Oscar Nomintations

With Oscar night fast approaching I figured I better get this post up. I will list the nominees in the order I rank them with the best being first. Any nominees I have not seen will come last and be noted that I haven't seen them.

Best Original Screenplay
Crash - This is by far one of the best screenplays in years. It should win hands down

Match Point - The overall movie wasn't very good but it did have some great dialogue that had really good flow, which says a lot considering how slow the movie was.

Good Night, and Good Luck - What the hell is this doing in the original category. At least 30% of David Straathairn's dialogue is direct copy of Edward R. Murrow's actual reports so how the hell can you say that it didn't come from material previously published or produced?

The Squid and the Whale - Haven't seen.

Syriana - Haven't seen but again what is it doing in this category? I thought it was based on or inspired by a book.

Best Screenplay Adapted
Brokeback Mountain - Really nice writing. The writing actually gave all the primary actors a chance to shine, even if some of them didn't take the opportunity.

Capote - The only reason I don't give the edge to this one is some of the supporting characters, and a couple of scenes that I really didn't feel necessary to the overall movie.

The Constant Gardener - This movie could have had a bigger impact with some better dialogue. It's visuals weren't to my liking and the story was let down even more by the writing.

A History of Violence - Simply put, no way should this even be nominated. If they would put some of those "original" screenplays in the category they belong in this crap wouldn't happen and other worthy stuff would get nominated.

Munich - Haven't seen.

Best Supporting Actress
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener - This is a rather hard to devine performance. It's one of those ones where you can't pin point what makes it so good, you just know that it is. To tell you the truth when I saw the movie I really didn't think it would have the staying power to get nominated. I'm glad I was wrong.

Frances McDormand -North Country - Now this is a fine performance. She doesn't have ton of screentime but she makes the most of what she has. I wasn't moved by Charlize's performance but I was moved by Frances. I wouldn't be surprised if she pulled an upset.

Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain - Hell no, she does not deserve this nomination. Do not even get me started on how Anne deserved the supporting actress nomination for this movie more than Michelle did. I read that Michelle said she was just going to enjoy this because it won't happen again. That's right honey because it shouldn't have even happened now.

Catherine Keener - Capote- Seriously what movie were the voters watching when they marked her name on their ballots? There was nothing there she did nothing. I just can't believe they actually threw away two nominations in this category that could have gone to serveral more deserving people.

Amy Adams - Junebug- Haven't seen.

Best Supporting Actor
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain- It's so annoying how much attention Heath gets and how little Jake gets. Jake's performance was so much better and he was the heart of the story in my opinion. They got it right last week at the BAFTA's lets hope they get it right at the Oscars and stop giving this award to all the wrong people.

Matt Dillion - Crash- At least someone got recognized for their acting in this movie. It is a really large cast and it is an ensemble but, what's important here that it gets attention. Seriously, if there is one movie from last year that you have to see it's Crash.

Paul Giamtti- Cinderella Man- He wasn't good in Sideways (a horrid movie by the way) and he wasn't that great in this. I really don't think he deserved this nomination.

William Hurt- A History of Violence- This is just out of control. The man was in one freaking scene in the whole movie, and he was so over the top I wanted to throw something at the screen.

George Clooney - Syriana- Havent' seen.

Best Actress
Reese Witherspoon -Walk The Line- Hands down the best performance of the year. Reese came through in a big way showing the nay sayers what her true fans have known for years, she is the real deal and is far more than a perky, funny blonde.

Keira Knightly - Pride & Prejudice - What a fabulous performance. I've know since I saw her in Bend It Like Beckham that she had this in her but I had no idea that it would happen so soon or that it would happen in a comedy. I thought she would have to get a real powerhouse performance in a drama to get to this point. There were dramatic moments and that probably put her over the top here. Very well earned.

Judi Dench - Mrs. Henderson Presents - Excellent performance. I was ready to argue that if they wanted to give her another nomination they should have given her a supporting on for Pride and Prejudice but I was wrong this is highly deserved. She did a nice job of mixing the comedy with drama and especially making the drama seem funny.

Felicity Huffman - Transamerica - She did do a nice job and the nomination is not all together unwarranted. But, if she pulls an upset it will be the biggest disaster since, well I don't know when but it will be bad. This is not the performance people want you to think it is and it doesn't deserve to win.

Charlize Theron - North Country - This was not the nomination I thought I would be saying should have gone to someone else but it is. This movie just didn't come together the way it should have and while her performance was good it did not transcend the movie like say Diane Lane did in Unfaithful.

Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk The Line - Just remarkable the transformation he made. It is completely unexceptable to think he won't win and he did his own singing. This performance had everything it takes to be the big winner.

Terrance Howard -Hustle & Flow - Terrance had an amazing year and this was the icing on the cake. The movie was good and his performance was fantastic. That wasn't an easy character to make you root for but he managed to make you do just that.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Capote- Good performance, it just needed a little something more. I'm afraid he's going to win and I really don't think he should.

Heather Ledger- Brokeback Mountain- It was nice but it wasn't as moving as people want it to be. And yes some cowboys grow up to be like that where they barely open their mouths when they speak and he got that down the problem is it's a movie and I really need to be able to understand what he is saying. That's really where he lost me a couple of the smaller moments in the film I don't know what he said and I'd really like to know what he said, but I can't rewind the movie in theaters.

David Straithairn- Good Night, and Good Luck- So boring and just not at all what a nomination worty performance should be, in my book.

Best Director
Paul Haggis- Crash- It was well constructed from the script all the way through to the credits. I think Paul did a remarkable job. Especially considering how many actors, stories, and locations he had to work with.

Ang Lee -Brokeback Mountain- He's probably going to win and that's fine. I probably wouldn't vote for him.

Bennet Miller -Capote- Okay nomination. There were somethings that could have made the movie a little better but those weren't things that killed the movie so he did a good job.

George Clooney- Good Night, and Good Luck- Hell no, this was completely unwarranted.

Steven Speilberg -Munich- Haven't seen.

Best Picture
Crash- Hands down just the best movie of the year. Totally deserves this nomination and it would be fantastic if it could pull off the upset.

Brokeback Mountain- Good movie, deserves the nomination and attention, and if it wins it's just as good as Crash winning.

Capote- Good movie just not good enough to deserve winning.

Good Night, and Good Luck- Totally should not be nominated. The fact that this is nominated and Walk The Line isn't is just insane.

Munich - Haven't seen.

Good Night, and Good Luck

What the hell is this movie doing getting all these big time nominations for any award? It is not that good. Over the last few years there has been this disturbing trend amoungst all people who give out awards and that is to give all kinds of attention to boring "slice of life" movies. In the previous two years this was made evident by all the kudows for boring crap like Lost In Translation (the only thing worthy in that was in fact Scarlett Johanson) and Sideways. This year the trend took a slight turn in that the boring movie in question is actually a bit of a biopic.

The interesting thing here is that Good Night, and Good Luck tried to do the samething as Capote, which was to reveal a person through a very pivitol time in their life/career. However, where Capote worked so marvelously, Good Night, and Good Luck crashed and burned. There's just so much missing to keep it from being the movie it could have been. While I totally admire the people involved in for taking the risk of making this particular politically charged movie at this moment in time, they should have worked harder to make a more engaging story.

