"Sometimes there's honor in revenge."

And now I give you my favorite television episodes of the year. These also happen to be a few of my favorite shows on the air right now. Are there any episodes you think I missed? Please let me know in the comments section below!

Friday Night Lights "Always"
I was incredibly sad to see this phenomenal series come to an end. However, the finale was one of the best series finales I have ever seen. They wrapped everything up perfectly and you got to see where each of the main characters was heading in their future lives. The East Dillon Lions win the Texas State Championship, Vince is the captain of the new Dillon Panthers super-team, Coach and Tami move to Philadelphia for Tami's new job, Julie moves to Chicago to be with Matt, Luke heads off to the Army and Billy and Tim start building Tim's house. Over five seasons this show gave us a lot of heart and it will definitely go down as one of my favorite series ever. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.

Sons of Anarchy "Hands"
The entire fourth season of Sons of Anarchy was awesome, but this was my favorite because it was the biggest game-changer. The club does not know that Piney is dead let alone that Clay killed him, ATF has Juice in custody and Sheriff Roosevelt is starting to question their methods. By the end of the episode, Tara has lost her career and the only thing that kept her from becoming completely immersed in Old Lady-life, Jax is more determined to take his family and leave Charming and Gemma has lost faith in her husband and knows he must be killed because he cannot be saved. This show is so well-written and even better acted. It has become about so much more than a motorcycle club and every season it just keeps getting better and better. Kurt Sutter might be crazy, but he is a crazy genius.

Happy Endings "Spooky Endings"
It took me a couple episodes to get used to the humor of this show, but now I love it. In this particular episode, Jane and Brad spend Halloween in the suburbs house-sitting for friends and end up having to defend the house against mischievous teenagers. The rest of the gang go to a warehouse costume party where Penny and Max dress as a mother wearing a baby bjorn, Dave dresses as Austin Powers but keeps getting mistaken for Elton John and Alex dresses as Marilyn but is sick and gets mistaken for a man. This show is pretty awesome and I find it even more awesome after each episode.

"I don't have delusions of grandeur, I have an actual recipe for grandeur."

I now present you with a list of my favorite movies from 2011. I do not believe that most of these films will win any awards, but I enjoyed them the most of all the things I saw this year. They were the movies that stuck in my head the most and made me want to watch them again as soon as I walked out of the theater. You may disagree, and that is fine, and I would invite you to share your favorite movies with me in the comments section below.

So now without further ado and in no particular order.....

Limitless
I am a little Bradley Cooper-biased, but I actually really enjoyed this movie a lot. I especially liked that it was not presented as a science fiction movie but more as an exploration of the human mind. You think more about the moral implications of what it would mean to take a drug like NZT. How would it change the way you interact with other people and how you live your life. This movie was engaging and highly entertaining.

Bridesmaids
This was the funniest movie I have seen in a really long time. I have been in six weddings, none were quite this hilarious, but I can definitely relate to many of the situations with which these ladies had to deal. The entire cast was great as an ensemble and even better in their individual roles. Each women adds a different level of hilarity throughout the entire movie. Also, I have said it before and I will say it again, I expect puppies to be given as favors at every bridal shower I go to from now on.

"Little girls shouldn't be told how pretty they are. They should grow up knowing how much their mother loves them."

Since I have been really bad lately about writing my movie reviews, I have decided to do two in one post. In the past couple weeks I have seen The Descendants and My Week With Marilyn.

The Descendants is about a man whose wife is in a coma after a boating accident. He is having trouble with his youngest daughter so he brings his older daughter home from boarding school to help with her sister. He must figure out how to be a better parent while also dealing with the loss and betrayal of his wife. At the same time, make a decision for his extended family about whether or not to sell a plot of land they have owned through several generations.

It was definitely sadder than I expected it to be, but I also just did not find it particularly interesting at all. Clooney has been getting a lot of attention for his performance in this movie and, while I think that he did a fine job, I did not feel that it was any better than any of his other serious roles. He is a good actor, but I was not blown away by this character. Shailene Woodley, on the other hand, did an excellent job. Her acting skills are clearly getting wasted on The Secret Life of an American Teenager and she could be working on much better projects. I just did not think that this movie was all that fantastic.



"At the risk of stating the obvious, you're insane."

This week's Weekend Movie Preview is a little more complicated than usual. The movies that are out today are: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Adventures of Tin Tin. Coming out on Friday is We Bought a Zoo. On Christmas Day, War Horse and The Darkest Hour are in theaters.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is based on the first book in the trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired to locate a woman who has been missing for forty years. He is aided in his search by a computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander. This movie stars Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright, Joely Richardson, Goran Visnjic, Joel Kinnaman and Embeth Davitz.

