Jax: Is there anything you love so much, you'd protect it, no matter the cost, the damage it did to you?

Tara: Yeah, a child

Jax: Yeah. That's how I feel about this club. Since I was five, Tara, all I've ever wanted was a Harley and a cut. Change won't happen quick, or without blood, but it'll happen. It has to.

-------------------------------------------------------- 

I talked about my new favorite show, Sons of Anarchy, a few weeks ago, but never followed up after watching season 3. I could not wait for them to release each individual episode on Hulu, so I broke down and bought the entire season on iTunes. This was a good and bad decision for me. The good thing is I have now seen the entire third season and it was just as awesome as the first two, as I predicted. The bad thing is that I have now spent countless hours watching the first three seasons over and over again. 

My new love for this show also means that Charlie Hunnam has been added to my list of actors that I need to see almost everything they have ever done. This list has so far included Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Timothy Olyphant and Kristen Bell. Thankfully, Hunnam's is not a super long list and includes a few things I had already watched or was planning to watch.

He is a British actor that was first known for his role on the British version of Queer as Folk. Unfortunately, this is the only thing that I have not been able to find anywhere to watch. If anyone knows where I can get it without having to buy it, please let me know, I would really appreciate it! It is supposed to be one of his best roles, aside from Sons of Anarchy. 

I did not even realize that he was in Cold Mountain until after watching Sons of Anarchy and then checking his IMDb profile. It did not help that he does not really look like himself in this film and his character is a little creepy. It is one of my favorite books and I own the movie as well, so I have since re-watched the movie and still love it...although the ending inevitably always makes me cry. He plays one of the men in town who is tracking down and killing army deserters, a small but well-played role.

Undeclared is another case where I had watched the show before I knew who Charlie Hunnam was and had to go back and re-watch it. I had seen a few episodes over the years, but never the whole series. In this, he plays Jay Baruchel's foreign exchange student roommate, Lloyd. The show also starred Seth Rogen. I am not a huge fan of Judd-Apatow-humor, but it only lasted one season, so I am going to try to make it through all seventeen episodes. 

Children of Men was one of the movies that was already in my Netflix queue. It had an interesting concept, but was mostly just a weird movie that was kind of hard to follow. It stars Clive Owen, Michael Caine and Julianne Moore and takes place in 2027. Humans have not procreated in 18 years, so when a young pregnant girl is discovered, Clive Owen does everything he can to keep her safe. However, the movie does not do a very good job at explaining who the different villains are or why they are doing what they are doing. Hunnam plays one such dreadlocked bad guy who is trying to track down Owen. His role was not very big and he mostly ran around trying to shoot people :o)

Abandon was another weird movie, but one in which he played a main role. Katie Holmes is a college student at the end of her senior year. She is already under a lot of pressure to finish writing her thesis paper and find a job for after graduation, when her ex-boyfriend, who inexplicably disappeared two years earlier, reappears. Hunnam plays the ex-boyfriend, Embry Larkin. You are trying to figure out if he is dangerous and wants to harm his ex-girlfriend, but she is also a little crazy, so maybe she is just imagining that he is back. You are not really sure of what is truly going on until the end. It was a little scarier than I thought it was going to be but, I am not really sure what to make of this movie. It was not bad, but it was not really that fabulous either. Katie Holmes tends to annoy me, but Hunnam's performance was excellent. However, I would not have seen this had he not been in it.

He has a new movie coming out this summer called The Ledge, which also stars Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson and Terrence Howard. The trailer was released yesterday:

If you are not already watching Sons of Anarchy, you should catch up now and be ready for season 4 this fall. I also highly recommend you get more familiar with Charlie Hunnam. The movies he has done so far have not been stellar, but that is in no way because of his performances. He is a great actor that does not get anywhere near enough recognition for his talent. (Not to brag, but I said the same thing about Bradley Cooper right before his career exploded, so you might want to listen to me :o) 

xoxo

c

ps. If you are already a fan of Sons of Anarchy, make sure that you are following creator and executive producer Kurt Sutter on Facebook and Twitter!

