

Now if you told me nothing about the movie Knowing and just showed me the first five minutes or so I would be really excited to see this. It starts out in the 50's with a very creepy little girl who frantically writes a series of numbers on a piece of paper due for a time capsule, and ends up disappearing in a basement where she is found with her hands covered in blood (presumably from trying to scratch away at the walls) begging for someone to make it stop.

That right there seems like the beginning to a really cool horror flick. Already I knew that everything from this point on is going to get worse.

Nicholas Cage plays a total loser. To be fair the hero of the story is a mathematician. So right off the bat you kind of expect them to be a bit boring and absent minded. To give him a bit of an edge they decided to make the character a functioning alcoholic, but it doesn't add much flavor to the text. A good actor would be able to make this character somehow relateable or worthy of pity, Nicholas Cage succeeds in neither. His acting for the entire movie has three speeds mumbling with the charisma of a tree stump, overreacting, he can also give a blank stare. A surprising amount of the movie is dedicated to showing Nicholas Cage staring.

One of my major problems with Nicholas Cage movies is that his character always managed to end up as the main character, even if this is not the best perspective to tell the story from. In "Windtalkers", which should have been about the Navajo code talkers who played a crucial role in WWII, they turned it into a movie about Nicholas Cage the white dude who just so happened to be a leader of their unit. Similarly in this movie the story would be a lot better if the movie was more about his son.

There is one scene were there are tons of creepy noises and the kid gets out of bed to see his front yard and a bunch of woodland creatures on fire.

Side note who though of that? They are sick. Sometimes in horror films a lot of fear comes from seeing disturbing images, but a flaming moose was just over the top.

So anyway instead of having the kid scream, or seeing the heart to heart where he tells his Dad that he is seeing and hearing some creepy stuff. They cut to Nicholas Cage in the front yard (which is not on fire) yelling for people to stay away from his house and angrily hitting a tree with a flashlight.

Really doesn't that about say it all. This is not a well thought out movie.

As much as I would like to I can't blame this all on Cage giving a crappy acting performance. The script is terrible, and the general plot idea just seems old and predictable. Nicholas Cages character should come off as being somewhat tortured but heroic, instead he comes off as being insane. Here he is trying to save people, but I still don't like him.

Honestly this piece of overblown garbage is just not worth watching. I mean there exists the possibility that I am wrong and that the movie somehow redeems itself in the end, but I really doubt that.

There are a few random hints of something more then the numbers going on in the background. Shadowey figures in the background, weird noises, and guys randomly pulling over and giving Nicholas Cages kid a black pebble. All of the numbers seem to perfectly correspond with bad things that are happening. But there is no possible way to resolve this movie and not have it be completely lame.

My gut instinct tells me that the writer of this saw "Signs" and read The Bible Code and thought he would blend them in some sort of unholy manner. I am betting that Nicholas Cage ends the movie believing in some sort of fate of higher power, and that all of this scary conspiracy stuff has been leading up to one big statement about spirituality or something like that.

Again I could be wrong. But honestly the movie has dug itself so deep into the reals of crappiness that it can not be saved. Apparently I walked out just before a scene in the subway which is supposed to very well done, but I feel satisfied having seen it in the movie trailer.

Witches, and Vampires, and Goths oh my: A completly inapropriate post for Easter Sunday

2009-04-11T22:50:00.004-04:00

Lets face it for some reason or another vampires are really in right now. The youngins seem to quite entranced by the twilight series and any similar stories. If you are not a teenage girl then your probably not too into the whole vampire thing, and if you are you certainly have better taste then to watch twilight.

Many fans of the vampire genre have turned to HBO's hit series "True Blood." Sadly the second season won't be out till June 14th. Yet have no fear there are plenty of vampire or supernatural series to keep your inner goth tided over till then.

Show:"Buffy The Vampire Slayer"

People of Note: Almost all major characters have gone on to star in popular tv or movie projects, the show is written by Joss Whedon aka that genius behind "Firefly", "Dollhouse", and "Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog"

Supernatural Stuff: Over it's many seasons just about every supernatural creature you can think of appears, but the show mainly focuses on Vampires although expect a fair deal of witches and demons as well.

Overall Review: In the off chance you have never heard of the show allow me to explain. Buffy is a high school student (at the start of the series anyway) who has the power to kick serious ass. Although her role as a slayer is supposed to be secret a few close friends find out and end up helping her. The show is a wonderful blend of comedy, drama, and action. The characters are so well developed that you will most likely end up wishing you were part of the scooby gang. If you have not seen it already you should do so now.

Downsides: Like most sci-fi shows the plot gets a bit more crazy and out there as the seasons wear on.

Bonuses: More funny pop culture references then you can shake a stick at, and there is a musical episode.

Show: Hex

People of Note: There are no big name actors in this show, but don't let that turn you away. The cast does a great job ... for the most part. Actually Michael Fassbender may be a household name in the future he has been in "300", has a role in "Inglorious Bastards", and a few other large projects.

Supernatural Stuff: Witches, Ghosts, and Demons (Nephilim to be exact)

Overall Review: The show is very gothic in nature. There is a witch at a boarding school, although she is pretty she just doesn't fit in with the rich kids at her school. Everything changes when she discovers that she is a witch, the leader of the nephilim wants to be her baby daddy, and wannabe baby daddy ritualistically sacrifices the witches best (and only) friend. The show is suspenseful but has a lot of really funny moments. By far the best and funniest character in the show is Thelma the lesbian ghost, she is what keeps the show running when things get a bit dark.

Downsides: There are a few hilariously bad transformation sequences. Also, you can tell the exact moment in season two where the producers were informed that the show was getting canceled and they decided to make the show as crazy as possible.

Bonuses: Great soundtrack, some hilarious moments thanks to Thelma, and for the gentlemen out there and naturally certain ladies there are some lesbian make out scenes.

Show: Blood Ties

People of Note: No one even remotely famous, but they do a good job.

Supernatural Stuff: Vampires, Demons, and Witches although all sorts of other supernatural characters appear in small roles.

Overall Review: Blood ties is a supernatural cop show, a somewhat cheesy combination I know but it's very enjoyable. Vicki Nelson was a cop who got kicked off the force because she is going blind. Vicki decides to open up her own detective agency and somehow manages to dive headfirst into a supernatural case that ends with her being marked by a demon. The mark gives her some powers, but mostly seems to attract trouble. She meets up with a witch for her secretary, and her partner in crime is Henry Fitzroy the bastard son of Henry the 8th who just happened to be turned into a vampire. The show is just fun to watch. There are a lot of good one liners and great character dynamics. The show is kind of cheesy but it totally embraces that fact so you don't end up minding.

Downsides: There are some historical innacuracies involving the age of Henry Fitzroy that bother me, they talk about how bad Vicki's eyes are getting but her poor vision doesn't seem to effect her, the special effects are kinda lame, and some of the stories aren't very compelling.

Upsides: Some of the dialogue is hilarious, and of the shows mentioned this is easily the least angsty or dark. If you want a slightly cuter and lighter sort of vampire story this is the one for you.

Show: Being Human

People of Note: There is a possibility that the actors in this are big in the UK but I have never seen them before.

Supernatural Stuff: Vampires, Ghosts, and Werewolves

Overall Review: I'll admit it, I've only seen the first three episodes. So far the story is about a ghost, a vampire, and a werewolf that all share an apartment together. Despite such a cute premise the show is pretty dark. It shows how difficult life is when your an outsider, and how much torment you go through when your different. Despite all of the darkness the stories are somewhat compelling and you find yourself wanting to know more about the characters and what is going to happen to them.

Downsides: When I say this show is dark I mean it. The angst level is right up their with an emo kid listening to Dashboard Confessional cutting himself with the shattered pieces of his broken dreams. It's a little depressing. Oh and the way the Werewolf dude screams like a girl every time he transforms is really annoying.

Upsides: Nice production values, fantastic soundtrack, and werewolf transformations aside pretty well acted.

I hope this helps you cope till True Blood returns.

Eminem's New Video " We Made You"

2009-04-07T13:00:00.002-04:00

Ok this isn't Eminems best work, but it's ok. The video pokes fun of all the people whose names got dropped during the song, and adds a few other spoofs in for good measure. Of course the video makes no real sense, nor does it follow any sort of narrative plot; but as far as I can tell neither does the song.

My only real complaint really is more embaressing for me then it is for Eminem. My problem is with the fight sequence where Eminem is dressed up like Spock. Why would Spock be using a traditional Klingon bat'leth, I mean everyone knows Vulcans prefer unarmed combat. All the same I'm sure Spock would use any weapon given to him in a battle, but all the same it bugs me.

Yep I am actually that big of a nerd.

Although I did have to look up the name for the Klingon sword of honor.

Anyway I'm done nerding out for today. Here is the video. Like I said it's ok, but generally I expect a lot more from Eminem. I'm not a big fan of the music but usually his videos are a bit more fun then this, it's like he sacrificed some sense of visual coherence in order to keep the video pace up to his very fast rapping. Again it's ok, it's just not that good.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Review

2009-03-30T22:42:00.004-04:00

I am already starting to feel bad about the review I am about to write. Writing mean things about "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" is a bit like yelling at a kitten. It's so cute, and endearing, and it just wants to be loved. Yet, someone has to be the bad guy, and the Renegade Film Snob is certainly up to that task.

Lets ease on into this review and start with the positives.

As is expected from a network like HBO the series has great production values. The show is actually shot on location in Africa, and some of the scenery is so beautiful it looks like it was shot for the Botswana board of Tourism. The sets are authentic enough to be believable, but they also have a cuteness to them which makes you feel right at home. In some ways it reminds me of "Ugly Betty" it's a heightened and much cuter take on reality.

The cast is wonderful. I can't say enough about Jill Scott and her portrayal of Precious Ramotswe, she caries the entire show. Without her charm and believability the show would be lost. This is not to say that the other characters are poorly acted, but in the first episode they are very charming and well played stock characters. We have the uptight secretary, the gay hairdresser, the love interest, and even a sleazy philandering husband. As this is only the first episode I am going to give this show the benefit of the doubt and hope that more depth is added later.

The soundtrack is also very enjoyable.

Now to the bad stuff.

I have to admit that some of my disappointment with the series is due to my own high expectations. To make things clear I have not read the book series that inspired the show, my expectations came from the network itself. With Networks like HBO you expect things to be edgy. And no, I am not just talking about the sex, violence, and cursing which is often used in excess in HBO series; I am talking about edgy topics and experimental film.

HBO has conquered shows "Carnivale" and "John from Cincinnati" that were far too weird and convoluted for network television. It has also faced off on controversial topics like polygamy with "Big Love" or AIDS with "Angels in America". With it's big budgets and looser holds from the FCC networks like HBO and SHOWTIME are expected to push boundaries, but so far "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" hasn't pushed a single boundary.

I want to make this clear I'm not saying that a show needs to have a lot of violence, and sex, and cursing simply because they can. Point in fact I kind of wish they would tone down the amount sex scenes in "True Blood" but that's another topic entirely.

With a show set in Africa there are a lot of controversial topics that can be addressed, there are lots of experimental film techniques can be used, the show could go through the depths of gritty realism but it doesn't. Africa is a beautiful place and there are a lot of people there who live happy lives, and I'm glad that is represented. But people living happy normal lives anywhere in time or space is most certainly not what I expect when I tune into HBO.

I guess my problem is that the story itself is handled at such a slow and charming pace that I found I wasn't as upset by plot points as I should have been. Maybe I'm jaded from watching so many action and mystery films but there was no suspense for me.

There is a point in the story where Precious must make a long drive alone to a remote village to rescue a kidnapped child from practitioners of evil magic, she fearing that they may have cut off pieces of the child for use in spells. I should have been on the edge of my seat for that part of the show, but I wasn't. Nope I felt calm as I looked out on beautiful African scenery, there was never a doubt in my mind that Precious was going to be ok. Even when her life was threatened by a woman with a machete there was never even a hint that anything bad would actually happen. At least not in my mind.

I get that they are trying to do a cute and quaint slow moving story like the origional novels, but I'm not sure how well that translates to tv. Like many tv watchers I have a short attention span, I want a story that grabs hold of me and keeps me hooked. I'm not a fan of the slice of life cinema, I get to see enough normal human interaction in my own life thank you very much. When I watch something on the screen I want to to be bigger and more exciting then real life, and unfortunately "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" is just cuter and more charming then real life. Which would be great if it had an interesting plot to back it up.

I really hope the rest of the show is done using one hour long episodes. During the course of the two hour pilot episode Precious works on solving four cases at once. I felt like the intertwining of four separate storylines was too much. I am betting that in the books Precious works on solving multiple cases at the same time, but I'm not sure how that works for film. It felt forced, like the director had to work very hard to make them all fit in the same episode. At times it felt very disjointed, I am almost certain I would have liked the story better had it focused on Precious founding her detective agency and then working on just one or two cases.

Another problem that I had with the pilot of "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" is it's preachyness. It's awesome that the show has a proud "traditionally figured" African Woman, but there are times where the show seems to be patting itself on the back for doing just that. There were two or three times in the show where Precious talks about how much she loves Botswana. The first time it happened with the opening made total sense and was great, the other times it came up in the show just seemed preachy. I am sure that Botswana is a great place, and you should be proud of where you are from, but saying it multiple times in the same episode is just annoying. It made a lot of sense to do this on the pilot episode, but if she does two or three speeches a week about how much she loves her country I'm going to get sick of it pretty fast.

Think about it, if the show were about an American detective and we had to listen to one speech a week about how much he loved his country the show would have been canceled already (or at least be horribly reviewed) because that is freaking annoying.

I mean if your going to do a show about a proud African Woman, then do a show on a proud African woman. Let the film speak for itself, let her actions and attitudes speak louder then words, she doesn't need to make a patriotic speech every hour on the hour for the audience to get it and to get why it is important to the character.

As I said at the beginning of this blog, this is a show that just wants to be loved. It is cute, and quaint, with endearing characters in a beautiful setting; but the story needs work. I mean it's a fabulous advertisement for Botswana, because watching this makes me want to visit the country. The plot of "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" is just too slow moving, and has too many plots forced to intertwine to really hold my attention. The characters are cool enough to make me want to come back and watch another show, but if the next episode doesn't wow me I think I will have to find something else to watch on Sunday nights.

Worst Movie Ever

2009-03-23T00:35:00.003-04:00

There are a lot of ways to judge a movie, and most of them can never be fully removed from ones own personal taste. Things that I love in a movie could be things that other people hate and vice versa.

Lists of the best and worst movies ever made are generally speaking pure bullshit. Especially when you consider that each group making these lists has their own agenda, not to mention critics are prone to be swayed by things like historical significance or current popularity. The experts can probably narrow down a range of 50 or so movies to be agreed upon as being the best of the best, but when it comes down to it it's all about how you personally connect with a movie.

Judging the top 10 films of all times and ranking them is a daunting task, but perhaps the more dificult task would be to truly rank the worst films ever made. Some of the worst movies ever made were shown once or twice, and I doubt people too too much care into their preservation. Who knows how many putrid wastes of celluloid have been reduced to ... well ... putrid wastes of celluloid. Never the less every year there seems to be a new movie being ranked as the worst movie ever made.

I can only truly speak for myself when I call "Red Zone Cuba" aka "Nigh Train to Mundo Fine" the worst movie I have ever seen.

The plot is both slow moving and hard to follow. There is no clear explanation or motivation available to justify anything that happens in the movie. The movie has two locations, The actors are so lacking in charisma and talent that it creates a vacuum effectively leaving the audience feeling drained. Perhaps worst of all it fails to be bad in a way that is in no way amusing.

I love watching unintentionally hilarious bad movies. Ed Wood was a master of making films so horrible that they ended up being somewhat charming or comic. "Red Zone Cuba" is not one of those movies. It's just terrible and painful to watch. Even with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version it was damned near impossible for me to sit through.

To give you a good idea of my tolerance for bad movies I am someone who has sat through "Gigli", "I Know Who Killed Me", "Manos Hands of Fate", "Glitter", "Plan 9 From Outerspace", "Kazaam", "Showgirls", and "National Lampoon's Gold Diggers". I managed to sit through all of them, but I could not sit still when I was watching "Red Zone Cuba." I am the ultimate couch potato and have no problem sitting down for a serious movie marathon, but I had to get up and begin cleaning my kitchen because I needed to do something other then simply watching or I was going to hurt someone.

Yep at my Bad Movie wine and cheese party "Red Zone Cuba" easily beat "Bells of Innocence" the Christian-western-horror flick for worst movie. As a matter of fact I have gained a new appreciating for "Bells of Innocence" because at least it has a plot and a few unintentionally hilarious moments.

I do not recommend watching "Red Zone Cuba". It was too painful for me to risk the second watching which would be necessary for me to write an in depth review. So I found the blog of someone crazy enough to write an actual review. http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Red_Zone_Cuba_1966.aspx

I know that saying "don't see this movie" is kind of like saying "don't look down" your first reaction will be to see the movie. Resist that initial reaction, because this movie has zero redeeming qualities.

A Wizard of Oz Remake?

2009-03-11T23:36:00.002-04:00

Ok, there are some things in this world that are sacred. I'm not talking about religion here, I'm talking about pop culture. There are some movies that should never be touched, remade, or tampered with. Remakes should be saved for movies that had a great premise but were poorly executed. Look at the Oceans Eleven series for example, it was based of a crappy Rat Pack movie and turned into something really enjoyable.

Some movies were ok at the time of release but either faded into obscurity or seriously need to be updated so that they can be better understood and related to by modern audiences. "Shop Around the Corner" became "You've Got Mail" and it was a tasteful well done remake.

Yet as I said earlier there are some movies that should never be remade or retouched. In 1998 Gus Van Sant had the audacity to remake the Hitchcock classic "Psycho." Even With Van Sant copying shot for shot what Hitchcock did, including some mistakes from the origional film, but it was not successful. The movie just didn't have the same feel to it. In this case adding color, a new cast, and including a few scenes originally ruled too racy by censors provided no improvement whatsoever. Other remakes like "Planet of The Apes" often to be far less successful then the films they were based off of.

And now we get to the point.

Someone is planning on making a remake of "The Wizard of Oz"

Yep you heard that correctly. The man who directed such films as Deliverance and Exorcist II wants to do a CGI remake of the classic. As you may have guessed he has not directed animated childrens films before. The script is being written up Ron Mita and Jim McClain, the same people who wrote the mildly successful preachy anti-corporate propaganda for tots film "Robots."

But you know what even if this remake was being done by the people at Pixar I'd still be upset. I defy anyone to name a movie as iconic and universally well loved as "The Wizard of Oz." This movie is like a priceless antique it has only gotten more valuable, well loved, and beautiful with age. No one should remake it! Especially if they are writing a version that is remotely true to the origional, and not a complete reimagining like what the Sci-fi channel did with "Tin Man"

Ok so these are early reports and nothing is set in stone. Lets hope the deal falls through before it's scheduled release in the summer of 2010.

I saw the origional report here.

http://wearemoviegeeks.com/2008/11/wizard-of-oz-cg-remake-coming-in-2010/

Watchmen Review

2009-03-09T00:32:00.002-04:00

I suppose I should start out by saying that I have never read the "Watchmen" graphic novel. To be perfectly honest I had never heard of "Watchmen" until I saw the trailer play before Dark Knight. As a film critic I wanted to be able to judge the movie by it's own merit and not have any preconceived expectations from the book.

This is a spoiler free review.

All and all I quite liked "Watchmen". Sure it's got all the action, stunning visuals, nifty gadgets, and gore that you would expect from an action flick but there is more to it then that. It completely subverts the super hero genre and it makes you think, for me that's a good thing.

Normally when you walk into a theater to see a superhero movie you turn off your brain enjoy all of the pretty stunts and special effects. Usually there is some sort of plot twist throw in, but it's normally not something you think about or anything you didn't see coming a mile away.

The movie challenges the viewer to ask themselves: Do the ends justify the means?

There are no clear cut good guys or bad guys. Most of the heroes have mental problems. Really when you ask yourself what type of people would dress up in costumes and act as vigilantes, it's not all that surprising to find that there is something wrong with a lot of the heroes. Even with Silk Spectre II and Nite Owl II who are easily the most well adjusted people in the bunch, you have to question their mental state when you see the sheer brutality they use when fighting.

