The Queen

Saw The Queen last week. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie. It turned out to be very good though. The performances were all really good. Although there were a couple spots where it seemed like Helen Miren was playing a characture of the Queen. Luckily those were only brief moments and nothing that took away from the overall performance. And I do have to give her props for having the guts to play a living queen.

It really was a very interesting look at the aftermath of Princess Diana's death. I could see Helen getting a best actress nomination at the moment. There's a lot more to come this month though so that could change quickly.

It was well worth full price. If it's still playing at a theater near you I would recommend it. If not then definitely rent it when it hits video stores.

Bobby

Thanksgiving weekend I went to see Bobby. I saw it for the cast and the subject matter, and it did not disappoint on either level. Emilio Estevez did a great job with the script and the direting. It's an unbelievably timely movie. Even knowing history and what was going on back then you don't fully realize how much of the same crap is going on right now that was going on back then. The whole cast was top notch. You could tell they were all in it for the movie not themselves. Everyone had rather small parts but, no one gave off any sort of I'm the biggest assest this movie has vibe. Plus there were a couple of nice surprises in the cast. Namely Joshua Jackson.

The scene between Demi Moore and Sharon Stone was very good. That was one of those moments where ego could have ruined anything but, there was no ego in it at all. It was great seeeing a mix of actors who lived the Kennedy years (brief as they were) and the ones who only know it through their parents eyes and history books. Hopefully those younger actors will bring a younger audience in and that audience will see all the hope there once was for the future of this country. How politicians once stood up for what they believed rather than just what they thought would get them elected.

Even I who am pretty familiar with the Kennedy assassinations learned a few things about Robert's assassination from this film. However, this isn't so much a film about Robert and his assassiantion as it is the lives and hopes of those who supported him. Any looking for a movie about Robert and his life will be disappointed. It really is a movie about the affect he had on people. The affect world events were having on people. How people young and old at the time were looking to him to set the nation on the right path. It ends with his assassination. In fact there's only a couple minutes in the film in which and actor plays Robert. The rest of the time it is actual file footage of him.

The movie is both inspirational and devistating. Which only makes it an even more powerful film knowing how it will end. I don't know that it will get an Academy Award nomination for best film but I believe it deserves at least to be mentioned as a potential nominee. It absolutely 100% deserves a Screen Actors Guild nomination for best assemble. And while there really probably isn't anyone performance that stands out as worthy of an individual Oscar nominee I think Emilio should get some serious consideration for best screenplay and best director.

This movie is completely worth full price.

A Couple More

Couple more movies to catch up on.

Hollywoodland - Not a good movie. Couple decent performances by Ben Affleck and Diane Lane but, those are the only good things about the movie. There isn't enough story to make a movie out of. Sure it sounds like it would be a good movie but, once put together there just isn't a movie. I'm not even sure this is worth the money at the video store.

The Black Dahlia - Good movie. A lot of good performances and a very good story. Even though the real murder was never solved and this is based on a novel based on that murder it works really well. It had the potential to be really heavy almost too heavy but, a couple comedic scenes really lightened the whole thing up. And made the movie. A little too much back story involving one of the characters that dragged the pace down in a few places. Other than that it was good. If you didn't see it in theaters it's totally worth picking up on video.

Catch Up

I am way behind so I'm going to try and do a quick catch up. These are in no particular order.

The Quiet - Good story and a well constructed movie. Have to give tons of credit to Camilla Belle for going from being the only person in the room while delivering dialogue in When A Stranger Calls to be silent in rooms full of other people. Girl has shown a huge amount of talent and range in a matter of two films.

Running With Scissors - Didn't have high hopes for this movie. Mainly I was going to see it for the cast. And that cast did not disappoint. The movie was better than I was expecting it to be. I thought it was going to be pretty heavy on the drama but, it was actually very funny. Which was good it really wouldn't have worked as a major drama.

The Prestige - Wow good movie. I had a good chunk of stuff figured out but, not all of it. I didn't like the very end of the movie but it was still a good movie. Great performances all around. Anyone who missed this in theaters really missed a fantastic experience. Do not miss it on video.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning - I always need a horror film for Halloween and it was not going to be Saw 3. This wouldn't have been on my list of films to see if it weren't for Jordana Brewster and she did not disappoint. It's always a nice bonus when the actor or actress you go to see something for gets the best damn line of the whole movie. Truly the best moment of the whole film. The film over all was actually better than I anticipated and far more gory than I was expecting.

All The Kings Men - Good cast that was top notch. Except for James Gandolfini he over did it. The movie was okay. Night quite was I was hoping for but it was still worth viewing. It just seemed like it could be more powerful.

Okay I think that gets me caught up. At least for the most part. If I remember any other movies I'll be sure to post them.

Quinceanera

This movie wasn't exactly what I was expecting it to be but, that isn't a bad thing. It was still quite good and funnier than I expected it to be.

The story was very good and different. I really like the message it sent about how even within families you can make seperate non-traditional families.

I wasn't familiar with anyone in the cast. They all did a great job though.

I paid full price and it was worth it for me. Most people would probably want to pay matinee price. It's going to be hard for most people to find in theaters though. I do recommend checking it out on video.

The Illusionist

This movie was really good. Very well put together and the acting was pretty good. I'm really glad Jessica Biel fought to get this role. While not a huge role it is a pivotal one and it shows she is more than just a pretty face. Again I found myself wondering why people insist on giving Paul Giamatti so much work and top roles. He's not that good of an actor. Edward Norton was as good as he always is.

I don't really think it's as good as the critics seem to think it is but it is still a good movie. I paid full price and wasn't disappointed. I think most people would be okay paying that much.

And The Emmy Goes To...

So the Emmy's were pretty lame this year. I wasn't really impressed with the nominees so there were a lot of categories I didn't care much about. I actually ended up being really disappointed when Jaime Pressley didn't win. And the best part of the night was when Mariska Hargitay won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama. I really did think that award was going to Kyra Sedgewick. Although if you went just on the episodes they submitted Mariska was the person who deserved to win.

Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

It's been several weeks since I went to see this one so this won't be the most indepth review.

This movie was a lot better than I thought it would be. I saw the first one more because I liked the cast than for the movie itself and I'm always worried about sequels anyway. However, they did a fantastic job with this one. I certainly was not expecting to be as funny as it was. I laughed really hard at a lot of the movie, both the dialogue and the action.

All the actors were great. I really like that Kiera Knightly got a lot more screentime and that they didn't go insane and make her all girly-girl all of a sudden. Orlando was good again as well. And I swear Johnny Depp was even better than he was in the first one. I don't know how he manages to walk that line between good comedy and hamming it up so well. If this character was in anyone elses hands it would be awful. It would be way over the top and annoying.

The only downside to the movie was that it was a little to long. There were some action sequences that they could have cut a bit to tighten it up. Other than that it was a great movie and well worth seeing.

Paid full price and would pay that much to see it again.

Pulse

This was actually a pretty good movie, that I have to see again on account of the fact that like half the theater felt the need to talk during the movie. And don't even get me started on the guy who felt the need to whistle after every scary part. I hate when horror films get PG-13 ratings it only invites stupid people who don't really like them to go. And it keeps real fans away which hurts box office. In case any body in charge of movies out there hasn't noticed this in recent months, PG-13 ratings hurt horror movie box office. You should not be aiming for anything less than an R.

Okay as I said the movie itself was good. There were several scary parts and Kristen Bell was so on her game. One thing that I know really helped this movie was the fact that one of the people responsible for the script was Wes Craven. It's to bad he didn't direct it as well. That would have taken it from a good horror film to a great one.

Considering that I couldn't focus on the movie as much as I would have liked I'm going to skip the spoiler section.

I paid full price to see this one and it was worth it despite the annoying people. I would be willing to pay full price to see it again.

Emmy Time

With the Emmy's just around the corner I figured I better get my reaction to the nominations posted. Let me just say though how stupid the time frame for this years Emmy's is. NBC knew long before they got Sunday Night Football that they had the Emmy's this year. The NFL could have lived with one less Sunday Night game.

Over all the nominations weren't horrible but they weren't great either. The new system seemed to work a bit but not a lot. And as much as I love Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls these shows are never going to be recognized until the producers and other executives start throwing fits like they did to get reality programming their own categories. The reason they don't get nominated is quite simple they are dramedies and until there is a third set of categories for dramedies these shows are going to find it nearly impossible to be nominated. Do I think the shows and the people in and behind them deserve nominations? Yes I do. However, I'm very realistic about this and instead of throwing fits about it I just accept what it is. Now Best Dramedy and so forth categories no nominations for them.

