Underworld: Evolution

It's always nice when a sequel can at least be as good as the original. Although I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Underworld. Part of that is because this was all about gun fire. Yes, there were some good fights but the first on had some sword fighting and that one guy with his whips. This didn't mix it up as much. They also got a little to focused on the backstory mythology of the villian. Problematic for a couple of reasons. One it took to much of the story's focuse from Selene and two made the story feel like more of a prequel than a sequel. Even though I didn't care that much for the overall story it did play out pretty decently. And the acting was good. Kate Beckinsale really does seem to enjoy playing this part. And why not it's just good fun.


Spoilers Ahead:


I did like how they worked in some information that pertained to the original story. It was really a good idea. If that would have had moore to do with it, it would have been a better story. The family historian that they exiled being the one who created the vampire killing bullets was an interesting twist.

Also in that vein how that piece of information towards the end of the original about how exactly Selene had become a vampire and the lie she had been told for years came into more focus in the sequel. Again the path the story should have stayed on. It was enough of a twist that Viktor was not the savior she believed him to be but then to twist it again to be that his motives were to silence her father for building the secret tomb that was a smart play. I mean they could have just made it that all these years ago Viktor had the tomb made and aside from it holding Marcus's brother it could have had nothing more to do with the story. Much better that it played into her backstory.

Now for the problems with the story. First off never have a villian that's so much more powerful than your hero/heroine that he/she has to do some realy strange thing to gain the power to defeat him. Pay attention to the sotry you created and don't throw in weird things that make no sense. Most people that follow these movies (or shows) are very aware of the mythology for then and they know when you've messed with it too much or strayed from it even a little bit.

When the movie opens it reminds you how the vampires and werewolves began. Twin brothers, one bitten by a bat one bitten by a wolf. Seems simple enough but then they go to far. Turns out after hundreds of years their father is still alive. They never explain why he's lived so long or what (if anything) he is suppose to be. It's also implied that whatever he is has something to do with his sons being what they are. Suddenly they want you to believe that they were born this way which completely goes against what they've already established for the characters. Then by nothing more than stabbing him Marcus (the vampire brother) kills his own father. Who just before he dies, has Selene feed off him which suddenly give her the power to defeat Marcus. It also turns out that it makes her immune to sunlight.

I did like how in the end she killed the vampire and Michael killed the werewolf. The audience really enjoyed the manner in which each was disposed of.



Aside from stretching their own mythology a bit much it is still a good movie worth the full price I paid to see it.

Mid-Season Report Card

With the mid-season press tour and schedules being unveiled I figured I should get my mid-season thoughts out there. When the season started in September 2005 I had 31 non-cable shows on my schedule, 11 of them were new. Today 5 of those new shows (Reunion, Sex, Love, & Secrets, Killer Instinct, Kitchen Confidential, and The Night Stalker) have been canceled. And one of them My Name Is Earl I'm not watching on a regular basis anymore.

As for the new stuff I am still watching:

Ghost Whisperer still a great show. It gets better every week and they've done a terrific job of coming up with different types of stories. I hope they can keep it up.

Surface is just a fun show. It twists in ways you never quite expect and if it's something you expect they throw something a little extra in there. And Nimrod is the cutest thing ever. Why is NBC being so lame about not making little toys of him.

Related it's way funnier than I ever thought it would be. Love how different all the sisters are and that their age differences are more than a year or two so they are in such different places in their lives. It does a nice job of blending the drama and comedy together.

How I Met Your Mother still a decent show. I'm not quite as fond of Barney as everyone else on earth seems to be but he's not annoying which is good.

Out of Practice is a laugh riot. I don't know why the critics are so mean to it. It's the first show in a long time that has made me laugh so hard my stomach hurts.

Other shows:

NCIS you could never truly describe this show and why it's so good. It's strength is not just in it's overall concept but in it's characters and the actors that play them. None of these characters could step into the others shoes. They all have their strengths and those strengths perfectly complement the weaknesses of another character. I still wish they'd get rid of Tony but what're going to do?

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation still the same strong show it is but it's not doing as good a job lately of letting you in on parts of the characters lives. Except yippee we get another episode pretty soon that's all about Cathrine and her family. Talk about getting old.