This brings me to an important point, this is not a movie you should take your kids to. This is one of the most violent movies I have ever seen. Even though you know that many of the things being done aren't physically possible the violence is so jarring that I sometimes found myself looking away from the screen. The violence never looks cartoonish, or fake, and when you see fights they are one on one. There isn't that much gore or blood per se, but some of the violence is kind of jarring.

There are also sex scenes (which by the way I felt went on for far too long), a rape scene, and you see a lot of glowing blue penis in the film.

Side note: I found the naked Dr Manhattan kind of distracting. From a film making stand point it probably would have saved them money in computer animation if they had just kept him in his black speedo the whole time. But I suppose from character development standpoint, if you are as powerful as Dr Manhattan no one can tell you that you have to wear pants.

Ok seriously back to the notes on plot.

The story is quite dense and requires the watcher to pay attention, and even to question the information they are getting. I fell like I could really benefit from from seeing this movie a second time because I'm sure there are a lot of things that I missed. This is not to say that the average person wouldn't understand Wachmen, because they can, I'm just saying the average person will have to keep their brain turned on for the duration of the movie. There is a lot of conspiracy woven into this plot, but boy is it fun to watch it all unfold.

I really liked Watchmen but this movie suffers from an issue that occurs with any movie that makes you think, the ending isn't completely satisfying. There is no big happy Hollywood ending, justice may not be entirely served, but there is closure. This may turn some people off, but I felt it made sense given the nature of the story that this would not end with some giant victory.

There is a whole lot of badassitude in this movie. The characters are fascinating, well developed, and well acted. I particularly loved Rorschach and his unyielding morals, but thats just me. I loved the way background stories and facts on this alternate history were brought into the main plot. I also love that for once in my life I did not fully predict the ending of a movie.

Ok so "Sixth Sense," "Identity", and this one small budget thriller where my werewolf theory proved to be completely off the mark. But seriously I normally predict the ending of movies, hell I even figured out the big plot twist in "Fight Club" half way through.

The plot in "Watchmen" keeps unfolding and evolving further then most action movies, you may have figured out who the "bad guy" is but trust me you haven't figured out how everything is going to go till the very end.

So my basic verdict, go see it if your over the age of 17, and are not completely adverse to violence. This is not your average super hero film, and I mean that in the best way possible.

2009-03-06T15:53:00.001-05:00

Seriously there will be a post soon.

I promise.

Inglorious Bastards Trailer

2009-02-17T15:21:00.003-05:00

The Trailer has arrived.

I can't wait, it's the first time Quentin Tarentino has worked within the WWII genre. It may be a little different then his usual crime, revenge, or exploitation genre work but I have every confidence that this movie will be awesome.

I mean the basic plot line is that there is a unit of American Jews ordered to be extra cruel to scare the crap out of the Germans, who in many ways already fear them. I predict a whole lot of awesome.

RuPaul's Drag Race

2009-02-16T23:31:00.004-05:00

It's Monday night, I should be writing a review of tonight's episode of heroes, yet I find myself uninspired.

So I'm going to write about my new guilty pleasure show, RuPaul's Drag Race. As one might guess from the title it' a show about drag queens, and it is fabulous. When you break it down the show is one part America's Next Top Model and one part Project Runway. Naturally this is a combination bound to stir up some drama.

Unlike America's Next Top Model the most interesting part of the show is not the drama, nor is it about really crazy challenge. The most interesting part of RuPaul's Drag Race is that it allows us to see the real people behind the larger then life on stage character. We get to see them out of costume and get a glimpse of who these people really are, and what kind of work goes into their transformation.

Not to mention RuPaul is one hell of a host. She is witty, full of awesome pop culture references, has tons of style, and unlike a lot of other hosts you can tell that she genuinely cares about the contestants.

Some aspects of the show are over the top, but hey these are drag Queens would we really want it to be any way besides over the top. I didn't think so.

The show airs Monday Nights on LOGO, although I think I have seen repeats on other networks. Anyway I recommend it, especially for people like me who can't wait for the next season of ANTM to begin.

Dollhouse review

2009-02-14T18:41:00.002-05:00

Like many people I was anxious to see the premier of Dollhouse. I wasn't enticed by the sci-fi story line, or the picture in the ads Eliza Dushku wearing only a projection of city lights, no I had been waiting for months to see this for one reason and one reason only Joss Wheadon.

When it comes to TV in Joss Wheadon I trust. I was a huge fan of Buffy, Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, hell I even liked Angel. The shows that he creates are usually great for a few reasons they brilliantly combine comedy with more serious circumstances, he creates lovable characters, serious twists and turns in the plot, and he creates worlds and situations that are very unique.

Well I have to say in terms of the Dollhouse premier, two out of four is kind of ... eh.

Maybe I should back, up if this show was written by someone else I would not be measuring it to such a high standard.

I think the show has a solid premise. There is a place called The Dollhouse where high paying clients can order up exactly what they need for any given situation. The twist is that these "dolls" or "actives" aren't robots, they are real live people that can be programed and erased as desired. At first it sounds kind of fun, you can make a little visit to a big glowing chair and walk out a kung-fu master very Matrix. It's not all fun and games when you realize that the "actives" have had their personalities removed, and it seems that our main character Echo may have been forced into this line of work. A good piece of sci-fi always bring up a few philosophical questions; even if a person agrees to have their personality removed does this violate human rights, alternatively is it possible to ever fully erase someones personality. Echo's behavior while unprogramed closely resembles that of a child, a blank slate but with inclinations and a desire to explore on her own.

You see this is where I hit my main issues thus far. I know it was only the first episode but thus far I have only managed to connect with one character. Boyd, the man who is Echo's handler is the only person thus far with a soul. He shows great care for Echo, he has some sense of morality, and there is a real kind and heroic quality to him. The rest of the workers of the Dollhouse are quite unsympathetic because .... I don't know they are seriously violating human rights? Even the computer geek who has the job of creating and erasing personalities seems to be kind of cruel for the simple reason that he has agreed to take on this job.

I know I know it's only the first episode. I'm sure our leading lady will start developing a personality of her own in a bit, and that we will begin to see other sides of what is going on. But I feel that Joss Wheadon's greatest strength as a writer is giving us characters that we can connect to and so far we can't connect to a bunch of people who run a very shady business, or a bunch of people who have literally had their personalities taken away.

Still as a new Sci-fi show it was pretty good. The plot was a wee bit confusing however for Sci-fi I was willing to overlook it.

I still maintain the highest hopes that this will be a good show, after all it was a good pilot. However I think this may be a small departure from Joss Wheadons normal work, so far it seems as if we are looking at a show with a more serious tone. I didn't laugh once during the pilot, and I completely expected to do so.

If nothing else I will be tuning in next Friday, the show is definitely worth a second watch.

"He's Just Not That Into You" review

2009-02-10T01:31:00.004-05:00

Generally I am the type of girl that hates romantic comedies. I predicted the ending of "Sweet Home Alabama" and walked away after seeing five minutes of it, I nearly fell asleep during "Serendipity", and I have begrudgingly agreed to watch romantic comedies because my female friends wanted to see them.

Much to my surprise "He's Just Not that Into" was quite good. I'd say it was arguably the best romantic comedy I have ever seen.

The story follows the winding paths of peoples love lives which manage to link and intertwine brining a full cast of characters together ... or apart as the case may be.

I found the characters and their situations to be refreshingly realistic. I have known so many girls represented by the characters in this movie. I know the neurotic girl who checked her phone every five minutes in the hopes of receiving a call, I know the beautiful girl who is followed around by a love sick man that she can only feel friendship for, I have known the woman who got cheated on, and really the list could go on from there. Another great thing is that in the end not all stories have a happy ending, although some do manage to work out quite well. The movie really dissects all the myths and foibles people face in the dating world, and breaks them down into some facts (that naturally have a few exceptions)that have a lot of truth to them.

Some people are calling this the perfect date film and I'm not sure I can fully agree to that. This is considerably better then your average romantic comedy, but I'm not sure I can recommend this to men on story alone. I can however recommend this to men as a sort of anthropological study of the modern woman, if you still don't get why women act the way they do this may help you understand how we think a bit better.

The ensemble cast was great. In particularly I loved Ginnifer Goodwin's (best known as Margene in Big Love) portrayal of a very neurotic woman. She is playing the character that any sensible man would describe as being psycho, but she does it in a way that we understand her motivations and are somehow able to be completely sympathetic as she keeps making really stupid mistakes. Drew Barrymore, Kevin Connolly, Scarlett Johansen, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, and Justin Long all put out really enjoyable performances. Hell I even liked Jennifer Aniston, and normally I can't stand her.

It's one of those movies that doesn't rely on too many silly over the top gags to make us laugh, it's funny because it's so real.

I highly recommend seeing it if you have even the slightest tolerance for romantic comedies.

Romantic movies that I don't hate, a Valentines Day Special

2009-02-04T13:36:00.004-05:00

In honor of Valentines day or Singles Awareness Day as I like to call it, I felt it necessary to do a post about some romantic movies that are actually good, and still tolerable to sensible people who hate romantic movies. Of course I had to throw in a few suggestions for those of us who aren't too keen on the Holiday.

Before I begin my list of choices I have a few suggestions. When choosing a movie for rental or general viewing on Valentines day try to keep a few things in mind.

1. Ladies be aware that this day is about love not just about you, don't force your boyfriend to watch some chick flick, it's his day too try to make some sort of compromise in terms of what you will be watching.

2. If you are single do not allow yourself to rent anything that was originally written by Nicholas Sparks (he wrote the origional books for A Walk To Remember, The Notebook, and Nights in Rodanthe) or similarly tear jerking movies. There is nothing worse then sobbing uncontrollably because of a movie, alone in your room on Valentines day.

3. If you are single remember that romance isn't the only typse of love. Invite the single friends or family members that you may have over for a night of drinking, bitching, and movies.

Classic Romantic Suggestions

If you want something traditional and good to watch then this category is for you. I Won't even bother describing these movies if you haven't seen them yet this is an excellent chance to do so.

"Casablanca", "Princess Bride", and the BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice"

For the Hipsters in love

If you like your romance with a healthy doseage of irony and awkwardness these are the movies for you. They are in no way over emotional (at least where love is concerned)and have a very cool sense of humor to them. If you are a guy who can handle indie films then you can handle these films

"Buffalo 66"

What can I say I love Vincent Gallo in this movie. It's a very quirky love story about a guy who is a real loser, but for all it's darker moments the movie is still able to be charming and funny. You also get to see a young Christina Ricci before Hollywood made her slim down to nothing.

"Henry Fool"

Ok, so Henry Fool is more of an indie comedy then a romance. However it does feature the single worst marriage proposal in all of recorded history, and for that reason alone it makes my list.

Romantic Comedies that don't suck

This one is self explanitory, and these movies should all be decent enough for men to sit through them without being ion too much discomfort.

"Romancing the Stone"

A romance novelist gets stuck in Columbia with a rugged soldier of fortune, hilarity and adventure ensues. I know it sounds like something a bit cliche but the movie has enough humor, and adventure elements to keep anyone's interest. It stars Kathleen Turner and Micheal Douglas back when both of them were still hot.

"I.Q."

The movie is essentially based on the idea ... What if Albert Einstein was your wingman? It's adorable, maybe not as guy safe but it's a very clever for a romantic comedy. It stars the late great Walter Matthau as Einstein along with Meg Ryan and Tim Robbins

"Benny And Joon"

Falling in love has to be considerably harder when your a little different, or crazy as the case may be. Johnny Depp is unbelievably charming as a young man obsessed with Buster Keaton, and Joon is well ... a little insane. It's a really cute love story that is actually well written, well thought out, and has some great character development.

"Say anything"

Oh you didn't think I could do a lit like this without mentioning something from John Cusack. It's a classic 80's teen romance. A guy with a great heart but no great ambitions goes after a very smart girl with an overprotective father.

"Gentleman Prefer Blondes"

This is an ideal movie for single women to watch, or dudes that love musicals, you know whatever. It's just a fun classic musical, sure it's a little cheesy but that's all part of the fun. There is some romance, but what makes this a great movie is the humor. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell go out on a cruise ship ... and the men's Olympic team just happens to be there. Ok so not too much happens with the Olympic athletes, Marilyn Monroes character goes for an old dude with a diamond mine (Diamonds are a girls best friend) and Jane Russels character ends up falling for a PI hired to keep an eye on Monroe's character. It's hilarious and the songs are damn catchy.

Valentines Day Movies for Guys

"True Romance"

Don't let the name scare you away this movie was written by Quentin Tarentino, and really isn't that all you need to know. A man falls in love with a hooker, he kills her pimp, and as you may imagine trouble and hilarity ensue. This movie is filled with cameos from a lot of tremendous actors Christian Slater is the lead but you also have appearances by Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Samuel L Jackson, Christopher Walken, and James Gandolfini.

"Brotherhood of the Wolf"

It has all the elements of typical chick flick warning signs. It's French, it's a period piece, there is a romance. However there are also werewolves, lot's of violence, gore, and Monica Bellucci as a kick ass hooker. Somehow the movie still works and is awesome.

The Anti-Valentines Day Movies

Nothing says Anti-Valentines day like truly twisted horror films that are loosely based around love. Be it someone who is looking for love, a couple that wreaks havoc and destruction wherever they go, or the classic revenge film; it's hard to get less romantic then any of these films. So while the rest of the world is thinking about love, you can be horribly disturbed by any of the following films.

"May"

A disturbing psychological horror film based around a girl who is so awkward that none of her relationships work out, so she starts making herself the perfect partner ... mostly out of the people who rejected her.

"Natural Born Killer"

At the very center of this story there is a couple that is deeply in love with each other, they just happen to be serial killers. Really demented and messed up serial killers.

"Teeth"

Do not watch this if you are male. It's about a girl who has very sharp teeth in a very private area, I'll give you one guess about what ends up happening. It's a good movie to watch if you are extremely pissed off at men.

2009 Razzie Awards Rants, Raves, and Predictions

2009-01-25T00:01:00.003-05:00

I am proud to say that I successfully avoided watching almost all of the movies on this list. But hey if I can make predictions for Oscar nominated movies that I haven't seen I am more then qualified to review these wastes of celluloid.

I present to you the nominees for the 2009 Razzie Awards.

WORST PICTURE

* Disaster Movie
* The Happening
* The Hottie and the Nottie
* In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
* The Love Guru
* Meet the Spartans

My Rant: All of these are horrible movies, no arguments there. However they are horrible in completely different ways.

"Disaster Movie" and "Meet the Spartans" are cut from the same cheap and tacky cloth. These movies are made cheaply, quickly, and instead on hiring actual writers they just mash together scenes from other movies and expect us to find them "funny". They know the movies are crap, but they put just enough funny moments in the trailer to trick people into seeing them. The people who make these movies know that they are utter crap.

"The Hottie and the Nottie" fall under a similar category. This was not made to be a hit, it was made to make a profit. Plain and Simple, they knew this was not a great movie when they put it out.

"In the Name of the King" is another disaster by Uwe Boll. He has yet to make a decent movie despite being able to get some pretty good actors in past projects. All the same the man is under the distinct delusion that his movies are great. There is no way to explain the horror that is Uwe Boll.

"The Love Guru" should have been funny. There was a time when Mike Meyers was hilarious. "So I Married an Axe Murderer," "Wayne's World", the "Shrek" movies, and (most of the) the "Austin Powers" series were all hilarious. By all means we expected Mike Meyers to turn out another hit, so the movie was disappointing on several levels.

The one that really makes me sad is "The Happening." I love M Night Shyamalan. Have liked all of his movie up till this point. The beginning premise was a brilliant and origional horror plot. I mean think about it, your out for a walk and all the sudden everyone around you starts committing suicide. Do you have any idea how freaky that would be? You have no idea why the people are doing this to themselves, you wonder how many like you did not off yourself, and you wonder how long you can last without killing yourself. That is a genius premise. But no he had to go and mess it all up by introducing the villain of the movie

Highlight for spoilers

TREES, MOTHER FUCKING TREES are the reason people start committing mass suicide in this movie.

Have you ever heard of anything this stupid? No, I just arrghhh!. This movie had so much potential it he had just explained it in a different way, if he had given no reason at all for why that was happening it would have been better.

My Prediction: Tough call, I think it will come down to "The Love Guru" and "In the Name of the King"

WORST ACTOR

* Larry the Cable Guy, Witless Protection
* Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
* Mike Myers, The Love Guru
* Al Pacino, 88 Minutes and Righteous Kill
* Mark Wahlberg, The Happening and Max Payne

My Rant: I am very sad to see Al Pacino and Mark Wahlberg on this list because normally I love these guys.

My Prediction: I'm going with Larry the Cable Guy. The man is not even an actor. At least in the past everyone else on the list has put fourth a good movie at some other point in their careers.

WORST ACTRESS

* Jessica Alba, The Eye and The Love Guru
* The cast of The Women (Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Meg Ryan)
* Cameron Diaz, What Happens in Vegas
* Paris Hilton, The Hottie and the Nottie
* Kate Hudson, Fools’ Gold and My Best Friend’s Girl

My Rant: There is some stiff competition for this category. I feel like everyone on this list deserves to be here. I'll admit I actually saw "What Happens in Vegas" Cameron Diaz wasn't that terrible in it, she was working with a very bad script. Even if Cameron was as talented as Dame Judy Dench she couldn't have done a damn thing with a script this bad either.

My Prediction: It's sough there are so many people on this list that deserve to suffer. I really like the idea of the entire cast of "The Women" getting the award though.

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

* Uwe Boll (as himself), Uwe Boll’s Postal
* Pierce Brosnan, Mamma Mia!
* Ben Kingsley, The Love Guru and The Wackness
* Burt Reynolds, Deal and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
* Verne Troyer, The Love Guru and Uwe Boll’s Postal

My Rant: From What I understand it wasn't Pierce Brosnan's acting as it was his singing that was difficult to take in this movie. Again it hurts me to see someone of Ben Kingsly's caliber on this list. Apparently Mr Kingsly made out with one of the Olson twins in "The Wackdness" the sheer mental image of that occurring makes me want to vomit, so perhaps I shall not be as lenient with him.

My Prediction: It's so hard to decide. I'm going with Verne Troyer, he isn't a particularly gifted actor and he chose to act in two spectacularly bad movies.

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

* Carmen Electra, Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans
* Paris Hilton, Repo!: The Genetic Opera
* Kim Kardashian, Disaster Movie
* Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
* Leelee Sobieski, 88 Minutes and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

My Rant: Ok brace yourself because this is the only time you will ever hear me praising a Kardashian. In a recent interview Kim Kardashian talked about how happy she was for her Razzie award nod. She knew she made a crappy movie, but she had fun doing it, and she ownes up to the fact that she is a bad actress.

My Prediction: My vote is for Kim Kardashian, she wants the award I say letter have it.

WORST SCREEN COUPLE

* Uwe Boll and Any Actor, Camera or Screenplay
* Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, What Happens in Vegas
* Paris Hilton and either Christin Lakin or Joel David Moore, The Hottie and the Nottie
* Larry the Cable Guy and Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
* Eddie Murphy and Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave

My Rant: I am very amused that Eddie Murphy has terrible on screen chemistry with himself.

My Prediction: Eddy Murphy or Uwe Boll if nothing else because their nominations are funnier.

WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF OR SEQUEL

* The Day the Earth Blowed Up Real Good
* Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans
* Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
* Speed Racer
* Star Wars: The Clone Wars

My Rant: It's a difficult choice. At least Speed Racer looked pretty. I mean it had a great visual style to it, even if everything else in the movie was crap.

My Prediction: Indiana Jones, I'm sorry when you shit on a terrific series like Indiana Jones, you deserve to be punished and get a razzie.

WORST DIRECTOR

* Uwe Boll, 1968: Tunnel Rats, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale and Uwe Boll’s Postal
* Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans
* Tom Putnam, The Hottie and the Nottie
* Marco Schnabel, The Love Guru
* M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening

My Rant: You know how in math you really can't get anything bigger then infinity, despite peoples tendencies to add on other numbers behind it. That is what Uwe Boll is like. He may be worse then Ed Wood, were it not for the fact that he miraculously manages to get good sized budgets for his movies.

My Prediction: Uwe Boll

WORST SCREENPLAY

* Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans
* The Happening
* The Hottie and the Nottie
* In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
* The Love Guru

My Rant: Again this is a very tough decision but I am willing to believe that some of these of these had no real writers, or writers that were forced to throw something together in a week. Only on had a writer that was actually good, or at least had been good in the past.