If you don't believe me on this subject you need look no furth than the comedy nominations this year. Where they were dominated by Desperate Housewives (also technically a dramedy) last year this year they are all about true comedies. In other words, sitcoms. With the exception of Alfre Woodard (who did not deserve a nomination) all the comedy nominations were for half hour comedies.

As far as the comedy categories go I really wasn't that thrilled with them over all. There were a few high points. Very pleased that Arrested Development scored a couple nominations. My favorite nomination for comedies has to be Stockard Channing for Out of Practice. I'm still pissed off at CBS for cancelling. My next favorite comedy nomination is Jamie Pressly for My Name Is Earl. I have been a big fan of hers since Jack & Jill. Ever since then I've kept my eye on her work and really touted how talented she is. I know people probably thought I was completely cracked at times but, now I have been proven correct.

In the drama categories. The number one thing that had to happen this year for the to be any hope for the new nominating procedures was for Kyra Sedgwick to get nominated for The Closer. And she did. Unfortunately people must not have watched the screeners for the rest of the cast or the show over all becuase I'm not sure how a couple other cast memebers got over looked. And I am a little miffed that the show didn't get nominated for best drama. I was very surprised to see Mariska Hargitay get nominated again. I really didn't think she could pull it off this season. Yes they had that episode early in the year that was designed to get her another nomination, if not the win, but those tend to backfire. And since they copped out on the ending of that episode I really thought it would hurt her. I'm glad she managed to sneak in there though. Unfortunately, odds are she'll be going home empty handed again.

I was also very pleased that Christopher Meloni finally got nominated. When I found out which episode they submitted for him I was like, yup that'll do it. Have to give the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit peopl a lot of credit. Some how they managed to go two for two in the episode designed for a nomination department.

A little upset by the fact that James Spader wasn't nominated again. Although the nomination for Candice Bergen was very nice to see. She totally deserved it.

And on one final note. The Ellen Burstyn nomination is complete and total crap. If that doesn't show the show them that there are still some serious issues and that people are voting based on name rather than work nothing will. How the hell do you get nominated for 15 seconds of screen time? Come on people snap out of it. Clearly people weren't watching their screeners to put her in the top 10. But, the real question is how did the so called blue ribbon panel decide that 15 seconds was worthy of a nomination?

Scoop

I really don't like Woody Allen and the two movies of his I had seen previously were rather boring. I was very worried about this one but figured Scarlett and Hugh would make it worth it and I was right. I was actually quite surprised at how well written and funny it was. A lot of that had to do with Scarlett's perfect delivery. It's official that girl can do anything.


Major Plot Point Ahead:


The over all story was very fun except for the part where Scarlett and Woody didn't end up figuring out who the real killer was. And while the little twist at the end where Hugh's character did kill one of the women led to a rather funny, yet obvious final moment between him and Scarlett I would have prefered he not be a killer.



I saw this at a matinee and it was well worth that price. I wouldn't have felt ripped off if I had paid full price but, because Woody annoys me so it was a better value for me at matinee.

The Descent

I was in the mood for a fun no brainer of a movie and horror films usually fit that bill. I was intrigued this one because of it's all female cast. That's just never done. I didn't have very high hopes for this movie because it really looked like The Cave with an all female cast. And it was very much like it but it was better written and the creatures where better.

I didn't have very high hopes for this movie aside from being a couple hours of entertainment. As I told me good friend Liz Taylor's House it was not the craptastic gorefest I was anticipating it to be. It was rather gory but it wasn't bad. The dark setting made the gore a little less gory which was cool.

The cast was really good as well. None of them phoned it in and they took it seriously. No trying to make it campy or anything like that.



Spoilers Ahead:


The movie was very well put together and the story was good as were the characters. However, there were a couple of flaws that hurt my overall enjoyment of the movie.

One was when Juno hit I think it was Beth with her ice ax after having just faught off two of the creatures. I had a feeling a moment like that was coming but I didn't think it would play out quite like that. She hits her right square in the throat and then leaves her there to die. Not entirely cool leaving her like that but there was no way they were going to be able to save her. But then later Sarah finds Beth in the creatures food pile and she's still alive. Come one, that was so stupid there was no way she was still going to be alive that much later. She would have bled to death within minutes. And not only was she alive she was able to give Sarah important info about Juno.

Which sets up my major problem with the movie and it happened right at the end. Sarah and Juno are the only two left alive and they are almost to the opening and safety. There's a bunch of the creatures closing in. Turns out that Juno was having an affair with Sarah's husband (who was killed at the beginning of the movie) a fact which Sarah learned from Beth. Beth also told Sarah that Juno was a danger and that she had to find her own way out. So right there at the end Sarah takes her ice ax and puts it through Juno's knee leaving her there to die. Total character problem. I get your mad she had an affair with your husband, your best friend made it sound like Juno killed her on purpose, but no true horror film herione would leave someone behind unless they absolutely had to.

When it came to the creatures it was cool how they could only find their prey by sound. And that worked very well for the story except for one part. One of the characters was hanging from the top of the cave over some water. Her sister and Juno were trying to get her to come back and they were yelling at her. So the creature that was there next to her should have gone after them. Only he just starts swinging and clawing for the one hanging there until he finally gets her. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how he knew she was there or where she was exactly.



I went to a matinee and it was well worth that price. I don't think it is really worth more than that.

John Tucker Must Die

I love a good teen comedy but, they usually don't turn out to be any good. This one looked amusing but my primary reason for seeing it was Sophia Bush and Brittany Snow. I was very much impressed with Brittany when I had to endure the hell that is Nip/Tuck last year so I was really looking forward to seeing what she could do comedically. I was very impressed.

The movie itself turned out to be very good. Way, way better than I was expecting. It was smart rather than stupid. The girls themselves were good characters and very different. A lot of times what you get are the same character with slightly different quirks. These were four very different characters with one thing in common John Tucker. Their differences is really what makes this one stand out from the pack. I laughed so hard my abs hurt afterwards. Not to mention that I was laughing so hard I missed some of the jokes and now have to see it again.

The entire cast was top notch. Great job of casting.



Spoilers Ahead:


I think my favorite character was the one played by Sophia, Beth the vegan activist. I liked how they didn't make her way over the top and that she was allowed to be pretty. And liked being pretty. This particular character is usually stereotyped as not caring about their looks or anything else like that it was a nice change of pace. I was also intrigued by the fact that in this movie vegan activist was code for slut. That was a nice change for the usual stereotype of lesbian or proceived lesbian for that type of character.

When they got stuck on the boat and she whipped out her cell phone and said "this is what triple A was invented for" I almost died. You just have to see it to understand.

But far and away the best part of this whole movie was the boob cam. Pure genius. The whole thought of it gets me laughing again.

The stuff with putting estrogen in John's supplements was funny except when he was wondering if he looked fat in his shorts. That was a little stupid. The emotional stuff and his nipples being tender was great though.

A lot of the stuff that stands out in my mind right now is dialogue stuff and I don't feel like typing all that so that concludes this portion of the review.


I actually saw this at a matinee hoping the smaller crowd would keep me from wanting to hurt someone who couldn't keep their mouth shut. And it worked. It was totally worth the matinee price and I would gladly pay full price to see it. And I just might do that when I see it again.

A Prarie Home Companion - again

This was so fun the first time around I had to see it again. Most of the time when I see stuff a second time it is either the same or a tiny bit better. This however was even funnier the second time around. I can't even explain why it was so much better it just was.

Click

This turned out to be a very disappointing film. I did laugh a few times but over all it was just not good. Even Kate Beckinsale couldn't save this one. She wasn't in it enough to level things out. Adam Sandler seemed to just be going through the motions for most of the film. It really seemed like no one had any real idea of what they should be doing.

And it was way to long. If it had been a bit shorter it wouldn't have been as bad. Really it just seemed to spend at least an hour just beating you over the head with it's family before work message.

One nice surprise in the movie was the couple small scenes with Jennifer Coolidge. Always a riot in anything she's in. And that flash back scene when she had a mohawk was priceless.


Spoilers ahead:


Really just one important plot thing here. The reason the lenght of the movie was to much was not just because they were beating you over the head with the message but because you knew from just before he got the remote that the damn thing was a dream. He lays down on a bed and then suddenly sees the door where he ends up finding Christopher Walken. Come on it's bad enough when a movie turns out to be a dream but, to give it away and then drag it out for what seems like an eternity is just stupid. Sure they tried to save it there at the end when the remote returns and he throws it away but that was even dumber.



I saw this at a matinee and it so wasn't worth it. It is really only worth seeing on video.

Poseidon

I had seen the original Poseison Adventure several years ago so I figured what the hell why not check this one out. It had a decent cast that would make it worth the time. The original was a fun movie to watch if you keep in mind when it was made. (I didn't see the tv remake.) Unfortunately they didn't really do a very good job updating it. It just wasn't very exciting.