CSI: NY some better stories this year. Like the new set and the brightness of it. And they did a great job with the new character Lindsey.

Cold Case liking the case and the characters. Love the softer side of Vera that they are showing this season. But what is up with them bringing in that first new female character and then she up and disappears and they bring in anoter new female character? Not that I don't like the latest character but come on just explain stuff a little bit.

Charmed still on fire. I love that they have so successfully gotten back to what made this show a success in the first place the comedy with some drama. The girls are clicking together better than they have the last couple seasons. And again they have done a great job with the new character of Billie.

Desperate Housewives what the hell is wrong with this show this season? Get the women together more and focus the individual storylines. And enough with Bree's evil and manipulative kids.

Crossing Jordan still a decent show. The crap with Macy and his drinking problem is lame though and bringing back his daughter is even lamer. No one cares the show doesn't need new characters. What it needs is for Woody and Jordan to not be together, for Woody to be gone, for Lilly to get more screen time, and for her and Bug to be together.

The O.C. again focus people. Julie living in the trailer is great. Bringing back Kaitlin bad. Ryan and Marissa together, bad. Seth and Summer GREAT! Johnny stupid male version of Alex. Just bring back Alex and send Ryan away.

Will & Grace a lot more consistent this year than in recent years which is great since this is it's final year. Always nice when a show can go out on an up note. Lets just hope they come up with a good finale unlike so many shows in recent years.

ER stop bringing in big names for short stints. Just focus on the characters you already have. There are plenty of storylines to be explored with them there is no need for new characters that just cause problems. And stop knocking everyone up.

Medium always solid stories and good acting. Although I do seem to figure out the outcome a bit earlier than other shows. That isn't really a bad thing.

Gilmore Girls once they got the girls back together it took off. The stuff with Luke having a daughter is really dumb though. And Rory putting her life back together because of Jess was stupid. They have got to stop brining him back he's just a bad character and actor. Logan was a bit of a jerk but overall he's a good guy and I hope they get back together.

Veronica Mars so good there are hardly words to explain it. Everything from top to bottom, infront of and behind the scenes on this show is top notch. The only problem is has is viewers. Hopefully that will change next season with the new network and not having quite as much competition for viewers. Seriously people you've got to watch this show.

Lost still as stupid and boring as the first time I watched it. Everyone seems to hate Ana Lucia so I wouldn't mind if they killed her off so I wouldn't have to watch it anymore. That's if you can even call it watching. This is what I do. I record it while I watch Veronica Mars, I then fast forward through it stopping only for scenes with Michelle Rodriguez. Which lucky for me the last couple weeks has only been a minute or two at the very end of the show.

Golden Globes

It was actually a pretty good show overall. There were a lot of fun moments and some great speeches. It was fun that so many people were really all over the map with their acceptance speeches. Geena Davis was great with her fake story of the little girl tugging on her dress, Mary Louise Parker always says crazy stuff in her speeches and she did not disappoint again with her wanting to make out with her entire cast especially Elizabeth Perkins, and as if her Emmy speech wasn't hilarious enough I think the speech of the night again goes to S. Epatha Merkerson for her hot flash speech. Good stuff I tell you. And no I did not care for Steve Carell's speech mainly because it was written much funnier when it's off the cuff like the ladies.

Now on to the good and the bad of who won. When the nominations came out I was immensely disappointed in the television nominations and I was every bit as disappointed with the winners. With a few exceptions. First off the lead actor nominations were crap and I really wasn't that upset with Huge Laurie winning, as long as it wasn't Kiefer Sutherland I was good with it. Steve Carell winning was complete and total crap. I do so love it when people get nominated and especially when they win for "original" shows. And yes I have seen things were The Office is referred to as original so I can get pissy about it. Seriously people might want to look up the definition of the word original.

With the ladies in the lead categories. I never did get the chance to watch Weeds but I was happy with Mary Louise Parker winning. If Felicity Huffman had taken home two awards it would not have been pretty around here. Plus if Eva Longoria wasn't taking that thing home then I didn't want any of the Desperate Housewives winning. However, when it came to the drama category I was more upset than I have been in a longtime when Geena Davis won. I wanted Kyra Sedgwick to win more than I realized, The Closer is just such an incredible show and her performance is so good. I still think there most be some network execs out their kicking themselves that because that show isn't in their line-up.