Trailer #2
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at MOVIECLIPS.com

In The Adventures of Tin Tin, a young reporter sets out on a journey to find treasure on a sunken ship. Along with Captain Haddock, Tin Tin must find the ship before the evil Red Rackam. This animated feature showcases the voices of Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Toby Jones, Cary Elwes, Tony Curran and Sebastian Roche. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson.

Trailer #4
The Adventures of Tintin at MOVIECLIPS.com

"What's the point of being an outlaw when you got responsibilities?"

I know that I have been really bad about writing the last few weeks and I apologize. Aside from the craziness of the holidays, I am also in the process of planning a move to Austin, Texas at the end of January. I have lived in Philadelphia my whole life and I just felt like I needed a change, so I am packing up my things and starting over somewhere new. Do not worry though, because I will still keep up with the blog after the big move :o)

That being said, I have been trying to catch up on shows that I always meant to watch but just never got around to them. I have recently started watching Flashpoint and Breaking Bad. I also plan to start watching the original Dallas so that I can be up-to-date when the new show starts this summer on TNT.

Flashpoint takes place in Canada follows a Strategic Response Unit (or SWAT team). Each episode is about a different crisis that they must deal with ranging from hostage situations to bomb scares. It stars Enrico Colantoni aka Keith Mars from Veronica Mars, which is why I started watching it in the first place. Amy Jo Johnson plays another main character and you may remember her as Julie Emrick from Felicity or the Pink Power Ranger :o) It originally aired on CBS, but now can be found on Ion Television.

They deal with a different case each week but, it's a little bit different than your typical CSI or Law & Order and I really enjoy it. It delves more into the psychological aspects of the subject so that the SRU can talk them out of the situation they are in. They are an elite group of police officers with high tech gear and sniper training. I am halfway through season three and if you usually like procedural shows than I definitely recommend giving this one a try. Plus, they wear such cool pants!

Holmes: Get that out of my face.

Watson: It's not in your face. It's in my hand.
Holmes: Get what's in your hand out of my face.
-----------------------------------

The big movies in theaters this weekend are: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked and Young Adult.

Only in limited release last week, Young Adult is from the same writer who brought us Juno and stars Charlize Theron. She is the writer of  young adult novels who decides to return to her hometown after her marriage fails. Her plan is to take back her high school boyfriend. When that plan proves more difficult than she thought, she forms an unlikely bond with another former classmate. Along with Theron, this movies also features Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser and Jill Eikenberry.

Trailer #1
Young Adult at MOVIECLIPS.com

"Nobody wins when pregnant women fight."

The big movies out this weekend in theaters are: The Sitter and New Year's Eve.
The Sitter is about a college student who has been suspended and is coaxed into babysitting the children that live next door. He is the world's worst babysitter looking after the world's worst kids and is completely unprepared for the crazy night ahead of him. It stars Jonah Hill, Ari Gaynor, Sam Rockwell, D.W. Moffett, Bruce Altman, Jessica Hecht and Method Man.

Trailer #3
The Sitter at MOVIECLIPS.com

"No one gets an unwrapped present on my watch!"

Arthur Christmas has been getting such great reviews that I decided to check it out. However, instead of making the same mistake that I made with The Muppets, this one I decided to see on a Monday afternoon. I was one of five people in the entire theater and that is the way I like it. I did not see it in 3D and I have to say, I really enjoyed it a lot.

We learn that the current Santa Claus is actually 20th in the line descended from Saint Nicholas, who reigned from 295-369 A.D., and he is serving his 70th Christmas as Santa Claus. His youngest son, Arthur, runs the letter office while his oldest son, Steve, runs mission command and is expected to take over Santa duties when his father retires. After what they believe to be another successful Christmas, one of the elves finds a misplaced present and realizes that a child has been missed. Along with the help of his Grandsanta, Arthur makes it his mission to ensure that the little girl gets her present before the sun rises on Christmas morning.

"Guys, we can't kidnap Jack Black. That's illegal!"

There are actually no new movies in theaters this weekend, except for a few in limited release. Therefore, instead of my usual Weekend Movie Preview, I will give you my review of The Muppets, which I saw last weekend.

 

While I think that going to the Sunday Matinee was probably not the best idea, I really enjoyed The Muppets a lot.

 

Two brothers, Gary and Walter, are The Muppets biggest fans. When they take a vacation to Los Angeles and visit the Muppet Studios they are sad to learn that evil oil tycoon, Tex Richman, is planning to tear down the theater and drill for oil. They find Kermit and convince him to track down all the Muppets in order to host a telethon so they can raise the money they need to save their theater.