I know I do not talk about books often, but I do read, especially in the summer when there is less television and good pool weather. That being said, these are the books that you should read right now if you have not already, 1. because they are FABulous; and 2. because the movie adaptations are coming soon: The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. The Help movie is out this week and the first of The Hunger Games will be out next year. I have also finally read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, but am still on the fence about it. I realize that I am behind on some of these things, but that is mostly because I, obviously, watch a lot more television and movies than I read books. However, that does mean that I do not know what I am talking about here. Next on my list are the rest of the Larsson trilogy and Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.
Alright, now on to what I am actually good at, which is watching and talking about movies :o)
I have recently, finally, gotten around to watching I Am Number Four and Arthur. Neither was very good, but I am glad that I can say that definitively now, instead of just assuming.
Summer movies have not really motivated me to get to the theater this year. Most of the recent releases, especially, have not been very good and because of this, I have not really seen a whole lot. However, I did finally get to see Toy Story 3 and Eclipse.
Toy Story 3 was just as good as I had heard. I did not even mind that it was in 3-D. If you liked the first two movies, then you should definitely see this one. I would even say that it is one of the best Pixar movies I have seen.
While it did not get great reviews, I did actually like The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I did not re-read the book before seeing the movie, as I had done with the previous two Twilight movies. I was, therefore, not comparing them as much because I did not remember all the tiny details, I only really remembered the general plot. I think this may have allowed me to enjoy the movie a little more than usual. I do think that the acting, although still not amazing, is getting slightly better, if only because the actors now know these characters a lot better and are more comfortable in their skin. As I said with New Moon, I just found that the dialogue and the scenes were too choppy and did not always flow well. I am assuming it has to do with the fact that all of the screenplays have been written by the same person, so you are going to get the same interpretation of the books every time, which is unfortunate. Like I said though, I did enjoy it for what it was, just do not expect any Oscar nominations anytime soon.
Originally, despite the stellar reviews, I had planned to skip Inception. I still have not committed to seeing it for sure, but I am at least considering it now. Who has already seen it? Does it really live up to all the hype?
New summer shows are also still premiering. Mad Men starts this Sunday (ah woo hoo!) and Dark Blue starts in a few weeks.
The first two episodes of Rizzoli & Isles were good. Some parts of it did freak me out a little though, meaning it will definitely get DVR'd and watched the next day so that I do not have nightmares. And I am being completely serious :o) I also really enjoyed Covert Affairs. Especially after seeing Eion Bailey in the first episode (think hyenas on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Jim in Center Stage), so I really hope he shows up in a lot more episodes. White Collar, The Glades and Rookie Blue have also continued to be excellent and highly entertaining summer fare.
Continuing with my current Timothy Olyphant obsession, I have now watched High Life and The Crazies.
The Crazies was watched OnDemand and was surprisingly good. And, aside from a few scenes that made me jump, it was not really that scary. From the commercials, I thought it was about zombies or something along those lines, but it was actually about people being infected by something in the town water supply and going crazy. The actual reason for the crazy people is much more interesting than your typical scary-monster-movie. High Life, on the other hand, was not what I would call a good movie :o) However, it was not horrible either. Four junkies plan what they think is the perfect bank heist, but of course, it goes horribly wrong. Not Olyphant's best work, but it was entertaining enough for the hour and twenty minutes that it lasted.
Other than High Life and my continued viewing of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, other movies from Netflix recently were The Invention of Lying and Wonder Woman.
I got the most recent Wonder Woman cartoon because it was voiced by Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Virginia Madsen and Oliver Platt. It was not anything super fantastic, but it was Wonder Woman so there is not a whole lot to it and was therefore pretty entertaining. Although, I have to say, Nathan Fillion's cartoon couterpart did not do him justice :o)
I had wanted to see The Invention of Lying when it was in theaters because I love Ricky Gervais, but I am glad that I did not because it was kind of weird. Parts of it were hilarious because, well, it is Ricky Gervais and he is mostly hilarious. However, it was surprisingly quite boring. Also, it went from being a movie about the guy who invents lying (like the title suggests) and discovers just how much he can use it to his own benefit, to something with a more religious aspect and then sort of gradually turns into a film about not being with people because of what they look like and how much money they make, but because of who they are. And while, these are all very interesting themes, they didn't really mesh well together. I would say you should probably avoid this movie, if you know what is good for you :o)
In other news, Comic Con started Thursday in San Diego. Seeing as I am still mostly unemployed, this probably would have been the year to attend and cross it off my bucket list. Unfortunately, I was not really paying attention to when it was and realized too late that I should have made plans to go, so I have mostly been trying to keep track of things online. I will continue to post updates on Facebook and Twitter, if you are interested.