My Prediction: I have to go with the Happening, I know that M Night Shyamalan sat and spent a long time writing this script and still thought it was a good idea to put the utterly ridiculous twist on the movie.

WORST CAREER ACHIEVEMENT

* Uwe Boll

My Rant: It's about time the man was awarded for his contribution to bad film.

The Complete list of 2009 Oscar nominees: Rants and predictions

2009-01-22T23:50:00.003-05:00

Let me start by saying that I havn't actually seen most of these movies I am basing my predictions off of a few things: knowledge of an actors previous work, knowledge of how previous Academy Award ceremonies have gone, and reading the reviews of other critics.

I present to you the full list of Oscar nominees for the 2009 season.

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

My Rant: Hmmm where did "Revolutionary Road" disappear to? Apparently they did not like that one too much. The Academy Awards are a fickle mistress indeed.

My Prediction: "Slumdog Millionaire" mainly because it swept the Golden Globes. Traditionally foreign films haven't fared too well in this category of the Oscars, but who knows this could be the year.

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Gus Van Sant, Milk

My Rant: Well it seems as if Sam Mendes the director of "Revolutionary Road" has been left out, I am sensing some major snubbage for this film.

My Prediction:I think the award is going to go to Steven Daldry. Generally when it comes down to individuals the Oscar tends to go for people who have done great work in the past and not been recognized. Steven Daldry was nominated for directing "Billy Eliot" and "The Hours." My bet is that his previous near wins for some really brilliant work will score him some votes.

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

My Rant: Up until now I have not heard of "The Visitor" I just watched the trailer and it looks like a really good movie. Yet this is a sign of a big problem. Historically movies campaign to be nominated and voted for. If they don't have enough publicity to get their name really recognized there then there is a chance that they can fall through the cracks.

My Prediction: Sean Penn. Second choice is Brad Pitt, only because Sean Penn has done a lot to piss off the Academy and has not appeared to be very grateful for past recognition. I don't think the Oscar Crowd would go for a relative outsider like Mickey Rourke. Yes he was the underdog at the golden globes and still managed to pull through, however I just don't feel that the Oscars would award him again.

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

My Rant: "Frozen River" is another movie I haven't heard about till now, Quentin Tarentino praised it and really that's all I need to know to want to see a movie.

My Prediction: I think Kate Winslet is going to take this one. People will vote for her because they felt she deserved to be nominated for "Revolutinary Road" not to mention that she has been nominated for Oscars 5 times before and has never won. I think this is her year.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

My Rant: I am happy to see that a movie like "Tropic Thunder" got a nomination, the Oscars are notorious for ignoring comedy.

My Prediction: Heath Ledger, again he deserves it. He poured everything he had into this role, and is completely mesmerizing and terrifying on screen. I will be pissed if anyone else gets it.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

My Rant: Did anyone notice that Kate Winslet won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress in the same role for which she is currently nominated for Leading actress?

My Prediction: It's not so much a prediction as it is a wish. I want Amy Adams to get this one.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River, Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh
Milk, Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

My Rant: It's really hard to judge best screen play when you haven't seen the actual movies. However I have difficulty believing that WALL-E will walk away with the award when most of the dialogue consists of whistles and clicks.

My Prediction: I have narrowed it down to "Happy go lucky" or "In Bruges" they both seem like clever films.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
The Reader, David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

My Rant: Again no nod for "Revolutionary Road" which was adapted from a very highly acclaimed novel. Something fishy is going on here.

My Prediction: I havn't seen any of these I'll just guess and throw out some "Doubt"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

My Rant: I absolutely loved "Kung Fu Panda" but...

My Prediction: The winner will be WALL-E

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory — Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

My Rant: It's impossible to see these movies unless your cool enough to be i the academy or go to all sorts of fancy film festivals. Like seriously could someone make these things available for purchase on iTunes because I would love to see them in more then the 30 second clip they show at the Oscars.

My Prediction: "Oktapodi" why? Because it's title was the most fun to say.

BEST ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

My Rant: Finally a nod for "Revolutionary Road" I was beginning to think they had somehow forgot to put themselves up for consideration in the Oscars.

My Prediction: I'm feeling "Benjamin Button" for this one. It's a story that has to span time, and accomplishing that in a convincing way is always a sign of a great art director.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

My Rant: There is a fair chance that I am rooting for an underdog in this category but I have my reasons. Normally action films get ignored in this category, well unless they were made in China. But I am rooting for "Dark Knight" the simple fact is that they used a better camera then anyone else on this list .... I think. "Dark Knight" was filmed using the super heavy hard to maneuver IMAX camera. Because of sheer technology it's bound to have a clearer picture then the other films however clearer does not always mean better.

My Prediction: "Dark Knight" ok so I'm actually pretty sure it's not going to win, but I can't bring myself to write down another name when the cinematographer sacrificed so much to work with a giant heavy camera in the name of superior quality.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

My Rant: Period pieces almost always win this category

My Prediction: "The Duchess"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

My Rant: Haven't seen or heard of any of these sorry folks.

My Prediction: "Encounters at the End of the World" because it has the most interesting title.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306

My Rant: I havn't seen or heard of these so I can't judge.

My Prediction: "Smile Pinki" again because it has the best name.

BEST EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

My Rant: Film editing is some of the most important tedious work that is done in all of film. I tip my hats to those people who work very long hours in small rooms with fickle equipment. Maybe one day with any luck I will join your ranks.

My Prediction: "Slumdog Millionaire" it's a story with a lot of going back and fourth. In other words a movie with a more obvious editing style, so I think it has a better chance of winning.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

My Rant: Havn't seen any of these

My Prediction: "Waltz with Bashir" because it won the Golden Globe.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

My Rant: see previous rant about short fims

My Prediction: "I'll go with "Auf Der Streke" because it has an interesting name,

BEST MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

My Rant: no rant

My Prediction: I am 100% positive that it is going to "Benjamin Button"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk, Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman
WALL-E, Thomas Newman

My Rant: John Williams has gone three hole years without being nominated. The guy has 45 Oscar Nominations, I'm always surprised to find out when he is not nominated.

My Prediction: "Slumdog Millionaire" some Bollywood tunes are a nice change of pace from John Williams or striped down minimalistic compositions that have been nominated in previous years. I think the Academy will vote for it.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
''Down to Earth,'' WALL-E
''Jai Ho,'' Slumdog Millionaire
''O Saya,'' Slumdog Millionaire

My Rant: I am actually excited to see and hear the nominated songs performed on stage this year. In the past there have been some songs that I really couldn't stand to sit through. I looked up the nominees in this category and I actually liked what I heard.

My Prediction: It's hard to judge when so much of music comes down to personal taste "Jai Ho" was the one I liked best so hopefully it will be the one that wins.

BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

My Rant: I really want "Wanted" to win it was such a cool action flick, and the sound was done very well. You heard every knife swing, every bullet fly by, and sometimes you heard warped voices appropriate to the situation. Personally I really liked the sound design of this film.

My Prediction: The winner will be WALL-E

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

See above coments

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

My Rant: I'm not even sure "Dark Knight" should be nominated for this category, when director Christopher Nolan specifically did as much as possible to avoid using special effects. That being said I think Hellboy got snubbed. The movie had some really spectacular effects in it.

My Prediction: It's between "Iron Man" and "Benjamin Button"

LOST season premier

2009-01-22T00:51:00.002-05:00

I feel even less qualified to write about "LOST" then I am to write about "Heroes." At least with heroes I have been a fan from the beginning and seen each episode in order, making me an expert on the mythology of the series. With a vast knowledge of the heroes universe, I can sometimes I can sidestep my fangirl tendencies and really analyze the shows in an academic fashion.

"Lost" is a horse of a different color. I didn't start watching it for a few years after it first came out, I have missed a lot of episodes, and I have not been cataloging clues obsessively. Without expert knowledge I can't ground myself and analyze the show.

For the whole two hours of the first show I was sitting on the edge of the seat, eyes glued on the screen, and never daring to miss a second of the action by flipping to another channel during commercials.

"Lost" is really exciting because it's one of those shows that not only makes you want to go back and watch old episodes, new meanings can actually be found when you rewatch old episodes. It reveals enough of it's mysteries to make you have "ah-ha" moments, and keeps things murky enough to make you keep watching in the hopes of figuring things out.

I shall do my best to write a spoiler free review ... which with a show like "LOST" means I can't say a hell of a lot.

The new season started off by revealing what happened when the island made the big bloop and disappeared.

Side note somehow I feel as if the producers were inspired by the big mysterious bloop of 1997. Seriously check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop

We also got to see how the Oceanic 6 survived, and some events that occurred before they reached the main land. Story time was split between the island and the Oceanic 6. It seems as if forces are drawing the 6 survivors together, and that somehow it is imperative that they get back to the island. How that's going to happen I don't know. Ben seems to be plotting something, but I have no idea if his intentions are good or bad at the moment. While drama occurs on the main land, people on the island seem to be lost in space ... actually they are lost in time. How this happened, or how it's going to be fixed I have no clue. Apparently three years have passed for the Oceanic 6 while only hours have gone by on the island ... I think...

Somehow it seems as if some sort of church is involved with this, and that they only have 70 hours to get everything fixed or terrible things happen.

Ok so it's complex, I recommend doing homework if you have never seen the show before. But let me tell you this show a great ride. Up's and down's, mystery, drama, action, conspiracy, romance, and all sorts of crazy stuff. It has it all, and even if you don't get every little symbol and nuance of whats going on you can still enjoy the show because the characters are just that compelling.

Bride Wars Review

2009-01-18T22:48:00.002-05:00

I found myself not wanting to write this review. I have to say I really wanted to like "Bride Wars" but it fell short of my expectations. A big part of my philosophy as a critic is that things should be judged by how well they perform in their own genre. All signs pointed to "Bride Wars" being a fun mindless chick flick, so please know I did not have high expectations going into the film.

The biggest disappointment of "Bride Wars" was that the commercials and trailers gave away all of the funniest moments. Perhaps if I headed into the theater not knowing that Anne Hathaway would be orange, or that Kate Hudson would get blue hair, or perhaps if I never saw the clip of the two brides fighting in full wedding gear this movie would have been funnier. I felt like all of it's greatest jokes were thrown away. Yes, there was still a twist in the plot that you would not expect to happen from commercials alone, however I guessed it about 15 minutes into the movie.

There were still some very funny moments to be sure. Kate Hudson is absolutely hilarious in the scene where she goes into the office with blue hair, but I found that I did not laugh very hard during the movie. They say the worst thing you can do as a comedic writer is to write jokes that make people smile, and not laugh. That is precisely what happened in bride wars the jokes made me smile and not laugh. The humor was supposed to come from the women acting crazy and being mean to each other, and a lot of times I just wasn't amused. Some of their more over the top things were funny, like the dance off at the Bachelorette party but most fell short.

Most of my laughter came from the delightfully boisterous group siting sitting in front of me. They saved the viewing experience for me. This was a movie that I would have preferred to see on home whenever it was eventually released to tv, however I would have missed out on some great things.

Like when Kate Hudson's character is presented with a very large and impressive ring, the woman in front of me shouted out a resounding "I'd be like hell yeah nigga." At the other side of the theater was a much more sedate group, so sedate in fact that one of them let out a very loud snore at the climax of the film. The boisterous group in front of me made fun of her, and I enjoyed their cometary on the snoring woman more then I enjoyed any part of the film.

So to the very funny, loud, and awesome group in front of me I thank you.

But back to the actual movie.

I feel that in some ways "Bride Wars" is an interesting comment on society. Specifically how much pressure is put on people to have perfect weddings. In a country where 50% of marriages end in divorce it seems like there is increasing pressure to have a perfect and ornate wedding.

The movie offers us two archetypes of modern day women. Anne Hathaway's character is the doormat, a very nice woman with a very good heart who ends up being pushed around by everyone. For her a wedding partially represents the one day where the focus will be on her, a time where all the love and energy that she has poured into relationships will be rewarded. Although she grows a backbone by the end of the movie Anne Hathaway is so concerned with pleasing others that she wears her mothers wedding dress instead of the one she wants to buy in the hopes it pleases her family.

Kate Hudson's character on the other hand is a high powered bitch, and I mean that in the best way possible. She is still a nice person but she is assertive, she fights for what she wants, and she knows how to look out for herself. To her the wedding is simply an extension of who she is, she is an overachiever so naturally she has the same attitudes in business as she does in planning her own wedding.

In some ways I feel as if this movie wasn't very kind to women. The main characters are neurotic, petty, shallow, and very passive aggressive. However if we view them as caricatures you can't help but see some of the truth in the madness. Many women, myself included, do spend a lot of time dreaming about having a perfect fantasy wedding; this fantasy and this cultural expectation to have large ornate weddings is really a lot of pressure. Enough pressure to make ordinary (please note: most of us aren't nearly this insane) women into bridezillas.

So perhaps at the heart of the movie there was a good message that we should not have so much emphasis placed on one day of our lives when what really matters is love and friendship.

All the same morals, and social commentary aside the movie fell short of my expectations. I really thought I would be laughing more, or that there would be some hilarious moments not shown in the commercials, alas that was not to be.

My final Verdict: Don't pay $10 at your local movie theater to see this. It's worth a rent, especially if you know someone who is about to get married. And please remember this is a real chick flick, it is unlikely that any men will find much enjoyment in this movie.

2009-01-16T15:35:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I really hate my local movie theater. Allow me to show you why I haven't seen many award winning/nominated films this year. Here is tonight's line up at the nearest movie theater (26 Minutes away), currently the selection is worse the usual but that is only due to the lack of decent comedy or action films out at the moment.

My choices tonight are between

"Bedtime Stories"- It looks cute but I'm not paying $10 to see a kids film, especially not a kids film with Adam Sandler. I am still pissed at him for the atrocity that was "8 crazy nights"

"Marley&Me": Spoiler: The Dog dies. Sorry if I ruined it for you but now that you know the ending do you really want to see it. No, there is no way in hell I am watching that.

Paul Blart Mall Cop: No, just no

"Hotel For Dogs": Again it looks like a cute kids film but I'm not paying this much to see it on the big screen.

"My Bloody Valentine": I only like horror films that are so terrible they loose any sense of scariness. This looks like a bad horror film that will probably be a bit scary, and I do not want to spend the evening with 3-d axes flying at my head.

"The Unborn": Does it bother anyone else that "the unborn" twin brother in the commercials looks about 10. If he is the lead girls twin then he should either be an evil fetus, or the exact same age as her. Where in the hell did they decide it made sense to have the unborn magically age half as fast as the living, I don't get it. And I hate scary movies. So that's a big no.

"Bride Wars": This is probably what I will end up going to see, unless I can talk my friend into going to another theater. I like Anne Hathaway, and I keep praying that Kate Hudson will one day show the talent she had in "Almost Famous." It looks like a fun mindless romantic comedy, it should be fun to watch. It is a girls night out after, and this has chick flick written all over it.

The only serious movie at this place is Grand Torino, which I have already promised to see with my Dad, so I can't see that tonight.

If we go to the next closest movie theater (34 minutes away) we have the added options of

"Yes Man": How about, no man. It's one of those things I might watch if it comes on HBO I'm not paying a cent to see that.

"Definace": Actually this looks pretty good.

"Inkheart": Looks like a cool concept, but I find myself weary of anything staring Brendan Frasier. I think I'll wait till this one comes out for rental.

Ah the woes of living in hicksville

EDIT: Expect a review of Bride Wars sometime in the near future.

Reality TV Limbo

2009-01-14T23:28:00.005-05:00

It's that odd time of the season where we are in Television Limbo. All of the scripted shows have ended their fall seasons, but the new spring lineup has yet to start. While I wait for the return of some beloved shows (such as "Big Love", "The Tutors", "Heroes", and many more) I am stuck with nothing to watch except for repeats and reality tv.

Of course the reality shows are the only shows with new episodes. Mama's Boys is quite entertaining for a rather trashy guilty pleasure of a show. I especially enjoy the show when I discuss it with my own mother, who always brings a different perspective to the show then I do.

I also like Superstars of Dance,although I myself am a terrible dancer I love to watch dance. This show is not as good as "So You Think You Can Dance" but it's entertaining and has some really talented people. The show also brings a few things that you would never see anywhere else. I am totally looking forward to the dance off next Monday between the hip hop dance group the Groovaloos from the USA, and a bunch of Shaolin Monks. There is bout to be some mind blowing craziness that occurs with a combo like that .

The American Idol audition episodes are entertaining as always. I never end up watching the finalists compete, for me it's all about getting to see the crazy people who try out. Although I must say I think Simon has gotten nicer sine the show began, and this is not necessarily a good thing. I also think Paula has gotten crazier since the show started but she appears to be having fun, and I kind of want to be on whatever type of happy pills that woman is taking.

There are a lot of shows I just can't bring myself to watch, "Double Shot of love" is just too skanky, "The Bachelor" is just too sappy, "Tool Academy" makes me hate men, and "Rock of Love" Tour Bus makes me hate humanity.

The only other reality show worth watching is "Top Chef". It's one of those positive reality shows that takes really talented people and helps them hone their skills so they can become better. This seasons cast seems to worse then previous seasons in terms of talent, with each challenge there seem to be more people with terrible dishes then there are ones with really great ones. However some of the personalities this season are a bit more exciting, for the first time there seems to be a bit of romance (between two people who were not previously involved), and best of all they have a look alike.

From the beginning I liked Carla and I couldn't quite figure out why. Certainly she seems like a nice woman, she always works well in teams (unlike Stefan), the type of food she makes usually looks pretty good. But that didn't explain the joy I felt whenever I saw her. Tonight it dawned on me, she looked like someone important from my past.

Allow me to demonstrate

She looks like Red my favorite Fraggle. How can you not love someone that looks like a character from "Fraggle Rock".

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to go out and see a new movie, till then it looks like a lot of tv reviews from me. Unless of course someone gives me a topic to rant on. I am always open for suggestions to rant on movies, actors, actresses, directors. If I have seen it I will do my best to rant about it for you.

Kelly Clarksons new song stolen from Sarah McLachlan?

2009-01-13T17:09:00.006-05:00

Ok so I know I'm the renegade film snob, not the renegade music snob.

Every now and again you just see, or in this case hear something that deserves to be reported on. Kelly Clarkson's new single "My Life Would Suck Without You" was leaked/released today. While I am really more of a rock and roll girl myself, I do like a few of Ms Clarkson's songs so I decided to give it a listen. When it started playing I couldn't help but think that I had heard this somewhere before. I knew the notes to the main phrases. I started wracking my brain and I suddenly realized that "My Life Would Suck Without You" was just a very poppy version of "Sweet Surrender" by Sarah McLachlan. Mind you, they probably changed things just enough keep it legal. While some of the phrases are identical the rest of the song is very different. But if you listen to the two songs you will hear a definite similarity.

Here is Kelly Clarksons song

And here is the link to Sarah McLachlans song, because the people at her record company are douche bags who won't let people embed her music videos. I mean we are only promoting the artist by posting their video's online, but hey what can you do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuEsyfTcJI8

Now you may have to give it a minute but you will notice that there are parts of the songs that are very close in terms of the notes sung and phrase length.

Edit: apparently some people are having trouble hearing how they sound alike. First off you have to imagine the Kelly Clarkson song striped down. Focus just on her voice not the annoying background music.

If you listen to the Sarah McLachlan song the specific part where she sings

"I've crossed the last line
From where I can't return
Where every step I took in faith
Betrayed me"

Or a musically similar piece

"Are you an angel
Am I already that gone
I only hope
That I won't disappoint you"

These specific parts of the music are repeated over and over again in the Kelly Clarkson song. Kelly is singing almost the exact same notes in the exact same key, except instead of going up at the end of each phrase she goes down a note or two.

Results of the 2009 Golden Globe Awards

2009-01-11T23:34:00.003-05:00

1. BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

The Nominees are
a. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
b. FROST/NIXON
c. THE READER
d. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
e. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Winner: "Slumdog Millionaire"

My Thoughts: I had no predictions for this category originally as I posted predictions on the 11th and none of the movies (excluding "Slumdog Millionaire" which was not playing anywhere locally) had actually come out at this point. I am very happy that a smaller film like Slumdog won.

