TV Comedies: Where I Get My Chuckles!

I've already written a whole article about the show Community. One of the many TV comedies that make my sides split from an uproar of laughter. I'm guilty of watching a lot of Television, having around 25 shows that I watch in a week with at least 15 of them being comedies. What can I say, I like to laugh. Who doesn't?? So here are some of the silly little chuckle inducers that I watch in a given week.

SUNDAY NIGHTS:

FAMILY GUY, AMERICAN DAD, and THE CLEVELAND SHOW.

The Seth McFarlane evening! He has three animated shows on Sunday's: The Cleveland Show, Family Guy and American Dad. The juggernaut of that particular block of shows is of course Family Guy which has been around since 1999...off and on. The two are still fairly "new". Not everyone gets McFarlanes harsh sense of humor. He doesn't pull out any stops with this style of writing. He will go after everyone and every group of people you can think of. It's the most fair and civil thing to do. So not everyone gets it or appreciates it. Some people find him to be just an "awful" person who's "unfunny". We all have differences of opinions, so they are entitled to those thoughts. I love his crazy comedic abilities. Peter Griffin is a classic television character and how can you not just love the cute and cuddly Stewie? McFarlane has crafted a sea of very memorable characters that have audiences laughing every week! Family Guy is still his best show, but American Dad is a very close second. The Cleveland Show is getting better, but it started off a bit rocky. It's still the newbie though, so it's taking time to grow some legs.

LIFE'S TOO SHORT

This is a brand spanking new show on HBO. It's only been on for two weeks as of this article. It's a documentary style show from the fabulous and brilliant (yes, I don't care if I use that word, so suck it!) Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant. They write, produce and direct the show. It's follows real life little person actor Warrick Davis (Willow, Harry Potter films) in his daily life and his delusions of being one of the most famous actors in the world. He runs a talent agency for fellow little people and has a secretary that is a dimwit, but is funny as heck! He visits the offices of Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant each episode (and they act as it they dislike little Warrick) in each episode with some hilarious results. Gervais is such a good comedic actor, one of the funniest people in the world! The first episode they had Liam Neeson (The Grey, Schindlers List) trying to get a comedic gig and he attempted to be funny (he's not known for his sense of humor). The scene was gut bustingly hilarious! But nothing will top last weeks classic Johnny Depp guest appearance. He was a good sport, because he got to get back at Gervais for the Golden Globe comments a few years back. This is a wonderful little show. If you have HBO, you should check it out.

TUESDAY NIGHTS:

NEW GIRL

This is the freshman show on Fox. It only started this past September on Fox but has been a huge hit! It stars the quirky but ever so adorable and charming Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer). She plays Jess, the single female roommate who lives with three guys who just met. Three very odd guys who also find her to be odd. New Girl doesn't break any new ground in comedic storytelling, but the writing is still very fresh and witty. The real appeal to this show though is the actors. This has such a charismatic cast led by Deschanel. I think we all knew how good she could be though. To me, the breakout star of New Girl is Max Greenfield who plays Schmidt. That guy is so off the wall weird and he plays him perfectly! He sometimes has me cracking up more than Deschanel does. The cast works really well together and they make for some pretty funny antics on the show. If you aren't watching it now, you should check it out! 

COUGAR TOWN

I know what some of you must think: "Mike, you really watch the show Cougar Town?!". Well yes, I do. Fact it, it's one the funniest shows on TV. Not THE best, but one of them. You might have heard that this show played on the whole cougar thing (older woman chasing younger men) and that might have turned you off from it. To be honest, that was the premise of Cougar Town for maybe the first half of season one. Then it slowly realized it was a show much better than that and completely changed format. It became a show about a group of friends/neighbors who share weekly antics. It's now an ensemble comedy and the cougar thing is a very distant memory. They even want to change the title of the show, but ABC isn't doing to allow it. Each week when the title comes out, they make little jokes about it saying how badly they want to alter the title. Courtney Cox is very good as the lead character, but this show relies heavily on the supporting cast and every one of them is awesome! Christa Miller (Scrubs, Drew Carrey Show) and Busy Phillips (ER) are probably the best characters on the show. One is a total bitch and the other is a total moron and they love hate each other and fight for the title of best friend to Jules (Cox). Cougar Town is the little show that could. It's in the same boat as Community. Both are hilarious shows that no one watches. Both got their episodes pushed back this year and both are on the cusp of cancellation. Try it out...at least once.

