"That’s my corn. You guys are guests in my corn!"

In June, the Phillies Ballgirls made their list of who they thought were the best movie star look-a-likes for the Phillies.  This got me thinking about who I would choose to play my beloved Philadelphia Phillies if there was a movie made about them.  I figured this was a perfect combination of my two loves: the Phillies and movies :o)

I went by looks, but also by acting talent.  Some of my actor choices do not look exactly like the players, but that is mostly because I could not find anyone that really looked like them.  In which case, I picked actors that I thought might be good in the role.  I cast most of the current roster, but not everybody.  I mostly just did the starting players/pitchers and coaches.

So, in honor of the Phillies winning the National League East for the fourth year in a row, here is my list:

Jimmy Rollins - Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges
Shane Victorino - Jay Hernandez
Chase Utley - Bradley Cooper
Ryan Howard - Morris Chestnut
Jayson Werth - Taylor Kitsch
Carlos Ruiz - Jon Huertas
Raul Ibanez - Carlos Ponce
Placido Polanco - Francis Capra
Ben Francisco - Columbus Short

Wilson Valdez - Walter Perez

Domonic Brown - Aldis Hodge
Roy Halladay - Sam Worthington

Roy Oswalt - James Roday

Cole Hamels - Ashton Kutcher
Joe Blanton - Aaron Hill
Jamie Moyer - Steven Weber
Kyle Kendrick - Jason Dohring
Brad Lidge - Geoff Stults
Ryan Madson - Paul Walker
Chad Durbin - Josh Radnor

J.C. Romero - Kevin Alejandro
Charlie Manuel - Tom Wilkinson
Greg Gross - Dayton Callie
Davey Lopes - Tony Plana
Sam Perlozzo - James Caan
Rich Dubee - Nick Offerman
Mick Billmeyer - W. Earl Brown

Ruben Amaro Jr. - Carlos Gomez

What do you think about my choices?  Do you agree or disagree with any of them?  Do you need to check IMDb to figure out who most of these people are? :o)

Let me know what you think in the comments section!

xoxo

c

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"People tell you who they are, but we ignore it, because we want them to be who we want them to be"

I apologize in advance that this is a little long today.  I have not written in a while, so I have a lot to talk about.

My goal of watching all The Classics on my Netflix queue did not go so well. I only got through Midnight Cowboy before I got distracted by other things :o) I will continue watching them, but will mix them in with the other things on my list.

I really did not like Midnight Cowboy. It was weird and I really had no idea what was going on most of the time. The description said it was about a "hayseed hustler named Joe Buck (Jon Voigt), who comes to Manhattan to earn cash as a freelance sex stud and work toward his dream of becoming a kept man. He meets seedy gimp Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) and an improbable friendship blossoms." Which, I guess is what is was essentially about. But, it is unclear why Buck leaves Texas in the first place and the flashbacks, of him being with what I presume is his ex-girlfriend, do nothing to help explain. Every review I read about this movie raved about how good it was, but I just did not get it. The relationship between Voigt and Hoffman is interesting, and the performances were good, but I just did not like it.

Before my "Classics" adventure last month, I watched The Losers OnDemand. It starred Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Columbus Short, Idris Elba and Jason Patric and was not very good. It just seemed like endless stunts with not a whole lot else going on. It also kind of felt like an A-Team rip-off. A group of CIA black-ops who are left for dead try to track down the people that tried to kill them. The acting was good and the action scenes were fun, the plot just felt very "been-there-done-that." And, the most annoying part is that they left the end open for a sequel, which, if they make, is a complete waste of money. I was really hoping that, even with the bad reviews, since I liked most of the actors in the movie, I would still enjoy it...even if just a little bit...but I was wrong.  There were some funny lines, but mostly it was just bad.

I did manage to get to the theater to see a few movies this month: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Kids Are All Right and Going the Distance.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World was good, but not fantastic. It was definitely visually different than anything I have ever seen before. It was funny and mostly entertaining, however, it started to drag a little bit towards the end. I also feel like Michael Cera plays the same character in every single movie he makes and I am starting to not think it is so funny anymore.