I'll discuss the unwarranted Oscar nominations in another post.


I will discuss a few things that some might considers spoilers so skip it if you don't want to know:


The stuff with Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey Jr's characters was completely unnecessary. It's like it was there soley to emphasise the era in which the story took place and that was clear enough with out the whole thing of them being married but, hiding it because the company didn't allow it's employees to be married to each other. The part at the end when there were going to be lay-offs and the guy basically asked one of them to quit and save someone elses job was a waist of time and again not necessary.

The subplot with the character of Don Hollenbeck was also a bit of a distraction. While fine that guy killed himself and it happened at that time it didn't play out well. There were a couple reasons for this one it didn't really seem to impact the main players in the story enough to need so much screen time. And two since a lot of his issues came out of some newspaper guy named O'Brien it only caused more questions. It seemed like this O'Brien guy was out to get Hollenbeck for some reason but that reason was never disclosed and that became a distraction to the overall story.

The number onething that keeps this movie from being what it wanted to be is that there is no direct interaction between Murrow and McCarthy. Clearly that isn't something they could have just made up and thrown in the movie but, it is what is truly missing from the movie. When the hero and the villian don't come face to face in a movie it just doesn't work.



This was a movie that had all the right intentions but didn't come together right. The story itself would have been better served if they had just done it has a documentary. I saw it at a matinee and it definitely wasn't worth more than that. And really I'd recommend waiting for video if you really want to see it.

Imagine Me & You

Most people probably haven't heard of this movie. You probably need to be very in touch with not only the indie movie world, but with those movies that come from other countries and the ones that have a lgbt angle to them. This is a fabulous little romantic comedy from London focusing on the relationship between a bride and the woman her mother hires as the weddings flourist. I did see some previews for this on tv and it looked cute but what hooked me was Piper Perabo. Most people probably know her from Coyote Ugly. Hell that's where I first saw her and I've tried to see all of her stuff since then.

Imagine Me & You though peaked my interest because of another movie Piper had done called Lost & Delirious. She gave a stunning performance as a heartbroken teenage slipping into madness when her girlfriend leaves her. In Imagine Me & You she had the opportunity to play the opposite side of that coin. Not only is it a lighter movie in spirit but here she gets to play the confused one and she did it every bit as well as she has done anything else to date. People don't really see her as a lead and I know they don't see her as a romantic lead but this is not the only romantic comedy she's done and let me tell you the girl is a romantic lead, dramatic or comedic she can old her own.

The movie has an excellent story that is very well written. Some great onliners. I'm still laughing about some of them. The other actors were tops as well. Lena Heady playing the love interest nailed it. She had to play that character just right or she would come off badly and throw the whole story out of whack. (I'm also wondering how much work she's going to get offered that Keira Knightly turns down. Holy crap if you watched the movie with your eyes closed you'd swear that was Keira.) Anythony Stewart Head was a laugh riot as Rachel's (Piper) father. All those years of playing a proper Englishman on Buffy The Vampire Slayer it was great to see him really let loose in this.

While I did see this at a matinee the theater I saw it at only has matinee pricing for the first showing of the day so I paid full price. It was well worth it. If you like romantic comedies and lesbian storylines don't offend you check it out.

Mrs. Henderson Presents

This movie was not one that was on my list of movies to see until Judi Dench pulled in her Oscar nomination. I had seen some previews and it just wasn't anything I was rushing out to see in theaters. But, I am so glad she got that nomination and I went to see it. It is and excellent movie. Well written, execellently acting, good directing, everything was top notch. Which means yes Judi Dench absolutely deserved her nomination.

I'm sure people have heard that it's about a woman who wants to have nudity in her theater in London in the early part of the 20th century. Which it is but it's not the kind of nudity you would expect. It's actually quite remarkable what they did back then. It would be quite interesting to see a small theater company do something like it today.

Do to where I had to see this movie and needing to see another movie the same day I did see this at a matinee. I would have gladly paid full price to see it and would totally see it again. I highly recommend it.

Capote

Last weekend I went to see the multi-Oscar nominated Capote. Of all the things that I need to see because of nominations this is the one I wanted to see before all the awards started rolling in. It is an excellent film. Instead of doing your normal long drawn out bio-pic they focus on what is the most significant portion of his life. I really like how his working on In Cold Blood was not only the focus of the film but the events that lead to the book became an interesting sub-plot of the moive and also probably is the most interesting film adaption of the events to date.

Going in I knew it was about his life while he was writing In Cold Blood (a book which I have not read). However, I was not aware of how much time was spent on the killers. Not having read the book and being only vaguely aquainted with the subject matter of it I did not realize he himself had spent so much time with the killers. More precisely one of the killers Perry Smith. The film could have come off as nothing more than a glimpse into a man writing what is viewed as one of the greatest and most significant works of American literature ever. Yet somehow they managed to make it a deep character study of not only Capote but of Smith as well. I believe that to be the greatest achievement of the film.

As for all it's nominations. At first, even after seeing it, I wasn't sure about the best picture nomination but this is one of those movies that it takes a little while to feel the full impact of. And it's best picture nomination is warranted and it wouldn't be out of the question for it to win. The best adapted screenplay nomination very appropriate. I hope it wins. Best Actor is well earned by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. However, while I agree with him winning the Golden Globe for actor in a motion picture drama, I'm really not sure why he won over Joaquin Phoenix at the SAG awards. It was a good performance but it wasn't as powerful as Joaquin's performance. I know people won't agree and yes I know that they are vastly different. Joaquin's performance is very outward and overt while Phillip's is subtle and inward. But, to me there was just something lacking. The nomination for best director is a good one. The one that makes absolutely no since what so ever is the nomination for Cathrine Keener. I can think of at least three people more deserving of this nomination. And it is nominations like this that make people think there really are no good parts for women. If anyone deserved a supporting nomination for this movie it was Clifton Collins Jr. for his portrayal of Perry Smith.

I went to a matinee showing and I would have gladly paid to see it at night for full price.

Annapolis

So much potential and no development of that potential. That doesn't mean it was a bad movie it just wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. At times it seemed like it wanted all the subplots to be as central as the main plot. This is a problem that has surfaced in a lot of movies of late and it kills the main plot in most cases. On the upside it the acting was pretty good. Tyrese Gibson was as good as always. Jordan Brewster was as good as she could be with what she was given. She was in a lot of scenes but they didn't give her a lot of dialogue, which is a shame. There's more than just good looks in that package. James Franco was good for once. While it's not going to make me a big fan yet it was the first time I actually thought he might have some talent.


Spoilers coming up:


Well there was the primary story between Jake (James Franco) and Cole (Tyrese Gibson) which was your standard instructor picks one guy. And no one around them is sure if it's because he wants to drum the guy out or toughen him up. But there are a lot of areas where they let the story down. Like when everyone goes home for break at Christmas and Jake thinks about not going back. It doesn't seem to fit because while he has struggled it hasn't been anything that bad and considering how he's spent his whole life wanting to go to the Naval Academy it's odd that he would give up so easily.