WEDNESDAY NIGHTS:

THE MIDDLE
The Middle is probably the least funny show I currently watch, but I still enjoy watching it, it's weird. I don't find myself laughing often, but I kind of like watching this dysfunctional family week in and week out. The Middle won't win any Emmy nominations, but it somehow manages to be a charming little tv show to watch. Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) plays another over bearing, crazy wife/mom to a family who just doesn't seem to care. Her three children should have their heads checked. The youngest, Brick, only cares about reading books and occasionally will hang his head and whisper the last word he said. Sue, the middle child....well she's just insane. Finally there is Axel, the oldest. He's kind of your typical teenage boy. Always rebelling, always screaming at his family, and not very bright. The husband, Mike is the push over dad. Nothing about the Middle is original. All the characters come straight out of comedy characters 101. But I don't know what it is..I just really like watching it. I do laugh from time to time.

MODERN FAMILY
Modern Family is the current champ of TV comedies. It has won the Emmy for best comedy 2 years in a row. It has won three of their cast members acting Emmy's (Eric Stonestreet, Ty Burrell, and Julie Bowen). Overall in two years, it has won 11 Emmy's out of 31 nominations. There is something very special about Modern Family. In terms of the level of funny....no other show comes close to this one. Other shows probably have better writing (Community for example) but this just has all the right pieces in all the right places. It has THE best cast on comedic television: Ed O'Neil, Sophia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and those amazing kids Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould, Sara Hyland, and Ariel Winter. The show is done documentary style and follows three factions of one big family. These people are the dysfunctional rich family that is almost never see on TV. It's always the lower class or white trash families. Modern Family is a show that will have you crying from laughter every week. There is never a dull moment. It's a nice blend of goofy, slapstick humor and smart comedy. So many good jokes on this show that you can repeat over and over and still find hilarious. And they have Fizbo....can't beat that.

THURSDAY NIGHTS:

COMMUNITY

I've already wrote a blog about Community. Check it out by clicking here. It's real must see TV.

PARKS & RECREATION
Parks & Rec has developed into a wonderfully charming and funny as hell show. The first season was only 6 episodes and honestly, was just "OK". The second season improved but it wasn't until the end of season 2 and season 3 where the show finally found it's place in TV Comedy land. Amy Poehler plays Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Pawnee, IN Parks & Recreation Department. She leads a lovable group of misfits as they fight to build new parks and keep their other parks clean. Leslie is essentially the female version of Michael Scott (From The Office) and damn if you can't help but love that woman for all her craziness. Parks has a fantastic supporting cast and they are all so damn weird. The biggest stand out is Ron Swanson played by Nick Offerman. This guy has been robbed of a few Emmy nominations now and I can't see why. In terms of supporting comedic actors on TV...he is probably the funniest. He plays the director of the department but hates working and loves meat. He hires the laziest receptionists on purpose so they won't transfer calls to him. He's amazing! It also stars Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, Retta, Aubrey Plazza, Chris Pratt, Jim O'Heir, Adam Scott and the perfectly cast Rob Lowe. It's just recently starting to get recognized for being one of the best comedies on TV. So if you aren't watching it, you're crazy! You will love Parks & Rec!

SHOWS ON THE DOWFALL BUT I STILL WATCH

THE OFFICE

The show stopped being really funny around season 4. It's been on a very steady decline since then. Then when Steve Carrell left...it was all over. Even the usually awesome James Spader could not help The Office. I think it's time to say goodbye to the crew at Dunder Mifflin.

30 ROCK

Used to be the funniest, smartest show on TV. But something unexplainable has happened in the past 2 or 3 seasons. It just stopped being funny. I honestly can't pinpoint the time or reason. The writers have stayed the same, the cast is the same...so I don't get it.

GLEE

I never considered Glee to be that funny of a show. But it definitely used to be more humorous than it is now. The first season was a remarkable season of television. But since then it has fallen off the face of the Earth in terms of being good. It's become a radio station now. Just singing what's cool on the radio today and they attempt to relate those songs to their story. When they sang in season one, it had true meaning. Also, Sue Sylvester played by Jane Lynch used to be a prominent part of the show and she was mean and god damn hilarious! Now she seems non-existent and when she is around...all her jokes seem forced and not always funny. Glee has catapulted to near failure.

Boo! My Favorite Spooky Flicks!