---------------------------------------------------------

"I've never lived closer to danger, but I've never felt safer...

I've never felt more confident, and people could spot it from a mile away. And as for this, the violence? I gotta be honest, it grew on me. Once you've taken a few punches and realize you're not made of glass, you don't feel alive unless you're pushing yourself as far as you can go."

---------------------------------------------

I have been a little distracted this past month with March Madness and skiing in Utah, but I am back from vacation and my bracket is completely demolished, so I am back to reality.  I know you have missed me!

Now, we all know that I am a little Bradley-Cooper-biased, but I really do not understand why Limitless did not get better reviews. I have to say, I really quite enjoyed it. It had a good plot that kept moving and kept you interested throughout.  Cooper plays Eddie Morra, a blocked writer who is presented with an "FDA approved" drug that will give him access to every part of his brain and all the fame and fortune that comes with those abilities.  The whole concept definitely poses an interesting question, or two.  First, would you take the drug in the first place, not knowing exactly what it would do to you?  And second, what would you do with your life if you could remember everything you have ever read or seen, learn any language in an instant, pretty much accomplish anything you have ever wanted to accomplish?  Obviously, there are also other twists and turns to the movie that you keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat, but I definitely left the theater feeling very motivated, like I could be doing so much more with my days.  Of course, that feeling did not really last too long :o) If anything, this movie proves what I have been saying for a while now, that Bradley Cooper is a leading man that can carry his own movie.

I also recently saw Rango, an animated movie starring Johnny Depp. It was a little slow getting started and a little more serious than I expected it to be, but overall an entertaining movie.  Below, is one of my favorite scenes:

You Ain't From Around Here



Rango
at MOVIECLIPS.com

Although, I have to say, the most interesting part of this movie was that it was not filmed like a typical animated feature.  Normally, for animated films, the actors record their voices in a booth and are separated from the rest of the cast at all times.  For Rango, Director Gore Verbinski actually had them act out the scenes together while he recorded their voices.  I am not sure that you could actually tell the difference during the movie, but it is certainly a fun fact!

Another Johnny Depp movie that I finally got around to seeing was Public Enemies.  Sadly, it was not very good.  The acting was a good as you would expect from Depp and Christian Bale, however the plot was just sooooooo slooooooooow!  Thirty minutes into the movie I was already checking my watch...and it was a two hour and twenty minute film! If you have not already subjected yourself to this movie, I would say you can definitely skip it.

On the other hand, Green Street Hooligans was a movie that I was not sure about going into it, but that I really enjoyed. It stars Charlie Hunnam and Elijah Wood and is about a Harvard undergrad who gets expelled, moves to London and learns about the world of football hooliganism. As someone who has recently gotten into American soccer, this film opened up an entirely different culture than what we are used to in the States. Being part of a firm, or supporters club as we call them, is more of a lifestyle across the pond than it is here.  It is about supporting your team, but it is also about your firm's reputation and defending that reputation against other firms. It was incredibly interesting to see what European football firms are really all about. If you are a soccer fan, you should definitely see this movie.  Even if you are not, it is an intriguing story and is worth the watch.

In other sporting news, regular season baseball officially begins for my Phillies on Friday! I will try to not let it get me too distracted from my TV and movie duties, but I am not making any promises :o)

Also, for those of you who are interested, Chris Despo's album is now available for sale at www.chrisdespo.com! It is not yet up on iTunes, but I will have that link for you as soon as it is available. I have pretty much been listening to the album non-stop all week and have to say that it pretty amazing.  He is my friend, so I am slightly biased, but I think that it is definitely worth checking out!

As always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to post them below. I especially want to hear if you agree/disagree with my reviews or think there are any shows or movies that I should not miss.

xoxo
c

p.s. Japan has been added to the list of tragedies currently in our world, so I once again give you my list of places to donate: 

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Habitat for Humanity
United Way
American Red Cross
World Vision
StillerStrong 
The Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation 
--------------------------------------------------