I did enjoy it for the cast. Although in the small moments that any cast member had to shine I feel the director really failed them. The person in the cast that most impressed me was Jacinda Barrett. This is not really unusual though. She impresses me more with each thing I see her in. Seriously folks people generally come off The Real World and do stuff to look like idiots, they don't go on to have pretty decent film careers. And hers seems to be going nowhere but up.

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on this one because it's really not worth it.

I saw this at the discount theater for $2 and I would have paid the evening rate there of $3 for it but it wasn't worth more than that. It will be perfectly fine to rent when it hits dvd but, don't be expecting anything spectacular from it.

The Devil Wears Prada

A few years ago I was not a big fan of Meryl Streep. In fact I was always like what's the big deal. Her performances always seemed so boring to me. That is with the exception of Death Becomes Her. Then came The Hours and for once I actually kind of understood what everyone saw in Meryl. However, during all the press stuff for The Hours and the woman was a riot. If she wasn't such a successful actress she could be a top notch stand-up comic so now while I will see most stuff she does I won't miss her comic stuff.

The Devil Wears Prada was terrific movie. It wasn't a laugh a minute comedy but, it was still very funny. Anne Hathaway was great as always. I didn't know sometimes if I should be afraid of Meryl's character or amused by her. Which was exactly how that character had to be played. If it was too funny then Anne's character would have come off all wrong and the movie wouldn't have worked. If the character had been to scary then the it would never have been funny.

Emily Blunt who played the first assistant Emily would have stolen the movie if she had more screen time.


Spoiler Warning Stop Reading You Don't Want To Know Specific Things From The Movie:


Yes, Andy (Anne) did kind of put her friends second after awhile including her boyfriend but, no way would he have not done the samething if he had been given a chefs job at a high profile restaurant. The part towards the end at the gallery when her friend Lilly (Tracie Thoms) laid into her about how she'd been behaving pissed me on beyond belief. It aggreviated me because she had no problem with Andy and her job when she was scoring a $1500 purse as a result. Andy was already starting to slip away from them at that time so if she had a problem with it she shouldn't have taken the bag.

I loved it when Andy had to take the book over to Miranda's (Meryl) house along with the dry cleaning and Emily told her where to put each of them. Only problem was there were two closest across from the stairs and three tables with flowers on them. And then when she took the book upstairs the way she coward after being caught was perfect. But, then Miranda punished her by making her get a steak from a restaurant when it wasn't open and find the unpublished manuscript for the next Harry Potter book just to see if she could do it was the most evil thing ever.

And I soooo did not see Emily getting hit by the taxi coming. I was so shocked by that I don't think I took a breath for like ten seconds or more.



I paid full price to see this movie and it was well worth it. I'd gladly pay full price to see it again.

The Omen

It's been awhile since I've seen the original. I remember it being rather creepy though and I really didn't see a need to remake it. Casting however to draw me in because despite the fact that he is seriously under used Liev Shreiber is a top notch actor and Julia Stiles is amazing as well. The fact that they got those two, especially considering Liev has more than fulfilled his horror film requirements, really had me intersted in seeing what they could do to make it better.

I don't really think they ended up making it better but, they didn't dishonor the original and they made a film that was decent for its time. It wasn't ask creepy as the original but, somehow they did manage to get me to jump several times. I never screamed and my heart rate never seemed to go up but, I did jump a bit 4 or 5 times. That is actually quite an accomplishment and it does speak well for the directing. It means the director set it up so that you weren't expecting it. One of the ways that was done was not changing the music or the background sound leading up to a scary moment. To often today horror films give away the scares by increasing the music to much. Big mistake the key to scaring people is to lul them into thinking it is safe. Even when they know something can't be that easy you have to find away to make them think it just might be that easy. That's how you get the scares and that's exactly what the director did with this film.

As for the performances. The were all strong as you would expect. The Omen is one of those rare horror/scary films that gives more importance to the male lead rather than the female lead. That isn't a bad thing it just unfortunately means not as much screen time for Julia. She did a great job with what she was given and did have a couple big emotional scenes. Liev was spot on perfect casting. There's just something really amazing about the way he goes about his job. I can't put my finger on it but he really draws you in and it seems like he's not even trying. Mia Farrow was strong. She played the line between sensister and caring perfectly.


Spoiler Alert:


Not a lot of things I want to touch on in regards to the actual movie.

First though it was interesting that they decided to change one of the scariest moments in the original. In the original they don't go to the zoo Damien and Kate (Julia) drive through an animal sancturary and a bunch of them attack their car. That is far more frightening than the apes throwing themselves at the glass in the zoo. That really wasn't a very smart thing to change.

Also at the end I was a bit confused as to why the cops where already in their riot gear when they came into the church and shot Robert (Liev). That was very odd they wouldn't have know what was going on until they got into the church so they had no reason to be in riot gear.



It was a good remake. Although I think they could have made it a bit more interesting if they had done a update and made it so the female character was the lead. Would be really interesting to see the mother go through the termoil of coming to terms with what must be done.

I did pay full price for it and I don't feel like it was a waste of money or time. However, I think I would recommend just waiting for dvd.

The Lake House

Yes, there is a bit of a hopeless romantic inside me. It usually shows itself in the movies I will watch. Overall it was a good movie. It had a few moments that didn't work but, otherwise if you can let yourself go enough to believe in the story it's good. If you can't let yourself go in that way you won't enjoy this movie at all.

Sandra and Keanu were both strong. I would have liked to see Sandra get a little more emotional variation but, she did get a couple of strong moments so it was okay. Keanu's character was a little more flat. Not flat in a bad way just that is character was on the same emotional plain the whole time. There's a lot of voice over in the movie and luckily both Keanu and Sandra have the ability to portray so much with just their voices.

The way the director put the film together was very nice. I really like the parts where they were shown to be in the same place and it was as if they were talking to each other but they were in different times so they really weren't. Going in I was worried about how the movie would work if they were never on screen together but they solved that problem brilliantly.

There was one weak part in the casting and that was Dylan Walsh as Sandra's on-again-off-again boyfriend. He is so dull on Nip/Tuck I don't know how he got in this movie. He wasn't even in it that much but most of the time he was in it he was with Sandra and it was just a miss cast all the way.


Spoiler Alert:


The one real flaw in the story was that they gave away a key story point to early in the movie. When Kate Sandra) is having lunch with her mom and a man is hit by a bus it is blatently obvious to the audience that it is Alex (Keanu). Unfortunately this ruins a moment later in the movie. As a result you also spend to much of the movie wondering when Kate is going to figure it out.

That early scene completely destroys the moment later in the movie when they are to finally meet at a restaurant. You know that he's not going to show up so it takes away all the emotional empact of the movie. Even Sandra can't save a moment that the audience knows is coming ten minutes in.

The other problem with it is that she should have known the minute she found out Alex's full name that he was the man killed that day. She's a doctor for crying out loud she would have found out the name of the man she couldn't save.

I did like the part though that he orchastrated for them to meet without her knowing it by meeting her at her surprise birthday party. That was a really great portion of the movie.



I paid full price for the movie and it was totally worth it for me. Anyone with a strong since of romance (hopeless or not) especially for whimsical romance will enjoy this movie and won't feel gypt by paying full price. Otherwise you're probably better off just waiting for video.

The Da Vinci Code

I am not a big reader and have not read The Da Vinci Code as a result I really enjoyed the movie. It was put together fairly well. It was a bit long which wouldn't be a problem if it hadn't slowed down so much towards the end. If Ron Howard could have found a way to tighten the end up and keep it moving more it would have been more enjoyable.

While there was nothing wrong with any of the performances there also was nothing special about the either. The characters were good but, they just didn't have a lot of emotional range to work through. I found that a bit odd for a Ron Howard film.


On the off chance someone who hasn't read the book and does intend to see the movie reads this I will put some stuff in the spoiler area to not ruin it for them.


Part of the problem with the pacing towards the end is probably that I had figured out all the little twists. I figured out no later than half way through and probably soon that Sophie (Audrey Tautou) was next in Jesus's bloodline. I also figured out pretty quickly once his character was introduced that Leigh (Ian McKellen) was the mastermind behind the whole thing to expose the secret.

I don't really know why I was able to figure those things out. It's not like they did something that just made it glaringly obvious. What I do think might have been the case is that they figured so many people had read the book that there was no need to really hide it. They didn't really take into account the portion of the audience that didn't read the book.



I paid full price to see this one and it was worth it for me. I'd say if you have read the book though that you should only pay matinee price or just wait for dvd.

The O.C.