Well I know it isn't Halloween time or anything but scary movies run year long and I've always been a fan of the genre. I'm into the supernatural and things that go bump in the night. I'm the type of person who likes to go to real haunted buildings and investigate for ghostly activity. I even used to write on a blog (Above the Norm) as an original creator of the blog. I would post articles about ghostly locations and post reviews of scary movies I would go see. I stopped writing on the blog a long time ago because of time constraints and not having a job and all that jazz. But my friend Julie has still kept it going very strong! Being scared is fun, as long as it not real fear such as me being chased by an authentic serial killer or falling off a cliff. Otherwise I'm all in. So here is a list of my favorite scary movies in no particular order! Keep in mind these aren't movies that necessarily scared me, but are movies that are considered "horrors" or "thrillers" that I enjoy very much.

POLTERGEIST

It goes without saying that Poltergeist is a timeless classic in the horror genre, or just in cinema in general. A movie that made people afraid to sleep in their own home and made the snow channel on your TV your worst nightmare. It had perfect moments of utter silence that still scares the shit out of me, and some great in your face spooks that can make your blood curdle. It's the ultimate ghost movie. There was a rumor of a remake of this movie floating around. That better not still be a possibility.

HALLOWEEN

I refer to the original Halloween from 1978. It was the slasher film that truly started the trend of masked killers stalking teens and slicing and dicing them to pretty little pieces. It was done in good taste though. The movie wasn't about the blood and gore. It was about the fear. It felt real. At that time, Michael Myers wasn't an invincible being who can be shot, stabbed, blown up and live to tell the tale. He was a "human being" who escaped the looney bin to kill his sister Lorie (well, we didn't know they were related in the first film) and all the teeny boppers who got in the way. The scares were dark and subtle. It panicked an entire general and made them fearful to babysitt or be home alone at night. It's a movie that will stand the test of time in the slasher genre and nothing will ever compare.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and FRIDAY THE 13TH (the originals)

I put both films together because these were the next in line to Halloween. They have similarities because they were both about victims who have come back from the dead to kill off the people that harmed them. Both films were very successful and started their own series of sequels that were hit and miss. Halloween had better sequels overall. Nightmare on Elm Street was about the burn victim Freddy Kruger who would terrorize the nightmares of teenagers and kill them in their sleep. In the first film he is more of a dark and horrifying entity where as in the sequels he was more on the comedic side. And damn, he got funny as the films went on. Friday the 13th was about Jason Vorhees who was drowned as a boy and his MOTHER came back to exact revenge. The original had nothing to do with the hockey mask wearing Jason killing anyone. It was mommy dearest. Jason did not come into play until the sequel. Both series started off as awesome ways to terrify a community. Jason made camping a nervous wreck and Freddy made you scared to fall asleep. Jason and Freddy would eventually duke it out in the movie "Freddy Vs. Jason." Both film series recently got remakes.

THE SHINING
Staney Kubricks "The Shining" based off the Steven King novel is hands down one of the very best scary movies of all time. No question. And it's not that it was really that scary as it was just damn eerie and made you so uncomfortable. It's about Jack Nicholson and his family who move to a hotel to act as caretakers as the hotel is closed for the winter. He soon becomes...possessed and a lot of crazy shit goes down. This movie is the epitomy of subtle horror. It is slow paced and builds up so much tension yo ualmost explode by the end! Nicholson gives one of his finest performances as the lead pshyco. Just such a creepy movie, and remains to be that way in present day.



THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (1, 2 and 3)

There are a lot of haters out there for these movies. A lot of stinkers! But it's understandable. These types of films are love or hate, no in between. I happen to enjoy them. All of these movies are of course done with the hand held/shaky cam gimmick that has caused quite a stir in Hollywood lately. I don't mind the technique but I can see why people are against it. But if you are...then don't see these types of movies, it's a simple solution. Personally I believe horror movies become that much more frightening when you put in the hand held camera. It almost throws you into the story and can give the effect that you aren't actually watching a movie. You experience the events at the same time they are which is spooky! I think all the above mentioned films provoke genuine fear that slasher movies or movies with tons of computer effects can't bring forth. When you go heavy on psycological fear it creates a much darker atmospher, at least it does for me. It makes me more afraid to sleep at night.