The Kids Are All Right was also not as amazing as I was hoping, and as the reviews led me to believe that it was. Aside from the fact that it was about a same-sex couple, it was a pretty simple family drama. A couple that has been together for twenty years start to not appreciate each other and one of them starts cheating. There is not really anything new about that concept and I do not like the fact that because it is about a gay couple, people all of a sudden think it is a new and interesting plot. Yes, gay couples have the same issues as non-gay couples, obviously. But if you are going to reuse simple ideas, at least make the movie flow a little better, or add something interesting to make me invested in the characters. I also thought it was going to be more about the relationship between the kids and their sperm-donor-dad, but it was more about the relationship between the adults. Parts of it were definitely funny, I just wish it had been more interesting.

Of course, of the three, the movie that I did not think I was going to like, I actually really enjoyed. Going the Distance had gotten mediocre reviews, so I was not sure that I would go see it, but I had nothing to do one day last week, so I decided to check it out. If you are a fan of Charlie Day on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia then I think you will definitely like this movie. Although his character in this movie, Dan, is not quite as ignorant as Charlie Kelly, he does have the same inappropriate personal boundry issues, which is always hilarious.  I think the only real issue that I have with this movie is that Drew Barrymore is not a very good actress. That is not to say that she has not been in any good movies, I just finally realized that she is very one dimensional. Regardless, I laughed a lot and did not feel like my time or money was wasted.

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

Almost all of my summer shows have ended and my fall shows are beginning. I have really enjoyed The Glades, and Mad Men just seems to be getting better and better. The first two episodes of The Vampire Diaries have been AWESOME and I am excited for Castle and Lone Star to start tonight. Also, this is supposedly going to be one of the best seasons of How I Met Your Mother yet, according to its creator, so I am interested to see if he is right.

As always, I suggest you follow me on facebook and twitter if you just do not get enough of me through this blog. Also, make sure to check out the pictures I took of White Collar filming in New York a few weeks ago.

Enjoy the last couple official days of summer and let me know what movies/TV shows you are most excited about this fall!


xoxo
c

"I do believe in killing the messenger. You know why? Because it sends a message."

Just like I did last August, I have decided to give you a list of the TV shows on my schedule for this year. My list seems to be significantly longer than last year, so I either will not have much of a life or several shows will eventually get cut. Needless to say, my DVR will be a blessing, as usual...and who am I kidding, I do not have a life :o)

My Returning Shows:
The Vampire Diaries
Gossip Girl
One Tree Hill
Life Unexpected
Parenthood
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
How I Met Your Mother
Castle
Glee
NCIS
NCIS: LA
Community
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice
Brothers & Sisters

New Shows:
Nikita
Lonestar
Hawaii Five-O
My Generation
Blue Bloods
No Ordinary Family

I am super excited about the start of The Vampire Diaries, Castle and Community. Grey's Anatomy, despite the AWFUL Thanksgiving/Christmas/NYE episode, was getting really good again last season, so I am hoping that trend continues this season. I am not sure that I will get into Nikita or Blue Bloods, but Nikita has been getting good reviews and Blue Bloods has Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg and Will Estes (who you may remember as JJ Pryor on American Dreams), so I will at least give them a shot.

Greek is also one of my shows that I will still watch this year, but it does not start again until January, so I have not included it on my list.  I also do not know when the second season of Justified is starting.

Tonight is the season finale of White Collar and my other shows will probably be wrapping up over the next few weeks. Nikita and The Vampire Diaries start this week on the CW and the rest of the premiere dates can be found at TV Guide.

What shows are you excited about this season? Are there any shows you think I should be watching that I am not currently watching? Let me know and maybe I will check them out.

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend! Happy Start of Fall TV!
xoxo
c
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Fall Movie Preview

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly's Fall Movie Preview issue, I now have my list of movies that I want to see over the next few months :o)  For their Top 25 check here and for the movies I am most excited about, well, just continue reading:

September:
17 - Easy A (Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes)
     - The Town (Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm)
24 - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Shia LaBeouf, Michael Douglas, Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin)
     - You Again (Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Betty White)



I may also see Buried with Ryan Reynolds (Sept. 24) depending on the reviews.  However, a movie based entirely around a guy being buried alive freaks me out a little, so it is not looking very likely.