All I really have to say about this show, the season, and the way it ended is WHAT THE...(insert whatever word you want).

I knew this show was in deep trouble halfway through season 2 when they sent Alex packing. She was the best thing to happen to the show. I don't know exactly what it was that Olivia Wilde brought with her but whatever it was made the show soar to new hights. And it wasn't just the relationship between Alex and Marissa either. It was her interaction with all the characters. Everyone that came into contact with her had to raise their game and everything fell apart when she left.

Without Alex they had no new storylines which became very clear in the second of half of season 2 and even more obvious in season 3. Josh Shwartz says that they hightened the storytelling in the second half of season 3. Okay Josh if you say so. My definition of hightened storytelling does not involve repeating pretty much every single story arc some for the 3rd or 4th time.

While I wanted them to wrap up the whole Theresa story to drag it out the way they did with him taking her to prom wasn't necessary. The contant on-again-off-again relationship between Seth and Summer is wearing on me. Leave the together. I don't like hating Seth for making Summer sad. (Major props to Rachel Bilson for making those sad Summer moments so crushing.) Not to mention Seth's totally off the mark supposedly well intentioned antics are starting to get very old. The fact that they had to bring Anna back to fix things does not speak well for the shows ability to develope good stories. Liked Anna in season one but bringing her back the way they did was stupid and showed they had no real idea of what to do. If that's the only way to cause more tension between Seth and Summer then there are two choices available to them, 1) leave them together for good or 2) split them up for good.

Love Dr. Roberts and Julie getting together. Although that storyline isn't half as much fun with Marissa being dead. Bringing Kaitlin back is not a good move. No one is sitting around going oh please we don't want to move on from Harbor. This was never designed to be a show about the kids that went to that highschool. Rather that was just the high school the kids happened to go to. And could they have done a worse job with casting?

And the biggest mistake of all this season was killing Marissa. They have offered up all kinds of reasons for it and none of them fly. The Marissa and Ryan story had runs it course there was nothing else to do with them. Okay that doesn't mean you kill Marissa. And if you are going to kill her at least give her something real to work with. That was the most pathetic death scene ever and only really served to highlight how much Ben McKenzie has no idea what he is doing.

As for how they led up to Marissa's death. Seriously people pay attention to your entire season of stories and how they arc. After month's of not hearing from her dad Marissa decides to join him on a yacht when asked. Not going to happen. Clearly they forgot about the fact that Marissa was the one who told her dad to get out of town and not come back. That man has wounded her way to many times no way does she just say okay I'm off to Greece with my disaster of a father.

The stuff with Volchock was so dumb. When Marissa said the thing to Ryan about how she brought Volchock into their lives she might as well help get rid of him I wanted to scream. Clearly the writers weren't paying attention again. Johnny brought Volchock into their lives and Ryan made it worse by putting his nose in where it didn't belong. Yes, Marissa had her stupid fling with him but, she walked away from it and Ryan was the one who was to stupid to call the cops and beat Volchock up. He caused the problem and as usual wasn't man enough to fix his own mess and it cost Marissa her life.

The people behind the show are under the dilusion that killing Marissa is going to save the show. WRONG, killing her will kill the show. There fan base exists because of Misha Barton and they are going to lose viewers over this. Clearly they think they will have a reaction much like that of NCIS after killing Kate Todd and see their ratings shoot up. That's misquided for a couple reasons. First the NCIS thing happened because killing Kate was unbelievably shocking not only in that no one thought they would kill her but also because of the way they killed her. Killing Marissa was not shocking in anyway. From about three episode into the shows first season anyone would have told you that if anyone was going to find an early grave it was Marissa there by actually killing her is not shocking. And again the way she died was just pathetic.

Not to mention that because of the way they orchestrated it they robbed Rachel Bilson of some truly great material. She could really shine dealing with all that grief. There better be a moment in season four when something great happens to you and she goes to call Marissa only to realize she can't.

People are unbelievably harsh on Mischa and it is unwarranted. Those of us her are her fans know that the only reason she never shined on this show is because she was never given the material to do so and wasn't given a character that grew there by she could never change what she was doing. The only time she really shined was when Marissa was dating Alex because it was the one time she was given something to work wtih. The writers got confused and forgot that Marissa didn't have a bad boy complex, bad boys had a Marissa complex. The one goodthing that comes from this is that Mischa still has time to salvage her career.

If they wanted to change the dynamic of the show they could have done it without killing Marissa. The way they should have ended the season is like this. Marissa continues to spiral down hill after Johnny's death and gets in way to deep with Volchock. Knowing there was only one way to save Marissa, Summer makes a fateful phone call. And on graduation day Marissa would leave town only not to be with her father but with Alex.

The show may have gotten a fourth season pick up but it is only for 16 episodes. And say it's because of baseball all you want people but FOX starts shows after baseball all the time and still gives full season orders. It will take a miracle for those not to be the shows final 16 episodes. It's over in May 2007.

A Prarie Home Companion

After the mind numbing boringness that was Gosford Park and the general disappointment that was The Company I was a little nervous about seeing another movie directed by Robert Altman. Even with that cast it was a bit scary. I mean the man always puts together a great cast but, he doesn't always deliver. I was overwhelmingly pleasantly surprised by this one. It delivered on every level. The directing was good and the acting was top notch.

This is probably the best most honored cast assembled this year and they all worked so marvalously together. Most notably Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep. They could make a movie where those two where just sittin' around telling crazy stories and it would be worth the price of admission the way they play off each other. It's no wonder their presentation at the Oscars was such a gut buster.

Virgina Madsen probably had the most interesting part playing "Dangerous Woman" but more to the point she was the angle of death. There was just something about the way she played the role that was really interesting to me. Especially the way she moved. To walk as though you are gliding is not easy and she made it look effortless.

I know a lot of people aren't keen on Lindsay Lohan being in this movie. She deserved this role and I honestly don't know who else would have even worked in it. She fit in so well. There wasn't a single moment where it felt like she wasn't sure of what she was doing or that she didn't belong amongst all that talent. If she was intimidated by anyone in the cast she never let it show in her performance and that is the truest test of anyones talent. Her talent belonged in this movie and it showed in the end when she sang that crazy song.

Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as the comic singing cowboys were the perfect pairing. No where in my head would I have ever considered pairing them together like that but it was a genius move.

Kevin Kline was halarious as always.

And having been the stage manager in my high school theater how I did feel for Maya Rudolph's character. Things are always a mess back stage no matter how many times you have done something.

I paid full price for this movie and it was totally worth it. If you get the chance to see this movie you must do so.

Crossing Jordan

This show has never been quite the same nor as good since they ended the "who killed Jordan's mom" mystery. This year had some good episodes but, sadly didn't have a lot of flow.

I loved the addition of Leslie Bibb to the cast. To bad they did more wasting of her talent than using it. And I never for a minute believed that her character would go for Woody. I liked some of the interaction between her and Jordan though, except for the jealousy stuff. It gets really annoying when the main annomousity between female characters has to stem from jealousy. On this kind of show different work philosophies and views on the crime are enough to create tension.

I did not like the addition of JD Pollack as a general character or as a love interest for Jordan. Bad character played by a bad actor only equals disaster. At least he won't be back next year. To bad they already did the Jordan blacks out and may have killed somebody storyline. On the upside at least they saw fit to make mention of that in the finale.

The best part of the entire season though was Bug finally telling Lily how he felt about her and the triangle it built between them and the ADA. And the single best moment of the season (not to mention the best part of any season finale) was when she finally came to her senses left Jeffery at the alter and found bug in the lab. Do those writers know how to keep the audience hanging on though. It takes five years to bring Lily and Bug to that moment and they still don't give us the kiss. That's right just keep us hanging on a little bit more.

Down In The Valley

Saturday was small little indie movie day with Down In The Valley. Don't worry if you haven't heard of it you're probably in the majority not the minority on this one.

It's an interesting little character study drama starring Evan Rachel Wood and Edward Norton. It's a good story and moviee. Excellently acted by not just Evan and Edward but also Rory Culkin and David Morse. The movie has a bit in common with Taxi Driver only in this one the characters that are the equivilant of Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro are in a relationship.

There was one really odd part to the story that ended up making no since and kind of hurting the film. Lonnie (Rory) tells Harlan (Edward) that Wade (David) isn't really his and Tobe's (Evan) father. You keep thinking for the rest of the film that, that will some how come into play but it never does. It's never brought up again and there's never an explanation of why he has custody of them or if he's any relation to them at all. They should have just cut that bit of dialogue out of the film.



Spoiler Alert:


The movie builds to a twist that I totally never saw coming and shocked me. As the relationship grows between Tobe (Evan) and Harlan (Edward) he becomes more and more obsessive toward her. But, not just towards her also towards her brother Lonnie (Rory). He gets off on the wrong foot with their dad Wade (David) and things just slide down hill from there.