THEM and THE STRANGERS
Both of these films provoke the fear of strangers. "Them" is a foreign language film and "The Strangers" is it's American counterpart, but it's not an actual remake. They are both essentially the same film though. They are both about a couple who are staying at a house in a remote location and slowly some strange people on the outside start to harass them. It starts of subtle then becomes a battle for their lives. To me, there isn't anymore for horrifying then the idea of real people, real creepsters lingering outside your house and tapping on your windows and laughing creepily and then slowly entering your house. Gives me the shiver me timbers!


STEPHEN KING'S IT
It started as a book then became a made for tv mini-series that has made a nation terrified of clowns. I hear they are remaking this into an actual rated R film. It's about a group of teens who are terrorized by a demon named Pennywise who takes the form of a clown to creep the holy crap out of them and then us. 30 years later he returns to finish them off. Tim Curry plays the iconic clown and it's probably his best work. He was so effective at haunting my dreams for a lifetime. There are a lot of people who have an irrational fear of clowns and for most of them...it stems back to this movie. I haven't seen it in a long time...that's because I just started to like clowns again.

THE SIXTH SENSE

I know, a lot of people don't consider this a "scary" movie. But it is a thriller and is about ghosts. It does have some scenes of scariness. But it's a great example of how a horror thriller can tell a fantastic story and be effectively creepy at the same time. It was nominated for 6 Oscars including Best Picture.

THE EXORCIST
The demon movies of all demon movies. I only just saw this film about 2 years ago for the first time. I'll say that it didn't scare me, but that was because it was dated and I had been exposed to numerous other horror movies before this one. That being said, this is an awesome movie. And I get the vibe that this was a brilliant horror film back in it's heyday. You can tell that this was the first of it's kind and scared the christ out of everyone. It's a great movie and will never fade away into the good night. This movie will be beloved for all of time.

TV Spotlight: AMC's "Breaking Bad"

Breaking Bad

Sunday Nights on AMC

|Starring

Bryan Cranston
Aaron Paul
Anna Gunn
Dean Norris

Betsy Brandt

RJ Mitte

   Bob Odenkirk
   Giancarlo Esposito

**There will be storyline spoilers in this blog**

When "Lost" aired it's final episode a few years back, I thought I would never see a TV show again that was on that level of greatness. Now I realize I was in a state of "depression" because such a phenom of a show had ended. That being said, a show like "Lost" is a once in a lifetime type of show, but that doesn't mean there can't be other programs that are just as good for significantly different reasons. For example, just last year I watched every episode of the Sci-Fi series "Battlestar Galactica" in a matter of 2 months. I fell in love with the show and is easily one of the greatest shows ever put on television. Then a few months ago, thanks to the Netflix Instant Queue, I began watching AMC's "Breaking Bad". Now that I'm all caught up, I have to say that Breaking Bad is without question...the single most amazing television show I've ever had the pleasure of watching. I mean...nothing even comes close to it's epicness.

The show is initially about a high school chemistry teacher Walter White played by Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle) who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. While on a ride-a-long with his DEA brother in law Hank, Walter learns about meth labs and learns one of his old students, Jesse Pinkman is a meth cook. Realizing he's close to death and his family will be financially in the gutter, Walter finds his old student and decides to cook and sell meth to make enough money to cover his family. Obviously he keeps that part under wraps from his wife (Anna Gunn) and son (RJ Mitte). The first season is all about Walter cooking the blue meth, the best meth there is (do to his chemistry background) and using Jesse (Aaron Paul) to sell it. A couple deals go south and Walter is slowly thrust into the world of being a drug dealer and having to come to face to face with the big guns in town.

The second season is about Walter and Jesse dealing with the reprecussions of their drug dealing actions from season one and attempting to get back in the game. Walter's health issues worsen and he needs more money to cover his medical expenses. While he intended to stop cooking and selling Meth, he knows the only way he can cover his bills and still care for his family is to continue. Meanwhile his DEA brother in law is starting to learn of Walter's drug dealing alter ego Heisenberg (he doesn't know it's Walter - but his reputation is expanding) and the famous blue meth. Jesse falls for a girl, a recovering drug addict who happens to be his landlord. Walter isn't a fan, and is more concerned about their operation and not getting caught (even though they deal with the arrest of one of their dealers). The season continually foreshadows a tragic event that we don't learn what it is until the final episode.