Of course he does go back and eventually things lead to him wanting to prove himself by fighting Cole in a boxing tournament. Problem is he isn't in Cole's weight class so Jake's roomate helps him find ways to gain weight while Jake helps his roommate "Twins" (the name given to him by a superior officer) get through the obstacle course. These are the two cadets that Cole would be happy to see go as would some of their fellow cadets. Jake barely makes it to the weight he needs to hit to be in the same class as Cole. While "Twins" doesn't make it through the obstacle course. Now this was clearly done because the writer was wanting to go against the norm of these movies which would be "Twins" making it and not getting kicked out. Which I really didn't like at that moment in the movie and I came to like it even less shortly there after. "Twins" then tries to kill himself and Jake attacks Cole. (This still isn't where the problem comes in.) Cole also wants his shot at Jake so he makes sure the disiplinary hearing is moved until after the fight. A fight that Cole ends up winning by decision. And thus the problem with this main storyline. If Cole wins that's fine because Jake put up a good fight and by the end everyone was cheering for him. But Cole needed to have it stuck to him at some point, either "Twins" completes the course in the required time and stays in or Jake beats him in the ring. He should never have come out on top with both parts of the story. It's not like Jake really needed any extra incentive to get in that ring with Cole.

Yes, the writer and director did a good job of staying away from the cliches of these movies but those cliches are there for a reason. That reason is it makes for a better more satisfiying movie.


Due to all my movie veiwing this weekend I also saw this one at a matinee and while, for me, there are things that would make it worth paying more for, I wouldn't recommend paying more than that to anyone else.

Match Point

First off I must say I make a point of not seeing Woody Allen films. He's creepy and his movies are boring. There was two real reasons for seeing Match Point those being, Woody isn't in the movie and it stars Scarlett Johansson. If Woody had been in this one like most of his other films even Scarlett wouldn't have gotten me to the theater. And just like all other Woody Allen films it was slow. Luckily it had a good enough story to keep it from being boring. And the only thing that even made it worth the money to see it were the performances of Scarlett and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. The story was not at all what I thought it was from the previews.


Spoiler Alert:


So from the previews I thought it was about a married guy who has an affair. Turns out that isn't quite how it goes.

Chris (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) actually meets Nola (Scarlett Johansson) not long after he's met Chloe (Emily Mortimer) and before they have really started dating. But Nola is dating Tom (Matthew Goode) who is Chloe's brother. Well of course Chris is immediately taken with her and the two couples begin hanging out and he really only wants to spend time with Chris and Nola so he can see Nola. He doesn't really love Chloe he just loves what her father can give him which is a big time job to make lots of money. So he goes ahead and marries her. I wouldn't much like his character for having an affair after they were married but I absolutely loathed him when it turned out that it started before they were married.

After Chris and Nola break up she disappears for awhile and then reappears one day. He runs into her at an art gallery and soon their affair takes off in full. Being the awful man that he is he wants to blame the affair on Chloe's desire to have a kid and thus their bland and scheduled sex life. Next thing you know of course Nola is pregnant. He keeps saying he's going to leave Chloe and we all know that he won't and you know Nola knows it too. This does lead to the best scene in the whole movie when Nola shows up one morning outside of Chris and Chloe's building having discovered he lied about being out of the country and she starts screaming about wanting to see Chloe and he's trying to get her in a cab. It's pretty sad that in a drama/thriller the best scene is actually rather comical. She of course threatens to tell Chloe. Leading to suspenseful ending.

Actually it's neither suspenseful or an ending. Chris plots to kill Nola and as part of his plan kills her elderly neighbor. As if I didn't hate his character enough already. This is a moment when things get a little more lame. He kills them with a shot gun. But he kills the neighbor a good hour or more before he kills Nola but no one seems to have heard the shot gun blast since no one called the cops. Yeah I'm really buying that one. There is a bit of an investigation into the murders but he managed to make it look like a robbery so with the exception of one cop that's what everyone thinks it is. At this point the ending just begins to drag and drag. It's probably a good 15 minutes longer than it needs to be. The damn thing would have had a much better ending if it had ended when he had his little breakdown with Nola and the neighbors ghosts talking to him and Nola telling him he did a sloppy job. I would have preferred the open ended ending of wondering if he'd get caught and how to the one where he got away with it and goes on to have a child with Chloe.



Went to a matinee of this one and that is all it is worth.

SAG Awards

Not a lot to say about this one because it went pretty good. Not really happy with Sandra Oh winning this time but that's what happens when they refuse to have supporting categories for television. And again the best speech of the night went to S. Epatha Merkerson. I think the best part of the night was when Crash won for best ensemble motion picture cast (or whatever it is). If you have not seen that movie you need to.

A History of Violence

Almost missed seeing this one in theaters but luckily it popped back up at our local discount theater this week. It has a good story or at least a good story idea unfortunately it didn't seem to come together quite as good as it could have. It never seemed to find the right balance between the primary story of Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) and his new normal life and his back story. Other than the fact that he didn't like the mob life I didn't give a defining moment for why he left it behind. I did like the visual feel of the film. It also could have been served better with some better pacing. It held my interest but just barely because it was so slow. Sadly with the exception of Maria Bello the acting was not that great. Ed Harris was good too at least he wasn't over the top with his villian. Viggo never seemed like he bought into his character completely. And William Hurt was so horridly over the top I wanted to throw something at the screen so I have no idea what people where thinking nominating him for best supporting actor for that crap.


Spoiler Time:


The part with the two guys Tom kills in his diner is really weird. The movie opens with them at some hotel in the middle of nowhere and they kill the manager, a maid, and some little girl. Apparently they've been driving across the country doing this and stealing different cars. It made no sense and while the stuff between those two bad guys was slightly funny it really just wasted time and helped in hurting the overall pacing of the movie.

When Ed Harris shows up you think things are really going to pick up but they don't. It's more about his character, Carl, messing with Tom's head. Making him think he's going to do something to his family. He never does, he just lets his opportunity come to him. Which is a nice change from how these movies usually go but it didn't move fast enough. When Carl finally gets his opportunity it's because Tom's son ran off and Carl snatches him as leverage. He never does hurt him and boy I did not see the son blowing a hole through Carl coming at all. Figured he would just do the standard you shoot him I shoot you thing. And you might think the movie would be over at that point but you would be very wrong.

See it's after that, that Tom gets a call from his brother who actually sent Carl. And it's off to Philadelphia for Tom. Yet another part of the movie that is drug out to long. And for some very odd reason he can't go straight to his brothers house. He has to stop and some sports bar and meet one of his brothers lackeys and then be taken to his brother. His brother being Richie played by William Hurt. And thus the bad acting ensues. This is 10-15 minutes that is pretty unnecessary and leads to Tom single handily killing four or five mob goons plus his brother.

He returns home and finally the damn thing ends.


Saw this at the discount theater for $2 and I would have been okay paying up to matinee price for it.

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.

