"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."

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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 
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"The true outlaw finds the balance between the passion in his heart.....

and the reason in his mind. The solution is always an equal mix of might and right."

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As you all should have realized by now, I watch a lot of television.  I know that I have said this before, but I think you need to know that I know I watch...probably way too much television :o)  As such, I have recently been trying to weed out the not-so-good shows that I only really keep following out of habit.

One of those shows is Gossip Girl.  I went to my DVR a few weeks ago to watch the new episode and just realized that I had no interest in watching it.  The first season was pretty good and there have been some intriguing episodes here and there over the following three seasons, but overall, the plots are just getting more and more ridiculous and I cannot take it anymore.  There also happen to be two other good shows in that time slot on Mondays.  So instead, I will be watching Being Human on SyFy and The Chicago Code on FOX.  Both of which, I think you should all be watching as well.

One Tree Hill is another one of those shows that I pretty much just watch out of habit these days.  I have watched it from the beginning and while it was never a great show it was entertaining enough.  Then, after the fourth season and the characters graduation from high school, the show jumped ahead four years and all of a sudden it became more relevant to my life, so I kept watching.  However, the past two seasons have not been all that interesting, but I cannot seem to stop. I am kind of hoping it does not get renewed for another season.

On the other hand, The Vampire Diaries seriously just keeps getting better and better.  I know I have said it before, but I really feel like I need to say it again because, while it does have a huge following, it is on the CW Network and I think a lot of people my age rule it out due to that fact.  I am truly impressed at how they continue to keep things exciting each and every week.

Another show that I have recently become addicted to is Sons of Anarchy.  When it started in 2008, it did not really appeal to me.  It did not star anyone that really made me want to watch it and the motorcycle club angle was not something I cared about either.  However, three seasons later it is still getting a lot of good buzz from the critics, so I decided to give it a try.  I have to say, it is very good.  Even though I am not interested in motorcycles or motorcycle clubs, the smart writing, great acting and interesting story lines keep you invested in the characters.  Also, after further inspection of the cast, it does contain a lot of people whose names you may not recognize, but who have actually been in things you have probably seen: Katey Sagal - Married with Children and 8 Simple Rules; Maggie Siff - Mad Men; Charlie Hunnam - Undeclared and Cold Mountain; Tommy Flanagan - Braveheart and Gladiator; Kim Coates - Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor; Ryan Hurst - Remember the Titans; any several more excellent actors.  Season 3 just finished in November and is not yet out on DVD, so I have only seen the few episodes that are on Hulu, but I can already tell that it will be just as good as the first two seasons.  I highly recommend that you check it out.

I have also decided that, despite my aversion to most things zombie related, I should probably watch The Walking Dead.  I am not expecting to like it, but it has gotten such good reviews, that I feel like I cannot just ignore it.  I will let you know how that goes.


In completely un-television related news, my friend, Chris Despo, is releasing his first album at the end of this month and I CANNOT wait.  It will be on iTunes, and I will give you that link when it is available, but until then, I leave you with his "behind-the-scenes" video:

And, as always, if you have any thoughts, or feel there are any TV shows I should be watching, please use the comments section below!

xoxo

c

And the Oscar goes to....

Here they are, my 2011 choices and predictions for the Academy Awards:

Best Actor: 

My choice - Colin Firth or James Franco

Probable winner - Colin Firth

Best Actress: 

My choice - Michelle Williams or Natalie Portman

Probable winner - Natalie Portman 

Supporting Actor: 

My choice - Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner or Geoffrey Rush

Probable winner - Christian Bale 

Supporting Actress: 

My choice - Amy Adams or Hailee Steinfeld

Probable winner - Melissa Leo or Hailee Steinfeld 

Best Animated: 

My choice - How To Train Your Dragon 

Probable winner - Toy Story 3 

Best Director: 

My choice - Tom Hooper

Probable winner - David Fincher 

Best Picture: 

My choice - 127 Hours, The Fighter or The King's Speech

Probable winner -The King's Speech 

xoxo 

c 

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"I've got a theory, some kid is dreamin' and we're all stuck inside his wacky Broadway nightmare"

In light of the upcoming musical episode of Grey's Anatomy, my girlfriends and I were discussing other TV shows that have done musical episodes and I could not think of all of them.  So I looked them up and compiled this list for your viewing pleasure.  I did not watch most of these shows, but thought you might enjoy the clips.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Once More With Feeling": the entire town starts spontaneously bursting into song and dance, some people are dancing so much that they burst into flames.  It turns out that someone had summoned a demon that is causing all the chaos:

That 70's Show "That 70's Musical": Fez imagines song and dance numbers while preparing for a school concert

Scrubs "My Musical": a patient with a brain disorder hallucinates that everyone in the hospital is singing

How I Met Your Mother "Girls vs. Suits": this was not an entire episode, just one song, and was part of Barney's imagination when asked by a hot girl to give up his suits

Northern Exposure "Old Tree": a pregnant Shelly wakes up one morning in her own musical

Pushing Daisies and 30 Rock also did musical episodes, but the Pushing Daisies clips could not be embedded and I could not find any useable clips for 30 Rock.

Even some of the popular cartoon series have done musical episodes including Daria, Futurama, South Park and several episodes of The Simpsons.

I am a little nervous about the musical episode of Grey's Anatomy.  I have a feeling it is going to be a huge train wreck.  Hopefully, I am wrong and it will be FABULOUS :o)  We will just have to wait and see!

xoxo

c

"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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