Season 3 and 4 deals heavilly with Walter and Jesse finding themselves involved with a huge operation led by drug lord Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). They work in an underground, top of the line, high tech lab where they cook buckets and buckets of blue meth and are paid quite handsomly for it. During these seasons there is a lot that goes down. Walter nearly gets caught a few times. Things with Gustavo become more and more intense.  To a point where Walters life is on the line. There are a few murders, and lot of lying. Walter deals with his lawyer and realizes he needs to launder his money. When his wife finally finds out the truth, she eventually becomes part of the operation and runs the money laudering aspect of the business. All while still keeping this from Hank, the DEA agent. The fourth season, is by far the most intense 13 episodes of television I've ever seen.

Breaking Bad in a nut shell, is bad ass. This is the coolest show there is. It's brilliant. The character of Walter White went from naive meth cook trying to make a buck for his family, to evil bad ass drug lord. He is feared. He has killed people. He is harmed the life of a young boy to facilitate the murder of an enemy. He let a woman die in order to get her out of his affairs. Jack Bauer used to the be the coolest dude on TV...but he can move over to make room for Walter White. Bryan Cranston embodies this character on such a dark and realistic level. He is absolutely AMAZING on this show. There is a reason why he wont three straight Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actor. Once you watch him on this show you can't imagine ever seeing a better television performance. He transforms masterfully over the course of four seasons and he becomes a character you love to hate. He goes from good guy to essentially a villain with slightly good intentions for his actions. Aaron Paul also won an Emmy for his work on this show and for good reason. He is the perfect balance to Cranston. He's young and the polar opposite to the Walter character. Giancarlo Espisto is fantastic as the eerily quiet drug lord. There are moments of extreme violence which he is apart of, but does so in such a calm and creepy way that you can't help but feel terrified over this guy.

The writing on the show is master class. It's a rare case where each season gets better and better. Just when you think they have reached the max of "holy shit" story archs...they go one step further. In season one, I never would have thought the wife would ever get involved in the drug operation...but she does. I never thought Walter would risk the life of a child for his own personal gain...but he did. I never thought he would barrel over to two drug dealers with his car then shoot one in the head...but it happened (in one of the greatest scenes of the entire show!). Breaking Bad is epic. It's a phenomenal television experience that every one should be a part of. It's as if they take every risk that no other show would dare to take. The show runners have brass balls.

Season five will air sometime this coming summer, and it will be the final season. It will be an expanded season of 16 episodes. I fully expect some major shit to go down. I just know that Hank will finally suspect Walter as being the infamous Heisenberg and there will be some kind of crazy cat and mouse game between the two of them. It's been four seasons of build up to that exact storyline. I also can't see how Walter survives the series finale. It's one case of a show that should probably end with the main star dying. Whether that finally be from his cancer or some drug deal one sour. All I know is that it's going to be good. I haven't been this excited for a season since the the final season of Lost. I know they will pull out all the stops and make this a television event to remember!

The first three seasons are on Netflix instant queue. You can watch the fourth season though....unnofficial channels online, I did. But get caught up on Breaking Bad. You will not regret. As of right now, it is my favorite TV show of all time.

2012 Review #8: Safe House

Safe House

Rated R
1 Hour 55 Minutes

Plot

A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.

Cast

Denzel Washington

Ryan Reynolds
Brendan Gleeson

Rotten Tomatoes Rating

53%

My Grade

C+

If Denzel Washington is in a movie, there is a 98.87 percent chance I will go see it, no matter what the movie is about. There are a rare few exceptions, like I did not see The Book of Eli. Only reason being I was broke and jobless at the time, and couldn't afford to see a movie. He is one of my favorite actors. Sure, he's is peddling out movies like Training Day anymore, but he's still a reliable actor. He can make any movie slightly better just simply by being in the film. Same goes with people like Meryl Streep or Kate Winslet. They just have that lasting effect.

Well Denzel Washington is the star of Safe House, the new action movie about a young CIA agent (Ryan Reynolds) who is on the run with a fugitive. The one thing about Denzel is that he's never had that big box office draw, even though he's been in tons of action films. People see his movies of course, but he doesn't get those Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp type box offie hits. Safe House would not be a movie I could see making a ton of money anyway. It's currently made $98 million, which is a lot but there are movie stars who have movies that make that much in one weekend. I'm off topic here, my bad. Safe House is a great example of a movie that is not good nor is it bad. It's one of those movies that rests on that fine line in the middle. I call it the decent, but forgettable line.

