I really need to post regularly in here. For that I apologize! I really will try this time to stick to at least one new post a week. I can for sure do at least two a month. Looking forward to getting back into this! :)
Friday, April 2, 2010
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Oscars Hosts: Disaster Waiting to Happen?
The hosts for the 2010 Academy Awards have been announced and they are Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Personally, I'm not happy with this decision for the Oscars host, which in this case is hosts. First off, Alec Baldwin has not hosted any major awards events or galas that have a large public viewing audience. The only thing he's very well known for is his show 30 Rock and he has a very dry sense of humor. Combine that with seasoned Steve Martin and his extroverted humor and it doesn't look like a good recipe. Furthermore, having more than one host has yet to prove to be a good thing. Take for example the 2008 Emmy Awards where the show was hosted by 5 of the top reality show hosts. The awards show turned into an incredibly dull an boring event that could not end soon enough. Even though being the host for the Oscars is probably one of the most thankless jobs in Hollywood, the Academy should not have selected more than one person to be the host. They should have just stuck with Steve Martin, who is seasoned, well known and liked, and done without Alec Baldwin all together. I'm not even happy with the selection of Steve Martin as he hasn't had any good recent releases lately in Hollywood and has not done anything very major in the last few years except for the atrocious and unnecessary Pink Panther 2. If the Academy had really wanted to do well, they would have tried to woo someone with experience, great humor, and universal appeal. Such hosts that would have been much better than those selected include Neil Patrick Harris who could have done the Oscars and completed a Grand Slam of sorts of hosting duties, Hugh Jackman could come back as he was an excellent host, Stephen Colbert, James Roday of Psych, or even Jack Nicholson. Sadly, I'm not a member of the Academy or the committee that selects the host, so we'll all just have to wait and see if these hosts can pull of hosting the biggest awards show of the season.
Law Abiding Citizen Review
Law Abiding Citizen is, quite simply put, a film about revenge gone too far. The film tells the story of a man named Clyde Shelton who has lost his wife and young daughter in a violent home invasion. When his lawyer, Nick Rice played by Jamie Foxx, takes a deal with one of the attackers named Darby in exchange for the conviction and death row sentencing of his accomplice, Butler's character unwinds. Darby was the one who stabbed both Shelton's wife and child, not the accomplice, which explains why he cannot understand why justice is being served to Darby. The film fast forwards to 10 years later, a large amount of time that I found surprising, and shows the execution of Darby's accomplice, which turns into an excruciating affair with him after it turns out someone has tampered with the lethal injection system. From there, the revenge just gets worse, but stays amazingly intelligent throughout.
This film really shows just how insane Gerard Butler's character has gone from not seeing justice served to those who destroyed his family, but it also shows just how incredibly intelligent his character is. The pacing is good and fast, the characters however are your average cliches, except for Butler's of course who gives a masterful performance. Foxx plays the lawyer who works too hard and is too focused on moving up the career ladder rather than serving justice to those who deserve it. The lesson Butler's character is trying to teach Foxx's is that murderers deserve justice to be handed to them. The mechanisms that Butler uses to exact his revenge on those he believes has wronged them are original, and also somewhat unnerving. The twist in at the end of the movie, although somewhat unbelievable, is satisfying and makes for a great ending.
If you're looking for a fall action flick, take this one up. Not only does it have enough action and shock moments, it also teaches some good moral lessons too. Including that revenge is not always the path to take, especially when one takes revenge too far. Final Grade: B
Monday, October 26, 2009
Paranormal Activity
Last night I went and saw the much hyped Paranormal Activity with my best friend. I did try to talk her out of seeing it a multitude of times as I myself really wasn't sure if I could handle this movie. I've already stated how much I dislike horror, and this seemed to fit right in that category based on what the media and viewers were saying. However, I failed as there wasn't much else in terms of movies worth seeing and she was pretty much dead set on seeing this one. We went and saw it, and I'll say that I wasn't disappointed. I actually thoroughly enjoyed it, much more so than my friend who was completely freaked out by it thus causing many of my giggling fits. 