It's clear early on that Harlan is a little off and that is made apparent when he steals a horse. He does return it but the cops get involved and Wade has to come get him and Tobe and it is through this that Harlan sees the violent side of Wade. It is at that point that he seems to decide that he needs to get them away from Wade.

It comes to Harlan's attention that Wade really isn't around much and Lonnie is alone a lot. After being told by Wade to stay away from Tobe he still comes around. When she doesn't come see him one day he goes to her place and finds Lonnie alone. It's at this time that he decides to take Lonnie out and teach him how to shoot. The way the story is building at this point you are certain that Lonnie or Harlan is going to end up shooting Wade. Of course Wade is home when they get home and he puts a gun to Harlan's head. It's after this incident that Tobe tells Harlan to stay away for awhile.

Well he doesn't like that and robs a house to get the money to take her and Lonnie away. Only when he comes to get her, she doesn't want to go with him. During their argument he shoots Tobe. Holy crap gut punch, totally stopped breathing for a moment. He takes off when Wade comes home. Luckily Wade finds her and gets her to the hospital.

After having shot himself in the leg Harlan returns to the house and tells Lonnie how Wade shot him and Tobe and Lonnie takes off with Harlan. At this point Lonnie becomes the stupid child alive. He spends the night in a barely standing old cabin with him and when Wade, the old guy that Harlan again stole a horse from, and another guy come looking for them in the night he again takes off with Harlan. They spend the night in what seems to be a ghost town. And in the morning it turns out it's either a movie set or a ghost town being used as a movie set. This is the one really stupid scene in the movie when Harlan wakes up and actually seems to believe that they have returned to the old west. This part is also really stupid when Harlan ends up in the shot yet no one yells cut even though he's in the totally wrong clothes for the era.

Wade and a cop show up and Lonnie being stupid alerts Harlan to this fact and ends up getting the cop killed. He ends up taking off with Harlan again. Wade manages to track them down and killing Harlan.

Luckily in the end Tobe survives.



I paid full price for this movie and it was well worth it for every aspect of the film.

See No Evil

Friday kind of snuck up on me and I figured I better get reviews in for last weeks movies before I go to see this weeks movie.

Last Friday I decided it was time for another horror flick and that's why I chose See No Evil. Unfortunately for the movie it had a lot of potential but, decided to focus more on the gore than the horror. Really gore isn't scary on it's own it needs story to make it scary. They could have built a good story it was all there. It just didn't do a good job of working the story. And in truth it wasn't the a major gore fest but you can only take so many shots of him pulling peoples eyes out.

Luckily the movie had a pretty decent set of actors. Nobody fantastic, and no one really stood out except Christina Vidal and that was more because I've seen her in some other stuff. And she had the most screen time so she makes more of an impression.

I did pay full price and I didn't find myself wanting my money back but, I'd say you should just wait for video on this one.

The End of Will & Grace

For the most part it was a strong eight year run for this show. It had lost a lot of it momentum in the last few seasons and the comedy seemed forced a lot of the time. In it's final season Will & Grace made a decent bounce back. The season still had some down spots but for the most part it was probably the strongest of the last three and maybe even four seasons.

It was nice that they cut back on the guest stars this season and when they did use them they actually had good parts written for them. It wasn't just that some big name wanted to be on the show so they gave them a part that wasn't right for them. Taye Diggs guest starring as Will's boyfriend was probably the best guest star of the season. It's to bad they chose such a stupid storyline for him. For a show with two main characters that are gay it was pretty lame to be Canada bashing.

At first I wasn't really liking the idea of Grace ending up with Leo but, the truth is his cheating was kind of a self fulfilling proficy for Grace. Not that, that makes it right but, that's really not the point. Aside from Will, Leo is the only man who can really deal with all of Grace's craziness so what the hell. Yes, they could have found a new man for Grace but, clearly they didn't want to spend a huge chunk of the season developing a new storyline.

Will ending up with Vince was the best possible outcome for him. They had him and Vince break up over some really stupid stuff and it was nice that they got them back together. It was also good that Vince was back to being a cop. With the exception of all his crap of using the evidence locker as his own personal store. That was really not funny. Will was damn lucky though that Vince took him back after leaving him to be with Grace and the baby.

It was really stupid of them to bring Karen's husband back only to have them get a divorce in the end. And that crap with him really having no money. What I want to know is who at that show watches The O.C. and actually thought that was a good storyline to copy? I did love Grace's dream when Karen and Rosario were a couple. That probably made me laugh the most of the entire episode.

Jack having hook up with Beverly Leslie was pretty funny. It would have been nice if Jack had, had a future more of his own making with his acting or something but, truth is it wouldn't have been a finale if there hadn't been an appearance by Beverly Leslie. Although in regards to Beverly's death I must now ask who the hell at Will & Grace watches Las Vegas and thought they way they did away with Lara Flynn Boyle's character was a good idea to duplicate?

The best part about those two storylines is that we all knew that Jack, Karen, and Rosario would end up together in the end. And how perfect was it that they did the touched belly buttons again.

And while I would have prefered to not see a finale where Will and Grace went all those years with little to no contact I did like that their kids ended up together in the end.

Mission: Impossible 3

Lets be perfectly clear about this my main reason for even giving this movie the time of day was Keri Russel. The fact that Philip Seymour Hoffman is in it is and added bonus. And once the movie started I got a few other surprise casting bonuses.

Along with Keri and Philip I was also aware of the fact that Michelle Monaghan was in the movie so that was a nice plus as was Laurence Fishburne. Ving Rhames returning was also a nice plus especially since he brings the comedy to the movie. Funny how such a big man with such a deep voice can some how manage to deliver a line just right to make you laugh. Aside from those people I didn't realize that Billy Crudup is in it and while I seem to remember hearing that Jonathan Rhys Meyers was in it but I had forgotten. However, aside from all of them the biggest casting surprise came in the opening few minutes and while only in one scene it was great to see Sasha Alexander making an appearance.

It does amaze me that they managed to get all those good people to be in the movie. I suspect thought that most of them wanting to do it had more to do with J.J. Abrams rather than just being in a summer blockbuster. I know that's how Keri ended up in the movie is because J.J. wanted to work with her again. (For those of you not in the know J.J. is in fact the creator of Felicity.) Although I really can't figure out for the life of me what everyone thinks is so freaking great about J.J. Abrams Felicity was his only good outing.

The movie format does seem to work better for his directing. However, will some please buy the man a steady cam mount for Christmas. The damn carmera was bouncing around like crazy at all the stupidest times.

If you are seeing this movie for any certain cast member (aside from the star) it is definitely worth it. They all deliver perfectly. Of all the people out there that I can't figure out why people don't cast them Keri has to be at or very near the top of that list. My only problem was with Philip's character. Not with Philip or his portrayal of the character but, the character was far more interesting and intimidating the way they cut together the preview than the way he played in the movie.

As for the over all story it was okay but there were far to many stupid moments in the movie. Yes, it's an action film and stupid moments are a given but this one had some exceptionally stupid parts. Which we will get to now.


Spoilers Ahead:

Okay so sadly Keri is killed in the beginning of the movie. A fact that I actually figured out from one of the tv previews (stupid move by the way). However, she was stellar in her limited screen time. Her characters whole purpose was to pull you into the over all story and she did exactly that. Seriously when someone can do so much with so little they deserver more work. She does make a brief appearance later in the film to deliver more information postumously via video and does that quite well also.

The whole rabits foot storyline is interesting. Unfortunately since the story is segmented into more like two stories it never really has the suspense you would hope for. Also since they introduce you to that aspect of the story in the very first scene of the movie it's really annoying that you have to wait until halfway or more through the movie to figure out what the hell was going on when the movie started. They should have just started with the engagement party sequence.

The primary reason they have to stop making these movies is they can't come up with anything original for them. They again used the masks and voice alterers so Ethan could masquerade as Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) so the rest of the team could snatch the real Owen. That was over used in the second one and using it here was just a huge re-hash and reminder of why sequels generally suck.

Also what the hell was up with the weird reminders of Tom's other movies. He rides out to the air field to meet the team on a motorcycle. Hello can you say Top Gun and then when he's at the airport to fly to Hong Kong (or whereever) he looks pretty much exactly like Ron Kovic his character in Born On The 4th of July minus the wheel chair. Give it up Tom your hey day is over an no matter how many reminders you put into your new movies of the good days no one is going to forget what a freak you are now.