I hope everyone is staying out of the heat! Instead you should stay inside and watch lots of fun movies and TV shows! :o)
A lot of networks have started introducing new shows in the summer, which I appreciate, however summer TV can sometimes be tricky. For starters, not everything premieres around the same time. A few shows started right after the regular season shows were over and some do not start until August. Also, many summer TV shows are just really bad.
I tried really hard to like The Good Guys with Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks. I enjoyed that Whitford's character was so totally different from Josh Lyman and Danny Tripp. However, after a few episodes, it just got repetitive, so I have stopped watching. Although, I do still really like his mustache :o) I also tried to watch The Gates and Memphis Beat, but I just could not get into either of them. They were just plain boring. Seeing as I usually enjoy vampire related things, I was hoping The Gates would be good, but it felt very mundane. Almost like Desperate Housewives except with vampires, werewolves and witches. With Memphis Beat, I do not know what it was, the writing just seemed slightly awkward at times, like they could not decide if it was supposed to be funny or serious.
I am, however, really enjoying Rookie Blue. I like Missy Peregrym (mostly because of Stick It :o) and Life As We Know It and Reaper were canceled prematurely, so I really hope this show sticks around for a while. I like it because it is not trying to put a new spin on the cop-show genre, it is just looking at it from the view of a rookie. I would say it is more like Grey's Anatomy, but with cops...and a lot less sex...so far anyway.
The Glades premiered last night on A&E and it was excellent. White Collar and Covert Affairs premiere tomorrow night on USA, which I am super excited about. Also, Mad Men starts on AMC in two weeks and the last season finale was the best episode of the series yet, so I cannot wait to see what happens next.
While my TV schedule has been relatively light, I have been trying to cut down my Netflix queue a little.
My watching of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia hit a slight snag as the first disc that I got was scratched. However, I received replacement discs and am now through the second season. (Considering there are only seventeen episodes in the first two seasons combined, this is not a huge accomplishment.) Aside from being overly excited by the opening credits and the occasional mention of places in Philly that I know, my initial reaction was that the show is pretty funny. I would not say that I laugh hysterically at every episode, but it is more of a subtle humor, if that makes any sense. With every episode though, it grows on you more and more. I have three more season to get through, so I will keep you updated.
In terms of movies, I watched Silkwood, Dreamgirls and 300.
Silkwood starred Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher, David Strathairn, Craig T. Nelson and Fred Ward. And even with a mullet, Meryl Streep's performance is excellent. She plays Karen Silkwood, a woman who, while working at an Oklahoma nuclear power plant, becomes exposed to massive amounts of radiation. She starts to investigate what is going on at the plant in regards to worker safety but dies in a mysterious car accident before she finishes. It is based on a true story and is definitely worth seeing.
Dreamgirls, the play, was playing in Philadelphia and even though I had not seen the movie, a friend offered me tickets so I went. The individual performances were good, but I was not very impressed by the overall production. The movie had gotten nominated for so many Oscars, that I thought maybe it was just the play that I did not like, so I decided to give the movie a try. It was just as bad as the play. Jennifer Hudson's performance was impressive and definitely worthy of her Oscar, but the rest of the movie was just not great. The only thing that I really enjoyed was the brief cameo by Jaleel White at the very beginning :o)
As much as I enjoy hots boys with 8-pack abs, wearing leather speedos, I have to say, 300 was pretty bad. It had basically no plot, as well as a totally unnecessary sex scene and pretty poor dialogue. And sadly, as my one friend pointed out, this really is the only one of Gerard Butler's movies worth seeing. I have no idea why there is so much hype around this movie. I mean, it was visually pretty cool, but the rest of it was just not good. It must be a boy thing.
On a completely seperate note, Emmy nominations came out last week and I am very upset that Timothy Olyphant was not nominate for Justified. Even Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly agrees with me!
Anyways, I hope everyone had a FABulous Fourth of July! If you are missing me too much in between posts, remember that you can always follow me on twitter and facebook!
This is most definitely not the "Year of Me," as I had hoped it would be in January.