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

Nominees
a. ANNE HATHAWAY – RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
b. ANGELINA JOLIE – CHANGELING
c. MERYL STREEP – DOUBT
d. KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME)
e. KATE WINSLET – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

The Winner is Kate Winslet

Comments: See above comment about none of the films being out at the time I made my predictions, add to it the fact that I have difficulty working up the will to see movies that look as depressing as these ones happen to. However I love Kate Winslet, and I am very happy for her.

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

a. LEONARDO DICAPRIO – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
b. FRANK LANGELLA – FROST/NIXON
c. SEAN PENN – MILK
d. BRAD PITT – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
e. MICKEY ROURKE – THE WRESTLER

Winner: Mickey Rourke

Comments: I honestly thought that Sean Penn was going to win this. My second bet was on Brad Pitt, and I doubt anyone would deny that tonight the long shot won the race. For the record Mickey Rourke still scares me a bit, but I'm glad his career is .... well a career again.

4. BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. BURN AFTER READING
b. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
c. IN BRUGES
d. MAMMA MIA!
e. VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

The Winner is: Vicky Christina Barcelona

Comments: I didn't see any of these so I had no real opinion. I really want to see most of them, except for the winner. Why you ask, because Javier Bardem looks like a caveman. Again I kind of wish Tropic Thunder had been nominated because it was hilarious, and it was also a pretty brilliant satire on Hollywood.

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

a. REBECCA HALL – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
b. SALLY HAWKINS – HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
c. FRANCES MCDORMAND – BURN AFTER READING
d. MERYL STREEP – MAMMA MIA!
e. EMMA THOMPSON – LAST CHANCE HARVEY

Winner: Sally Hawkins

Comments: I did not get to see any of these movies, however I always love it when a relative unknown wins the prize. I couldn't help but be moved when she gave her speech because you could tell she absolutely did not expect to win this.

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

a. JAVIER BARDEM – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
b. COLIN FARRELL – IN BRUGES
c. JAMES FRANCO – PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
d. BRENDAN GLEESON – IN BRUGES
e. DUSTIN HOFFMAN – LAST CHANCE HARVEY

Winner: Colin Farrel

My Comments on this Category: I have to admit I was really rooting for James Franco here, I knew the odds were against a stoner comedy walking away with any serious awards but I couldn't help but hope. Anyway I am glad that Colin Farrell has won his first serious (in my own opinion Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmy's, Screen Actors Guild Awards, or Critics Choice awards) American award. Maybe now he will start showing off his talent and stop making things like "Miami Vice"

7. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

a. BOLT
b. KUNG FU PANDA
c. WALL-E

Winner: WALL-E

My comments: Yes, I correctly predicted this one. Although I admitted that I personally was rooting for "Kung Fu Panda" I knew Wall-E had this one in the bag.

8. BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

a. THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (GERMANY)
(DER BAADER MEINHOF KOMPLEX)
b. EVERLASTING MOMENTS (SWEDEN/DENMARK)
(MARIA LARSSONS EVIGA ÖGONBLICK)
c. GOMORRAH (ITALY)
(GOMORRA)
d. I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (FRANCE)
(IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME)
e. WALTZ WITH BASHIR (ISRAEL)

Winner: Waltz With Bashir

My Comments on this category: I haven't seen or heard of any of these before the nominations so I can't comment, sorry. However I will say that I was moved by the speech given, the director (or possibly producer) said that he truly wished that by the time the children born during the making of this film grew up the film would seem very ancient and outdated.

9. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
a. AMY ADAMS – DOUBT
b. PENELOPE CRUZ – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
c. VIOLA DAVIS –DOUBT
d. MARISA TOMEI – THE WRESTLER
e. KATE WINSLET – THE READER

Winner: Kate Winslet

My Comments on this category: I was rooting for several actresses in this category, and I must say I was happy that one of the three I was rooting for won. It was a big night for Mrs Winslet.

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

a. TOM CRUISE – TROPIC THUNDER
b. ROBERT DOWNEY JR. –TROPIC THUNDER
c. RALPH FIENNES – THE DUCHESS
d. PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – DOUBT
e. HEATH LEDGER – THE DARK KNIGHT

Winner: Heath Ledger

Comments: Originally I said that I will be angry if anyone but Heath Ledger wins this, fortunately the Hollywood foreign press has not let me down. Heath Deserved this award.

11. BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE

a. DANNY BOYLE – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
b. STEPHEN DALDRY – THE READER
c. DAVID FINCHER – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
d. RON HOWARD – FROST/NIXON
e. SAM MENDES – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

Winner: Danny Boyle

My Comments: I hadn't seen any of these so I couldn't have any opinions. But I am very glad to see that Slumdog was so successful tonight.

12. BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE

a. SIMON BEAUFOY – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
b. DAVID HARE – THE READER
c. PETER MORGAN – FROST/NIXON
d. ERIC ROTH – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN
e. JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY – DOUBT

Winner: Simon Beaufoy "Slumdog Millionaire"

Comments: See above comment.

13. BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE

a. ALEXANDRE DESPLAT –THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
b. CLINT EASTWOOD – CHANGELING
c. JAMES NEWTON HOWARD – DEFIANCE
d. A. R. RAHMAN – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
e. HANS ZIMMER – FROST/NIXON

Winner: A. R. Rahman Slumdog Millionaire

Comments: see above comment

14. BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE

a. “DOWN TO EARTH” — WALL-E
Music by: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman
Lyrics by: Peter Gabriel
b. “GRAN TORINO” — GRAN TORINO
Music by: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
Lyrics by: Jamie Cullum
c. “I THOUGHT I LOST YOU” — BOLT
Music & Lyrics by: Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele
d. “ONCE IN A LIFETIME” — CADILLAC RECORDS
Music & Lyrics by: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street
e. “THE WRESTLER” — THE WRESTLER
Music & Lyrics by: Bruce Springsteen

Winner: The Boss, Bruce Springsteen

My Comments on this Category: I can't really comment once again.

15. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. DEXTER (SHOWTIME)
b. HOUSE (FOX)
c. IN TREATMENT (HBO)
d. MAD MEN (AMC)
e. TRUE BLOOD (HBO)

Winner: Mad Men

My Comments on this Category: I was really rooting for True Blood, instead the award went to a show I really don't watch. Maybe I will have to start watching Mad Men because I have only heard good things about it, then again I don't know a single person who watches it.

16. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. SALLY FIELD – BROTHERS AND SISTERS
b. MARISKA HARGITAY –LAW AND ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
c. JANUARY JONES – MAD MEN
d. ANNA PAQUIN – TRUE BLOOD
e. KYRA SEDGWICK – THE CLOSER

Winner: Anna Paquin

My Comments on this Category: I didn't predict this one but I was really rooting for Anna Paquin. Sookie is a character with a lot of layers, and she did a great job.

17. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. GABRIEL BYRNE – IN TREATMENT
b. MICHAEL C. HALL – DEXTER
c. JON HAMM – MAD MEN
d. HUGH LAURIE – HOUSE
e. JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS – THE TUDORS

Winner: Gabriel Byrne

My Comments on this section: Eh it didn't go to my favorite shows, but I haven't seen in Treatment so I can't really complain.

18. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. 30 ROCK (NBC)
b. CALIFORNICATION (SHOWTIME)
c. ENTOURAGE (HBO)
d. THE OFFICE (NBC)
e. WEEDS (SHOWTIME)

Winner: 30 Rock
Winner: Best Speech of the night: Tracy Morgan

My Comments on this Category: I'm not too surprised with the result here. 30 rock is a good show, however I still think "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" deserved a nomination.

19.BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. CHRISTINA APPLEGATE – SAMANTHA WHO?
b. AMERICA FERRERA – UGLY BETTY
c. TINA FEY – 30 ROCK
d. DEBRA MESSING – THE STARTER WIFE
e. MARY-LOUISE PARKER – WEEDS

Winner: Tina Fey
Winner: Second Best Speech of the night

My Comments on this Category: I had no favorite i this category as I really like all of the actresses. I'm glad Tina Fey got it, she gave a very fun speech.

20. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. ALEC BALDWIN – 30 ROCK
b. STEVE CARELL – THE OFFICE
c. KEVIN CONNOLLY – ENTOURAGE
d. DAVID DUCHOVNY – CALIFORNICATION
e. TONY SHALHOUB – MONK

Winner: Alec Baldwin

My Comments on this section: I was rooting for Alec Baldwin, and he got it. So I'm happy.

21. BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. A RAISIN IN THE SUN (ABC)
Sony Pictures Television, Storyline Entertainment, and Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment
b. BERNARD AND DORIS (HBO
Trigger Street Independent Productions in association with Little Bird and Chicago Films and HBO Films
c. CRANFORD (PBS)
A Co-Production of BBC and WGBH Boston.
d. JOHN ADAMS (HBO)
Playtone in association with HBO Films
e. RECOUNT (HBO)
Spring Creek/Mirage Productions in association with Trigger Street Productions, Everyman Pictures and HBO Films

Winner: John Adams

My Comments in this Category: Haven't seen any of these so I couldn't really have an opinion.

22. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. JUDI DENCH – CRANFORD
b. CATHERINE KEENER – AN AMERICAN CRIME
c. LAURA LINNEY – JOHN ADAMS
d. SHIRLEY MACLAINE – COCO CHANEL
e. SUSAN SARANDON – BERNARD AND DORIS

Winner: Laura Linney

My Comments in this Category: Haven't seen any of these so I couldn't form opinions. However I have liked Laura Linney in just about everything I have seen her in, I'm glad her work has finally gotten recognized.

23. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. RALPH FIENNES – BERNARD AND DORIS
b. PAUL GIAMATTI – JOHN ADAMS
c. KEVIN SPACEY – RECOUNT
d. KIEFER SUTHERLAND – 24: REDEMPTION
e. TOM WILKINSON – RECOUNT

Winner: Paul Giamatti

My Comments in this Category: Haven't seen any of these so I had no opinion.

24. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. EILEEN ATKINS – CRANFORD
b. LAURA DERN – RECOUNT
c. MELISSA GEORGE – IN TREATMENT
d. RACHEL GRIFFITHS – BROTHERS AND SISTERS
e. DIANNE WIEST – IN TREATMENT

Winner: Laura Dern

My Comments in this Category: Haven't seen any of these, nor do I know any of the actresses other work so I have no opinion.

25. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. NEIL PATRICK HARRIS – HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
b. DENIS LEARY – RECOUNT
c. JEREMY PIVEN – ENTOURAGE
d. BLAIR UNDERWOOD – IN TREATMENT
e. TOM WILKINSON – JOHN ADAMS

Winner: Tom Wilkinson

Comments: Again I haven't seen any of these so I had no opinion.

Please note when I say I have no opinion it's not meant as a negative or a cut on the award winners in any way shape of form. It's a genuine neutral. I just don't know enough to form an opinion on the subject.

Hopefully I'll be able to get out and see a few more movies before the Oscars roll around. That way I can be a better judge, although the Golden Globes do tend to be a good predictor for who will win the Oscars.

Asian Dramas

2009-01-10T14:47:00.002-05:00

Recently I have become addicted to Asian Dramas. I love them. They are every bit as formulaic, sappy, and predictable as our own soap operas; however they function in a completely different way. Unlike US soap operas they have no evil twins (that I have found yet), most seem to center around high school or college aged people, and they do not have any serious love scenes. It's actually quite refreshing to see a show where the main couple don't even kiss till half way trhough the series (if they are lucky).

Of course they still have a lot of drama. Backstabbing friends, kidnappings, people loosing their jobs, and all sorts of crazy things happen to make things difficult for the main couple to get together. It's also interesting to see how romance (and all other sorts of relationships) develop in a culture that is not as emotionally expressive. All the emotion is still there it's just expressed a lot differently, the actors in Asian dramas have to be a lot more skilled then their American counterparts. Maybe it's just the shows I have been watching but a lot of the male romantic leads seems to have a serious case of the Mr Darcys. That is to say a lot of them are rich men, who are complete jerks, who end up being really good guys in the end.

The shows are a little cartoonish, sappy, and predictable; however they are completely addictive and enjoyable. I don't think I can can say enough about how these dramas, put American Romantic comedies to shame. So if you have yet to try watching an Asian Drama yet, here is a list of Renegade Film Snob approved Asian Dramas. I have probably listed some of these before but there are some new additions.

"Goong" or "Princess Hours"

An average Korean girl finds out that she will marry into the Korean Royal family. Hilarity ensues.

"Romantic Princess"

A girl suddenly finds out that she is the Grandaughter of the richest man in all of Asia.

"Devil Beside You"

A girl accidentally gives her love not to the wrong the wrong guy, and by wrong guy I mean the biggest trouble maker in the whole school. The twist, he really likes her, but he has an odd way of showing it.

"Silence"

A girl becomes mute after she is involved with a terrible accident, while she spends time in a hospital she meets a boy. The two become best friends and promise to meet again a few years later on, and the rest is history.

"Zettai Kareshi" or "Absolute Boyfriend"

A woman who aspires to be a pastry chef gets involved in some trouble. She thinks she is signing up for some sort of matchmaking services, but instead gets herself a prototype sexy boyfriend robot. Hilarity ensues.

"Hana Yori Dango" or "Boys Before Flowers"

There is a girl from a poor family who attends a school for very rich and cruel students. The school is controlled by a group of guys who call themselves F4 (Flower 4) their leader is a vengeful and violent person who gives students red cards if they offend him, causing everyone in the school to give this person a beating. The girl in question ends up getting a red card, and somehow this still ends up being a romance. The show also has a second season.

"Summer X Summer"

A girl falls in love with a very bratty model. Hilarity ensues. The show starts out kinds rough, but hang in there it gets a lot better.

"Witch Yoo Hee"

There is a serious business woman with the reputation for being a real witch. She keeps going through housekeepers who can't take her attitude, until she literally runs into a man who agrees to be her house keeper in order to pay off the debt he owes her for the damage he did to her car.

There are tons and tons of shows that I have yet to watch, as I am just starting to discover Asian Drama. So go out and explore, you may find a show you really like.

All of the shows are available on streaming video (and more importantly for many of us, with English subs) at the amazing http://www.mysoju.com/

"Valkyrie" Review

2009-01-06T22:28:00.003-05:00

Over a month ago I trashed "Valkyrie" naturally at this point I had not seen the movie, yet from the trailers and some research on the actual history of operation Valkyrie I knew there would be a few problems.

To Recap what I ranted about in my previous post on "Valkyrie"

1. The movie should have been made in German, with a mostly German Cast. It's not our story to tell. In the name of historical accuracy, as well as in honor of the brave people who risked everything to help out in this operation it should be told in German.

2. The director Bryan Singer was not the best choice to direct a serious World War II drama. Just so you understand why he is not up to the challenge of directing a movie like this, his previous works include "X-Men", "X2", and "Superman Returns."

3. Tom Cruise, really need I say more. At one point in his life he showed talent as an actor, however his performances lately have been lacking. While he can still turn out a great performance as a comic character (he did do a great job in Tropic Thunder) or as a romantic lead, he can't handle a role this intense.

And folks, let me tell you I was completely right.

Now it started out ok. Point in fact I was impressed with the directors solution to the language problem. He started out with title cards in German (First there was a very cool retro style screen with the Valkyrie, and then the oath taken by all Nazi's)which fade into English. The first few lines of the movie are delivered by Tom Cruise in German and then, there is sort of a cross fade into English. It's basically telling the audience "Hey pretend everything is really being said in German, we just faded into English for you."

Throughout the movie you would also hear unimportant background conversations being said in German. It's a good solution to the problem, however it's still not a movie in German, try harder. On the same subject it really annoyed me that all of the actors in the film spoke with different accents. If you must do a movie about German history in English then decide on a fricking accent. Have all the actors speak with an American accent, an English accent, or a German accent not everyone speaking in their native accent all willy-nilly.

Enough of bitching about the language issues I must continue on with the rest of the movie.

The Director made another smart choice with the opening of the film, he opened it in North Africa. Not only did it give us background on how Claus Von Stauffenberg got the badass eye patch (amongst other injuries), it tells us that he was pretty rebellious in the past to get sent down there in the first place, but thats not all. The really brilliant thing about starting the movie out in North Africa is that they don't look like Nazi's. That's right when we are first introduced to our hero we are in a desert area where there are few if any swastikas and the uniforms look different then ones we are used to seeing. So we are set up to see this guy as someone who is not a Nazi, despite the fact that he will be wearing a uniform for the majority of the film.

So those were the two good choices the director made. I will also go on to say the costuming and cinematography were don't quite competently, the Hitler look alike was quite good, the actual history was followed closer (note I mean it was closer not 100% accurate) to the actual history then I expected, and Eddy Izzard was arguably the best actor in the film.

Now that that's over with. Hold on to your hats folks because this is the part of the review where I begin getting mean.

It doesn't matter what genre, what time period, or whats going on in a movie we need to connect to the characters emotionally in order for us to relate to a story, and more importantly for us to be able to internalize our experience with the movie.

The single biggest flaw in "Valkyrie" is that you don't feel connected with any of the characters. The movie is severely lacking in emotion, there were only two or three times in the movie when anyone was acting as something other then a very strong manly man. The movie ran over the events, somehow forgetting to add a human element to the story. If this story was told properly I should have been crying my eyes out at the end of the movie when all of them were being executed, or committing suicide. I'm going to be honest here, it does not take much to make me cry at a movie, but I did not shed a single tear at Valkyrie. I mean this was a story about really heroic men, who risked everything to do what was right, and despite their best efforts they did not succede and evil prevailed for a bit longer. That should make me cry.

The director made a very poor choice in choosing to show us only heroes, instead of showing us men. Of course we know that they were brave for dong what they did, but all we saw was bravery. While the movie did a good job at building suspense we didn't see moments where the men were softer and joking around, we did not see them really interact with their family, and for the most part we didn't even see them show true fear.

Maybe I should make that last statement a bit clearer. Eddy Izzard was the only man in the entire cast that seemed like he was going to chicken out, the only man that seemed terrified to be taking part in this, the only person with real weakness. Everyone else shows a small range of emotion from confident, to worried, to somewhat miffed. Tom Cruise retains the same strong expression for almost the entire film, we never see the fear, we never see real anger, we never see a moment where he thinks he is going to fail until the very end and even then he has his head held up high. For those of you that have seen the movie take a look at one of the last shots, the expression Tom Cruise shows when he is supposed to be dead is the same one he shows during every other sequence.

We see attempts to put some emotion into the film we see a brief moment where Von Strauffenberg is at home with the kids, but he does not really interact with them. Instead of staying with the the Von Strauffenberg family as they are together for a rare scene huddled in a bomb shelter, the director chooses to spend a lot of time on a record player playing "Flight of the Valkyries" which just so happened to turn on when the city was getting bombed. The smarter choice would have been to use the time to show him as a great father comforting his kids and wife as bombings went on around them, but instead he decides to show a possible way Claus Von Strauffenberg came up with the idea of Operation Valkyrie. There is another time when we see his wife run back and give him a passionate kiss before she leaves (in one of the few emotional moments of the movie) but we barely even see his face as Tom Cruise once again gives the same "I'm a strong manly man" expression. Throughout the movie he keeps trying to get a call through to his family but we never hear the urgency in his voice, we never see the moment where he realizes he will never see his family again. There are ways to play a very strong character who reveals little of what they really feel, but this is not it. We never see a hint of what is going on in the mans head, we never see a softened expression in his eyes.

In short all we see is the invulnerable bronze statue of a perfect hero, when what we should be seeing is a great man who did great things but still had his moments of weakness. At the start of the film there is a scene in a church where motives are spoon fed to us in very pretty lines about why Von Strauffenberg is doing what he is doing, it is not really revisited or expanded upon. This move made a big mistake when they gave us a few good lines to tell us what was going on instead of actually showing us the more emotional and intellectual aspects of the film.

If the Director did not feel comfortable making this an emotional epic, then he could have gone another path and made this a super paranoid thriller. I mean you have all the workings for one rebellion in a repressive regime, the good guys and the bad guys wear the same uniform, you never know who will turn on you. But wait that would involve the ability to show emotion on screen as well, guess it was out of the question for this director after all.

On second thought maybe the greatest flaw of the film was Tom Cruise himself. To use the words of another critic he gave a "Distractingly bad" performance. It was a true one note performance with a piece that had the potential to be a fricking symphony. Not only did he play Von Strauffenberg as a man who showed no emotion, he also played him without a hint of subtlety. There is a scene in an office where they are talking about very treasonous stuff, and the other actors are trying to speak with double meanings, Tom cruise just speaks as if he is having a normal conversation. There is a part in the movie where Tom Cruise turns to another character and basically says "I'm involved in serious acts of treason, you in?" I mean seriously if Von Strauffenberg was that blunt he would have been killed long before operation Valkyrie. I'm sure he was an honest and honorable man who didn't like to lie or be dishonest, but if your involved in a rebellion against an evil overlord, you have to be smart about it and tell half truths, or spend a lot of time figuring out who is trustworthy sometimes.