On to the stupid action movie things. Lets get the most glaring one out of the way. It's one that I've been thinking since the previews started. He's on that bridge and there's an explosion and he gets blown into that car and then gets up. Come on, the way he hits that car he'd have broken his back. Then after that he gets up gets this big as gun and goes running back down the bridge. He had just come from that direction and ran along the side of this giant whole in the bridge. Only now going back trying to stop the attackers from stealing Owen back he chooses to throw the gun across the whole and try to jump it. Of course he doesn't make it and in the time it takes him to pull himself up they get away with Owen.

Then later when he finally gets the rabits foot and he tries to base jump out of the building it gets really dumb. His shoot doesn't fill and then he crashes through the window of a building and lands on a big old desk. While he's laying on the desk looking at the rabits foot (which is some sort of bio-hazardous material) his shoot fills and he's yanked back out the window only to then begin plummetting towards the ground. Um, excuse me the shoot was full if there's enough wind to fill it and pull him out the window the shoot is going to stay full as he decends.

Shortly after that the masks come into play again when Owen uses one on his assistant to make Ethan think he's killed his wife.

Now for the stupidest moment of all. Owen has implanted some sort of charge in Ethan's head that will kill him instantly when it goes off. (This is how Keri's character was killed.) The only way to stop it is to send a major jolt of electricity through the body. So he makes his wife throw the switch on the main breaker box while he's holding bare wires. She then has to kill off a couple bad guys before she can resucitate him. The best part is she saves him with CPR alone. Sorry but no. That kind of electrical shock through the body he's going to have to be shocked again to have any chance of saving him. It gets even better though. When he comes back to life he sits straight up like he's woken up from a bad dream grabs the gun off the floor (how'd he know where it was) and moves around looking for someone to shoot. Again no. His hands would be so fried there would be no way he could grip the gun like that.



I saw it at a matinee and thanks to the supporting cast it was worth that price. Really though if you have a discount theater wait for it to come there or just wait for dvd.

Veronica Mars

Season two of Veronica Mars was pretty good. It had a lot of twists and turns and the most shocking season premiere of any show this season. The mystery of the bus crash was a strong though line for the season. I did figure out who the bad guy was a few episodes earlier.

I was heartbroken when Duncan went away but, it was okay in a way because it showed that no matter how hard Logan tries he'll never truly have Veronica's heart. Very intriguing that at the end Duncan had Aaron Echoll's killed. I was really pissed off that Rob decided to go that routt and let Aaron get away with murder but at least he got his in the end and I don't have to ever watch him again. And note to Rob Thomas don't ever do a courtroom sequence again unless you are actually going to put the time into making it right.

Man that was a pretty intense few minutes there wondering if Veronica's dad really was on the plane that Beaver blew up. I kept telling myself that they wouldn't get rid of him but, then again it seems that anything is truly possible on this show.

I still don't know how I feel overall about the Jackie character. Talk about a love/hate thing with her. While most of the time I hated her she did have a few good moments. And while I knew she wasn't going to Paris I did not anticipate her having a kid. That was an interesting little twist they gave to her leaving.

I love that Mac got so much more screen time this year and really, really, hope that they have the money to make her a serious regular next season.

I'm also looking forward to seeing how well the three extended mysteries work out instead of the one big mystery for the season.

And even though it was good season and Duncan will always be Veronica's true love I was still pissed off at her being with Logan at the end of the season. She is to good a character and to strong a woman to put up with a guy like that. Logan is the worst kind of person and she is so much better than him. Not to mention that Jason Dohring, the actor who plays Logan, really bugs me.

Here's to a hopefully stellar 3rd season, and better ratings.

The Notorious Bettie Page

There really isn't a lot to say about this movie because there wasn't a lot there. I had seen a preview for it back when I saw Imagine You and Me and it seemed pretty interesting plus Gretchen Mol and Lili Taylor was a nice bonus.

Really I don't know what was up with this movie. It actually was a rather interesting movie. A nice look at societies views on sex back then. It was interesting how the congressional hearings where all about the bondage and punishment in the movies Bettie and the others were making. The reason it was so interesting is that all the films were just women and it's intersting how back then they didn't give a hoot about the girl-on-girl nature of the movies just the S&M stuff. Or at least that's how it was presented in this particular movie.

One thing I didn't like about this movie was that it was in black and white. I had the same problem with Good Night, and Good Luck. Yes it took place in a time when movies where in black and white but peoples lives weren't so there's no reason for the entire movie to be in black and white. And I really don't like it when people make black and white movies with random periods of color.

Also one of the biggest issues for me was that while I did learn a lot of stuff about Bettie Page there wasn't a lot going on with the character, it didn't give Gretchen much to do. She had a couple of moments that really let her show glimpses of what she is capable of but really all the real work seemed to go to the supporting cast. I just found that very odd and rather disappointing because I was really hoping this would be a movie that would remind Hollywood of just how good Gretchen is. Hopefully it will at least get people to realize that she isn't the diva she some how got made out to be years ago.

Because of the theater I had to see this movie at I had no choice but to pay full price even though it was an afternoon movie. While it wasn't a real waste of money I would have prefered to pay matinee price to see it.

Just My Luck

This movie is what it is, nothing more nothing less and that's why it works. It was very funny and I loved every minute of it. And yes I am a huge Lindsay Lohan fan so even if it did suck it would be worth it for me. Seriously though as romantic comedies go it was a fun twist the whole luck thing and that's why it was so fun. Romantic comedies with a whimsical twist really appeal to me. I liked how it wasn't really guy meets girl loses girl and spends the rest of the movie finding away to get her back or girl meets guy loses guy and spends the rest of the movie finding away to get her back. Sure the luck thing was a bit over the top with how lucky she was and then how lucky he was when he "stole" her luck but it was still fun. And that's really the point of romantic comedies they are just fun and playful if you don't like that aspect of movies then don't go.

Lindsay was great as always. I don't care what anyone says girl has talent and perfect comic timing. This movie also showed how good she is at physical comedy. The supporting case was good as well. Her love interest Chris Pine was much better than I expected him to be. The only problem with him was really in the pubplicity of the movie. Romantic comedies really need a semi-big to big name star in both leads. So while he was good the movie would have been better served with someone more note worthy in the male lead.


Spoiler Alert:


Just a few notes about some of the funner plot moments. One of my favorite things about the move was the full proof way of telling if she had kissed the right man to get her luck back scratching lotto tickets. Anyone who didn't get a kick out of her running up to every guy who possibly stole her luck, kissing him, and then scratching a ticket to see if she won anything has a problem.

The scene when she was tryin to do laundry was halarious. Even though you've seen that moment in a bunch of movies and you always know what's coming it was still great. I loved when she was swinging that broom thing at the washer as if that was going to save her.

And the end of the movie when she could have gone to meet her old boss and basically get her life back but went to the concert instead knowing what a disaster it would turn into if she didn't give away her luck again was really nice. I honestly thought that she would go to her thing and then when she found out how bad the concert went that she would use her luck to help get the band another chance. I really liked the ending where she sacrificed her life for him better it showed great character growth.


I paid full price for the movie and it was well worth it to me. I think if you truly like romantic comedies it would be worth that price other wise it's probably only a good matinee movie.

Ghost Whisperer

We have arrived at that time of year known as May sweeps. A great time of year for the stunt casting and cliffhangers we are left with. But on the downside that also means we are heading to that not so fun time of year, four months of repeats.

This past Friday I had my first two May season finales with Ghost Whisperer. Please note that this will not be like my movie reviews where spoilers are put in red as I will be discussing pivitol parts of the plot through out, so if for some reason you haven't watched this finale yet don't read if you don't want things ruined for you.

The finale was two parts. The first part having aired the week before and it was unbelievably intense. I knew most of what was going to happen in the first half of the finale and yet it was unbelievably powerful. It was like getting slowly punched in the gut. I knew the plane crash was coming and yet they found away that even knowing what was going on it was still just nerve racking. I even figured out right away why the plane was going to crash but I just couldn't believe how they built up to it. And all the credit in the world to Jennifer Love Hewitt for her masterful performance. You felt her desire to stop what was coming and you were just sitting there wanting there to be something she could do to stop what was coming. And when she couldn't your heart broke for her. And the ending to the first part just took my breath away.

The one thing I hadn't heard about in the first part was that her friend and business partner Andrea's (Aisha Tyler) brother might be on the plane. That whole subplot was heartbreaking. That was a major gut check. I didn't think the second half could live up to the first half and I was not prepared for or in anyway anticipating what was to transpire in second half.

Melinda trying to convince the souls of the crash victims to cross-over was a great storyline. Can't wait to learn more about the guy in the hat next season and what exactly he is up to and why. Especially if the end of the episode has anything to do with next season.