In the supporting categories and the mini-series or movie stuff no big issues there. I don't watch a ton of made for tv movies. And while I would have liked to see Candice Bergen win I do like Sandra Oh and even if I don't watch that show I'm not upset that she won she's great in everything she does and at least she's been getting the attention she deserves in the last couple years.

Now the movie categories went I lot better than I could have hoped. When they opened that envelope for supporting actress and it was Rachel Weisz I was so happy. It's not that I was necessarily pulling for her but I just couldn't take it if it was Michelle Williams. Supporting Actor I'm not a George Clooney fan but I was okay with this because I wasn't overly rooting for anyone in this category. Although I would have liked to see Matt Dillon just because it would be nice if Crash could get a little more love this awards season.

Three words folks Walk The Line. If you have not seen this movie get yourself to a theater and see it. I could make plenty of arguments for how robbed Reese has been over the years but it would have be a complete debacle if she didn't take this award home. And everyone who knows me knows how much I love Kiera Knightly and her performance in Pride & Prejudice so the fact that if she had snuck in there and won it would have been a big disappointment says a lot about how deserving Reese was this year. And Joaquin Phoenix always so good finally gets recognition for it and what a performance it was. And yes I'm in the if Jaime Foxx won for lipsyncing then Joaquin damn well better have won for actually singing. Not to mention the fact this it was a far better performance and a better executed film all together.

As for the drama winners. Although I haven't seen Capote I was pretty sure Philip Seymour Hoffman was going to win. His buzz has been building and yet never been as loud as that for Heath Ledger and that always seems to bode well when it comes to actually handing out awards. And I'm not upset by him winning I just didn't feel that Heath deserved to win. In fact I was rooting for Terrence Howard to win. He gave so many good performances this year and Hustle & Flow was the stand out performance of them all.

As for for the ladies. What the hell? I was pulling for Gwyneth to win for Proof really a better performance than Felicity Huffman. And considering the fact that Gwyneth's was actually a dramatic performance it's much more deserving. I don't know how Transamerica ended up in the drama category but it clearly paid off. The movie is nothing if not a comedy. I don't know who Felicity's people are but they deserve a major bonus somehow in the course of five months she managed to win a comedic Emmy for a mostly dramatic performance and a dramatic Golden Globe for a comedic performance. That takes some promotional skill. This all of course sets up a nice rice for Oscar between Reese and Felicity. A race that Reese should win hands down.

Brokeback Mountain winning best picture drama is exactly how it should be. Of course I've only seen two of the five nominees so who knows what I'll say when I've seen them all.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Doing a little catch up from last year with this one. It was pretty good and rather engaging. I wasn't that moved by it but I very engrossed in the film. You definitely had to pay attention so you knew who was who once they grew up and how their stories wove together. Nice direction and beautifully shot. I have no idea why Ziyi Zhang was nominated for a Golden Globe. There was nothing that amazing about her performance.

I did pay full price and it was worth it but something tells me that this is not a movie you are going to enjoy if you get drug to it. See it only if you actually want to.

The L Word

The season three premiere was excellent. When they said they were bringing back the humor that made the first season so good they weren't kidding. That chase scene with Dana and Alice was hilarious. I'm kind of sad that Dana and Alice aren't together anymore but if it continues to provide humor like that it will be okay. Although I don't know if the humor will continue since rumors of Dana having breast cancer seem to be true. That's a pretty bold move for a third season arc.

I could have lived without the stuff with Bette adopting. I get it and it is the natural progression of that story but I just don't care. I didn't really like the way they worked Laurel's real life pregnancy into the story line last year and I still just don't like it. So anything that puts to much emphasis on that is going to bug me. And what the hell is that attachment parenting thing they are doing? If anyone happens to read this who is doing that you won't like this but that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard off.

Very glad to see that Shane and Carmen have been a couple all this time. If there's one character that they've been pretty consistent with and had a story arc that seemed very true to the character it's Shane. They emotionally broke her just enough in the first season that Carmen finally breaking all the way through that was believable. I'm excited to see where their relationship goes this season. Hopefully they will see fit to keep them together.