Brokeback Mountain

The closing night movie for the Starz Denver International Film Festival was the much anticpated Brokeback Mountain. It's a good movie but not really the movie it could be. It just didn't all come together. I felt it could have been more powerful especially at the end. All the credit in the world to Ang Lee and his production staff for doing such a good job with most of the cowboy elements. The parts with them showering or washing their clothes out in the wild with nothing more than their hats and boots on, so true. It's that incase you die at this moment in time you better do it with your hat and boots on mentality. There were a few things that they seemed to get wrong but no movie is perfect.

As for the performances. Jake Gyllenhaal was fantastic. His desire to live the life he truly wants running smack into the wall of how he had to live his life came through so great in every aspect of his performance. He is the one who deserves all the hype that is for some crazy reason going to Heath. Now don't get me wrong, it's not that Heath's performance was bad it's just that it wasn't that moving either. Yes he did a great job of playing the one desperately wanting to deny his feelings. The quite one who barely speaks and when he does he mumbles more than anything. There in lies part of the problem. In some of the more intimate moments you could not understand what he was saying. Luckily you knew the jist of the scene but I want to hear the dialogue and know what he is saying. There was just no emotional connection to him. If he ends up with nominations that's fine but there is just no way he should be winning anything.

As for the ladies. I don't like Michelle Williams and I will never understand why people insist she is such a good actress. Everything she does is so dull. Unfortunately she got the bigger role in this film and so she's getting all kinds of undue attention. Seriously what movie are people watching that she deserves any credit for her performance. Anne Hathaway didn't get enough work if you ask me so she really couldn't show a lot. The differences in the wifes was very intersting. Anne didn't really get to show what she might be capable of until the very end. See red area for details.


Spoilers ahead!


Okay I have read on more than one occassion that Heath plays the traditionally female role in this movie. The one who is pursued and all that. How the hell do you figure that? Jack (Jake) is the hopelessly romantic one. The one who will do anything for one moment with the man he loves. Come on Ennis (Heath) has this perfect little life but will sneak off to have a few nights with someone else and then return to his family like nothing ever happened. Jack however, wants to leave his wife and get a little place somewhere so him and Ennis can live happily ever after. Which one of those seems more the typical female character to you? Jack puts himself out there for these little rendevous hoping someday that Ennis will come around and run off with him. It's the he'll leave his wife for me someday scenario.

Unfortunately even though Ennis ends up divorced they never end up together. Jack is killed and sadly Ennis only finds out when he gets a post card returned. He calls Jack's wife, Lureen (Anne), and finds out what happened. This is when Anne gets her one big moment. She tells Ennis how Jack was killed in a mishap envolving a flat tire while we see a flashback of what really happened. He was beaten to death by three or four other guys. The lies people will tell themselves and the world are amazing at times. Lureen is the wife who knows somewhere deep down why her husband runs off to Wyoming a couple times a year. And what he may be doing with another man in town but chooses to ignore it and live the life she has created. That's where the lie about his death comes in. But while telling the lie to the man he husband ran off to see she has a quite breakdown. It is the most heart breaking moment in the whole movie to me.

I really didn't buy into the holiday scene with Ennis, Alma (Michelle), their kids and her new husband. While yes, they might invite him over for dinner and all that I really didn't buy into her finally having it out with him over what him and Jack really do up in the mountains. Plus her whole thing about putting a note in his tackle box to see if he was really fishing didn't seem real. Sure we all know what they were doing up there but considering the era in which the film took place they still would have been fishing so they had something to eat while up there. Plus it seemed like them having that fight would have been the last thing that happened before the divorce not that weird bedroom scene.

Jack's dad was true to form. Being so mean that he wouldn't let his son's last wishes be carried out. That was sadder to me than the fact that he died.



Had to pay more than double the price of a regular evening admission to see this screening. Getting to see it a head of the general public and the fact that Ang Lee was there made it worth that. But it is worth a full price admission.

The Matador

The second film I saw at the Starz Denver International Film Festival was The Matador. Overall I was disappointed with the film. I didn't care much for the directors style. He was also the writer and the writing was good as was the basic story. There were some things in the story I would have liked to have explained better. I thought it was rushed a bit towards the end. And while I normally don't mind Greg Kinnear (he's not way up my list of actors though either) I really did not care for him in this role at all. He was not the right compliment to Pierce Brosnan. Pierce however was great. This was such a different role for him. I loved seeing him play someone icky. It was a great role for him that will hopefully show people he is more than just the sauve guy in a suit.

The writer/director Richard Shepard was present and did an audience Q&A following the screening. Nice guy. It's also worth noting that Greg's character lived in Denver and he said he did that because his wife is from Denver and he loves the area. However, due to budget constraints he was not able to shoot in Denver. (I won't even go into my tirade about that right now. That is a seperate entry all together.) It was interesting to learn that he ended up making this film because Pierce and his production company requested a sample of his writing because they were considering hiring him to write another project. Then when pierce read the script for The Matador he wanted to make it. Also he's worked on a couple movies with the always wonderful Maura Tierney. He wrote and directed a movie with her and Adrian Brody called Oxygen and produced a movie with her called Scottland, PA. He is also working on another movie for her. Always worth keeping an eye on someone who will give that woman work.

I had to pay more than a usual full price ticket to see this movie and it was not worth that price. Truth is it is really only worth matinee price and the only reason it would be worth more is for Pierce.

Walk The Line

I know I am way behind. I saw Walk The Line the day it opened. It was a really good movie. Reese Witherspoon is hands down my front runner for all best actress awards. She was simply amazing. I think do to all the fun light hearted stuff she has done people are always a little tentative on giving her the credit she deserves and acknowledging her talent but she showed it all off here. Arguments can be made for her deserving more nominations (at the very least) for some of her past performances and now it is time for everyone to step up and give her the respect she deserves. And believe me with the also long overdue attention Claire Danes deserves it is some what painful for me to accept that she will have to wait to take home anymore statues. (Remember she has a Golden Globe for My So-Called Life.) Anyway Reese was dead on with everything in the movie. From the comedy to the drama she did not miss a beat.

And the same goes for Joaquin Phoenix. He has also given several terrific performances in the past and he is dead on perfect here. While I am a country music fan I have never really had a take on Johnny Cash but what I did know was that he would have to give the performance of his life and it would live and die by his singing. Needless to say he nailed it. Even my Grandmother says both Joaquin and Reese nailed it. When people who knew the entire span of June and Johnny's careers are saying this you know they did something right. And I saw Brokeback Mountain the same weekend and no way in hell does Heath Ledger deserve any awards over Joaquin. This is what it comes down to. If Jaime Foxx won last year and he lip-synced then there is no excuse for Joaquin not winning when he did the singing.

I'm not going into the spoiler area on this one because it has been so long since I saw it.

I ended up seeing it at a matinee but I would have been more than happy to pay full price for this movie and probably will pay full price when I see it again.

Transamerica

I had my first film festival experience this weekend at the 28th Starz Denver International Film Festival. It was very cool. Saw Transamerica starring Felicity Huffman. What a good film. Felicity totally deserves the slowly building Oscar buzz she is getting. If she gets nominated that would be great but I would still vote for Claire Danes if I had a vote that is. Considering it is usually the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender films that are dark and tradgic that get any real buzz it's nice that this funny, dramatic, heartwarming one is getting any attention. Hell it's just nice having a film with a storyline with a central character that is transgender that doesn't end in some sort of tradgedy.