I have to say the sound in the movie was poorly done. When a soundtrack is well done it should be completely invisible, except for the few moments when we need music to take over and really show emotion. Often I found myself distracted by the soundtrack, I could hear it trying to make me feel something during the scenes but it never accomplished it's task. This is a movie with a lot of whispering, sometimes the background noises during the scenes really took over and it was difficult to focus in on what was being said. The very emotional last words spoken by Claus Von Strauffenberg "Long live Sacred Germany" should have been packed with emotion, instead they were shouted out so quickly you could barely understand them.

I am being really harsh here because this was a story with so much potential. Nothing pisses me off more then something with tremendous potential that does not live up to even half of it's worth. Instead of creating a movie that was emotional and inspirational, there was a movie just suspenseful enough to keep your attention.
There is so much that could have been done with the story of a truly great man, instead "Valkyrie" passes by as a tolerable suspense movie.

I can't say I was truly disappointed because I predicted it would be bad, but after doing some research on the real Operation Valkyrie I have to say that the brave men and women who took part in this deserved a better story.

2009-01-03T14:38:00.002-05:00

Seriously readers, I will stop being lazy and update soon.

Hang in there folks The RenegadeFilmSnob never goes away for too long.

A look at TV in early 2009

2008-12-29T16:57:00.004-05:00

Sorry there have not been many posts lately. I have been too busy to go out to the movies lately, and as many of you know nothing is on tv at the moment.

A few of my favorite premium channel shows like "True Blood", "Dexter", and "Entourage" won't be coming back till late summer or fall. My favorite comedy series "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" won't be returning till next year. A few of my other favorites like "Heroes" and "Gossip Girl" are out for another week or so.

A few old favorites are coming back again for another season in a few weeks. I can't wait to see new episodes of "The Tudors", "Big Love", and "Lost". Hell I'll even admit it I am excited to watch the first few episodes of "American Idol" so I can watch as they weed through the really horrible crazy people.

Yet there are some brand new shows to look forward to.

On showtime there is a very promising show called "United States of Tara." It's written by Diablo Cody (best known as the writer of "Juno")and from what I have read seems to be a very quirky and fun show. It's about a woman with multiple personality disorder, although it is a highly controversial diagnosis it does make for some great tv. I fully intend to watch it when it premiers on January 18th.

Before I list any other descriptions for the next show on my list just let me say this, Joss Whedon. Really that alone should have been enough to sell you on the idea of "Dollhouse". The premise sounds a bit stupid, it's about people with altered DNA who have their memories regularly wiped clean or imprinted with false memories so that they an complete tasks. It's sounds a bit close to the current show "My Own Worst Enemy" but I trust that anything put out by Whedon will have excellent writing, unlike "My own Worst Enemy." But really who would think that a space western, a show about a cheerleader fighting vampires, or a musical about super villains could be good. I have faith in Joss Whedon, I will see anything he makes. "Dollhouse" premiers February 13th.

NBC is putting out a show called "Kings" a modern day retelling of the story of King David. I don't know, I mean I already know it's good story but I'm not sure how it will translate. Honestly from the trailer it looks like they are taking this show a bit too seriously, I mean obviously it's a serious drama but I get the feeling that they are going to get pretty pretentious with this one. I have a personal pet peve with any movie or show that takes itself too seriously, any show that sets out thinking it is the best show ever created or that it is a show that will change lives (excluding shows like Extreme Home Makeover where they actually do change lives)automatically has me annoyed. We shall have to see how it turns out. It won't be out until March 19th, but It seems epic enough to attempt watching it.

None of the other upcoming new shows seemed to impress me enough to temp me into watching.

I think "Harpers Isand" could be kind of a fun show because it's essentially a horror tv show. One of the characters gets killed off each week. If they add the right amount of cheesiness into this show it could end up being quite enjoyable. Of course it could also be terrible.

"Cupid" has a cute romantic premise about a man who thinks he is cupid. Experience tells me that cute romantic shows never last. Even very well done ones like "Pushing Daisies" never get the ratings necessary for a show to stick around.

"Castle" and "The Unusuals" are both shows dealing with the NYPD. I don't know about you but I am sick of shows about crime scenes and courtrooms. They may be good shows, they may gain an audience but I for one am sick of the whole cop genre. "The Beast" is also a show about cops, the twist they are undercover cops. Even the promise of former underwear model Travis Fimmel, and Patrick Swayze is not enough to get me to watch something with cops in it. Oh crap there is another one isn't there. I also forgot that "Flashpoint" was coming out, that's a show about SWAT teams. Enough with the cop genre already!

The advertisements for "Trust me" are a tedious and boring attempt at humor, how can I expect the real show to be any different.

I would rather gnaw off my own arm then watch "Howdie Do It" a lame ass spin on traditional prank shows. I don't find Howie Mandel to be funny in the first place, and the commercials don't make the show look all that good. His big prank seems to be pretending to be a waiter who sticks his fingers in people foods. ZOMG that is so original and hilarious listen through the thick coating of sarcasm you may actually hear me laughing on the inside.

I'm sure there are a lot of shows that I missed, but honestly I don't see too many winners out of this bunch. Then again I always hated "Everybody Loves Raymond" and that ran for years, so who knows there is really no accounting for taste.

RIP Eartha Kitt

2008-12-26T21:42:00.002-05:00

What can I say I love Eartha Kitt. Obviously I never met the woman but I always wished that I could have been more like her. She was always sexy, classy mysterious, and cool on a level that I can never hope to achieve.

Most know her as the second Catwoman from the beautifully campy TV series "Batman" or perhaps you know her as the voice of Yzma in "The Emperors New Groove." Her voice is better known then her acting she lent her vocals to the Christmas classic "Santa Baby" and to a number of other wonderful songs.

She will be missed, but her impact will always be around.

Last minute gift ideas for film snobs!

2008-12-22T00:07:00.003-05:00

Ok Christmas is swiftly approaching, and I'm beting there are a lot of slackers like me who have yet to do their Christmas shopping yet. I am going to suggest a few gifts in different price ranges for different types of film nerds and enthusiasts. Remember while a cinemaphile always appreciates a new dvd to add to the collection, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gifts.

The Cheap Stuff Gifts for about $10 and under

For a really cheap gift go around to local video rental stores, if possible hit the stores that aren't part of some big corporation. A lot of them give away movie posters or other promotional items (cut outs ect) for free. It may take some searching and haggling but sometimes you walk away with some really good stuff.

If you have a video camera make a video tribute to your friend and post it on youtube. It could be something silly like you dancing and singing to a favorite song of theirs. You could get friends and reenact a scene from one of their favorite movies. Or you could do something stupid involving fire or being hit in the nuts that will guarantee a viral video and dedicate it to them , just don't actually hurt yourself or do anything too stupid.

Here is an awesome example of a silly video some guy made for his girlfriend. It's very low production quality, very simple premise, and extremely silly. However there is no doubt in my mind that his girlfriend smiled when she got this. I would like to make this clear right now, I don't know who the heck this guy is. I found it because it's the top youtube search result for one of my favorite songs. He would probably be embarrassed to have this posted around by a complete stranger, but he allowed for embedding so I have to assume he is ok with it. But it gives you a good idea of what a gift video should look like.

Books are another good cheap way to go as far as gifts are concerned. If you go to your local bookstore you are bound to find a few books about film. There are reprinted scripts, books about production, books on theory, and my favorite books about directors. If you don't feel like browsing around then I recomend going with
"The Film Snobs Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Filmological Knowledge"
by David Kamp and Lawrence Leviretails $10 new

For the Budding Film Maker

As a film maker you can never have enough tape to work with. Sometimes a simple practical gift is the most appreciated. Get them some mini DV tapes you can get a pack of two for somewhere between $15-20 at most retailers. Something as simple as another tape will allow a director to take more shots and take more chances with their work.

Another great idea is getting a shirt (they make other items too) from http://www.filmmakergear.com/
They have some hilarious shirts all specific to the film making world. whats even cooler is that it's not just for directors they have shirts specific to DP's, sounds guys, and editors. Their shirts range from $13-$22

Build them a Steadycam for about $15
here is the site that tells you how to do it. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

For the General Film Fan

A gift subscription to netflix is always a good choice. You can get someone a very cheap two month, one movie a month subscription for $10. Naturally you can keep building up from that point. As an added bonus if you order between now and the 29th netflix is donating %5 of the profits from each gift subscription to Feeding America.

You can also give gift certificates to Fandango, allowing your friend or loved one to get movie tickets to almost any movie theater they want. As an added bonus they can do this all through email, you never even have to leave the house and your gift will get to them on time.

For the Big Spender

For somewhere between $100 and well above you can get them a VHS to DVD burner, and let them transfer all their old tapes onto something a little more modern.

Final Cut Studio 2 offers the budding film maker just about everything they need for post editing. It is priced at $1,299 but it is the best software available to non professionals. Not to mention there are a lot of film makers using pirated software due to the prohibitively expensive cost of video editing software, can you really put a price on keeping a loved one out of jail?

Finally for the Star Wars fan an opportunity to kick George Lucas in the balls. Now I have no idea how much you would have to pay him in order for him to agree to this, but everyone has their price. Giving someone the opportunity to kick George Lucas in the balls, punch him in the face, or perhaps simply the opportunity to yell obscene things at Skywalker ranch for a bit is the type of thing that a Star Wars or Indiana Jones fan would treasure forever.

I hope this helps make gift giving a bit easier.

Happy Holidays or lack there of!

Christmas Movies that I don't hate

2008-12-20T11:59:00.003-05:00

Most of the time I save my holiday specials till the day of the actual event, yet for Christmas I found I had to do something different. Right now it seems like a lot of places are playing an almost constant stream of Christmas movies, and that would be all well and good if they were bothering to play halfway decent movies, but they are not.

I thought it would be fun to sit all the way through one of these Lifetime, Hallmark, or ABC family specials just to write a scathing review, but I couldn't even sit though them. During this season it's ok for things to be a bit sappy, we all want to see the couple get together in the end or see a family come back together but bad Christmas movies take it to an extreme. At the same time I don't want to see familys that are suffering too much, I don't want to see depressing movies, and I don't want to see things that are too far fetched.

In a veritable sea of bad Christmas movies I felt it my duty to point out that there are some good Christmas movies. You can have a movie that is sentimental without being maudlin, you can have a movie be funny without it being stupid, and you can have something that is actually fun for the whole family to watch. The list I have provided you with should safely guide you through the holiday season, without having to watch something awful.

I present to you a list of my favorite Christmas movies.

First and foremost there are fantastic Christmas classics that never get old. I'm not even going to bother writing descriptions here, if you have never seen these you need to get out and do so immediately.

"White Christmas." skip this only if you can't stand musicals.
"Miracle on 34th Street" (1947)
"It's a Wonderful Life"
"A Christmas Story" ok so this ones more of a modern Christmas Classic, but I feel it's going to stand the test of time.

A Christmas movie for the Kids

"A Muppet Christmas Carol"
The title realy says it all. You have Charles Dickens classic story A Christmas Carol, interpreted with the humor of the muppets. I loved it when I was a kid and I still think it's funny.

Family Friendly Christmas Comedy

"Christmas Vacation"

It is the quintessential tale of what happens when everything that can possibly go wrong at Christmas goes wrong. There are crazy relatives, a father that is way too overzealous in his decorating plans, trouble with the boss from work, and a few issues with wild animals. It is hands down my favorite of the "Vacation" series with Chevy Chase. This is the movie to watch if you have to deal with a crazy family this season.

"Elf"

Ok, ok so most people have seen this one it came out fairly recently. But it doesn't mean that it's not a good movie. Will Farrell is adorable in this movie, as a man who grew up thinking he was an elf. Buddy goes off to the US in search of his true identity. It's a really sweet and enjoyable story, but it managed to keep from getting overly sentimental. It's kind of goofy but it will definitely make you feel the Christmas Spirit.

The Christmas Romantic Comedies

"All I Want for Christmas"

This is the story of two kids who wand to get their divorced parents back together for Christmas. I know I know it sounds like one of the sappy lifetime movies, but it's very well done. The kids cook up a crazy plot, hilarity ensues, and in the end everyone wins. It has a really great cast featuring a young Thora Birch, Ethan Embry (that kid from Dutch), Kevin Nealon as the unlikeable man the mother is currently engaged to, and the always fabulous Lauren Bacall.

"Love Actually"

A bunch of intertwining love stories set around Christmas time. It's a cute movie with a phenomenal cast. Most of you have heard of it or even seen it, but as far as romantic Christmas movies go this is as good as it gets.

Also keep an eye on Hugh Grants tie during a scene where he is dancing around, it's the same color but they purposely changed the pattern in each shot.

If you feel like laughing at a Christmas Movie not with it.

"Babes in Toyland" (1986 version)

Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore in a crappy made for tv Christmas movie, thats right it actually exists. A young Drew Barrymore gets into a car accident and is taken away to Toyland where she has to stop an arranged marriage between Mary Contrary and the evil Barnaby Barnacle. naturally Mary Contrary's true love is Jack Be Nimble played by Keanu. Oh did I forget to mention that they meet Santa, who is played by Pat Morita aka Mr Miyagi. There are some slightly catchy songs, but overall this is a pretty terrible movie. Oh did I fail to mention this was also a musical.

This movie has gone so far wrong that it is actually kind of enjoyable to watch. I put this here for people who like to make fun of bad movies, but still wanted to feel the Christmas Spirit. I recommend loading up on eggnog before attempting to watch Babes in Toyland.

Here is a Trailer to give you a better idea of what "Babes in Toyland" is about.

1001Movies to see before you die

2008-12-18T01:08:00.003-05:00

I didn't make up the list. I don't really have the time for that sort of thing, and naturally I would have made some different choices.

Here is the link http://1001beforeyoudie.com/

I only got about 182 out of 1001, I better get crackin. There are a bunch of movies that I have seen parts of, but I only counted movies that I had seen from beginning to end.

A lot of their choices are significant but things I kind of wished I hadn't wasted an hour of my life seeing.

"White Balloon" and "L'Atalante" are two of my least favorite films of all times.

Some of the movies on the list are things I can't bring myself to watch for one reason or another.

"Audition" and "The Exorcist" are movies that look way too scary for me to even consider watching

And some movies like "The Sweet Hereafter" (which is about a town dealing with the loss of many children in a horrible bus accident) just look too damn depressing to watch.

All the same I want to see a lot more films on that list.

Heroes "Dual"

2008-12-17T00:23:00.002-05:00

The mid-season finale starts out with an amazing monologue given by Syler. Much like the name of the episode it is about the Dual nature of the world. Right vs wrong, good vs evil, science vs destiny. It was chilling to hear a lovely rant about the nature of the world coming from the lips of a serial killer. In other words it was awesome.

This was the end of the chapter, the end of an era. "Villains" is no more and "Fugitives" begins. But I suppose I am getting ahead of myself.

Highlight the rest to read the spoiler laden review. But for those who don't want spoilers allow me to say this, it was one of the best shows heroes has had this season. Lot's of twists and turns, emotional stuff, and finally we can see where the plot is going.

The story begins with Peter looking distraught standing near his fathers body. Nathan shows up and there is this minute where you almost see their entire relationship dissolve. Nathan plays the hero a lot, but you can't forget how he described himself in the first season, the man is a shark. He is cold and ruthless, quite frankly I wish Peter would have shot him. Naturally, Peter being the good guy that he his would never be able to do that to his own brother. Peter just punches him, leaving his brother poised to wake up at a very inconvenient moment.

Meantime at Primatech it appears as if Syler finally got around to watching some horror films, and picked up a couple of ideas from "SAW." A group of people locked in a poorly lit, almost abandoned building, with a serial killer who keeps toying with them at every stage. It's not exactly original, but it's damn effective. Syler does lots of bad things while trying to work out his mommy issues, and seems to be really picking on Claire. In some strange way he identifies with her, he even goes on an EMO rant about how they can never be hurt but they can be heart broken

*Emo Tear*

All joking aside it is pretty creepy. Syler knows how to play to each persons weakness. Well all except Angela, that woman may not have a weakness.He keeps tempting each character trying to get them to turn against each other, in so many ways trying to prove that anyone could be as bad as he is. Or perhaps maybe he was trying to prove to himself that he is not such a terrible monster. He leaves quite a death toll: a few guards, the puppetmaster, Meredith, Echo, and probably someone else too. The big points go to Claire for stabbing Syler in the back of the head with some glass, though it remains to be seen if he died or not. Did I mention there was an explosion.

Onto another story. Hiro is stuck in the past without his powers. Ando, Matt, and Daphne come up with a plan. Daphne will steal the serum and give it to Ando in the hopes that he will develop a time traveling power. Their reasoning is that Matt always wanted to know what other people are thinking, and Daphne who was crippled wished that she could run, so perhaps people get their powers based on what they truly desire. Yet when Ando takes the serum he does not end up with the powers he wanted. I seems as if another fan thoery may be at play here, some believe that people get their powers based on their personality. Ando gives this theory great credence. Ando, already everyone's favorite sidekick gets a power that truly makes him the best sidekick ever he has the power to enhance other peoples powers. He is able to enhance Daphne's speed enough that they are able to time travel and get Hiro.

There is another thing that is important to note about Ando's powers. Remember all the way back at the very beginning of this season Hiro time travels to the future and sees Ando shooting him with red sparks. Hiro assumes that this is Ando trying to kill him but this may not be the case. Ando's red spark power seems to enhance a persons power, maybe he just gave heey really want in life. It's a theory I have seen on the forums before, and perhaps it is still true. Ando focuses on getting a time traveling power, but he ends up with something else. One fan theory is that people get powers based on their personality's, and what happens to ro a jolt but I somehow doubt that the power is fatal. I really hope that this is the case, while the two may argue sometimes I know that Ando could never betray Hiro.

Oh yea back to what happens with Peter and Nathan. Peter goes to wreck the lab and get rid of the serum, he gets unexpected help from the "Villains" Flint and Knox. Mohinder gets hit with enough serum that it seems to make his icky skin condition go away, and the Mohinder fangirls rejoiced. Some people die and there is an explosion. Just before the whole place goes up Peter injects himself with the serum, and takes Nathans flying power and zooms himself and his brother out of the place just in the nick of time.

Thus begins the new chapter

Sadly Nathan continues to be a douchebag. He tells the government about the existence of "dangerous" people with powers. Provides lists to the government, and from the preview it looked like some serious Guantanamo Bay torture shit was happening.

There was this one haunting and incredibly powerful image in the preview of the next chapter. It was of prisoners in their orange uniforms, chained up, and with bags covering their heads. As they sat chained together unable to speak you could see them holding hands in solidarity.

I don't want to see this happen to the characters, but I see this as a necessary step in several directions. For one the future is a very difficult thing to change, since season one there have been visions of heroes being hunted down by the government. Eventually they had to address the issue, this time it's not about saving the world it's about saving themselves.

Perhaps more importantly this new "Fugitives" chapter allows the creators to say a lot about political issues currently facing the world, or situations which have happened before. It seems like the heroes are being rounded up into camps similar to that of Nazi Germany, and the scenes of prisoners with bags over their heads was reminiscent of those taken at Abu Ghraib. I'm expecting issues of discrimination, torture, and even terrorism to be brought up in the next chapter. One of the reasons why Sci-Fi is such an important genre is that it can create worlds that allow us to better examine our own political structures and moral issues.

Allow me to make a prediction. I'm expecting the show to take a dramatic turn, I think the next chapter will actually be a lot darker then "Villains". However, with the new writers on board, and much of the time travel issues gone I expect "Fugitives" to be a great improvement on the current season.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2008-12-15T23:57:00.003-05:00

You know how a bunch of commercials said "Come to War of the Worlds the only place to see the new trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine" well they lied.

Are X-men movies the best forms of cinema, no.
Will they ever win Oscars (for anything but special effects or makeup), no
Are they entertaining as heck, yes.

Sometimes you just need something that you don't have to think too hard about, and this looks like a very fun movie. Some of the stunts look way over the top, but that's not necessarily a bad thing in superhero movies.