You spend the whole episode on the edge of your seat wonder and desperately hoping that Andrea's brother was not on that plane. You just know it will devestate her beyond all believe and you just want to scream at them to give you your answer all the while knowing they won't tell you until the very end. And that exactly what they did. And you got a huge moment of relief when you realized he was alive because Andrea could see him only to ten seconds later be hit with the most heartbreaking moment of any show of the entire season, Andrea was killed in the crash. As the plane went down she was driving to her brothers apartment and must have gotten knocked off the road by the force of the disrupted air around the plane. I don't know exactly what happened or how all I know is Andrea was dead and Melinda was to saddened by it to tell her friend the truth. What a moving moment when Melinda told her "I didn't want to let you go."

I don't know what Melinda is going to do next season without Anrea. I don't know what the audience is going to do without Andrea she was generally the comic relief of the show. Hopefully she'll decide not to cross-over and help Melinda with getting rid of the man in the hat. I'm really wondering if there will be some sort of major battle between that man and Melinda for Andrea's soul.

Seriously I didn't think anything could be as heart stoping as last season when Kate took a bullet between the eyes on NCIS but this was right up there with that. Other shows are going to have a tough time living up this finale.

And of all the new shows I've watched this season Ghost Whisperer is hands down the BEST NEW SHOW OF THE SEASON.

Stick It!

First off lets just face it Stick It! is the best title of the year. As a movie it's good right up until the end. I love Bring It On and the fact that this movie was written by the same person, Jessica Bendinger, really added to my wanting to see it. I would have seen it even if that wasn't the case because I have been a fan of the sport of gymnastics for years. Sadly though while a perfectly good writer I don't believe she was at all the right person to direct it. It was clear pretty early on that she didn't have the talent to direct the gymnastics routines. Also where it seemed she had a great grasp of cheerleading, by comparison she seemed to have very little grasp of gymnastics. We'll get to that in a minute.

The cast was pretty good. Jeff Bridges was fun as the coach Burt Vickerman. Although it seemed like the script and even the directing was afraid to make him a real coach. I'm not saying he needed to be a dictator but I think he could have had a little more edge to him. Missy Peregrym as the lead character Haley Graham was really good. I know her from a show on The WB three years ago called Black Sash and I knew then that given the chance this girl could really be something. They had me scared for awhile that she wasn't going to get a big emotional moment. I was very happy when she did and she did not disappoint. The supporting cast of gymnasts were good and they brought the comedy that they needed to bring.

The movie was enjoyable although not as strong or clever as Bring It On right up to the end that is. The ending was pretty lame and really pissed me off. Some of the dialogue in the end segment showed how much Jessica didn't know about the sport. I really tried to be open to the movie and not pick at the stuff that wasn't right but, once they went with such a bad ending I wasn't playing nice anymore. Not only was the ending an insult to the sport, it was an insult to the audience and the movie. How is that possible you ask. It simply was the wrong ending. While the ending was moderately amusing the reason it's so bad is that it was the ending to an entirely different movie. The ending was not the one the belonged with the movie they had made to that point.


Spoilers Alert:


Okay so lets point out one of the most obvious things that was wrong with the gymnastics part of this movie. In the first event that they go to they show the team event which if fine problem is no matter what apparatus they are on there is no music in the background. So unbelievably wrong. Except for event finals all apparatus are being used at the sametime this means that very rarely will a person go through a routine without someone's floor music playing in the background.

In event finals of nationals not only are the vault judges on the wrong side of the vault they are on the floor and too far down. Judges are always up on the podium. The first girls vault that starts the bad ending score was so stupid. First off I've never heard of the no undergarmet rule but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it probably does. However, it would only be a tenth of a point, and while the girl wouldn't have gotten a 10 even without that rule her score wouldn't have been a 9.5. The reason this pissed me off so much is it clearly goes back to Athens when all hell broke lose with the judging particularly in event finals (and really with the men). The problem is at this point the movie became and unfair indictment of the sport and it's scoring. And the reason that's a problem is that there is an overseeing judge who is suppose to have the spine to check the judges marks and make sure they aren't abusing the rules.

Also lets just point out that the dialogue says there is 4 judges per apparatus. This is wrong. Last I checked under the old scoring system there are 6 judges per apparatus with the high and low ones being thrown out and the remaining scores being averaged.

Here's why the ending really made me mad. At no point did they set up the movie to be about the fact that the judging can be unfair. Nope not at all was it ever indicated that the reason Haley left the sport was judging. Infact in the scene when Haley breaks down as she is leaving yet another competition she tells Burt that she walked out on worlds and gymnastics because it tore her family apart. More to the point her coach and mother started having an affair and that tore her family apart.

Then thanks to Burt she decides to give the sport one more chance. She even makes a point of telling him that she won't do cookie cutter routines. That she wants to push the envelope. Well if you push the envelope in gymnastics, contrary to the movies belief, you are rewarded as long as you do it clean. This is where you know the director wasn't up to the task. If you are going to go through the trouble of having your lead make that kind of point to the coach you need to show those routines. Only then when they get to event finals and someone gets screwed on a score the movie suddenly becomes something different. The end of the movie should have been about her trying to redeem herself and finding a love for the sport again. Really it wouldn't have been so infuriating if the movie had been set up for the ending it had. But, the movie they made deserved a different ending.

Basically the ending seemed to be designed to aid the directors in ability to direct the movie. Even routines that were shown were bad and simple. When Haley was shown doing her floor routine you saw her doing more dancing than gymnastics. Trust me there are plenty of gymnasts out there that could have been brought in to do the gymnastics.

Also there is a moment in the movie when Burt is arguing with a judge about a bar score. The judge tells him that she isn't going to reward the athlete for being dangerous and encourage other people to do dangerous routines. What a crock. This moment alone showed Jessica's lack of comprehension of the sport. Every four years the code of points is changed making is so both men and women have to do harder and more dangerous routines just to have a competitive start value.

And don't even get me started on how ashamed Tim Daggett should be of some of the dialogue he agreed to say.



For me because of Jeff and Missy and the movie it was until the last 20-30 minutes it was totally worth full price. However, most people probably shouldn't pay more than matinee price.

The Sentinel

I'm a couple weeks behind.

Two weeks ago I saw The Sentinel. It was a decent movie. Good for the type of movie it was. All the performances were good and the storylines were pretty well laid out. Honestly I probably would have waited until video to see this movie if it weren't for Eva Longoria. She gave a nice performance, nothing special or spectacular, but the role didn't call for anything great or powerful. To her credit she did exactly what the role required. Anything more would have been to much and would have resulted in a performance that was bad. By staying right where the character needed her to she showed that she can do what is needed in any role.

Kiefer was Kiefer. He pushed a little close to too much at times but he never crossed that line. However, even though I don't watch 24 I do wonder if he's just begging to be type cast. Him and Michael did have some good scenes together. I was really worried that they might not play off each other well but that did and that helped the movie a lot.

The plot of the movie was interesting and set up pretty well but there were a few things that didn't make since. Which is usually the case with a lot of these types of movies. Luckily it didn't hurt the overall movie. It was pretty obvious who the bad guy was. There were a couple options but I pretty much had it figured out about halfway through.


Spoiler Alert:

Okay this isn't a huge spoiler but it does apply to the tension between Kiefer and Michael's characters so on the off chance someone can't figure out what that might be without seeing the movie I figured I'd put this in the red section.

There was one completely useless scene in the movie. After one of the Secrect Service guys is killed Michael finds out that he suspected someone having an affair with a collegues wife. Turns out that Kiefer thinks Michael had an affair with his wife and Michael thinks that's what the dead guy was talking about with his wife. So there is this like 30-45 second scene with Michael and Kiefer's wife arguing. Only problem is you don't know that at the time and you spend a huge chunk of time after that wondering whose wife that was for sure and if that scene is going to play into anything later. The scene is a waste of time and only good for confusing the audience. I know it is a really brief scene but it is those kinds of scenes that can make or break a movie at times.


I saw this movie at a matinee and that is the most I would pay for it. It's just not suspensful enough to warrant paying full price.

Stay Alive

I'm not really sure if I would have seen this movie if it weren't for a couple members of the cast that those being Sophia Bush, Jimmi Simpson, and Samaire Armstrong. And considering how much I do not like Milo Ventimiglia I was looking forward to seeing him getting killed. I thought he was a bad actor before his like 5 minutes in this movie and let me tell you he is even worse than I thought he was. Luckily for me (and anyone else seeing the movie) his character is killed early on so you don't have to endure his presence for very long.

The movie is actually pretty good and the rest of the cast worked very well together. And none of them phoned it in. Unfortunately it isn't very scary but that is compensated for by the fact that it has a rather good story. Sadly for the box office numbers of the movie they didn't play up that story in the previews. Had they done that it might have had some better numbers, at least in the first week. Because lets face it even if you manage to pack 'em in, in the first week if the movie isn't scary nobodies seeing it again or telling their friends to see it.