Felicity isn't the only highlight of the films cast. It also features nice performances from Elizabeth Pena, Fionnula Flanagan, and Graham Greene, in small supporting roles. Again if I were a voting member of any award giving comittee I would have to at the very least nominate Fionnula Flanagan for supporting actress. Kevin Zegers who played the son of Felicity's character was amazing. He's been around since he was a small child but I'm not familiar with him.. He should have a big career in front of him.

As an added bonus to all of this Duncan Tucker the films writer and director was present and did an audience Q&A following the screening. It was great to hear some of his stories and how everything has come together for his little film. Especially an interesting one about Dolly Parton writing a song that will play during the end credits when the film is officially released next month. Always have liked Dolly, like her even more now.

I think I will skip the extended review with plot details for this one. I encourage people to go see this film if you have the chance. It's a roadtrip movie as different and funny as you will ever find.

Shopgirl

Waiting for a movie with Claire Danes can be as tormenting as waiting for one with Jodie Foster. But as with Foster it is always worth the wait and for some reason with Claire they always come in groups. I am not a Steve Martin fan so I'm never looking forward to him in anything and in a drama I was a bit worried. I was pleasantly surprised though. Perhaps it's because he wrote the novella and the screenplay so he was very in touch with the character. Whatever it was I don't know if anyone else would have done justice to the role. Jason Shwartman was very good in his role.

While their performances were good and exactly what the movie needed it really lived and died on Claire's performance. No way this movie gets the attention it is if not for Claire. Doesn't matter who it was really if she had phoned in even a single moment the film was in trouble. Claire didn't and if anyone doesn't understand why she's getting all the buzz it's as simple as this, in subtlety does Claire's greatness lie. It is not just in this film that that is true. Claire's true greatness has always been in what she brings to the small often silent moments of her projects. Anyone episode of My So-Called Life will prove that.


Spoiler time:


The part when he was talking to his therapist and her to her friends about their relationship was really great. It was very intersting to see a scene that shows so perfectly how completely different two people can hear something. It was very funny how he thought what he said was so clear and to the point when it wasn't and how much more she read into it. Perspective really is everything at any given moment in a relationsip.

Along those same lines it was a nice character turn for him in that even though he didn't want anything to serious and committed he still felt torn by certain things. And clearly felt that their relationship was a little more than what he initially thought or he wouldn't have felt the need of telling her about sleeping with that other woman over Thanksgiving.

Jason's goofiness was refreshing for the film. When he was out on the road with the band and still couldn't stop being weird was great. A lot of times in movies he would have come back this whole different person who was all mature and groan up. Basically the younger version of Steve's character. I liked that, that didn't happen. Sure he had his moment when he ran into her in the parking lot in his suit but that was really just a mask. He was still the guy whose really awkward around woman and never manages to say the right thing but isn't ever saying the wrong thing either.


This movie was worth the full price I paid and then some.

NCIS

As I said in my post earlier I was very upset with Kate's death and worried about her replacement both actress and character. They through some nice twists in there with Ziva in the beginning making you wonder what she was up to and if she should be trusted. The whole story with Ari wrapped up nicely and really gave you a good feel for Ziva.

So far I love her character and am very impressed with Cote de Pablo, an actress that I had no knowledge of prior to her joining the show. Tony continues to annoy and get more annoying almost by the episode but she is a very good counter too that. Not only in the sameway as Kate was but also in her own way. I also like how there is a bit of Gibb's in her. Her being a more dangerous driver than him is halarious. They do a great job with her not understanding thing's about American culture and sayings. Like when she saw a yard sale sign and wanted to know why some one would sell their yard.

While I hope Abby will evenutally warm to her I like that she is hostile towards Ziva at the moment. I'm hoping they will have to work together sometime soon. The hostility and abbrasiveness between the two will be good for quite a few laughs I think.

The Fog

It is my tradition to go to a movie on Halloween. (Yeah I know I'm way behind.) So this year I choose The Fog. Some of you might be asking why that and not say Saw 2. Well the answer is timing. While I probably will see Saw 2 I chose to wait because if I go to scary movies to soon I always end up with those annoying people (usually girls/women dragged there by their boyfriends) who don't like being scared and thus don't like scary movies and do aleaviate their fear they start talking when ever it gets tense so they won't be scared. So while seeing them with a big audience is nice because you can since everyone elses tension and fear it's not an option for me any more.

As for the movie itself. I wasn't expecting very much and got even less. They spend to much time showing the back story which totally killed the movie. The ending was the dumbest horror ending I've seen and I've seen some bad horror films. On the upside Selma Blair and Maggie Grace gave nice performances which is probably the only thing that saved this movie.

I'm not going to go into a big huge review like I have with other films. So I'll just get to the end. Paid full price and it wasn't really worth it. Matinee price would not be a waste of money. It's pretty late into it's run so at this point unless you have a two or three dollar theater in your area you should just save the money and wait for dvd.

Prime

This was a pretty good movie. It did have one big problem which you can read about farther down in the red spoiler area. All the acting was good which was vitally important to the movie. Sometimes with comedies they can still play well with subpar acting this was not one of them. This was one where you had to pay attention and keep up with the dialogue to catch the jokes. You also have to keep up with everything that's been happening because it isn't one of those set up the one-liner kind of scripts. A lot of it just came from natural dialogue that was made funnier by knowing what came before it or was quite possibly coming after it. I have a tendancy to laugh so hard at stuff that I miss some of the follow up laughs. This moive had everyone laughing so hard at times that even if I had stopped laughing it would have mattered because you couldn't hear the dialogue over the laughter.


Don't read if you don't want to know what happens this will give away a major plot point.


First off while the thing with David's friend throwing pies in the faces of women who don't want to go on a second date was mildly amusing it was also very lame. That was the only time you saw any of his friends just that one guy and his immaturity. Of course when it came to the friends and age stereotypes the movie didn't do much to dispel them. David had one friend who was very immature and that did eventually rub off on him. Rafi on the other hand worked in the fashion industry and had three gay male friends and one heterosexual female friend who were all very mature and wanted to settle down.

Rafi had her immature moments. She wants to see other people and then throws a fit when she found out he had a one nighter with one of the models she works with. They never established that her and the model had anything but a working relationship so she had no business getting so pissed about it.

Loved when he brought her to his place, which was his grandparents' place. Uma did a a great job of collapsing in shock and embarrassment over that.

Now to the movies big problem to me and that was the ending. I don't mind that they didn't end up together, but the way they orchastrated it was awful. Rafi spends all this time whining about him not being able to give her what she needs (when what she really means is what she wants a a baby and a family) and then when he's finally getting on track with his career and willing to give her what she wants she tells him no because he will regret it. I can't stand taht whole telling someone what they want and feel thing. While it didn't completely destroy the movie it did make me dislike Rafi a lot.


Despite my one issue with the plot it was still worth the full price of admission.

Reunion Returns

On the eve of it's return from the baseball imposed hiatus I thought I'd do a little recap.