For those of you who read this and do not know me personally, my father passed away last week after being diagnosed with lung cancer only two and a half weeks previously. It has been a hard couple of weeks and is bound to get harder, but my family is doing the best that we can, especially considering that my brother is getting married next weekend. I am devastated, but I actually do not think that it has fully hit me yet. I am not sure when it will, but until then, I have been trying to keep myself as distracted as possible.
Since I went through all of Grey's Anatomy while my friend was in the ICU a few months ago, I have been using Gilmore Girls for this crisis. Seasons one and two over the course of three weeks (not including the first season's Christmas episode, for obvious reasons to those who watched the show). I have been watching all my current TV shows, along with a few movies here and there and I have been getting the show Deadwood from Netflix.
As you can see, I am not flying through Gilmore Girls like I did with Grey's Anatomy. Mostly because ABC Family reruns the episodes every day, so it has not been as long since I have seen them all. My mother usually makes fun of me for watching things over and over. "Haven't you seen this?!" But if I really like something, then why wouldn't I want to watch it again. Plus, she is just as guilty with NCIS, all Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter movies, Shakespeare in Love and Gosford Park. Clearly, it is genetic. The craziness must increase exponentially with each generation, which means my future children are in big trouble :o)
Deadwood is a show that I really wish I had watched when it was on the air because it is awesome. It is set in the town of Deadwood, South Dakota during the gold rush in 1876. I am only through the first season so far, but Season 2 Disc 1 comes in the mail today and I CANNOT wait :o) The entire cast is phenomenal, especially Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane.
I was not planning to watch A Perfect Getaway because it looked like a scary movie, and as we all remember, I do not do scary. However, in my efforts to see more of Timothy Olyphant, I decided to risk it and was actually pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be more of a thriller than a scary movie, which I can handle, and was not as awful as I thought it would be. My only real complaint about this movie is that Steve Zahn was not quite his normal funny-self. I would not say that it is a fantastic movie, but it was entertaining enough that I watched it twice. If only because once you know how it ends, you pick up on all the little clues and "red snappers" that you did not notice the first time through.
I also got Avatar on blu-ray the other day and rewatched it. I have to say, as amazing as it was in 3-D, I am just as satisfied with the 2-D version. I am already so over the 3-D thing and unfortunately, the madness is just beginning.
Anyways, I thought I would keep this relatively short since my last couple posts have been pretty long.
As a side note to the beginning of this posting, if you are reading this and are not a personal friend, please say hi in the comments section! I would love to know who is actually paying attention to my rantings and not just doing it out of friendship to me :o)
Raylan: He’s in there Art: You think he’s in there because you think he wants to see his kids, but maybe he doesn’t give a shit about his kids. He’s probably not a candidate for “Father-of-the-Year,” he has shot a cop, among other things Rachel: If he’s not here then we don’t know where he is Art: Well then you’re like some drunk who’s looking for his car keys under a street lamp cause that’s where the light is ---------------------------
In light of my newest obsession with Timothy Olyphant in Justified on FX, I have been trying to see more of his movies and TV shows, as is my way. I had already seen The First Wives Club, A Life Less Ordinary, the Sex and the City episode, Go, Gone in Sixy Seconds, Head Over Heals, Rock Star, Catch and Release, Stop-Loss and part of The Girl Next Door. You would think that I was already obsessed, considering how much of his work I had already seen, but it really was all coincidence. Until now, I had never watched anything because he was in it, he just happened to be in a lot of movies that I had seen. I found both Hitman and Live Free or Die Hard OnDemand and watched both of those. Unfortunately, the issue that I'm encountering is that he has been in several scary movies (ie. The Crazies, A Perfect Getaway, Scream 2, Dreamcatcher), which we all know I am not a fan of, and several not-so-good movies in which his acting skills were not fully utilized. He was also in several episodes of Damages, which is a show that I do not watch. I also never knew that he was on Deadwood, but did not get HBO so I could not have watched it anyway, so it is now in my Netflix queue. And, I know I have said this before, but if you are not already watching Justified, you really should be.
Hitman was alright, it was not horrible but it was not fantastic either. Something about it just did not flow very well. I had wanted to see it when it was in theaters but never did and never got around to renting it either. The action sequences were pretty cool, I just kind of felt like the role did not really suit Olyphant. Not that he is not a good actor, maybe it is just my personal preference, but I like him to play characters with more personality. Even when he is the bad guy, he is more fun when his characters are more playful. Like I said, it is not that he acted poorly, the character was just not written to have any personality.