I loved Jenny in the first season and wanted her to just jump off a bridge last year. The therapy she's gotten between seasons better take because I can't take anymore of her whiney poor me crap. She brought a lot of it on herself and she needs to accept that.

The new character Moira definitely has potential. Following her transition to Max would be a daring move for any show. Seeing how all the characters react to that is probably the thing I am anticipating most about the season. I'm a little worried about some of the things I've read in regards to the transition and how it unfolds. But I'm waiting to see if the things I read are true or not before making any comments. I hope it plays differently than what I have read.

And finally they did such a good job working Kit into a bigger role last year I hope that continues this year. Pam Grier is such a treat to watch that there's just never enough of her in the episodes.

BloodRayne

The first movie of the new year was BloodRayne. Any movie that involves vampires immediately grabs my attention, when you throw in a couple actress that I like it gets my money. However, since this movie was suppose to open several months ago and then had like zero publicity behind it I wasn't expecting much and I saw it at a matinee. With my expectations low the movie did not disappoint. The story was a bit weak and I must say I was a bit disappointed in the lack of vampires. With the exception of Billy Zane who was only in a couple of scenes all the men in the movie weren't very good. Most of them were completely over doing it. Luckily Kristanna Loken and Michelle Rodriguez were on their games. I still can't get over how different Kristanna looks with red hair. The fact that the two of them seemed to have the most developed characters probably played into the caliber of acting. They tried to give a back story to the character played by Matthew Davis but it just came off as kind of lame and as a last minute add in.


Spoiler Alert!:

If there's one thing I can't stand about vampire movies it's when they just randomly change vampire lore. It's always been that holy water could harm and in a large enough quantity kill vampires. This story however, changes that so that all water burns vampires. Then there were parts where it seemed as though simply slitting the throat of a vampire would kill them. I think not. It's long established that it's decapitation. But that throat slitting thing played into their whole theory that draining a vampire of blood would also kill them.

I wasn't real keen on Michelle's character being killed. I anticipated that she might die before it was all said and done but what bothered me was the manner in which she was killed. While I enjoyed the little under water battle between her and Kristanna, it was certainly not something you see a lot, I was hoping for a big sword battle, which was alluded to being a possiblity earlier in the movie. I did not like Kristanna jumping on her from behind and snapping her neck.


Like I said I saw it at a matinee and for me it was worth that because my expectations weren't that high. If you have reasons for seeing it and keep your standards low it's worth the money of a matinee but otherwise you'll probably want to wait for video.

2005 Movies

As the new year begins I figured I would post a list of all the movies I saw in 2005. Some of them were technically 2004 movies. Numbers in parenthesis indicate how many times they were seen in theaters.

Birth
Finding Neverland
Kinsey
In Good Company.
Million Dollar Baby (2)
Beyond The Sea
Christmas With The Kranks
Hide and Seek
Hotel Rwanda
The Wedding Date
Assualt On Precinct 13
Sideways
Being Julia
Cursed
The Jacket
Hitch
Prozac Nation
The Ring Two
Man of the House
Miss Congeniality
Beauty Shop (2)
Upside of Anger
Phantom of the Opera
Fever Pitch
The Pacifier
The Interpreter
Crash
Monster-In-Law
Kingdom of Heaven
A Lot Like Love
Cinderella Man
Mind Hunters
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Bewitched
Saving Face
Dark Water
The Longest Yard
Hustle & Flow
Herbie: Fully Loaded (2)
Must Love Dogs
Four Brothers
The Skeleton Key
Dead & Breakfast
Pretty Persuasion
Red Eye
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Just Like Heaven
Flightplan
An Unfinished Life
The Constant Gardener
Proof
Domino
Into The Blue
North Country
Prime
The Fog
Shopgirl
Walk The Line
TransAmercia
Brokeback Mountain
The Matador
Rent
Pride & Prejudice
The Family Stone
Aeon Flux
Wolf Creek

Yes my movie viewing is all over the map as far as genre and quality. But sometimes I just want to see something fun that doesn't require much thought. And sometimes per crazy rules set forth by myself I have to see stuff because of the people involved with it. Either way I mix it up pretty good.