"The Gods have given me vision. I cannot change the future. You can."

Even though it did not get great reviews, I went to see Immortals on Friday. I am a fan of Henry Cavill and the special effects intrigued me. I left the movie thinking that it was not that bad and actually pretty entertaining, but the more I think about it, the more holes I find.

Long ago, after a mythic battle, the Gods imprisoned the Titans within Mount Tartarus never again to be released. Now King Hyperion and his massive armies have begun to ravage Greece in search of the one power that can release the Titans, the Epirus bow. Unleashing the Titans would be the end of Mankind and they would destroy the Gods. However, the Gods are not supposed to intervene in Man's affairs. Although, Zeus has chosen Theseus, a bastard and outcast in his village, to lead the people against Hyperion's army.

That is the simplest explanation of the plot, the whole thing is a bit complicated. The storyline and the writing needed a little help to keep everything a litte more coherent. However, the acting and the special effects were great. Even though I am not a fan of 3D, I felt like a movie based on special effects should probably be seen with ALL of its effects. I am not sure that it enhanced the movie for me, but it certainly did not take anything away from it.

"He does not fear danger. He fears only the failure to defend his freedom."

The big movies in theaters this weekend are: Immortals, Jack and Jill and J. Edgar.

J. Edgar Hoover was the face of law enforcement in the United States for almost fifty years. In public, he was feared and respected but in private, he had many secrets. This movie take a look at his private life and those secrets he so desperately tried to keep hidden. J.Edgar was directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Leonardo DiCaprio. It also contains a great supporting cast, including: Naomi Watts, Ed Westwick, Christian Clemenson, Geoff Stults, Armie Hammer, Jeffrey Donovan, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Lucas, Stephen Root, Lea Thompson, Amanda Schull, Jessica Hecht, Jordan Bridges and Dame Judi Dench.

Trailer #1
J. Edgar at MOVIECLIPS.com

"You know, I was two years in Vietnam. Do you know what I thought about, what I dreamt about?...

Is coming home and having a family, having grandkids. I dreamt you, Amber. And Haddie, and Drew, and Sydney, and Jabar, and Max. We almost lost you, Amber. I know you've had some bad breaks, not feeling good about yourself, didn't get into Berkley. Well, boo-friggin-hoo. You gotta suck it up, girl. You're a Braverman. You got my blood in your veins. And if you ever do something like this again, you even think about doing something like this, I will personally kick your little butt all the way from here to the Golden Gate Bridge. You do not have permission to mess with my dreams! Are we clear?

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I know it has been a while since I have written an actual post, so I apologize if my television reviews are a bit of old news.  I am also going to be making a conscience effort to post significantly more during the month of May.  Hopefully it will be every day, but it will at least be a few times a week.  I am attempting to increase my followers and pageviews, so we shall see if this works.  Also, if you know of anyone that you think would enjoy my blog, please share it with them!

In terms of recent television, the Grey's Anatomy musical and the season finale of Parenthood stick out the most to me. One was amazing and the other...not so much.

The musical episode of Grey's was not a complete disaster, but the musical part of it also did not really make sense within the episode.  I think it was supposed to be part of Callie's mind, but then why were people singing when they were not near her? Sometimes they were not even in the hospital. And sometimes it seemed like when one person was singing, no one else in the room was aware of it. Yet other times, like when Owen was trying to get them to figure out a plan, he was singing and everyone seemed to know he was singing but did not think it was weird. However, I did enjoy the actual music itself.  There were good songs and they were well sung.  I just do not think Grey's was the right forum for a musical episode.

The Parenthood season finale, on the other hand, was awesome and was hopefully not the series finale.  Lauren Graham and Mae Whitman delivered phenomenal performances and Craig Nelson had one of my favorite monologues of the TV season so far. (See above). He says this to his granddaughter after she was in an car accident because her friend was drunk driving. Not only is this a great show about the inter-workings of a big family, but it has also done a great job of showing a realistic portrayal of a child with autism.  I love this show and I cannot understand why more people are not watching it. Since the finale had improved ratings, it is likely to get renewed for another season, but nothing is ever for sure.

As far as getting to the movie theater, I have not been in a few weeks.  I am trying to avoid seeing the mediocre movies that are out right now so that I can save my money for all the potentially amazing movies coming out this summer.

The last new movie that I saw was Source Code and I thought that it was really good. Although, it is difficult to really talk about the movie without giving anything away.  Basically, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who wakes up in the body of a stranger and has to relive the same eight minutes over and over again until he finds the bomber of train heading into downtown Chicago. If this movie proves anything, it is that Jake Gyllenhaal continuously proves that he is an excellent leading man.

I also finally saw Coco Before Chanel from Netflix, which was definitely interesting.  It was well acted but just lacked something.  I do not feel like I learned anything from the movie about Coco Chanel that I could not have read online somewhere.  It was just very bland.