I had that same issue with his character in Live Free or Die Hard. Overall, the movie was exactly what you would expect from a Bruce Willis movie. I had seen the first Die Hard, but none of the ones in between and you really do not have to see all of them to understand each one individually. I thought the movie as a whole was alright. The concept was pretty interesting and the action sequences teetered on the edge of realism...right up until the point where Willis jumped from a collapsing highway over-pass onto a jet, when it totally jumped off the edge into totally not realistic or humanly possible. I really only watched it because of Olyphant and Justin Long.
I tried to get back into watching my Netflix movies, as I had been neglecting them for a while. I still have not been in the mood for Rachel Getting Married, but I promise I will watch it soon! I did, however, watch Eight Men Out (to commemorate the official start of baseball season) and Wall Street.
After seeing my Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series in 2008, and compete again for the title in 2009, I cannot even imagine what would make any athlete throw a championship. What I did not realize was, the reason most of them did it was because the owner of the White Sox at that time, Charles Comiskey, was a cheapskate and never paid them their bonuses for making it into the series in the first place. And while I am in no way making excuses for their behavior, 1919 was a different time and players were definitely not paid anywhere close to what they are now. It is also interesting to see how Shoeless Joe Jackson is portrayed in this movie, compared to how he is portrayed in Field of Dreams. Not that they made him out to be a genius in Field of Dreams, but until seeing Eight Men Out, I had no idea that he was illiterate. Overall, I thought the movie was very well done and if you are a fan of baseball, you should see it.
I watched Wall Street to prepare for the sequel this summer and it was very good. Michael Douglas is brilliant as Gordon Gekko and I look forward to his reprisal in the sequel. Daryl Hannah annoys me slightly, but even she did not bother me as much as usual. I do not really have much to say about this movie, except that it came out in the late 80's, so if you have not seen it, you really should. Especially in light of our current economic situation :o)
I have also been slacking on going to the theater, mostly because there has not really been anything that I have desperately wanted to see. Although, I do really want to see How To Train Your Dragon. Also, Kick-Ass has been getting really good reviews. After seeing the commercials, I did not really have any desire to see it, but now I might need to check it out.
On a personal note, my friend that was in the hospital is doing much better and has been moved to a rehab facility. His improvement makes me ecstatically happy and I pray that he continues improving. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him and his family, it really means more to me than you can possibly imagine!
The past week and a half, I have been very distracted. My friend's older brother has been in the hospital and they are not totally sure what it is. they think it is transverse myelitis or vasculitis. He is intubated and semi-conscious and he has been getting better but it is little each day. I have known the family since I was three and he is like a brother to me, so it has been really scary and I have been spending time at the hospital, helping the family in any way I can and just trying to keep myself distracted so I do not think about it too much. Basically that involved a lot of Grey's Anatomy. In some weird way, it has helped. I do not know if it is just because it was familiar and meant I did not have to think very much or if the medical stuff had some kind of reverse effect and calmed me.
I had forgotten just how good this show used to be. I think it slowly started to get worse right around the time when Meredith died and then came back to life. Aside from the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's episode, the most recent season has been much better, but I still miss the original episodes.
I am not really sure how it helped, but it helped, so I kept watching. Seasons one through three in a week and a half. I did not get much else accomplished.
However, before my mental break-down, I did watch a few other things...
I went 19 for 24 with my Academy Award picks - I think that might be my record. However, it was a pretty predictable year, so I do not know how impressive it is :o)
I watched Michael Jackson's This Is It. I have to admit that, even though I was a child of the 80's, I did not really follow popular music. My mother mostly listened to show-tunes, classical music and sports and my father was an oldies man. I did not start listening to popular music until I was in middle school and I needed to know it to be part of the conversation. I obviously knew who Michael Jackson was, but I was not really a fan. By fan, I do not mean that I did not like his music, I just did not know it. I do remember watching the Thriller video at my best-friends house with her brothers, but I would not say that Michael Jackson shaped my childhood very much. That being said, I have since come to love his music and appreciate his influence in the musical community.