The problem I had with the movie is the plot. Not for being far fetched or silly. But for being weak and not very involved. Washington's character has stolen a very valuable piece of information but none of our "hero's" seem to know this until 3/4th's of the way into the movie. He's being chased after by a group of bad guys but we don't truly understant their relevance until closer to the end of the movie. We have an idea, but it's never clarified until much later. It's because we aren't explained the gravity of what's at stake. We don't get how valuable this piece of information truly is. We don't know what Washington's true intentions with this info is. Wether he really wants to sell it or if he wants to reveal it. This is the main plot of the film, but it seems to be a background piece for the action scenes.

The other issue is Ryan Reynolds character He seems to be rather indifferent the whole time. Most of the movie he's intent on bringing Washington in. He has no reason to trust or like him. Yet at times he shows moments where he is on his side, but has no reason to be. Then he goes back to being against him. Then back to being with him, it got confusing. There is also a mole in the CIA, of course there is, there has to be in a movie like this. It's supposed to be a big secret, but let's face it, you can tell who it is from the moment you are told there is someone on the inside. You know at the point it has to be a main character, and there aren't many. I was hoping they would prove me wrong, but they didn't. The mold was connected to the other bad guys, but they just did a very loose job at giving us explanations. Sometimes not explaining plot lines works, but movies like this...they whole story is there to set up a big explanation and I just wasn't feeling it. Very bland and distant plot line.

That being said, it wasn't horrible. I understood what was happening, as vague as it was. The move has two solid lead performances form Washington and Reynolds. Washington can make any character likeable, he's become an expert at that. Reynolds gives a good performance even though his character was on the weak side. He's always been hit and miss with me. I like him more in serious roles or at least action films. I'm not to keen on his comedic stuff, which was his bread and butter. Brendan Gleeson and Vera Farmiga round out the main supporting cast and both do a good job with what little they had to do.

There is a lot of action scenes througout the film. It's pretty fast paced, so there isn't a lot of downtime. Which again, hurts the story, but it's great if all you want is gun fire and people throwing punches. The stunts are all very impressive and the action, for the most part, is all well done. I like big action scenes where I can tell what's going on. Sometimes in movies like this, there is a lot of super close shots or cameras waving around so that it's hard to tell what the hell is going on. But these scenes were taut and well executed. Lot of people getting shot and dying. Some things go boom. It was loud and crazy!

Safe House had potential to be a much better CIA thriller than it was. But they decided to be more heavy on action and sporadic on plot. Movies like Transformers can get away with that, but movies like this can be dragged down by that. So to me it just became a fun movie to watch but it's not one I loved and I won't remember it in a few weeks.

My Take on the 2012 Academy Awards

Yes, of course I watched the 84th Annual Academy Awards. Because what else do I have to do in my life right? A few weeks ago I put out a blog where I reviewed and attempted to predict 10 of the major categories. I actually got 9 of the 10. Only one I missed was the toughest one to predict which was Best Lead Actress. I thought it would be Viola Davis for the Help because she was pretty dominating in the precursor awards. But it was 17 time (a record) nominee Meryl Streep who won for her work in the critically panned The Iron Lady. It was her first Oscar in damn near 30 years, so it was cool to see her win.

The rest of the ceremony was extremely predictable  and boring however. That's typically the case though when it comes to the Oscars. There is no excitement with them. It's because of the millions (no, not literally) of precursor awards that happen in the months before. You have the Golden Gloves, the Screen Actors Guilds, The BAFTAS, The Writer, Director and Producer Guild Awards, the Critics Choice Awards, and not to mention the slew of local critics awards all over the country. They all chose their winners, and the winners for each ceremony typically stays the same. So by the time we get to the Oscars we already know what to expect. The voters at the Academy aren't people like you and me. The average age of an Oscar voter is around 65 or so. Meaning they aren't going to actually award movies that are universally known and loved. You won't see movies like The Dark Knight taking home the top prize because it doesn't attract to the older crowd.

2012's Best Picture? The Artist. Everyone knew that was coming. It won four other Oscars as well including Best Director and Best Lead Actor (for a man who spoke two words the entire time). You know how many people I know in my life have even heard of The Artist? I think maybe two people. I'm not knocking the film, because it is a great movie and deserved to win. But the Oscars claim to be the biggest night in Hollywood yet the rating are always crappy. No one watches them or people to start to watch them then fall asleep or decide they'd rather organize their spice rack for better entertainment. Nothing spectacular happened last night at the awards. Rango won for Best Animated Feature which was awesome! But I think that was the most well known movie of the night that won something. The Muppets was another big movie that won an award, for Best Original Song ("Man or Muppet") which scored Flight of the Concords Brett McKenzie an Oscar. There were two nominees in that category! Why the hell do you even have the category if you don't nominate anyone for it? There weren't 5 original songs in the entire year of 2011 that were worthy? Come on.