In a totally unrelated topic, apparently, according to my Google stats, Henry Cavill seems to be the thing that brings the most people to my blog while searching on the internet. I love him too, so I understand the draw, I just thought it was an interesting fact.  So, if you are here in search of Henry Cavill, I unfortunately do not have any new stories about him today, but if you type his name into the little "Search This Blog" box in the top right corner, you will be taken to my other two posts where he is mentioned.  Enjoy! ;o)

As always, if you have comments or questions for me, please let me know below. If you feel that there is a TV show that I should be watching or an issue I should address, I would love to hear about it!

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter and a Happy Passover!
xoxo
c

Another horrible natural disaster has hit our country, so I have once again listed some places where you can donate money for relief efforts:

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
American Red Cross
Habitat for Humanity
United Way
World Vision
StillerStrong
The Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
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"I feel like men are more romantic than women...

When we get married, we marry, like, one girl, 'cause we're resistant the whole way until we meet one girl and we think, 'I'd be an idiot if I didn't marry this girl, she's so great.' But it seems like girls get to a place where they just kinda pick the best option...'Oh, he's got a good job.' I mean, they spend their whole life looking for Prince Charming and then they marry the guy who's got a good job and is gonna stick around."
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Okay, so this is technically old news (a whole week old) but I just have to officially say that, I am so excited that Henry Cavill was cast as the new Superman!  If you have read any of the articles about him lately, you know that he was up for the role in Superman Returns and lost to Brandon Routh, James Bond and lost to Daniel Craig and was Stephanie Meyers first choice for Edward in Twilight but could not do it because by the time the project was made he was too old to play a seventeen year old.  While I am glad the last one did not work out, I am even more glad that he is finally getting recognized for his talent.  I realize that I have not been on this bandwagon for very long, only since last year really, but he is a wonderful actor and I am happy that people will finally get to see that in a mainstream film.  I really had no plans to see the new Superman, but now I will have to.

On a completely separate note, being stuck in your house for several days because of snow can be very boring.  Thank God for OnDemand.  In the past two weeks I have watched Despicable Me, Red and Buried.

From the trailers, I did not really understand what the plot of Despicable Me was before it started.  I thought it was supposed to be about a super villian, Gru, and his rival.  But once I realized that it was more about the relationship between Gru and the three little girls than it was about him being a super villain, I actually really enjoyed it.  I will probably have to watch it again to truly appreciate it, but I will do so gladly.

Bedtime Story


Despicable Me
at MOVIECLIPS.com

Red was another movie where I did not really know what to expect before it started.  It had gotten good reviews when it was in theaters, but I did not really have any desire to see it.  However, I have to admit that it was pretty enjoyable.  A little ridiculous at times, but mostly enjoyable.  I do not think that it was really aimed at my age bracket (my mother also really enjoyed it :o), but it was entertaining enough to hold my interest.

Buried was also really good and I am surprised that Ryan Reynolds did not receive more recognition for his performance.  I was hesitant to see this movie because, well, the thought of being buried alive inside a coffin does not really sound all that appealing to me, to say the least.  However, the movie was quite captivating.  Reynolds' character did have access to a cell phone, so you hear other character's voices, but he is the only person you ever actually see.  I thought it was very well done and even had an ending that I did not really expect.  Obviously, being buried alive, you do not see the typical humor that you see in most of Reynolds' characters, but he still did an excellent job.

When the snow did stop, I finally made it out to see Blue Valentine at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.

We all know that I am partial to Ryan Gosling movies, but honestly, Blue Valentine is fantastic.  Though, it is definitely not a happy movie.  There are happy moments at the beginning of their relationship, but by the end of the relationship they just seem to be going through the motions.  The thing I liked most is that you do not see the middle parts of the relationship, which I think makes it more real.  They do not know how they got to the place that they are in their relationship and neither do we as the viewer.  It makes us wonder how one gets to that point in their marriage where they just seem to be tolerating each other.  It makes me hope that I never end up in a relationship like that.

Oscar nominations have also come out since my last post.  I was a little shocked that Christopher Nolan did not get nominated for Best Director and, after having seen Blue Valentine, I think Gosling is a little more deserving of a nomination than Jeff Bridges, but other than that, the nominations were not a huge surprise.  I will post my predictions when the show gets a little closer.

A few more mid-season TV shows have started or are starting this week and I will tell you how I feel about them once I have watched a few episodes.

I hope that everyone is staying warm and I especially hope that Punxsutawney Phil was right and Spring is on its way :o)

xoxo
c


Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Habitat for Humanity
United Way
StillerStrong
The Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
American Red Cross
World Vision
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"It's all right, Captain. We always knew you were a whoopsie."

I was not as quick with this second post as I was planning. I have actually been trying to find a real job, so I have been a bit distracted :o)

Alright, now where did I leave off...