While the directing wasn't bad I do think choices made in that area are what really hurt the scare factor of the movie. Barely any of the movie takes place at night and most of the killings take place in bright day light. There is no room for big scares in bright light. That is not entirely the directors fault since the producers would have had to sign off on that decision. So in the end it's behind the scenes decisions that really hurt the movie.


Spoilers Ahead:


To base it on Countess Elizabeth Bathory was really quite ingenious. While true it's one that not a lot of people are familiar with and has every element needed to make for a great horror film. However, doing it as a ghost story wasn't the best way to go. I get what they were going for, trying to bring in elements of The Ring but with a video game rather than movie. Problem is that this never really builds up to the killings. All the killings happen way to fast and because there is no real build up they aren't scary.

When Phineas (Jimmi Simpson) gets killed while standing on the side of the road in bright daylight it's just like boom he's dead. He's not being stalked or anything he's just run down and killed by a ghost horse and buggy.

They give away the part about everyone being killed the way they die in the game way to soon. Of course they give that away in the preview so it doesn't really matter when they give it away in the movie you already know. Huge story flaw. That angle of the story is further flawed by the fact that the ghost activates the game so it can kill people. I don't like that aspect of the story. Better angle for the story as a ghost story would be that you have to finish the game to survive and the ghost is trying to stop you from finishing the game.

I would have prefered to see the story have a real flesh and blood killer. Either the person who designed the game or just so whacko hacker guy/girl who lurks around watching people play the game and kills them in the manner they died in the game. That would also make the part where the game unpauses itself more plausable. Another reason I don't like the ghost story angle most of the time is that it leaves no way for the hero to escape suspicion. In this case Hutch (Jon Foster) has managed to become a suspect and some what piss off the leads detectives. One of those detectives ends up dead. Yeah, Hutch ends up getting rid of the ghost but it's really not over there. I know it's just a movie and all but it's a still a story and it needs the potential for a good out come for the hero.

Serious issue with the characters in the story was the moments in which they became complete idiots. October (Sophia Bush) is about to be killed in a house that's under construction. They can't get the door open and then try to the window open. There is a brick sitting on the scafolding behind them and the just keep pounding on the window with their hands trying to get it open. It's not that hard people, break the glass. Then later Hutch is trying to get into the plantation house where is the set for the game so he can save Abigail (Samaire Armstrong) and he can't get break through the door. The couple hundred year old wood door that has several glass pains in it. Again he doesn't break the glass he waits for Swink (Frankie Muniz) to unlock the door in the video game. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Not long after that it turns out that while he didn't think to break the glass earlier Swing does know that glass breaks when he throws a rock through the window of their van so he can get back to playing the game to try and keep Hutch and Abigail alive.



I did pay full price to see this one and I really don't feel that I over paid. I enjoyed the movie and for me it was worth the money and the time to see. However, most people probably wouldn't feel that way and it's probably better as a rental.

Inside Man

So Inside Man had a lot of potential. The story was pretty good, and most of it was there, and the acting was right where it should be considering the cast. Unfortunately it was let down by the fact that it was to long and slow in several places. While not your normal hiest movie it still needing to keep tension and suspence up but it didn't. There was a lot of stuff that could have been trimmed if not cut completely to keep the pace better.

As for the cast, top notch like I said. Unfortunately the one person that the pacing issues hurt the most was Denzel. His character never came off with the since of urgency he truly needed. It was an interesting story in that all three main characters had so close to seperate storylines. Yes, they were intertwined with the robbery but because of the construction of the overall story they were very seperate. I at times found myself kind of wanting seperate movies for each character. Especially Jodie's character. I would love to see a movie about how she got into whatever business it is she is in exactly and what she's done over the years to get so many favors from such high powered people. At the sametime that construction of the story served to hurt it as well bringing up questions that would have aided in the story I felt.


Spoilers Coming Up:


My biggest question brought about by the story was exactly how did Clive Owens's character know about the secrect Christopher Plummer's character was hiding and how did he know the evidence was in that safe deposit box? If that question had been answered the story would have been 50 times stronger than it was.

When Clive told Jodie all about Christopher's World War II crimes I thought that was a nice scene. It was intersting how at first they showed the audience that he only took those documents out of the safe deposit box but that in the end he had taken all the jewels with the exception of the one that could bring Christopher's character down.

Very ingenious how he plotted to get away with it. I thought I had it figured out but I didn't. I did however, know that they never killed anyone. It was way to obvious for some reason that they killing they made sure the cops saw was totally fake.

It's very interesting that in the end you had Clive robbing a bank and yet the real bad guy in the situation was Christopher's character. Normally I'd be like no the robber can't get away with it but really I was hoping he would get away with it and that Christopher's character better get his. Luckily while you never saw him get his for sure you knew by the way it ended that he would be.

I didn't really care for all the talk and stuff about Denzel's characters girlfriend and her wanting to get married. I know it was designed to give the character more layers and depth but it really just didn't work for the story. Since their relationship had no real baring on the overall story it took away from the rest of his character. At the very end the whole she wants to get married thing came into play only because it gave Clive away to say I told you I'd get away with it by dropping a diamond in Denzel's pocket when he bumped into him. That still would have worked without the girlfriend angle, in my opinion. I just wanted more out of Denzel's character but they never gave him anything to really bite into. Denzel being Denzel did everything he could do with what he was given. Which means it's a good thing the got Denzel or it would have fallen flat because even when he doesn't have the best stuff to work with Denzel can keep you locked in to the story.

There is no other actress who could have played Jodie's part. Everyone else would have gone just a bit over the top with it. With it be the way they walked, the attitude they had, or the way they spoke it would have been over done. One of Jodie's greatest strengths is to know exactly how far to go with a character. I always think the hardest character to create are the small ones like that, that start in one place and stay there. That character never grows or changes she's just what she is from her first moment on screen to her last. It's not easy to be a character as underlying bad as that one without playing off the story or other people. The character seems good on the service but you know the things she does aren't not the nicest and that makes her bad. Even in the end when she confronts Christopher she sticks it to him a bit but is perfectly happy to let him get away with whatever war crimes he committed. That folks is not a nice character yet you can't completely hate her because Jodie takes her right to that line. You hate the things she does but you don't hate her.



Despite those pacing problems the over all story and the cast made it worth the full price I paid to see it.

V for Vendetta

Over all this was a good movie. It could have been a bit tighter in places for pacing purposes but even those slower spots weren't bad. The story was really good. I was a little surprised that it seemed as though Natalie Portman wasn't quite as on her game in some places as she usually is. There were a couple places were I felt she could have done better, that doesn't usually happen with her. The dialouge for the character V seemed to be a bit wordy at times. Which wouldn't be a huge problem if you could understand him. There was a lot of places where his delivery was to fast and it ended up being really garbeled and thus hard to follow.

The overall message of the film was good and a bit scary. Scary because you know that we are sitting way to close to the edge of becoming the society in the movie right now.



Spoiler Alert:


The film opens with one of the primary reasons a society like that most never come to pass. Way to much abuse of power by those charged with up holding the law. Mainly police. That group of cops (although that isn't what they are called in the movie) that were about to gang rape Evey (Natalie Portman) when V saved her. The fact that the police are about to commit a horrid crime and yet V is the one made to be the villian by the nations leaders is to frightening a thought for words. Yes that is immediately followed by V blowing up a building but it is made clear that he's in trouble for saving her as well as blowing up the building.

There was almost to much back story for one movie to hold. Some of that stuff seemed a bit rushed and did cause for more dialogue to explain it. Again not a totally bad thing but different for something a little higher on the action and all the dialogue does slow the pacing.

The part when Evey is imprisoned was probably one of the most interesting parts of the film. Here she was a character that was so scared of V that she escaped while helping him in his mission to dispense of those who helped make him what he was yet she could not be broken into telling anything about him or his whereabouts. Very intersting character development. And made even more intriguing by the reveal that all that tourture was at the hands of V. A moment that is as uncaring and vicious as it is caring and strengthening. It's odd I know. But he did it to break her and make her free. He freed her of her fear so that she could live a free life and that is exactly what she ended up doing. And in the end it is her who is charged with making the decision to carry out V's mission or not.

In the end she does carry out his mission. I believe she does it because she finally understands that while blowing up Parliment is a rather violent act it is what the act will forever symbolize that is important and out weighs the violence of the act.

That being said, lets just hope that no nation anywhere is ever pushed to the extremes of having to blow up the seat of it's government to regain it's true freedom.


I did infact pay full price for this movie and it ended up being totally worth it.