I have to say the casting choice of Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool is brilliant. He can determinately carry off a role as an action hero, and he brings the right amount of sarcasm and charm necessary to pull of a character who is can break the fourth wall.

Another note on casting. Josh Holloway was offered the role of Gambit but he refused, saying that it was too close to his character Sawyer. I can't argue with his logic on that one, but I really wish he was playing gambit. I mean the man was kind of born to play that role.

Cencorship part 2 : Electric Boogaloo

2008-12-13T12:22:00.002-05:00

A few days ago I was watching "Kill Bill" on a regular cable network. As expected some things had to be taken out in order for it to be shown. Naturally some of the violence was toned down we didn't get to see O-Ren Ishii's brains, nor did we Elle Drivers eyeball after it was ripped out of her head. The movie was still pretty darn violent, and for the most part I agreed that some of the things they cut out in terms of violence made sense.

What was removed in terms of language puzzled me a bit.

I expected that they would have to change the name of the Bride stolen truck, "Pussy Wagon" to something less offensive, "Party Wagon wasn't a terrible choice in terms of substitution. They also decided to use "Party" as a substitution for the F word in several situations, most notably "Hi, my name is Buck and I'm here to Party." The substitution stole all the punch from that line. I think it would have been a lot better if they changed his name to fit the substituted line better. "Hi, My name is Marty and I'm here to Party." has more of a funny sleazy ring to it.

But enough with that and onto the man bizarre change in language. At the very end when The Bride kill's Bill (OMG spoilers!)there is a conversation about the technique used to kill Bill, and where she learned it. In true Quentin Tarentino fashion he gives Bill one of the coolest lines in either film.

"No. You're not a bad person. You're a terrific person. You're my favorite person, but every once in a while, you can be a real cunt."

It sums up everything about their relationship, and the kind of people they are. But naturally the dreaded "c" word can't be used on television. It's hard to find a word quite as abrasive and evocative as the "C" word, especially since it has to still pass censorship standards. All the same I think they could have done a bit better then what they came up with.

"No. You're not a bad person. You're a terrific person. You're my favorite person, but every once in a while, you can be a real fathead."

Fathead? Really? I mean I was thinking Jerk or bitch might have made some sense. I have never heard the term Fat Head used as an actual insult, that was not referring to someone with an abnormally sized noggin like John Travolta.

Fathead doesn't even have the humorous ring to it like Mellon Farmer. I mean if you can't just bleep it out I say go for the comedy. Try harder TNT try harder, your censorship is just not adding enough Drama or Comedy.

Golden Globe Nominees 2009, Predictions, rants, and raves.

2008-12-11T23:27:00.005-05:00

You can see the official list here http://www.goldenglobes.org/news/id/104, or you could just look below and see the exact thing copied, pasted and commented on.

1. BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

a. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
This movie hasn't even come out yet for us proles. So I can't even feel bad about not having an opinion, although it looks good I do want to see it.
b. FROST/NIXON
Um this also hasn't come out yet to anyone but film critics.
c. THE READER
This one doesn't even get released till January WTF?
d. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Also does not come out till January
e. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
At last a nominee that has actually been released in theaters for people other then critics. Sadly I haven't seen it yet.

My Thoughts on this Category: I have this weird feeling it's all a big marketing scheme. They won't release the movies till there is a lot of buzz about them. I don't know, this certainly isn't the peoples choice awards but it would be nice to have movies the general population may have actually seen.

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

a. ANNE HATHAWAY – RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Haven't seen it yet. But I do like Ms Hathaway's other work, and I'm glad to see her in a movie that is getting some recognition.
b. ANGELINA JOLIE – CHANGELING
This movie looks way too upsetting for me to see.
c. MERYL STREEP – DOUBT
Also looks like a good movie, and Meryl Streep is a fantastic actress. But as a Catholic I'm not sure I want to see this movie.
d. KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME)
Never even heard of this movie before today
e. KATE WINSLET – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
I love Kate Winslet. I can't comment on anything else really. Revolutionary road seems to be about a 50's couple who is deeply disastified with American suburban life. Looks like a pretty intense movie.

My Thoughts on This Category: Lots of talented women, in movies I don't want to watch because they seem too depressing. So essentially it's exactly what I would expect.

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

a. LEONARDO DICAPRIO – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Again he is a good actor
b. FRANK LANGELLA – FROST/NIXON
Um... looks like a cool movie.
c. SEAN PENN – MILK
Lot's of buzz about this performance. It has all the ingrediaents to be the winner of this category controversial subject, great actor, a heroic character taken from real life, and a character that is gay. I'm betting Sean Penn takes this category.
d. BRAD PITT – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
I'm kind of rooting for Brad Pitt here. The man is a really great actor, but his talent always seems to be overshadowed by his looks. Yet I haven't seen the movie so I can't judge.
e. MICKEY ROURKE – THE WRESTLER
Micky Rourke scares me, I can't look directly at his face. The man has had too much plastic surgery. I haven't seen the movie but I would call him the underdog of this category.

4. BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. BURN AFTER READING
Havn't seen this but I really wanted to.
b. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
Never heard of this so I couldn't see it.
c. IN BRUGES
I know nothing about this movie.
d. MAMMA MIA!
You have to love a movie that came out with a sing along version in theaters. I havn't seen the movie, but I do love Abba
e. VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Havn't seen it Javier Bardem scares me

My Comments on this Category: I always find it strange that the movies in this category are rarely the ones that made us laugh the hardest. They are the most critically acclaimed movies that can still be considered comedy. To be fair I haven't seen any of these but I would have likes to see "Tropic Thunder" up here.

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

a. REBECCA HALL – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Never heard of her, can't have an opinion
b. SALLY HAWKINS – HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
Dito
c. FRANCES MCDORMAND – BURN AFTER READING
I love Frances McDormand
d. MERYL STREEP – MAMMA MIA!
I love Meryl Streep
e. EMMA THOMPSON – LAST CHANCE HARVEY
I love Emma Thompson

My Comments on this Category: Really I would be happy for anyone. I love it when a complete unknown takes away a big award, and I would also love it if one of my favorite actresses walked away with it.

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

a. JAVIER BARDEM – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
He looks like a caveman, he does not get my vote in any movie where he is not killing people
b. COLIN FARRELL – IN BRUGES
Havn't seen it but I like Colin Farrell, and it's great to know he was in something other then a crappy action film.
c. JAMES FRANCO – PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
I was surprised to see his name here, "Pineapple Express" is not the type of movie they usually honor. In other words I am rooting for him. He was hilarious in Pineapple Express.
d. BRENDAN GLEESON – IN BRUGES
Don't know him Haven't seen it.
e. DUSTIN HOFFMAN – LAST CHANCE HARVEY
Dustin Hoffman is one of the greats, so I wouldn't be surprised if he gave an awesome performance in this. But again I haven't seen it so I have no clue.

My Comments on this Category: Go James Franco! Prove to the world that the stoner comedy is a legit genre, and that it can win awards. Sadly I don't think it will go to him.

7. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

a. BOLT
I refuse to see anything related to Miley Cyrus
b. KUNG FU PANDA
It was a very cute movie I liked it a lot, but traditionally Disney takes this award.
c. WALL-E
The concept of a robot love story seemed kind of weird to me. So did the idea of a childrens film about the Earth becoming a giant wasteland so utterly ruined that humans had to leave, humans live on in space as fat and stupid creatures so devoid of personality that machines are the only things worth watching. I know I know I'm being harsh, I'll watch it when it comes on TV. I'm sure it's a very cute and lovely story, but I just don't like the premise.

My comments: "Go Kung Fu Panda"! Congratulations to "WALL-E" for winning

8. BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

a. THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (GERMANY)
(DER BAADER MEINHOF KOMPLEX)
b. EVERLASTING MOMENTS (SWEDEN/DENMARK)
(MARIA LARSSONS EVIGA ÖGONBLICK)
c. GOMORRAH (ITALY)
(GOMORRA)
d. I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (FRANCE)
(IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME)
e. WALTZ WITH BASHIR (ISRAEL)

My Comments on this category: I havn't seen or heard of any of these so I can't comment, sorry.

9. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
a. AMY ADAMS – DOUBT
Love Amy Adams, she seems so cheery she would make an awesome nun.
b. PENELOPE CRUZ – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
No opinion
c. VIOLA DAVIS –DOUBT
Don't know her or the film
d. MARISA TOMEI – THE WRESTLER
Love Marisa Tomei, don't know much about the film.
e. KATE WINSLET – THE READER
Love Kate Winslet

My Comments on this category: I'm rooting for Amy Adams, Marisa Tomei, and Kate Winslet for no particular reason.

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

a. TOM CRUISE – TROPIC THUNDER
He totally stole the show in every scene he was in. Normally I find Tom Cruise kind of annoying but he was hilarious in this.
b. ROBERT DOWNEY JR. –TROPIC THUNDER
A great performance. Can we just step back and appreciate the sheer balls it takes to be a white actor who performs as a white actor playing a black man. He did it, and he did it so well that no angry mops came after him with pitch forks. Thats saying something.
c. RALPH FIENNES – THE DUCHESS
Great actor but I haven't seen it.
d. PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – DOUBT
I love Philip Seymour Hoffman but I can't seem to make myself root for someone who is probably playing a pedophile.
e. HEATH LEDGER – THE DARK KNIGHT
Ok, this is hands down the man I want to win. Not because he is dead, it's because he absolutely deserves it. No one else could have given this performance he was fearless, terrifying, yet utterly captivating in this role.

My Comments on this Category: I will be angry if anyone but Heath Ledger wins this.

11. BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE

a. DANNY BOYLE – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
b. STEPHEN DALDRY – THE READER
c. DAVID FINCHER – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
d. RON HOWARD – FROST/NIXON
e. SAM MENDES – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

My Comments: Haven't any of these can't judge how they did. I was able to judge more with acting categories because Actors tend to give far more reliable performances then directors. After all who would believe that the man who created a masterpiece like "Schindlers List" was also capable of creating a giant pile of crap like "Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." A directors style can vary drastically depending on the story they are set to tell, so I'll hold my judgment on this one.

12. BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE

a. SIMON BEAUFOY – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
b. DAVID HARE – THE READER
c. PETER MORGAN – FROST/NIXON
d. ERIC ROTH – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN
e. JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY – DOUBT

My Comments on this category: I can't comment.

13. BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE

a. ALEXANDRE DESPLAT –THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
b. CLINT EASTWOOD – CHANGELING
c. JAMES NEWTON HOWARD – DEFIANCE
d. A. R. RAHMAN – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
e. HANS ZIMMER – FROST/NIXON

My Comments on this Category: I can't comment

14. BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE

a. “DOWN TO EARTH” — WALL-E
Music by: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman
Lyrics by: Peter Gabriel
b. “GRAN TORINO” — GRAN TORINO
Music by: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
Lyrics by: Jamie Cullum
c. “I THOUGHT I LOST YOU” — BOLT
Music & Lyrics by: Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele
d. “ONCE IN A LIFETIME” — CADILLAC RECORDS
Music & Lyrics by: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street
e. “THE WRESTLER” — THE WRESTLER
Music & Lyrics by: Bruce Springsteen

My Comments on this Category: A lot of good songs tend to be ignored just because they are in movies that weren't nominated. I consider "Iris" from the City of Angels soundtrack, and the entire score of "Queen of the Damned" not being nominated some of the biggest snubs of all times. While this particular song is nowhere near as good as some songs of years past I think "Little Things" from the Wanted soundtrack should have gotten a nomination

15. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. DEXTER (SHOWTIME)
A show about a serial killer killing other killers, brilliant! I love this show, the third season is not as strong as seasons 1 and 2, but all the same it definitely is deserving of this nomination.
b. HOUSE (FOX)
I love House. It's a great show but I don't think it will walk away with the prize this year. It's still great but it's still the same old stuff.
c. IN TREATMENT (HBO)
never heard of it, and I get HBO
d. MAD MEN (AMC)
I keep hearing great reviews but I have yet to meet anyone who actually watches this show.
e. TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
Despite a distinct lack of Bubba, I absolutely love this show.

My Comments on this Category: I'm really rooting for True Blood, it would be great for a new and quirky show like this to get an award.

16. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. SALLY FIELD – BROTHERS AND SISTERS
I Don't watch the show
b. MARISKA HARGITAY –LAW AND ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
I Don't watch the show
c. JANUARY JONES – MAD MEN
I Don't watch the Show
d. ANNA PAQUIN – TRUE BLOOD
I think Anna Paquin does a really good job of playing a character who appears to be a very simple straightforward southern waitress, but is really quite complicated. I don't think everyone could pull off a role with such a mix of sweetness and strength.
e. KYRA SEDGWICK – THE CLOSER
Hasn't she won enough awards for this role?

My Comments on this Category: Go Sookie, I mean Anna Paquin

17. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

a. GABRIEL BYRNE – IN TREATMENT
I Don't watch it
b. MICHAEL C. HALL – DEXTER
He makes a sociopathic killer lovable, that deserves an award.
c. JON HAMM – MAD MEN
I don't watch it
d. HUGH LAURIE – HOUSE
Love Hugh Laurie, He was born to play this role.
e. JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS – THE TUDORS
I still think he was a bad casting choice for Henry VIII, but he does a good job of showing how power corrupts a good man.

My Comments on this section: I'm rooting for Micheal C. Hall, but I have a strange feeling the guy from Mad Men will get it. The critics really seem to love that show.

18. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. 30 ROCK (NBC)
It's a decent show but it's not one of my favorites.
b. CALIFORNICATION (SHOWTIME)
No desire to watch this
c. ENTOURAGE (HBO)
I really like this show, thats about all I can say.
d. THE OFFICE (NBC)
I know a lot of people will hate me for this but I don't think The Office is that funny. I hate the type of humor where things are purposely made so embarrassing and awkward that you laugh, it's just not my sense of humor.
e. WEEDS (SHOWTIME)
I like Weeds a lot but honestly this season I feel as if it deserved to be in the Drama category. I laugh at Dexter more then I did at this season of Weeds.

My Comments on this Category: I'm sorry It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia deserves a nomination. It is by far the funniest show on tv. To a casual viewer it may seem pretty lowbrow, but it makes fun of itself constantly and is extremely daring in it's approach to topics. If you haven't seen this show go watch it.

19.BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. CHRISTINA APPLEGATE – SAMANTHA WHO?
b. AMERICA FERRERA – UGLY BETTY
c. TINA FEY – 30 ROCK
d. DEBRA MESSING – THE STARTER WIFE
e. MARY-LOUISE PARKER – WEEDS

My Comments on this Category: I have no clue about who is going to win this one. Nor do I feel like rooting for anyone in particular. The only show I really watch here is Weeds, but I have seen all of these actresses in other things and they are all very capable funny women.

20. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. ALEC BALDWIN – 30 ROCK
b. STEVE CARELL – THE OFFICE
c. KEVIN CONNOLLY – ENTOURAGE
d. DAVID DUCHOVNY – CALIFORNICATION
e. TONY SHALHOUB – MONK

My Comments on this section: Rooting for Alec Baldwin

21. BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. A RAISIN IN THE SUN (ABC)
Sony Pictures Television, Storyline Entertainment, and Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment
b. BERNARD AND DORIS (HBO
Trigger Street Independent Productions in association with Little Bird and Chicago Films and HBO Films
c. CRANFORD (PBS)
A Co-Production of BBC and WGBH Boston.
d. JOHN ADAMS (HBO)
Playtone in association with HBO Films
e. RECOUNT (HBO)
Spring Creek/Mirage Productions in association with Trigger Street Productions, Everyman Pictures and HBO Films

My Comments in this Category: Haven't seen any of these

22. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. JUDI DENCH – CRANFORD
b. CATHERINE KEENER – AN AMERICAN CRIME
c. LAURA LINNEY – JOHN ADAMS
d. SHIRLEY MACLAINE – COCO CHANEL
e. SUSAN SARANDON – BERNARD AND DORIS

My Comments in this Category: Haven't seen any of these

23. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. RALPH FIENNES – BERNARD AND DORIS
b. PAUL GIAMATTI – JOHN ADAMS
c. KEVIN SPACEY – RECOUNT
d. KIEFER SUTHERLAND – 24: REDEMPTION
e. TOM WILKINSON – RECOUNT

My Comments in this Category: Haven't seen any of these

24. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. EILEEN ATKINS – CRANFORD
b. LAURA DERN – RECOUNT
c. MELISSA GEORGE – IN TREATMENT
d. RACHEL GRIFFITHS – BROTHERS AND SISTERS
e. DIANNE WIEST – IN TREATMENT

My Comments in this Category: Haven't seen any of these, nor do I know any of the actresses

25. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

a. NEIL PATRICK HARRIS – HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
b. DENIS LEARY – RECOUNT
c. JEREMY PIVEN – ENTOURAGE
He is great but he has won this award for this role too many times, time to pass on the torch.
d. BLAIR UNDERWOOD – IN TREATMENT
e. TOM WILKINSON – JOHN ADAMS

My Comments in this Category: I haven't seen anything but Entourage, but I'm rooting for Neil Patrick Harris because of his Performance in "Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog"

Meaning of 2001 a Space Odyssey

2008-12-09T17:59:00.003-05:00

Ok so I will admit, I have seen 2001 twice, and both times I found myself grasping desperately to whatever meaning and symbolism I could find.

I recently Stumbled Upon a site that explains it all. The movie makes so much more sense now. So if your curious and have always wanted to know what the heck ""2001 a Space Odyssey" really means go here.

http://www.kubrick2001.com/

Game

2008-12-09T11:04:00.007-05:00

Ok, so I should be writing a serious blog about last nights episode of Heroes, and how god it was. Blabbering on about how emotional it was, and how emotion is what grounds us in stories where unbelievable things happen. And how we are finally getting a better picture of how Pinehurst making a serum which will give anyone powers, could actually end up destroying the world. Oh and there would have been a nice long paragraph about Syler's development as a character.

But I don't feel like it So instead I present to you a game. It says to do 20 of your favorite movies, bu for purposes of simplicity I am only quoting English language movies. I don't want to get into any translation issues here.

A. Pick 20 of your favorite movies.
B. Then pick one of your favorite quotes from each movie.
C. Post the quotes on your blog.
D. Have those on your friends list guess what the movies are. (No cheating!)
E. Strike out the quote once it has been correctly identified and place the guesser's username after the quote.

1.That's just what this country needs: a cock in a frock on a rock.

2. Sweet? Where do you get off? Where do you get sweet? I am dark and mysterious, and *pissed off*! And I could be very dangerous to all of you! You should know that about me... I am *the enemy*!

3. Life is a matter of a miracle that is collected over time by moments flabbergasted to be in each others presence.

4.I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small.

5. You people. If there isn't a movie about it, it's not worth knowing, is it?

6. Just look like we are a married couple, *spanning time*!

7. ~~Now, you Irish cops are perking up. That's two sound theories in one day, neither of which deal with abnormally sized men. Kind of makes me feel like Riverdancing.~~
From "Boondock Saints" Guessed Correctly by Joshua

8.~~What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he?~~
"From Lord of the Rings" Guessed Correctly by Joshua

9. Ooh, great job man! I really thought you were retarded. I mean, you're better than that Corky kid and he's actually retarded. If there was a retarded Oscar you would win, hands down, kick his ass!

10. When fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other, that not only does God exist, you're doing His will.

11. We knew the girls were really women in disguise, that they understood love, and even death, and that our job was merely to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them.

12. A long time ago, my ancestor Paikea came to this place on the back of a whale. Since then, in every generation of my family, the first born son has carried his name and become the leader of our tribe... until now.

13. ~~You can't really dust for vomit.~~
Spinal Tap Guessed Correctly by Agent Claudia

14. And so, dear Lord, it is with deep sadness that we turn over to you this young woman, whose dream to ride on a giant swan resulted in her death. Maybe it is your way of telling us... to buy American.

15. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".
Snatch Guessed correctly by Agent Claudia

16. ~~Royale with cheese. Do you know why they call it a Royale with cheese?~~
From "Pulp Fiction" Guessed Correctly by Joshua

17. Have you ever tried to persuade him that he wasn't Teddy Roosevelt?

18. ~~What, you don't like rice? Tell me Michael, how could a billion Chinese people be wrong?~~
"Lost Boys" guessed correctly by Nikoli

19. ~~Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.~~
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" Guessed Correctly by Nikoli

20. ~~I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.~~
"From Monty Python and The Holy Grail" Guessed Correctly by Joshua

Strange Insults

2008-12-09T01:02:00.002-05:00

I love Asian Dramas, and I just started watching "Why Why Love" a soap opera from Taiwan.