Another show on Showtime that I had heard wonderful things about but never got around to watching, until now, was The Tudors. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Henry VIII and the show takes us through his reign as the King of England, including all six of his wives, over four seasons. I know some people do not like "period" movies and shows, but this really is fantastic. It is interesting to see how Henry's decisions and opinions changed over the course of his monarchy depending on his age or his advisors. I am especially fascinated by how much history was influenced by men's sex drives :o) The show is a little racy, but not quite as scandalous as Spartacus: Blood and Sand and I think that it is definitely worth checking out.

The Tudors also reintroduced me to actor Henry Cavill, who plays the Duke of Suffolk Charles Brandon. He is also the son of Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo. (An awesome movie, if you have not seen it, and an even better book.) Because of my rediscovered love for him, and the fact that two of them were available to watch instantly on Netflix, I then watched the movies I Capture the Castle, Whatever Works and Stardust.

Stardust, while it did not have very much of Henry Cavill, was surprisingly entertaining. Whimsical would actually be the word I would use to describe this movie. It stars Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert DeNiro and is about a young man who leaves England to venture into the mystical land of Stormhold to recover a fallen star for his love. I remember not particularly wanting to see it when it came out in 2007 but, after checking Rotten Tomatoes, I realized that it had actually gotten pretty good reviews and they were pretty accurate. I Capture the Castle was also a bit quirky but quite entertaining. Set in the 1930s, it is about an English family, living in a castle that they can no longer afford, and their landlords, who happen to be two wealthy American brothers. It stars Cavill, Rose Byrne, Romola Garai, Mark Blucas, Henry Thomas and Bill Nighy. Neither of these movies are what I would consider classic movies that everyone should see, but they entertained me for a Sunday afternoon and have impressive casts for pretty under-the-radar movies.

Whatever Works, on the other hand, was not really worth my time. It is a Woody Allen movie starring Cavill alongside Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood that you can skip. Parts of this film were funny, but it was mostly just weird. Seinfeld aside, I am not really a fan of Larry David and this did not change my view of him whatsoever.

Along with watching lots of things at home, I also got to the theater quite a bit in the past few weeks to see The Social Network, Due Date, Morning Glory and Harry Potter.

The Social Network was a good movie. It was well made, well acted and interesting. The brilliance is not as much in the movie itself as it is in the timing of the movie. You make this movie five years ago and the only people interested are college students and recent graduates because they are the only ones using the website. You make it five years in the future and there is a chance that Facebook is now obsolete and nobody cares about Mark Zuckerberg anymore. I suppose that could be said about many things, but I really think that is where the huge success of this movie comes from. That being said, it definitely took me back to my Senior year of college. I went to a small liberal arts school in North Carolina and I remember talking to high school friends who went to NYU about this new website called The Facebook with which everyone was obsessed. It was not readily available to us at Elon and then when it was, you had to use your school email address in order to get access and make a profile. It was huge and definitely made more popular by the feel of exclusivity and the fact that you could now "stalk" your classmates and friends without anyone knowing. That sounded creepier than I meant it to be, but you know what I mean! Like I said though, the movie was well done and it certainly is relevant and worth seeing. I particularly enjoyed Andrew Garfield's performance as Eduardo Saverin and am now really looking forward to his portrayal of Peter Parker in the new Spider-Man reboot.

Even though it did not get very good reviews, I really enjoyed Morning Glory. The plot itself is fairly predictable, however, Diane Keaton was hilarious, Harrison Ford was a perfect curmudgeon and Rachel McAdams was as charming and loveable as ever. I especially enjoyed that, although Patrick Wilson is dreamy and perfect as her love interest, the movie did not dwell too much on the McAdams' character's love life. It was a movie about a girl whose career seems to have hit rock bottom but with a little luck and a lot of hard work she makes a new life for herself. It was actually kind of inspiring and definitely a fun movie.

Due Date, on the other hand, was not that great. It definitely had its funny moments, but it was mostly just ridiculous. Robert Downey Jr and Zack Galifinakis are excellent actors, which is where I think the problem with this movie lies. I know that sounds weird, so let me try to explain. It was a typical crazy-things-that-happen-while-on-a-road-trip-across-the-country plot, and with less talented actors I may have believed that a character like Peter Highman would have gotten in a car with Ethan Tremblay, let alone, allow him to get away with half of the things he pulled. I just think that with this caliber of acting at your disposal, it could have been a much more believable movie with a simpler, less crazy plotline. Does that make any sense? It does in my head :o)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One was excellent and my review of that will come shortly...probably after the holiday.

And on that note, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! I am especially thankful for my friends and family who have been there through what has been the hardest year of my life thus far. I would not have made it without your support and love, so THANK YOU!

xoxo
c

P.S. Would it be helpful if I added hyperlinks that took you to IMDb whenever I talked about a specific movie, TV show or actor?  I did not do it here because I reazlied that I listed a lot of different people and it would have been more work, but I can in the future if you want me to.  Let me know in the comments section!
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