"Throughout history, warriors were heralded. Stories were told, songs were sung, statues were built...

Today, it's easy to forget the sacrifices our men and women make when much of the country is more concerned with dancing celebrities."

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I thought that NCIS: Los Angeles quote was more appropriate for today than anything I could have pulled from the movie about which I am going to talk. Thank God for the men and women who serve in our armed forces, without whom we would not be celebrating the way we are today!

And now on to more lighthearted matters.....

The Score
Fast Five at MOVIECLIPS.com

 First of all, I have to say that I was surprised by the number of people in the movie theater this morning at 11 a.m. seeing Fast Five on a Monday morning along with me. I guess I am not the only one that needs to get a life....or a job, as it were :o)

That being said, according to Entertainment Weekly, this fifth installment of The Fast and The Furious "outperformed all four previous movies by a healthy margin...smashing several records in the process."  It has had the biggest opening weekend of any other movie so far this year and the biggest April opening weekend for any movie ever. I would say that is pretty impressive.

When going to see a movie like Fast Five, you do not really expect anything except fun, and that is precisely what this movie has to offer.  I do think that it was a tad too long, mostly because it took a little long getting to the main heist, but overall, I really enjoyed it.  Although, getting to look at Paul Walker for two and half hours does help.

I only wish that after making the first one, instead of trying to work on other projects, Vin Diesel had come to terms with the fact that this was the path his career was supposed to take. Maybe then we would not have been subjected to 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift and The Pacifier before getting to the better sequels for this franchise. The fourth one was a little too complicated, but this one was much better and even set it up at the end for a sixth movie, which I hear is already in the works.  Just make sure you sit through the beginning  part of the credits in order to see that end scene!

There are a lot of action movies coming out this summer, many of which I plan to see, so if you are not a big theater-goer you can probably wait to see this when it comes out on DVD/Blu ray.  However, if you liked the first movie, you will definitely enjoy this film as well.

Instead of writing one big post a few times a month, I am trying to split things up and post a few times a week. I hope you enjoy the new format and, as always, I hope you will share your thoughts and questions with me below.

God Bless America!

xoxo

c

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"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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Summer Movie Preview

I have received my most favorite Entertainment Weekly edition of the year: the Summer Movie Preview. There are a ton of potentially awesome movies coming out this summer and, like I did in the Fall, I will now give you my list of the ones I am most looking forward to seeing.

May:
 6 - THOR (Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins)
    - Something Borrowed (Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield, John Krasinski)
13 - Bridesmaids (Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Hamm)
20 - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane)
26 - The Hangover Part II (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong)



Depending on reviews, other May possibilities include: Kung Fu Panda 2, Priest and Midnight in Paris.


June:
10 - Super 8 (Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Noah Emmerich)
17 - Green Lantern (Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Robbins)
24 - Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (documentary)



Other June possibilities include:  Bad Teacher, Cars 2, Mr. Popper's Penguins and X-Men: First Class.


July:
8 - The Ledge (Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Charlie Hunnam, Terrence Howard, Christopher Gorham) 
15 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint)
22 - Captain America: The First Avenger (Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones)
29 - Crazy, Stupid, Love (Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Julianne Moore)





Other July possibilities include: Cowboys & Aliens, One Day, The Smurfs, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Larry Crowne, Friends With Benefits and Horrible Bosses.

August:


12 - The Help (Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Sissy Spacek, Cicely Tyson, Allison Janney, Bryce Dallas Howard)

Other August possibilities include: Our Idiot Brother, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Change-Up.


What movies are you most excited about?!  Please share them with me in the comments section!
xoxo
c

"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