The main premise of this film is that the main characters, Micah and Katie, live together in suburban San Diego and Katie has been complaining of small paranormal occurrences throughout the house that mainly occur at night. Her boyfriend decides to purchase a nice video camera and film everything that occurs within the house. He even sets it up on a tripod facing their bed and bedroom entry way when they sleep at night. What he captures are the small occurrences that Katie has been complaining about. After a visit from a psychic, Katie divulges that she believes she has been haunted by a demon intermittenly ever since she was 8 years old. The psychic refers them to a demonologist, informs them that the demon feeds off of negative energy, and concurs that the demon is probably after Katie herself since it never goes away no matter where she goes. However, her boyfriend, Micah, refuses to let her call in the demonologist as he feels that he can take care of the problem himself and "protect his girl". This backfires of course as his lack of disrespect towards the demon and Katie's wishes leads to their continual arguments, and thus an increase in negative energy which leads to more violent occurrences that even start to happen during the day.
I won't spoil what happens or how the movie ends as the fact that you don't know what is going to happen is a main contributing factor as to why this movie is so good and original. It feeds into your primal fear of not knowing what will happen or when and the feeling of vulnerability when you go to sleep. I will say that the part that freaked me out the most was what occurred the night before the last night shown in the film. The ending of the film is pretty creepy too and will definitely stay with you for a while. This movie certainly works its magic though and does not disappoint, however it is a movie that you can only see once as it won't have the same effect on you again. Furthermore, this movie is definitely best seen in a dark theater with an audience of strangers. The tension in the theater is unreal, especially when the deep bass sound is present that signifies the presence of the demon. It certainly lives up to the hype and is a great return to psychological horror that doesn't depend on gore or cheap gags. Grade: B+
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Fame Review
Okay I'll be honest, I really did not want to see this movie. Not only did I know it would probably be plotless, but I didn't see the point of spending $11 to see a film that I had seen pretty much a bazillion other times in a multitude of other incarnations, such as the Step Up series and Center Stage. However, one of my best gal pals really wanted to see it after our hardcore biochem tests and I gave in after her horrified look from my suggestion of seeing the hyped up Paranormal Activity. It turned out that I was absolutely right about the movie being plotless, but was it entertaining as hell? You betcha. To my ticket taker, if you read this, your promise of me not hating this movie was so beyond true. 
I'm not going to do a plot summary of the movie because frankly, there is no plot. The movie simply traces the four years of the students' lives at this school starting with their audition day to their graduation. This fast pacing did keep the movie moving, however it left me wishing that more of the characters' stories could be fleshed out more. The characters themselves are none too special either. There's the shy, naive, introverted actress who falls in love with her talented, extroverted, and charming classmate. There's the troubled actor from "the streets" and the girl who is pushed by her parents to practice her talent when she really wants to do something else. It's a movie filled with cliche characters, so don't expect anything original there.
Where you will get originality however is with the sequences of talent. The cast of this movie most definitely lives up to the call of talent needed for this movie. There's eye popping dance moves, spine tingling singing, and musical feats so great they're sure to be iTunes best sellers, or at least already were considering how long this movie has been out. Probably one of my favorite scenes of the entire film was where the dance teacher was telling one of her students, a farm boy from Iowa, that he would never amount to a great dancer. This brutal truth was backed up with a dance routine by who was considered to be the best female dancer in the school. The contrast of her amazing dancing and his brutal and harsh truth was well done. However my friend didn't like the fact that his teacher told him that feeling that she had no right. What needs to be understood is that in these schools of extreme practice and developing of one's talent, if a teacher feels you're not good enough then they will tell you. They don't hold your hand and feed you cookies, they just tell you the horrid truth regardless of whether you want to hear it or not. These teachers have been through it all already and they know what they are talking about, and I think this scene, however cliched it might be for the dance film genre, was well done.
One of my main beefs with the movie was the fact that it was rated PG. The MPAA has a really messed up rating system these days. In this PG rated film, there were scenes of a female getting drunk, the aforementioned dancer attempting to commit suicide, a female getting taken advantaged of sexually, and a back story of one of the males where it is revealed his sister was killed when he was younger and that his father abandoned him as well. Pretty hardcore stuff for a movie rated so that the 12 and under crowd can go see it. Someone really needs to re-examine the rating system because movies are not getting the ratings that they need to be getting, but that is an entirely different entry for another time.