1986

We meet the six friends. Will Malloy, Jenna Moretti, Carla Noll, Samantha Carlton, Craig Brewster, and Aaron Trumball.

Samantha and Craig are dating but apparently broke up for a bit and her and Will (who is Craig's best friend) got together and now Sam is pregnant. The only person who knows this is Carla.

Will takes the fall for a car accident that Craig caused while drunk that killed a father of three.

Aaron finallyy gets his chance with Jenna.

Carla and Samantha head off for London.

In the present day of this episode we learn that a necklace of Carla's (scene in the flashbacks) was found on the body.

Also at some point Carla must have been married as her last name is now Holland, although she does not have a wedding ring on. So clearly she isn't married anymore (whether by divorce or death) or there is the other option that perhaps she just changed her name for some reason in the past 20 years.

1987

Sam has her baby (a girl) in London and gives it up for adoption.

Having served 9 months of his 12 month sentence Will returns to Bedford.

Sam and Carla return from London.

Sam goes to visit Jenna in New York and finds Aaron also staying with her. Later he tells Carla that he has dropped out of school.

Poor Aaron also gets his heartbroken when he learns that their summer together meant far less to Jenna than it did to him.

Will runs into his cellmate who gets him to help in robbing Craig's house. They get caught by Craig. In the end Craig ends up with the gun that is later used to kill one of the six friends.

Will also takes a job with Craig's dad's real estate development company.

Aaron heads for Seattle.

In the present day Carla throws the gun into the river. And we learn that Will is still alive and is now a priest.

1988

Sam locates the people who adopted her daughter and contacts them unfortunately they want nothing to do with her.

Not knowing what it's for Will offers to give her the money she needs. Unfortunately for him the project he was relying on to get that money in a bonus falls through and he ends up bribing the guy at the EPA to make it happen.

Carla takes a job as a nanny for the people who adopted Sam's daughter.

Will gets busted for his EPA payoff and can save himself by ratting out Mr. Brewster.

Will gives Sam the money and she promptly returns it and he pushes her back into Craig's arms.

In the present day we learn that Detective Marjorino is the stepson of the man killed in the 1986 car accident caused by Craig. And that Aaron is still alive and has become enormously successful.

Now it's on to 1989 and by 1990 we will know who for sure the murdered friend is.

North Country

Overall a decent movie that could have been a lot better in the hands of a better director. Luckily the directors inabilities with the story and how to show it did not destroy the movie completely which is mostly due to Charlize Theron. She definitely proved that Monster was not a fluke. All the acting was good. Even Woody Harrelson who I normally don't care that much for was on the mark.


Spoilers To Follow:


While most of the stuff at the mine was done pretty well it was all the in between stuff that wasn't handle very well all the time. The scene at the bar when we first meet Bill White (Woody Harrelson) was way to long. It could have been half as long or shorter and still served its purpose. The part when Sherry (Michelle Monaghan) hit on Bill was completely unneccessary and helped show another part of the problem with the movie. It was like Niki Caro didn't want you to feel to sorry for the woman. Like she wanted you to kind of feel like they invited some of it on themselves.

I liked the difference in how the woman saw stuff and were torn with what to do. Should they side with Josey or just keep quite. Especially Glory (Frances McDormand) being the union rep. She was trying to fix the small things perfectly content to try and be one of the boys maybe hoping the others would follow her lead and that would slowly start to make things better only none of them really knew how to do that. It was also interesting to see how she was still basically afraid or unwilling to help the cause when she had nothing else to lose fearing it might only make the problems worse.

Interesting the difference in the laws and courts today though. If they tried something like they did with that teacher and trying to make her out to be a slut for having sex with a teacher nowadays the judge would most likely fine them beyond all belief. That was so out of control. And that guy was the most despicable person ever for lying about what he saw.

I did like the scene at the union meeting when she tried to speak. I did really care for her father until that point. And I couldn't figure out why he was being such a jerk to her and that scene answered it. He didn't really believe her because he hadn't seen it until then. But when he actually saw how bad it was he realized he had been the jerk and his daughter wasn't lying. Not that, that totally made up for his behavior but at least he came around to her side a bit.

You know that this movie wouldn't have been made if Josie and the others hadn't won their case so I was wondering how they were going to give the end any dramatic impact. That was probably the only thing the director nailed. Having everyone slowly stand up and show their support for Josie, starting with Glory's boyfriend reading that letter for her was really powerful.


Paid full price and despite my issues with the directing it was still worth that price.

The Season So Far

First just a couple thoughts on my last few new shows. I am actually quite surprised with The Night Stalker its stories are better than I was expecting. With stars Gabrielle Union and Stuart Townsend the acting was bound to be good so the stories and how they were told was the big question mark with this show. They are no longer a question mark. The only real problem with the show is that they shoot it too dark. It's way to hard in some scenes to see what's going on and I get that it's suppose to be spooky but when you can't even see the expressions on the actors faces sometimes you just don't know if what's going on is suppose to be spooky or just surprising. It's in a bad time slot and is suffering in the ratings. Not really expecting it to make it through the season.

I am also really enjoying Related it's a lot funnier than I was expecting it to be. The relationship between the sisters is great. I don't have any siblings but can still relate very well to the characters and their connections. Hopefully it will start getting some better ratings and get a full season pick up.

As for other shows I am no longer watching Kitchen Confidential (Just wasn't grabbing me and there was nothing special about it.), Sex, Love, & Secrets (Which I stopped watching before it was officially cancelled.), and My Name Is Earl (It's a fun show but nothing that really keeps me interested.)

Into The Blue

The main reason I saw this one is because I am a Jessica Alba fan. I know a lot of people just see her as another young pretty face but there is so much more there. My expectations for the movie weren't very high and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it turned out. There was some under water stuff with the actors that was a little weird and just didn't look right but, otherwise the over all look of the film was very good. There was some cheesy dialouge but I have to give credit to all the actors for doing their best to sell those lines. No one just phoned it in. Some of the diving footage could have been shortend up which would have helped because of the times when the story seemed to lose focus. Jessica and Paul Walker were both good which isn't a surprise. Felt Scott Caan over did it a couple times but other than that he was pretty good as well. Josh Brolin wasn't very good which also isn't a surprise. But Ashley Scott was just bad. I've seen her in a couple things so far and people just need to stop giving her work.


Spoilers Ahead! Skip the red if you don't want to risk having anything ruined.


I knew pretty early that Josh Brolin was one of the bad guys but I did not anticipate that cop friend of Jessica and Paul's characters being a bad guy. I figured he'd just end up still going to the wrong cop for help.

I was so glad when they finally got rid of Ashley Scott's character but it just was not dramatic at all. It almost would have been better if the drug guys had just kept her hostage and her get killed when Josh's character killed everyone on the boat. The thing with the shark for all the basic build up to it just didn't work really well. That was also one of the things that bothered me about Scott's character, how unfeeling he was. Yes they had only known each other a matter of days but come on that was just a bit ridiculous.

And at the end when they used the sharks to their advantage to help kill the bad guys I have to say having the shark come up from underneath and bite that guy between the legs was rather fun. Yes I'm sure it wasn't so fun for all the guys in the audience but it was different than most shark bites so points to the director for that one.