October:
8 - Secretariat (Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh)
15 - RED (Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren)



Other possibilities for October include The Social Network (10/1), Life as We Know It (10/8) and The Company Men (10/22)

November:
5 - Due Date (Robert Downey Jr, Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan)
   - Megamind (Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross)
12 - Morning Glory (Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton)
19 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
24 - Burlesque (Christina Aguilera, Cher, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci, Alan Cumming)
     - Love and Other Drugs (Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Hank Azaria, Olive Platt)






December: 
10 - The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
     - The Fighter (Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo)
17 - How Do You Know (Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Jack Nicholson, Owen Wilson)
22 - Country Strong (Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Garrett Hedlund, Leighton Meester)
31 - Blue Valentine (Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams)



Other December possibilities include TRON: Legacy (12/17) and Gulliver's Travels (12/22).

What movies are YOU most looking forward to seeing?!  Tell me in the comments section!
xoxo
c
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"What's that line about the beginning of some sort of friendship?"

I had decided that during the month of August, I would watch all of the movies on my queue that Netflix has labeled "Classics."  These are things that I added probably when I joined Netflix and just never got around to watching.  So since there has not been a whole of TV to watch this summer, I figured now was as good a time as any.  The first few on my list are Casablanca, The Philadelphia Story and The Sting.

I really enjoyed Casablanca.  I do not really know what I was expecting when I started to watch it, but I definitely was not expecting it to have so many funny parts.  Everyone knows the famous lines: "Here's lookin' at you, kid" and "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," but I think my favorite was when the Nazi's want the local sherriff to close Humphrey Bogart's club and he really does not have a good reason to do so:

Rick: How can you close me up?! On what grounds?!
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
Croupier: (handing Renault a pile of money) Your winnings, sir
Captain Renault: Oh, thank you very much (yelling) Everybody out at once!

And, even though it takes place during World War II, I feel that the story is timeless and stands up to most modern romances.  However, I will say that Humphrey Bogart is not an attractive man :o)  It did not move too slowly, as some older movies tend to do, and is definitely a movie that you should see at some point in your life.  There is a reason why it is a "classic" and I do not know why I waited so long to see it!

The Philadelphia Story was also very good.  Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart all gave excellent performances, as was to be expected, but it was long and at times moved a little too slowly for my taste.  One thing that I did find especially interesting was how openly everyone talked about their personal lives with each other.  At the beginning of the movie, Hepburn's character, Tracy Lord, originally agrees to having reporters at her upcoming wedding in order to keep another story about her father's affair out of the paper.  In one scene, the family has a very open conversation about the whole situation where Mr. Lord actually says to his wife that it is not her fault that he is having an affair.  He says it has to do with, "a reluctance to grow old."  It was also weird to me that throughout the entire movie, Cary Grant refers to Hepburn as "Red," even though the movie is in black and white.  I mean, I know it was probably well-known that Hepburn had red hair, but it was still odd to me.  Overall, I would say I enjoyed the movie, but could have been a bit shorter.  Still, another movie that everyone should see.

The Sting, on the other hand, I found to be mostly overrated.  Paul Newman and Robert Redford are good-looking, charming actors, but they just were not good enough to make me like the movie.  It was way too long and I did not like how, between each section of the movie, there were headings to tell you what part of the con we were about to see.  I will say that the costumes and "aged" look of the film were definitely well-done, but by the end of the movie I was just ready for it to be over.  I am glad that I watched it, as it is still an important film and has influenced many other films, but it was just stiff and not as entertaining as I was hoping it would be.

I really should have done this years ago because, while I definitely have not loved all of these films, I really feel like I was missing out on a piece of American culture by not having seen them.  I know that sounds a little corny, but it is true.  So many things from old movies show up in popular culture, from simple references to similar styles and plots. There is a reason why these films have withstood the test of time and are still talked about today.
The next three movies on my list are Funny Girl, The Maltese Falcon and Midnight Cowboy.

xoxo
c
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