To be honest, over the past couple years, I have not even paid much attention to what he was up to. I think everyone heard about him holding his child out of a window with a towel over his head and about him potentially molesting children, but I feel like he had pretty much kept to himself these past couple years. And after hearing about how many drugs he was on when he died and how many issues he had, I did not know what to expect when I started to watch This Is It, and I was blown away. He could still sing! And he could still dance! It really is a shame that he did not get a chance to tour the world one more time, but I am glad that we got to see this last movie. The movie itself was nothing spectacular. It was literally clips of him and his dancers and band rehearsing. But if you like Michael Jackson's music or grew up in the 80's then you should definitely see this movie.
My mom and I also went to see Alice In Wonderland. The imagery was amazing and typical of a Tim Burton film and Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter and Anne Hathaway are always awesome. However, it was not quite as good as I was hoping it would be. Do not get me wrong, it was a good movie, just not as good as I expected.
I have also discovered an AWESOME new TV show. I know what you are thinking. How could I possibly watch more television?! Have I mentioned how much I love my DVR? :o) Anyways, it is called Justified and it is on FX Tuesdays at 10pm. It stars Timothy Olyphant, who you might recognize as Sam, the hot "twenty-something" that Carrie makes out with for an entire episode of Sex and the City, or as Fritz, the best-friend of Jennifer Garner's dead fiancee, in Catch and Release. In this new show, he plays U.S. Marshall Raylen Givens who is reassigned from Miami to his hometown in Kentucky. He now has to deal with an outlaw father, a church-bombing white-supremacist who is also an old friend and an ex-wife who works in his building, among other things. If you are not watching this show, you absolutely should be.
It has been a rough couple of weeks, but I have kept myself distracted and my friend is slowly starting to get better. All I can hope for is that his progress continues and he does not have too many more set-backs. Otherwise I might have to go out and buy seasons four and five of Grey's Anatomy :o)
I tried really hard to like The Good Guys with Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks. I enjoyed that Whitford's character was so totally different from Josh Lyman and Danny Tripp. However, after a few episodes, it just got repetitive, so I have stopped watching. Although, I do still really like his mustache :o) I also tried to watch The Gates and Memphis Beat, but I just could not get into either of them. They were just plain boring. Seeing as I usually enjoy vampire related things, I was hoping The Gates would be good, but it felt very mundane. Almost like Desperate Housewives except with vampires, werewolves and witches. With Memphis Beat, I do not know what it was, the writing just seemed slightly awkward at times, like they could not decide if it was supposed to be funny or serious. 
In light of my newest obsession with Timothy Olyphant in Justified on FX, I have been trying to see more of his movies and TV shows, as is my way. I had already seen The First Wives Club, A Life Less Ordinary, the Sex and the City episode, Go, Gone in Sixy Seconds, Head Over Heals, Rock Star, Catch and Release, Stop-Loss and part of The Girl Next Door. You would think that I was already obsessed, considering how much of his work I had already seen, but it really was all coincidence. Until now, I had never watched anything because he was in it, he just happened to be in a lot of movies that I had seen. I found both Hitman and Live Free or Die Hard OnDemand and watched both of those. Unfortunately, the issue that I'm encountering is that he has been in several scary movies (ie. The Crazies, A Perfect Getaway, Scream 2, Dreamcatcher), which we all know I am not a fan of, and several not-so-good movies in which his acting skills were not fully utilized. He was also in several episodes of Damages, which is a show that I do not watch. I also never knew that he was on Deadwood, but did not get HBO so I could not have watched it anyway, so it is now in my Netflix queue. And, I know I have said this before, but if you are not already watching Justified, you really should be.
I had forgotten just how good this show used to be. I think it slowly started to get worse right around the time when Meredith died and then came back to life. Aside from the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's episode, the most recent season has been much better, but I still miss the original episodes. 
I have also discovered an AWESOME new TV show. I know what you are thinking. How could I possibly watch more television?! Have I mentioned how much I love my DVR? :o) Anyways, it is called Justified and it is on FX Tuesdays at 10pm. It stars Timothy Olyphant, who you might recognize as Sam, the hot "twenty-something" that Carrie makes out with for an entire episode of Sex and the City, or as Fritz, the best-friend of Jennifer Garner's dead fiancee, in Catch and Release. In this new show, he plays U.S. Marshall Raylen Givens who is reassigned from Miami to his hometown in Kentucky. He now has to deal with an outlaw father, a church-bombing white-supremacist who is also an old friend and an ex-wife who works in his building, among other things. If you are not watching this show, you absolutely should be.