Saw this one at a matinee and it was well worth that price and I would not have been upset had I paid full price for it.

Domino

Good story a little loose in places. The acting all around was pretty good but Tony Scott's directing style nearly killed it. He needs to learn how to edit stuff tighter. And if there was one more shot of those gold fish in that bowl I may have thrown something at the screen. It didn't drag as badly has some of his other work but useless shots really kill the overall flow. Since it was in the previews I can put it here without doing it in the red spoiler area. While the part with Mo'Nique on The Jerry Springer Show was fun and a good laugh it was pointless to the overall story and another one of those things that if left on the floor could have helped the pacing of the film.


Now a few things that could be seen by some as spoilers so skip the red typing if you don't want anything ruined for you.


Kiera Knightly freaking rocked in this kickass role. I swear even if this movie had turned into a complete disaster it would have been worth it for the part when she broke Brian Austin Green's nose. How many of us would love to do that? And seriously how funny was it when he was telling her how her bad girl act couldn't fool him because he's an actor. He may be an actor but we all know he's a bad one.

The scene when they crash in the desert another example of Tony's bad editing. I am not one of those people who gets down on every sex scene in every movie for being pointless or gratuitous but come on this one was a bit ridiculous. Much better if the bus crashes and then the next morning they manage to flag down a passing motorist.

Also don't need the backstory on their driver/explosives guy. That was just pointless on all levels. It only serviced an ending that didn't need to be serviced by that much screen time.


Paid full price and do good acting and a decent story designed for no other purpose than a couple hours of fun in mind it was worth it. Luckily also the actors understood it was just a fun crazy movie and didn't take it or themselves too seriously. That would have killed the whole thing.

Proof

No more long breaks for Gwyneth. The girl doesn't like for courage on in the roles she takes. To not do anything for so long and then come back and do a role where if she is off the slightest bit it will ruin the whole movie is damn gutsy. And she totally nailed it. I know she played the same role on stage but that can sometimes lead to disaster. She could have tried to do play something slightly different to freshen it up and have it back fire. I don't know that she didn't do that as I never saw her on stage, clearly, but if she did do that it worked. Jake Gyllenhal was great as well. He had a less openly emotional role but he did a great job getting through what he needed to get through from his character. If he had let down the slightest bit to Gwyneth things could have been bad but he didn't. He's always done good work and he continues to show he's at the top of his generation of actors.

Saw it at a matinee and would have been happy to pay full price for it.

Boston Legal

I love this show. The character of Alan Shore was a great addition to the final season of The Practice and an even better one to use for a spin-off. He'd be a great character to base a show around spin-off or original series. David E. Kelley is a master of the quirky character. And in Alan Shore and Denny Crane he's created two of his best. The cases he's come up with so far are also some of his best. The only thing that has surprised me with this show is the female characters. David usually makes great female characters, no one writes women better than David does. But, he just hasn't gotten a real grasp on these women. Maybe that's his cast, perhaps their personalities just aren't meshing well with the characters.

His selection of actresses has been great. Monica Potter and Rhona Mitra, both great. I was worried about the shelf life of Tara (Rhona) once he decided to go ahead and hook her and Alan up. Monica's character never seemed to fit in real well. Lori Colson (Monica) was a little to tight and never got a ton of fun stuff or banter (althought that time when she told Tara she was "nasty hot" still makes me laugh when I think about it). Being the straight woman to everyone elses wackiness just wasn't working. Brad Chase (Mark Valley) being the straight man in that same wackiness works very well but I think that's because he has a very direct oppostion in Alan. Lori being the balance for the rest of the cast was to much to ask. In the first season I was very heart broken by the departure of Lake Bell. I think of all the casting changes that was the hardest to take. The actress and the character had so much potential in David's hands.

The addition of Candice Bergen was a stroke of genius though. She is a great opposition to Alan and Denny. And the perfect actress to go toe-to-toe with Spader and Shatner. Wasn't to thrilled with the addition of Julie Bowen over the summer. In the few times I watched Ed I was not that impressed with her. That has all changed in the first couple episodes of Boston Legal. She has been great. And love the fast one they seemed to have pulled in filming. I'm thinking they left a lot of Monica's scenes on the floor in favor of new scenes with Julie, Ryan Michelle Bathe, and Justin Mentell.

Don't believe me, look at the evidence. The guest appearances by Heather Locklear and Rupert Everett were announced early in the year. There were five episodes left unaired when the show was bumped for Grey's Anatomy, those episodes where then added to the season two run. It's reasonable to assume that by the time ABC made the decision all the episodes were pretty much in the can. (I'd say at least three of them were completely done the other two might have still been shooting or editing.) Add to that, that in the first episode Julie and the other newbies did not appear in any scenes with the established cast members. Julie appeared in one scene with Candice in the second episode, and how else would you explain her letting two pretty much straight out of law school associates handle her divorce? That's a lot of money to risk in the hands of people with very little experience.

As for the big case. Heather Locklear was perfect. Spader was on his game. That thing when he was stretching before pointing at and accusing the housekeeper of the murder was to funny. Freaking love David bringing Anthony Heald over as Judge Harvey Cooper from The Practice. Those were two of my all time favorite episodes and he was a big reason they were so good. Ranks as one of my all-time favorite tv judges.

But the end when Betty White whacked Leslie Jordan with the frying pan and killed him was the best part of the second episode. I absolutely love how David takes actors and actresses always associated with the nice character and has them do something so bad. Can't wait to see how this case plays out especially with Alan and Denny off in Canada fishing.

The Constant Gardener

This wasn't a movie I was initially going to see. It just didn't look all that good. But it was getting tons of critical praise (not something I pay a lot of attention to) and some of that praise was leaning towards award buzz. I do try to stay up on award stuff unless it's just something I can't stand. Unfortunately that buzz (and ultimately nominations) can lead to miserable hours of watching movies such as Lost In Translation and Sideways. But since I am a fan of Rachel Weisz I figured I'd see this one.

It was okay. Rachel and Ralph Fiennes gave nice performances. The story was pretty good unfortunately a lot of that was lost in not so great direction and way to slow a movie. The pacing was way to slow for a movie of this type. That slowness killed any suspense in the movie and the story needed the suspense. They easily could have shaved ten minutes off the film and that would have made a huge difference. I know to some people that may not seem like a lot but believe me with a movie like this it can make all the difference. I don't know what the director hoped to accomplish with some of the framing of certain shots but whatever it was it didn't work.


SPOILERS Ahead:


Considering all the people close to Justin (Ralph) who conspired in their own ways against Tessa (Rachel) and ultimately played some hand in her murder he never got mad enough for my taste. Yes he hunted down the truth but he never really got angry at anyone. I mean he looked two different men in the eye who admitted informing different parties about her where abouts and he just walked away from them. He never directly lashed out at them physically. And yes violence is not always the answer but come on we are suppose to believe her loved her so much that he would give up his career and ultimately his life for the truth but he wouldn't punch the people who made it easy for the bad guys to find her and kill her. Not buying it.