Overall, I would wait until this movie hits the cheap theaters or DVD shelves. It's definitely fun to see if you're just looking for a movie to entertain you. However, don't expect originality story and character-wise. C+
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Surrogates Review
The token action movie of the fall season, Surrogates contains a plot that will make you think. In a world where people control robotic surrogates of themselves using only their mind, most of the population has lost touch with how to actually live their life. Although crime and disease rates have gone down to almost zero, every human is practically a vegetable in a chair controlling their robotic surrogate. There is of course a small group of protestors who choose to live a life without surrogates and are led by their affluent leader, the Prophet. Bruce Willis plays Tom Greer, an FBI agent who must venture into the world as his human self after his surrogate is destroyed. He must figure out what weapon is not only causing the destruction of surrogates, but also the death of their human controllers after the death of the son of the man who created surrogate technology. What comes is a thoughtful journey into humanity's insatiable addiction to technology and how it affects them. 
Although the story is your average, predictable plot line, the actual idea itself is one worth taking under consideration. It isn't executed as well as I would have liked it to have been, but it's done well enough to where the movie is enjoyable and a worthwhile escape. The usage of robotic surrogates by humanity can be seen as a metaphor to humanity's current technology addiction. Primarily the addiction to MMORPG games such as World of Warcraft, Second Life, and Age of Conan. It's no secret that people spend hours, if not days, on end playing these games and not actually spending time doing some actual socializing. Furthermore, is it really worth giving up actual socialization and pretty much life itself to remain safe in doors living out our desires through a robotic surrogate? Personally, I think not because it's never really you doing those actions, it's the surrogate. If this idea had been undertaken with a larger budget and a more well-known director such as Peter Jackson or James Cameron, it could have been a much more thought provoking film. The underlying lessons are never really delved into as deeply as they could have been, but then again, it is just an action film meant to be simply enjoyed. Final Grade: B
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Emmys: Who I Want to Win Since I Don't Give a Damn About TV Critics
The Emmys are in T-minus 17 hours and counting and are sure to be the best Emmys EVER! Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly keeps spouting off about the amazing things Neil Patrick Harris, the host for this year's awards show, is planning on doing. These include a Dr. Horrible musical number halfway through the show and the guy who plays PC in the Mac ads as the nominations announcer. I'm actually bummed I'll be missing half of the show due to work. Anyways, since I don't really pay attention to TV critics, I'm just going to say who I want to win out of the nominations. Let me just put out there too now that it is a TRAVESTY that Zachary Levi, Kaley Cuoco, the Big Love cast, Chuck, and Psych did not get nominated! Just proves how outdated theses awards shows are in some cases. Anyways, here goes on who I want to win.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory! He totally deserves it over the seasoned actors as he has continuously proven himself time and time again to have perfect comedic timing and execution. Plus some of those lines he has to say are such incredible tongue twisters that they are mind boggling! You also cannot deny his Christmas episode performance in which he perfectly conveyed Sheldon's reaction to receiving a napkin from Penny containing not only Leonard Nimoy's autography, but also his DNA. A gift only Sheldon would truly adore. To reach the aforementioned scene, just go to 5:26 in the linked video. Here's to you Jim Parsons, for giving me many laughs every Monday night. May the Emmy judges have recognized your talent and bestow upon you the award you so totally deserve.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Since no one I really love is nominated in this category, I'm going to go with Tina Fey. She is a good comedic actress and in the scenes I randomly catch from 30 Rock, she is quite good in them. Considering that Christina Applegate's show was cancelled, she will more than likely not get it. So go Tina Fey I guess. Woo. This category is totally gypped.
Outstanding Comedy Series
The Office had a rocky season 5 and hasn't really been great since about season 3. Even though I don't watch the show, I'm going to go with 30 Rock. Again another category with nominees I don't care much for.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
In the episodes that I have caught on occasion of Dexter, Michael C. Hall's performances were always riveting and disturbing as well. It's not easy playing a guy who works for the police, is a dad, and has a side job of part-time serial killer. Only to those who deserve it though! Give Hall some Emmy love, I don't believe he's gotten it yet.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
I'll admit that I don't watch any of the shows that are nominated in this category. So for this one I'm just going to say I don't really care. Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost or one of the lovely Big Love actresses should have been included in the nominations. Darn it all!
Outstanding Drama Series
Oooo this one is a toughy! I really loved both Lost and Big Love this pas season, but I think it's time for Big Love to receive some Emmy love. Telling the tale of a polygamous family in such a realistic, complex, and relatable way is not achieved easily. They deserve recognition for this show and I think it's their turn to receive it!
As you can probably tell, there really aren't many main categories that I care about this year. The main reason I will be tuning in once I get home is for Neil Patrick Harris. Looking forward to seeing him host, and hope he can top his Tony's hosting gig with this one! Here's to a good night at the Emmys!
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