I don't know if this is a common phrase used in Taiwan, if it was unique to the character, or if it was a weird translation issue.

But the Insult "You're as unrefined as a Vegetable Market!" made me giggle

I'll have to keep an eye out for more weird expressions.

Valkyrie

2008-12-08T23:59:00.003-05:00

Here is a fun little spoof which illustrates most of my fears about the movie "Valkyrie" staring Tom Cruise.

The real thing comes out on December 25th, because nothing makes you feel the warmth and joy of the Christmas like a movie about Nazi's.

I'm not even sure I can recommend this as a fun movie for Jewish people to see while everyone else is off celebrating Christmas. I mean maybe they could change things around in the movie to make it seem like the operation was more of a success. During the actual July 20th plot a total of four Nazi's were killed, and five badly injured. Considering that there were about 24 people in the room where a bomb went off, and it barely even injured Hitler, it was kind of a failure. Operation Valkyrie was extremely noble in purpose, and the people who took part in organizing this attempt are heroes even if it didn't go as well as planned. But seriously now, I mean if I was a Jew on Christmas day I wouldn't want to see a movie about Hitler getting a little pissed because a couple of his buddies were killed. No, I would want to see lots of dead Nazi's and a severely injured Hitler crying like a little bitch curled up in the fetal position.

It's entirely possible that they will turn the movie into something with a higher Nazi body count, but who knows if they will be true to history or not. If they do change it, the movie will probably find more of an audience. After Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull severely disappointed me(in so many ways) with a lack of Nazi ass kickings this year someone has step in to fill the quota. While I understand the need to change history a bit for the audience, I'm not sure I like it. Yet we will just have to see the finished product in order to really judge.

I don't know it's just a weird choice of release date of you ask me. I mean don't they normally release happy upbeat things on Christmas Day you know comedy's, kids movies, romantic comedies, you know things like that. I can't seem to remember any big war movies ever coming out on Christmas.

Reality TV a rant

2008-12-07T23:29:00.003-05:00

How many time have you found yourself in front of the screen saying "I'm going to go to hell for watching this."

Now when I say hell I don't mean getting hell from your friends for watching such a bad show, or some sort of movie snob hell where you will forever me ridiculed for you poor choice in tv, no I am talking about fire and brimstone H-E-double hockysticks hell.

Some reality shows aren't that bad, point in fact some of them are good both in purpose and content. Shows Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance, and Make Me a Supermodel are well produced and generally manage to keep an interesting story line without using too much overblown scandal. Better yet these are reality shows that are about helping people break into a business, but humiliating people for our own sick enjoyment. Those shows take people who already have talent, provide guidance which has the potential to make them better, and gives all the participants a lot of exposure and creates a lot of job opportunities after the show.

There are the shows that you feel a little guilty for watching. Models get asked to do a lot of weird things for entirely professional reasons. However most have not been forced to work under the strain of Tyra Banks rapidly deteriorating sanity. Some models have been given terrible makeovers.

If you don't believe me check some of the worst out over here
http://www.lemondrop.com/2008/09/18/the-worst-antm-makeovers-ever/

Some models have had to take place in photo shoots that would be nearly impossible to do and not look stupid. I always feel terrible for Megg Morales of Cycle 7, who was assigned the role of Bearded Lady when they did a circus themed shoot. I mean seriously I don't think there are many models out there who could have put on this makeup and pulled off a really great picture.
American Idol has really fallen down to this level in recent years. Honestly most of us just watch the casting specials to see a bunch of terrible people fail, or to see Simon's mean comments (or Paula acting all drugged out). Contestants aren't given much choice in music and sometimes have to compete in styles that are completely wrong for their voice. However despite the tacky over the top nature of the shows they have given raise to some actual talent. Not much mind you but there have been a few successful contestants from each show, and the embarrassments they go through really aren't too terrible.

After that level there are dating shows. Really this is where you should start feeling a bit guilty for watching. The shows intention is essentially good, there are few causes more noble then the quest for true love. But let's face it very few of the matches made in reality shows ever last. Why you ask? Well it's simple the dating show creates a completely fake environment, where people sometimes confuse their desire to win the game and come out as the top competitor with an actual desire to fall in love with someone. Most of us would never think of having potential mates eat disgusting things, run relay races, or do other degrading contests just to prove their love for us. In the name of good television a lot of shows purposely pair up people that aren't compatible, just watch an episode of "Blind Date" and you will see what I mean. Some shows purposely put on a bunch of outrageous characters, no one watched "Flavor of Love" because they expected a real romance to occur.

And last there is the most dastardly of reality shows. The shows that make you loose your faith in humanity, the shows that make you feel like a bad person. "Fear Factor", "Estate of Panic", and a few other dastardly creations have forever made me disappointed in my own species. Shows that exist for the sole purpose of letting us watch people suffer and degrade themselves for money and a small shot at their fifteen minutes of fame. I must admit I haven't seen it yet. But a good friend of mine just gave me a blow by blow account of what happened in an episode of "Estate of Panic". First off I don't know who came up with the idea for this. The idea of having people go into a room and grab all the cash they can't isn't really an original one, however the idea of having them do this in rotted meat is.

I know that we are in very bad financial times, but I will live in a box before I stuff handfuls of dollar bills covered in rotted meat down my pants especially on tv in the name of winning a show that has low probability of success. Literally I am ranking this show right up there with the Bush administration in terms of how embarrassing it is to the USA.

I know that every once in a while we all get that urge to look at things we should never look at. That strange impulse that makes it almost impossible to look away from a car accident, that morbid curiosity that fills your brain when you have difficulty processing if something is too horrible to be true. I urge you all to resist those urges and stop watching bad reality shows that only serve to torture and embarrass their contestants. I too have occasionally taken by the urge to watch "Shot of Love" to laugh at all the contestants. But I urge you all to stop watching these shows, if no one watches them they will stop making them. and even better the producers will no longer have to search for even more ways to shock and humiliate people in order to get good ratings.

So remember, unless it's a reality show which actually supports the development of talent, good reputation, or betterment human spirit DON'T FRICKING WATCH IT!

Happy Repeal Day!

2008-12-05T12:02:00.003-05:00

December5th marks the day when the 21st amendment to the constitution was repealed, removing prohibition. In honor of that great day in American history I have decided to make today's edition of my blog on drinking games for movies.

Safety tips before we go. These games are all meant to be played with some sort of mixed drink, beer, or a wine coolers if you play them with actual shots you will die. Again I repeat do not play any of these games with shots of hard liquor. Even when using mixed drinks be careful, don't make them too strong, and if you feel like your reaching your limit stop drinking immediately. Keep an eye out for your friends and make sure they don't go overboard either, and make sure there are a few designated drivers around.

I think the key to a good movie drinking game is to have simple rules that are easy to remember, and they need to be games that can theoretically be done without dying.

Showgirls Drinking Game

Take a sip every time:

someone says darlin' or dancin'

anytime someone gets slapped

or when there is blatant lesbian innuendo

Warnings: This movie is pretty terrible, it should not be seen sober.

Lost Boys Drinking Game

Take a sip every time:

you see a taxidermy animal

you get distracted by Cory Haims atrocious wardrobe.

Bonus Points: Drink vampire appropriate drinks like Bloody Mary's, or red wine.

Highlander Drinking Game (any of the movies or the series)

Whenever they say "There can be only one" everyone in the room grabs their throats, last person to do it has to chug their drink.

Lord of the Rings Drinking Game

Take a sip when:

You see something on screen that makes you think there is more then friendship between any members of the fellowship

Anytime someone bursts out into song

Take Three sips when:

you spot Peter Jackson's Cameo.

Princess Bride Drinking Game

Take a sip whenever

Inigo Montoya says "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You Killed my father. Prepare to die."

Vizzini says "Inconceivable"

Wesley says "As You Wish"

anyone says "True Love"

Dark shadows... the movie?

2008-12-04T13:33:00.002-05:00

This may just be a rumor but it made me so happy that I am just going to have to reprint this one. Rumor has it that Tim Burton wants to do a movie adaptation of the spooky 60's soap "Dark Shadows." And for the brilliant bonus, apparently Johnny Depp may be playing the lead role. Johnny Depp as a vampire, I approve.

I personally haven't seen much of the Dark Shadows myself, but I do know that it was quite a hit back in the day. If anyone can do a remake well it's Tim Burton.

Maybe something good has been brought up by all the Twilight madness, more vampire movies. Along with a possible Dark Shadows project in the future it seems as if there may be another vampire movie on the horizon. According to Mrs Laurell K Hamilton's official website, she is currently in talks for an Anita Blake movie.

I'm hoping both of these movies come out, the vampire genre has always been a favorite of mine. It would also be nice to have people see the genre done properly, not with nice sparkly "vegetarian" vamps. Vamps should be cooler then anyone in the room (obviously I'm not just talking about body temperature) , they should be seductive, and even the good vamps should be a little bit evil.

Twilight

2008-12-03T19:36:00.002-05:00

I have gotten some comments from my friends about the Twilight Review.

I have to say now that I think about it, the movie is better then the book. But of course that doesn't mean it's a great movie.

The movie amplified my biggest problem with the book, which was the ridiculous obsessive codependent relationship between Edward and Bella.

I read the book back in '06 before it was cool. And somehow I forgot that the movie did take away a lot of the really terrible scenes like ones about Bella getting drunk off of Edwards very presence. Not to mention a few other scenes that were equally as ridiculous. It also made the characters slightly more likeable.

Yea I really do mean that Edward and Bella were even bigger ....I don't even know the right words to describe it

Douchebags, sticks in the mud, pompous, pathetic, creepy, emo as hell

I don' know take your pick from the above list.

Anyway the movie is a step up from the book IF your problem with the book is a technical storytelling one. My problem with the book is really more because I'm a feminist and I disagree with anyone glorifying a completely unhealthy romantic relationship. I hate the whole Bella/Edward relationship.

But in the name of being fair to the movie. It does make some improvements from the book.

But that ain't saying much as far as I am concerned.

Adventures in Japanese Television

2008-12-03T15:24:00.001-05:00

I am a big fan of Asian Dramas. So far I seem to enjoy soap operas from Taiwan the best, but I seem to be most weirded out by the Japanese shows.

A while back I wrote an entry about "Princess Princess D" the show based on a popular yaoi manga that centers around a all male boarding school where the three cutest freshman are forced to dress in drag in order to help school spirit. I don't really know how they justify that one but continuing on.

This week I have managed to stumble across a show that may be even weirder. It is called "Kimi wa Peto" which apparently translates to "You are my Pet." Apparently it was also based off of a popular manga.

The story begins with a somewhat bitchey, high powered, woman names Iwaya who works at a newspaper. She is smart, beautiful, tall, and quite successful; which is why her last boyfriend dumped her. He felt too threatened by her success so he go another chick pregnant.

Anyway, Iwaya is walking home from work one day and she hears some strange noises coming from inside of a box. She opens the box to fin an injured young man. It begins pouring outside so Iwaya decises to take the poor fellow inside instead of calling an ambulance. Iwaya ends up taking care of him through the night. The young man is still asleep but in stable condition, so Iwaya leaves a note for the guy telling him that there is food in the fridge and that he can let himself out whenever he wakes up.

When Iwaya gets home she is surprised to see that the young man is still in her apartment. He essentially beggs her to let him stay. Iwaya is quite lonely and she suddenly gets an idea, she will let him stay if he is her pet. He will have to obey all the rules she has for him, but in return he gets a place to live and a food. Surprisingly he agrees to the deal. She names him Momo after a golden retreiver she had when she was little.

I'm not going to lie this whole premise creeped me out a bit. I mean she suddenly comes up with the idea of having a human pet, and somehow it's ok with both of them? I have got to admit the whole premise of having a human pet creeped me out a bit. However it's not the full reason I stopped watching.

Nope I stopped watching because of a very tedious love story going on between Iwaya and a former classmate of hers. Even more tedious is the psycho from the newspaper who is so desperate to get Iwaya's boyfriend (not to be confused with her Pet) that she not only sabbotages dates, makes very mean threats to Iwaya, makes up stories about an ex-boyfriend beating her so she can stay at the mans apartment, she also hacks into the mans computer so she can get to know him better. All I know is that if this happened in an American soap opera the psycho stalker would have had her ass kicked when she confronted Iwaya in the ladies room detailing her evil plan to break them up by any means nessicary.

Even if they didn't have the stalker Iwaya would have a pretty complicated relationship with her boyfriend. Trying to keep your boyfriend from finding out that your pet is really an attractive guy of dateable age is no easy task. I mean most sensible people would run away if they found out they were dating someone who had a pet human. To be fair Iwaya's relationship with Momo is not sexual (at least not from her side), but it still falls under the category of frickin weird.

The series explores how hard it is to be a modern woman on the dating scene, and how hard it is to find something like unconditional love. The show is kind of fun as a novelty, but after a few episodes I just couldn't handle the love story. Granted it probably began to get resolved in the few episodes after I started watching. But I hate watching things that you know are going to end up in disaster, and it certainly seems as if "Kimi wa Petto" is going to have more then it's fair share of things going horribly wrong.

And the Nominees Are...

2008-12-02T23:22:00.003-05:00

The Nominees for the 2009 Spirit Awards are out and you can see the full list here

http://www.ifc.com/film/film-news/2008/12/2009-independent-spirit-award.php

My choices for the Spirit awards?

Well to be honest none of them. I am sad to admit that I havn't seen a single one of them. There are no indie theaters near by. The closest one is an hour away and generally only plays one or two indie films. And even then they only play the movies that have been given tons of press already. Right now their two selection are "Milk" which got tons of press because of Sean Penn, and "Slumdog Millionaire" which has been getting a ton of press.

The only thing on the list that even played in a theater near me, was "Vicky Christina Barcelona" I couldn't watch it. I'm sorry Javier Bardem looks like a caveman, I just can't take him seriously when he plays a romantic role. I really don't get why he was voted one of People's Sexiest Men. Ok, he scares me I'll admit it. I just don't want to see his big caveman face on the big screen. Hey even serious film buffs like me are allowed to have their quirks.

I also have an irrational hatred of Nicholas Cage for reasons I don't fully understand. I think it's mostly his voice....

Back to the main points.

That's always the sadness for me and independent film. You never hear about anything until it's already won some big award. Of course if your lucky and live in a cool artsy city you do have the opportunity to see films like this. Yet for most of us we never get to be trendsetters in film, we simply have to wait till things have received their awards and pray that they somehow find their way to our local video store.

So maybe a year from now I will have gone out and seen all of the wonderful independent movies that were nominated for the Spirit Awards, more then likely I'll forget to see the overwhelming majority.

Bloggers Unite

2008-12-01T12:25:00.005-05:00

As some of you may know today is World AIDS Day. And on this day someone came up with a simple yet powerful idea to have all (or as many as possible) bloggers unite to help get the word out about AIDS. And as you may have guessed by now I am participating.

I know what your thinking "RenegadeFilmSnob, your blog is about movies and other trivial stuff. Why are you blogging about something serious like AIDS?"

Well kids, first of all I feel it's an important thing to do. AIDS is a very serious disease. There may be no cure for it, but there are ways of keeping it from spreading further then it already has.

Secondly, AIDS and HIV have had a definite impact on the movie and entertainment industries. I'm not just talking about "Philadelphia" and other movies about people living with the disease I'm talking about the actors and directors themselves.

Kevin Peter Hall is an actor who died of AIDS. His name may not be widely recognized but he played Predator in "Predator" and "Predator 2." Did you know that the Predator was originally supposed to be played by Jean Claude Van Damme. Can you imagine Predator being played by someone who wasn't 6ft 5, I didn't think so.

Rock Hudson was the first big celebrity to publicly announce that he had HIV. Rock Hudson starred in too many movies to name, was nominated for an Oscar, and won a few Golden Globes.

Anthony Perkins the actor most well known for playing Norman Bates in Psycho, died from complications with AIDS.

Robert Reed aka Mike Brady from the Brady Bunch was HIV positive.

Emile Ardolino the director responsible for the classic hits "Dirty Dancing" and "Sister Act" died from complications with AIDS.

Colin Higgins who wrote the amazing screenplay for "Harold and Maude" and directed the classic 80's flick "Nine to Five" died of AIDS.

Even The Muppets suffered losses. The characters Scooter, Beaker, and Sweetums were all originally played and voiced by puppeteer Richard Hunt, who died from AIDS.

What would have happened if all of these talented people had been able to live for just a bit longer. There are so many people who left this wold before they had a chance to show how talented they were, people who left the world before they could live up to their full potential because of HIV and AIDS. I'm writing this in their honor, because I'm sure they would not want anyone else to go through the same disease they did.

If it can happen to celebrities it can happen to you too. So remember if your going to be having sex use protection, get tested, and make sure your partner has been tested. If you use drugs never ever share needles. Be smart be safe, and if you want more information about AIDS, HIV, and how to keep yourself safe please go to one of the following sites

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv

http://hiv.drugabuse.gov/index.html

http://www.metroteenaids.org

Education is really your best defense against AIDS.

2008-11-30T23:16:00.004-05:00

I feel that the real mark of a good movie is the desire to watch it again. I've seen a lot of critically acclaimed movies that never want to see again. I would rather gnaw my own arm off then see Wong Kar Wai's "Happy Together" (Chun gwong cha sit) or sit through another showing "L'Atalante." Of course I appreciated how artistic they were, the caliber of the performances, and whatever stunning technical assets the movie may have had. But that made them works of art, not entertainment.

My personal philosophy is that a good movie should have a bit of both. When you have artistic merit is something to be appreciated. If you want to make movies that are purely artistic then you should go for shorter length experimental films. Because having a very ideologically challenging movie is all well and good but if it has messed up pacing, irritating visuals, truckloads of pretension, or is depressing beyond belief I don't want to sit through more then an hour of it let alone see it again. You can still have a lot or art and meaning packed into something that doesn't make you want to kill yourself.

For me the mark of an excellent movie is when you still cry or laugh despite the fact that you have seen it before. If a movie can still get you emotionally, or comically after a few views that's when you know you've really got something great.

I must have seen each of the "Lord of The Rings" movies 10 times by now. Today I saw that TNT was running a marathon, and despite having more important things to do I couldn't pull myself away from the tv. This was just another reminder of how much I really love LOTR. I kind of hate to admit it, but I still cry every time when Eowyn says "I am no man." I don't know why that makes me cry every time, but it does so without fail.

"Lord of The Rings" is one of my favorite movies of all times. I consider Fellowship, Two Towers, and Return of the King to all be the same really long movie. After all, Tolkien himself wanted to publish Lord of the Rings as one giant book, the publishing company made him break it up into three parts. It takes a very long time to watch LOTR, and I mean really long because if you want to do it right you have to see the extended edition.

If you have never done so and have an entire day to waste I highly recommend doing a Lord of The Rings marathon. Don't be afraid unleash your inner nerd.

Do any of you have favorite movies that you can watch over and over but still get emotional about, or still laugh at the punchlines? Let me know what your favorite movies are.

Twilight Review

2008-11-29T13:10:00.004-05:00

Before I begin I feel as if I should put on some sort of protective gear. Because before I know it the Twilight fans will be on the attack, and I want to be ready for them.

Now I didn't precisely hate the Twilight movie, there were parts that were fairly enjoyable, but I wouldn't call it a good movie by any stretch of the imagination.

I'll admit I walked into the theater with a definite prejudice against the whole Twilight Franchise. The movie really only served to amplify the problems that I had with the book to begin with. The books were fun enjoyable reads, but there was a side to them which I greatly feared. "Twilight" glorifies a very unhealthy, codependent, and obsessive relationship. Any artist is entitled to write about what they want, even if it is about something unhealthy. What concerns me is the age of the readers and fans. I knew that most of the fans were girls in their early teens and last night when I went to the theater this was only confirmed. I was one of the few members of the audience over the age of 20, and I would say that most of the people there were girls between 12-15. Of course the movie deserved it's PG-13 rating, there was some violence but nothing too objectionable in the film. What bothers me is that just about every girl in the audience was in love with Edward, that they wanted to have a boyfriend that was just like him, and worst of all that most of them seem to think Edward and Bella have the perfect relationship.