And that part about him giving up his life. Yeah, I didn't care for that much either. Exactly what was the point of him doing that other than to be with her. Fine he got the report and the letter off to the right people but why didn't he continue on then and make sure people were punished or something. I didn't like him just sitting out there in the middle of nowhere waiting for the bad guys to come kill him. And no I don't care if it is based on a book and that was probably the ending in the book it's still a stupid ending.


I saw this one at a matinee and that is what it's worth money wise, but, like I said it was at least ten minutes to long.

An Unfinished Life

The number one comment I have about this movie is, why, why can't she just be Jennifer Lopez the actress why does she insist on being J. Lo the star most of the time?

It was a pretty good movie. Good performances all around. I was especially impressed with Becca Gardner, the young actress who played Jennifer's daughter. She was in what could have easily been intimidating company every where she looked in every scene but she held her own. The whole movie was beautifully shot and well executed. The overall story was good rather subtle on it's exact theme but that was just how it needed to be. It was not something that should have been done in a a heavy handed way.


SPOILERS Ahead:


There was some stuff I didn't fully understand. Especially with the bear, at first anyway. I did like it but I didn't always get what it's emphasis on the movie was. I mean it was important to explain Morgan's character and what happened to him. It did turn out to be an intersting way for Redford and the girl to bond though. I was surprised though that after they tried to set the bear free that Jennifer didn't lose it when she found out what they had really been up to. I mean he did put the only good thing she really had left in her life in a rather dangerous situation. And man when Morgan had to stand there and let that bear charge him that must have been freaky.

Didn't really care for or buy that whole thing between Jennifer and the sheriff, played by Josh Lucas. I mean her basically using sex to get protection unnecessary. It's a small ranching town the sheriff doesn't have a lot to do and being friends and all with Redford he'd have been looking out for her anyway. That's what sheriff's in tiny towns like that do. If it had been played as more of a real relationship from the start it would have been more believable.

It was a different story than I was expecting. The previews lead you to believe there was more of a big mystery behind what happened to his son but it was nothing more than an accident and him just not being able to deal. Didn't hurt the movie made for a better movie this way really.


So over all it was worth the time and money of seeing this movie. That's basically how I rate movies by how much I paid. I pay full price for most things and then gauge if it was worth that much or not. And yes I paid full price for this one.

NHL Returns

Tonight's the big night play officially resumes in the NHL. Okay so yes they have been playing preseason for a couple weeks but that doesn't really count since they don't show those games. At least not here they don't.

I am so excited for this now red line for passing rule. That is really going to create some great stuff I think. I wonder if they will really stay tight with obstruction calls all season. They've said they were going to crack down on it for the past couple season but about 20 games or less in they suddenly don't see the hooking and grabbing going on. It's always good when they are calling it because powerplays can be really exciting and really stressful depending on which side your team is on and how close the score is.

Living in Colorado I am an Avs fan. Sad to see Peter go but since had he stayed there's a 90% chance Alex Tanguay would have been traded I'm not that upset about it. I'm sick of all my favorite players being the ones to go. And being that my eastern confrence team is the Montreal Canadians and my favorite player there has for years been Patrice Brisebois I was extremely happy when he signed with the Avs. He was the one player I thought they should go after.

Reunion writing

I do see some of the flaws in the writing for Reunion however, it seems some people are being a little to hard on it. I've been trying to figure out why exactly that is. I think I may have figured it out.

Us the viewer have become accustomed to very clever writing with these kinds of shows. A lot of that comes from pop culture references. Those references are usually very 80's-centric and now 90's stuff is in there a lot too. So we get Reunion a show that spans the mid 80's to now, and there by can not at this point make those clever references to stuff since it is either happening at that time or has yet to happen. Perhaps if everyone lays off a bit it will gradually get better as the years go by and these people can reference all that stuff. Stuff I might add that they will be able to reference in a different way than a lot of characters on tv since they will have actually lived it.

If you pay attention they are already doing a fun job in some ways. The first epiosde made reference to Carla being the Molly Ringwald of the group. Good reference that is usuable then, hell that reference will still be usable 10 more years down the road. And for those of us who 9 or so that thing with Jenna dancing on the cars in the music video priceless.

Veronica Mars

HOLY CRAP! It's back and better than it was last season.

I was so disappointed when the person at the door was Logan. Glad Veronica was too. He is a jerk and not worthy of Veronica. And even if he had the potential to be worthy of her he's done nothing to prove it. He has even more work to do now to redeem himself and that's just to get back to being friends. There may not be enough redemtion to make him worthy of more. Duncan however, is so much better for her. Yes, I know he was a jerk to her for awhile as well. But, he had reason to treat her like that. I mean possibly sleeping with your sister, and then her dad trying to destroy his family (with cause but he didn't know that) it's not exactly the makings of a good relationship. Now that, that's all worked out they can get back to being a happy couple. Of course if it weren't for how strange and icky things might be on account of their parents dating I'd like to see her with Wallace. And it would ultimately ruin their great friendship which would suck.

Anyway onto the real reason this show rocks, the mystery. Wow, first that thing with Logan being suspected of killing one of Weevil's boys. And then the crash. I think I may have actually stopped breathing for a minute. I had read the big mystery involved a bus accident but never anticipated it being why the bus plunged off a cliff. And with Meg on board, heartbreaking. What a great move by the writers having a vision of Lily lead Veronica to Weevil and off that bus. Guess someone had a guardian cheerleader.

Great to see the shows numbers were up. Not by a big amount for a show on a big four network but a huge amount for UPN. Now if all those poeople will just keep watching and help get more people to watch.

And to anyone whose reading this and contemplating watching the show who thinks it seems kinda lame and that's why you aren't watching. I was you last season until Alyson Hannigan's first guest appearance. Big fan and I read she was all mean so I wanted to see that. Watched one episode before her appearance to kinda get a feel for what was going on and I was totally hooked. It is well worth your time.

Sex, Love, & Secrets

In the first episode it seemed that this was clearly one of those good in theory shows. The idea just didn't play out very well. Even with a fairly decent cast it can't be saved. It seems the characters aren't very well thought out. The only one who seemed complete was Denise Richards. Now that might be because the bitch is usually not a very complex character and if she is it's hidden under all that bitchiness and the fun of the character is figuring out why she's like that. Then again it could just be that Denise knows exactly what the point of her character is and how to play it while the others have no idea what's going on.

The second episode was better it had a lot more focus. It would have been very easy to figure out what was going on without the first episode. The network should have dumped the pilot episode and just started with episode two. Perhaps the reviews wouldn't have been quite so bad if people would have seen that episode instead. Doesn't mean it would have faired any better in the ratings but, you never know.

First or second episode though the narration is overdone and really annoying. It serves no purpose to the story. As much as I like Desperate Housewives its success has unfortunately led to, too many shows using narration as if that's the secret key to success. News flash for all those people it's not helping. Most shows I've seen suffer as a result of the naration a few it really does help but if it's just there to be there like with this show then it needs to be cut from all scripts.

Even though the second episode was better with the announcement that UPN has shut down production on the show there is no reason to continue watching to see if it keeps getting better.