Perhaps I should back up and go back and explain how the movie even gets to this point.

In case you have been living under a rock I'll give you a little overview of the story. "Twilight" is about a girl names Bella Swan (OMG her name means Beautiful Swan) who moves to a little hick town in Washington. She meets this guy Edward who acts very strange around her, constantly warning her not to be his friend and such. Turns out Edward is a vampire, and honest to goodness sparkly vampire. But it's ok his family doesn't bite humans, so Bella is reasonably safe with them. Bella falls madly in Love with Edward, and Edward falls madly in love with Bella. This occurs for reasons I can't fully understand mainly Edward is really hot and overprotective, and apparently Bella smells extra tasty. But not all the vampires in the world refuse to eat humans, and trouble ensues.

The dialogue in "Twilight" is atrocious. I can only assume the screen writer wanted to make the dialogue "realistic" so they made every single conversation as awkward and disjointed as possible. The conversations were downright painful, there are very few people in real life that are that awkward when they talk.

Forget Team Edward and Team Jacob, I was on Team James for this movie. The only people in this film that were capable of speaking or acting semi-normally were the bad guys. Even when they were killing people, or hunting Bella down, at least I understood their motivations for acting this way. I can't say that for any other group in the movie. The bad guys are usually cooler then the good guys, but the good guys should never be this socially awkward. The overbearing amount of awkward makes the movie is almost hard to watch until the bad guys appear. The move definitely became more exciting to watch once all the action started happening. Go bad guys!

The special effects looked ridiculous. I actually burst out laughing (much to the annoyance of the people around me) when Edward grabbed Bella and went running with her. It was a bit like the roadrunner cartoons you just saw this torso and blur of legs, it looked so fake. I think they took the money they saved from getting a second rate screen writer and put it into a bunch of completely unnecessary special effects. There was a lot of excessive tree swinging from Edward. It was kind of like a five year old going "look what I can do" the scene didn't need it. Save the impressive stuff for the fight scenes, and the baseball game.

When Edward and Bella are in the woods it would have been a lot more effective of a threat if Edward had remained perfectly still, looked Bella in the eyes and said "As if you could fight me off." Instead Edward goes all manic and jumps about randomly ripping off tree branches. It kind of ruins it.

Another special effect that was disappointing was the sparkles. In the world of "Twilight" vampires sparkle in direct sunlight. The effect in the movie made it look like poor Edward had some sort of glandular disorder which caused him to sweat like a cold can of soda on a hot day. Bella and many of the other girls in the audience seemed impressed by this, I was kind of grossed out.

Another problem was that there were too many closeups. Now I personally find too many closeups kind of annoying, but I generally let it slide. This time I couldn't. I can understand that some directors feel the need to have closeups whenever someone is feeling an intense moment (which is almost the whole damn movie) but when a lot of your actors have to wear yellow costume contacts it's a poor choice. On the big screen you could clearly see the little telltale clear rings around the irises showing that the character is wearing contacts.

For the most part I found myself laughing at the movie not with it. So many of the scenes were so over the top that it was actually funny. But now I move onto the more dramatic flaws with the movie. I had some real problems with some of the characters and their relationships.

Despite being awkward as hell, and appearing to be completely disinterested in making friends or getting to know anyone in Forks, Bella is like a frickin rock star. I grew up in a fairly small town so it was always news when someone new moved in, especially if that someone happened to be attractive. However I never saw the school paper want to run a front page story about them, have every single person turn and suddenly want to date that person, and I especially never heard of a new person arriving and already having everyone know her name. Maybe it was just as bad in the book, but I found everyones worship of Bella in the movie quite irritating.

Speaking of worship, lets move on to the character of Edward. Robert Pattinson is one good looking dude, there is no denying that. But does being hot somehow excuse a guy from being creepy as hell? He has a good reason for acting creepy at first it would be hard to be nice to someone when it's taking every ounce of strength you have not to kill them and eat them. But after that Edward continues to be creepy as hell he sneaks into Bella's room at night to watch her sleep (before they are officially together and without her permission), he follows essentially stalks (the fact that he ends up rescuing her does not make it an ok behavior), and of course he says the magic creepy phrase "your scent is like a drug to me."

I went to see "Twilight" with my good friend Grammar Girl from the Trapped in a Comma blog. During one of the scenes I turned to her and said "He is so Creepy." The girls in front od us must have overheard and they said to one another "It would be creepy if it was anyone but Edward." I'm sorry kids being hot doesn't give you a license to be a stalker, the cops just won't care.

The whole Edward Bella relationship creeps me out. Their relationship becomes so intense so quickly. Going through situations where your life is in danger will bond people together pretty quickly, but this is ridiculous. Towards the end of the movie Edward mentions something about leaving Bella. Even at this small threat Bella becomes overwrought with emotion, and it's clear that she would absolutely fall apart if he were to leave her. That should not be used as a proof of how much they love each other, it is proof of how completely unhealthy the relationship is. I am afraid that all the young fans of this book are going to think that this is how love is suppose to be. All of this "without you I'm nothing" shit is in no way shape of form romantic, it's pathetic. You never want to be in a codependent relationship. You should want to be with your partner because you like them and enjoy their company, not because you know your life would be over if they ever left you.

My advice: wait till the movie comes out on DVD to see it. It's ok, especially for something in the vampire genre but it isn't that good. Also if you rent the movie you won't have to deal with a bunch of annoying ill mannered pre-teens in the audience. I don't know about anyone else but the theater I went to had kids that were very noisy, and whenever someone shushed them they talked back, eventually the ushers had to be called. Even the nicer quieter fans were noise, I was completely right in predicting there would be at least a few squeals of glee when Edward first appeared on camera, and various squees and sighs whenever Edward did something "cute" on camera.

It was fun to watch at times, especially since I was laughing at how ridiculous the movie was not at the actual jokes. All the same I kind of wish I hadn't spent $10 to see it.

Worst Music Video

2008-11-28T13:13:00.003-05:00

When it comes to selecting favorites or least favorites it's very hard to be objective. After all a lot of what we define as good or bad depends on personal taste. Yahoo just came out with a list of the worst music videos ever made.

you can see the full list and videos here

While I don't necessarily agree with all of their choices I have to say one of the videos chosen for the list definitely deserved it's place there.

It is not an easy task but I will try to elaborate on why this is such a bad music video.

1. It's Vanilla Ice, need I say more.

2. To make matters worse it is a slow and "sexy" Vanilla Ice song.

3. This song made my ears weap.

4. There is no story only bad visual effects and random dancing.

5. Contrary to the early 90's belief the cloud graphic zooming behind Vanilla Ice is in no way "cool" or "sexy"

6. Turning the film to a blue shaded negative immage at completely random intervals is not "artistic"

7.I don't know why there are random men dancing in front of a sunset background. If you can figure it out please tell me why.

8. The costume designer clearly gets their design inspiration from the bastard demonic hybrid of Evil Knievel and every a bad Sci-fi movie.

9. It's clear they had a low budget and could only hire the models to "sexy dance" for a short time, and had to keep repeating footage of them.

10. I'm convinced the choreographer was horrified at the prospect of having to make any dance moves go along with the agonizingly slow pace of the song that they walked off set. Forcing the "talent" to come up with their own moves which consist of stepping from side to side, spinning, or giving the occasional pelvic thrust. None of which is in time with the music, then again they would have to be in slow motion to be moving at the pace of the song.

11. There is a part where the song breaks down and it's just Vanilla talking on the phone to a girl. They only had one phone booth to shoot with so they made Vanilla strut creepily outside the phone booth while he talks to the girl. Is this supposed to be romantic, because it just creeps me out.

12. The horror the horror

13. Make it stop now before I cause harm to myself.

14. Why will this song not end?

15. Why were there so many dance breaks in such a slow song?

16. Oh look the Clouds are back for no reason at all.

In many ways this video defies explanation. Why would they make a video for such a bad song? Who is the director and is he still alive, or did villagers storm after him with pitch forks? Who thought this was a good idea?

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T23:24:00.004-05:00

Today I was half tempted to spend my time writing an angry rant about how bad the "Get Smart" movie was. I don't know how you can take a bunch of great comedic actors, have a writing credit from Mel Brooks himself (ok so it's only for writing the characters but still), and turn out so completely terrible. But I'm not going to do it, well at least not in depth.

Today is Thanksgiving and on this day I have decided not to bitch more then necessary. Today is the day where we Americans take time to remember what we should be thankful for friends, family, and an abundance of food. On this day we put time aside to reconnect with relatives, spend time with friends, and throw any semblance of a diet out the window for just one day.

I suppose I have failed you in my holiday suggestions this year, for try as I might the only thanksgiving movie I can think to recommend is "Pieces of April." It stars Katie Holmes, and for once I actually really liked her performance. Katie Holmes isn't playing her usual goody-two-shoes type of role, she is kind of a punk with issues, but somehow she still manages to be completely lovable in this role. The story is basically about an woman who has become estranged from her own family, but decides to throw a big Thanksgiving dinner largely due to the fact that her mother is dying. Everything falls apart and it turns out her oven is broken so she must go around the apartment building begging her neighbors to let her cook a few things in their oven. Despite all of this there is a lot of humor in the movie, and it has a wonderful quirky cast of characters. Most of the funny moments come from Aprils Mother (brilliantly played by Patricia Clarkson) who is dying of cancer and the old grandma with Alzheimers. Granted I haven't seen many Thanksgiving films but I love the way this represents a dysfunctional family, that despite differences still loves each other.

So in an uncharacteristically sappy moment, I want to give thanks to all the people who helped to make film what it is. To the Lumiere Brothers for being true pioneers of the cinema, and for opening the first actual movie theater. For the brave souls who believed that sound would be more then just a passing trend in film. "The Jazz Singer" may not be a very good movie, but who can forget it's first spoken lines and indeed the first spoken lines in all of cinema

"Wait a minute you ain't heard nothin yet"

For the people that painstakingly painted film frames to let us view the screen in color for the first time. For all the technicians who developed greater technology and changed the industry, for all the visionary directors, the talented actors, brilliant composers, and everyone else who makes film possible. Thank you

Film allows us to visit far away lands, to better understand foreign cultures, to see the world in a new view. A good movie can change someones life, or spark the imagination. Film can let us escape our lives for a little while into a wonderful world of fantasy. Or they can finally allow us to feel catharsis so that we can better express and understand ourselves.

I think in many ways film unites us. How many times have you bonded with someone over a favorite show of movie, how many times have you been able to get someone to smile or laugh just by repeating a good line from a movie. We don't think about it but going to the movie theater is kind of a magical experience. There you are sitting in a room full of strangers. And despite never speaking to one another, despite coming from different backgrounds, for that hour and a half you are all experiencing the exact same thing at the exact same time. For that small moment you and everyone else in the theater are connected.

I'm probably a bit too romantic in my view of film, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong.

Right now I just want to express my gratitude to film and almost everything that has to do with film. I would also like to express my gratitude to my readers, thank you so much for stumbling upon this silly little blog and giving it a chance.

So to friends, family and complete strangers I love you all and Happy Thanksgiving

LonelyGirl15 The Resistance Review

2008-11-24T23:46:00.003-05:00

I can't say that I was a fan of Lonelygirl15 since the beginning. I only got into after I saw a few news stories about how it was fake, and saw the hilarious recap of the show on WhatTheBuckShow.

Side note: If you have yet to see What The Buck yet, you should do so he his hilarious.

LonelyGirl15 was the first big web series. It brilliantly utilized the short length and accessibility of youtube to tell a story. From the beginning it was never a very well acted show, the scripts were far from perfect, and the production values were very low. All the same the show had this charm that just kept you watching.

The had a lot of fun conspiracy theories mixed into the story. New characters were brought in by commenting on videos. You never quite knew who was on Bree's side or not. There were puzzles to be solved and shadowy figures lurking in the background, all purposefully done so the audience could really feel like they were participating. It was almost like a more grown up version of Blues Clues, and it was a lot of fun. In fact the problem solving aspect is a big part of the shows addictive quality, everyone wanted to be the first to post the answer to a riddle on the forums.

After the big(and rather disappointing) finale of the first season, a lot of people were left wondering what direction the show would be going in. The second season still managed to keep things interesting as it followed Jonas's long lost trait positive "sister" Emma.

The third season is where things began to fall apart. Sure there were still puzzles to be solved and conspiracies to unravel, but the characters were becoming less and less engaging. Instead of series three being about guarding a trait positive girl, it was about a death threat issued to the meddling kids which kept interfering with the Hymn of One. It just wasn't as believable. It is established that The Hymn of One is a powerful cult with ties in every branch of the government. This explains why the kids never went to the cops for help. In the first and second season it is still believable that a group so powerful is unable to get the trait positive girls because the girls must not be harmed in any way until the ceremony. In season three it's pretty unbelievable that a group so powerful couldn't simply kill them. I understand that LG15 is a low budget production, but whenever the Hymn of One attempt to do kill the group they did so in lame drive by shootings that would have made any untrained street thug ashamed. I mean the watchers are supposed to be highly trained, there was a significant bounty put on their heads couldn't they have at least hired someone capable of killing these kids.

All the same I hung on and kept watching. I kept hoping that the series would start moving at a fun and exciting pace again, but it simply did not. LG15TheResistance is really where I had to draw the line and stop watching. It was like the fun alternate reality game had suddenly shifted into a bunch of angsty teens arguing. At first the survailance video style HymnOfNone videos were kind of interesting, but they really didn't lead anywhere. We saw a girl kept in captivity, drained of her blood on a routine basis, and otherwise miserable. Well we also know this girl escaped, in a highly implausible way. Had they changed the story a bit and made things about rescuing this girl, it might have been more interesting. Now we are just stuck with Maggie an annoying character who has a very flat and kind of annoying personality. I know I know, if you were locked up and drained of your blood every day you probably wouldn't be the nicest person on the block. There is a way to properly act in the role of a character who is very damaged and in many ways emotionally dead, the actress who plays Maggie isn't anywhere close to accomplishing that type of performance.

This season it's been more of a chore to watch the series then anything. Today when I went to my youtube page I saw new things from the HymnOfNone and I just did not want to watch them. So far there haven't been too many puzzles and there hasn't been much actual excitement. For the most part it's just four people standing around bitching about how dangerous things are, and getting jealous of one anthers romantic relationships. I mean maybe things can still turn around, but honestly when you get to a point that a show becomes painful to watch there is little hope it can return to it's previous glory.

I guess this is me throwing in the towel. So long LonelyGirl15 it was fun while it lasted, but I'm done with you.

True Blood: You'll Be The Death Of Me Season finale

2008-11-24T00:38:00.005-05:00

I just finished watching the season finale of True Blood, and I have to admit I am disappointed. I think some of this is due to the fact that I am a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse novels and that the ending shown on television is far different fro the ending in the book. Yet, even when I turned my mind away from the book ending I still felt the season finale was a bit unsatisfying.

The True Blood series has a lot of sex and violence, but that's not the point of the show nor is it the most interesting part of the story. At it's heart True Blood is about relationships. Now, I'm not talking about the romantic relationship between Bill and Sookie, no I'm talking about the friendships the small town politics. It's pretty clear in "True Blood" vampirism is a thinly veiled metaphor for issues of race and homosexuality. How does the nation, and it's smallest little hick towns deal when some sort of minority group is revealed to the public and suddenly brought to the mainstream. Some are fascinated, some are repulsed, and like my favorite dumb blond Jason Stackhouse some are just plain confused. How do people accept things they don't understand, and how to they cope when they find out that strange things have been happening around them for hundreds of years without anyone really noticing.

In short and without spoilers. I feel like I was disappointed with the season finale because it didn't do enough to explore the major theme, it tied up a few things a little too conveniently, and I felt one of the scenes was completely over the top and unbelievable. And I do mean unbelievable in a world where I am perfectly happy to accept the existence of Vampires, shape shifters, and mind reading waitresses.

There are spoilers below both for the book and for the show. Highlight to read them.

Lets break down the scenarios

In the TV show: Sookie is brought home halfway through a tough day at work by Rene, due to the fact that he rigged her car so it could not possibly run. Sookie is clueless and has no idea he wants to kill her until he starts thinking about killing her grandmother. The chase ensues, violence happens, and Sookie does a lot of running and mind reading. Sam suddenly recognizes that it was Rene's scent he picked up on when he was creepily smelling the sheets at a crime scene and runs off to help Sookie. Bill, feeling Sookie's fear from their psychic link wakes up in the day time and bravely/stupidly marches out into the sunlight to save her. Sookie hides from Rene, is discovered, beat up, and rescued by Sam in collie form. Rene Beats Sam up for a while till Sookie grabs a shovel and manages to kill Rene. Sookie and Sam run off to rescue Bill who is still smoldering in a field from his futile attempt to rescue Sookie.

In the Book: Bill has been called away for secret vampire business in New Orleans. Although he can't be there personally, Bill knows that there is a killer after Sookie and he hires Bubba (who is actually Elvis) to be Sookie's body guard. Sookie is alone in her house at night after a very tough day at work. She has settled down and is washing off her makeup when she hears a noise outside. She calls to Bubba, but there is no response. Poor Bubba, he has been drugged and left unconscious unable to help. Sookie tries to call 911 but there is no dial tone on the phone. Sookie arms herself with a pocket knife and attempts to go out to her car and get away. Rene hears her and Sookie is chased around for a while. Rene catches up with her beats her up a bit and attempts to strangle her, Sookie manages to stab him in the stomach with her pocket knife. Sookie manages to get all the way to Bill's house where she finally calls 911 and passes out. Sookie wakes up in the hospital, with some severe injuries including a broken collarbone.

I guess I'll start with the good news, since there isn't much of it.

I like how the TV series had her use an improvised weapon of a shovel in the graveyard, somehow it makes more sense then being prepared with a pocket knife. I like how they showed Sookie's mind reading ability and how it worked with Rene. You know how Sookie was figuring things out, how Rene was upset that she could see his darkest secrets, how hard he worked to keep her out of his head. Overall the aspects of the chase scene which occurred between Rene and Sookie were well edited.

Now for the things I hated.

A chase through the graveyard at night is so much more frightening then one done in the daytime. Granted lighting at night is difficult, and night shoots are probably more expensive, but I don't care. I thought that the idea of Bill waking up just to fight his way through the sunlight for Sookie to be completely ridiculous. Even if it weren't for many things in the novels which essentially prove it impossible for Bill to have done this, it was over the top. It was sappy, and it was unnecessary. I know they tried to throw it in there to prove just how much Bill loves Sookie, yet I found it sickening. They should have taken all the money they spent on the crumbly Bill Compton, and put them towards a properly lit night time chase scene.

I suppose that point will be better explained here.

Here is where I get real angry. what I love about Sookie is that she is a very typical sort of woman. She comes from a lower class background, isn't very well educated but still smart, she is a waitress, and aside from a few things beyond her control has attempted to stay out of trouble in her life. In the book you see this journey from a very average humble sort of woman into a warrior.

In the book Sookie is left to fend for herself. There is no man to save her, no one to call until she can pass a terrible trial to get to someone else phone. Having Sam and Bill run in to save her makes her feat seem a lot less heroic. In the book it is clear that Sookie manages to outwit and outrun Rene, in the TV show it's clear that Sookie was not strong enough to survive unless there is a man like Sam to swoop in and save her. The character of Sookie Stackhouse deserves more then that, because that is a real turning point for her character. It is never talked about in such terms in the book, but Sookie proves that she can handle herself that she is independent. When she wakes up in the hospital she owes no thanks to anyone but herself for her own survival. In the show she basically calls Sam her hero, and thanks Bill for trying real hard to save her life when she so clearly couldn't have done so alone.

This is a much weaker foundation for this Heroine then I had hoped for. It seems as if they are changing a few other things as well. But I don't know how and when the writers and directors at HBO will back off and let Sookie he the hero in her own story. Sookie is no Bella Swan, her strength does not lay in having a super boyfriend or a super boss. Sookie's powers are completely and utterly her own, she is still a relatively ordinary woman but that doesn't mean she isn't capable of handing herself in most situations.

Side note, I miss Bubba. I can kind of see why they took the character out, but Bubba is one of my favorites. I can only guess they took him out because they wanted the show to be more serious, and Bubba is humorous in his very concept as a character. I still think it would have been great to have him, I mean it's not like Elvis impersonators are that hard to find. Bubba makes a number of appearances in the books, and I really hope they bring him into the TV series.