Octavia Spencer won for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Help. Good movie and good performance but a more daring winner would have been Melissa McCarthy for her insanely scene stealing work in Bridesmaids. But that would have been to risky to the Academy. I don't see why though...they gave Eminem an Oscar a few years back. I'm just saying they should spice up the awards a bit. Maybe more people would watch and care if they weren't as uptight as they are. I know they are supposed to be classy, but this is 2012, and movie goers are becoming younger and younger. If you want them to watch your show, you need to appeal to them. Maybe they can eliminate some categories like Documentary Short, Animated Short, Sound Effects Editing and put in something like Best Action Movie, Best Rising Star, Best Comedic Performance...something with more appeal and umph. Yes, I'm aware this isn't the MTV Movie Awards and the Oscars are supposed to be prestigious. But come on, live it up a little bit. At least people watch those MTV Movie Awards.

The fact that movies like Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Rise of the Planet of the Apes get passed up for major awards is sad. They should finally put in a category for Best Stop Motion Performance or Voice Over Work because Andy Serkis has now been passed up twice for his amazing work (Lord of the Rings as Gollum and now Rise of the Planet of the Apes for his work at Cesar). Harry Potter couldn't even score a Best Picture nomination to award the series as a whole. It was a fantastic, well loved movie. Yet they nominate Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. A movie almost no one really saw and definitely almost no one even enjoyed. Where is the reasoning in that? It was one of the worst reviewed Best Picture nominees in history. Yea, totally makes sense to pass up HP or Apes. Totally.

So how did Billy Crystal do? Eh, he was OK. Not like the Billy Crystal Oscar host of the past though. Yes, he was a huge step up from the James Franco/Anne Hathaway fiasco of last year. Yes, he is THE go to Oscar Host. But it's as if they didn't give him any inspiring or funny material. His opening monologue was alright, but he's been so much better in the past. He seemed very toned down and reserved. Not like he's a Ricky Gervais type host, but usually he's pretty hilarious. I didn't get that this time around though. The format was back to normal this year as well. He was classy though, as the show was.They have tried some new things lately and changed a lot, but this year it seemed to be back to normal. It only ran a few minutes over. I'm glad they did away with the Best Actor/Actress presentation where they have 5 people come out on stage and give some moving speech about each of the nominees. I think they did away with that last year now that I think of it. But that really made the show drag on. This show was definitely more fast paced, which was nice.

If you missed last nights ceremony you didn't miss anything special. Biggest shock of the night was Meryl Streep beating Viola Davis for Best Actress, but it wasn't even that big of a surprise. It was another boring night in tinsel town as they got all dolled up to take home golden statues that no one in real life actually cares about.  It was full of people and movies most normal movie goers have never heard of. The show itself was boring, with only a few brights spots: Robert Downey Jr., Emma Stone and Will Ferrell and Zach Galifinakis.

See ya next year Acacemy.

UPDATE: 39 million people watched the telecast last night. More than I expected. It just means about 39 million people intended to watch them but then left their TV on while they got distracted with counting the dots/holes on their ceilings. Seems more entertaining.

Video Game Review: Fallout New Vegas for XBOX 360

I do articles on film, television...so why not do video games as well? I'm going to need to change the name of my blog I think! It's becoming more and more evident that I have way to much free time on my hands and I don't spend that time wisely by going on hikes or helping the needy. No, I spend it wasting my brain cells in front of screens of various sizes all day. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not the most active person in the world, but I get my exercise in, and I see daylight often.

I know "Fallout: New Vegas" is a fairly old game in the grand scheme of things. New games are released every week and games become "old" in a matter of weeks. New Vegas came out in 2010 and it was a sequel to the 2008 Game of the Year "Fallout 3". Well I just played Fallout 3 and beat it and I loved it and then I immediately played New Vegas. It took me almost a month to beat the game (which was about 43 hours of game play). The general gist of the storyline: You play a courier in the Mojave wasteland several hundred years in the future after nuclear holocaust has destroyed our planet. The land is overrun by giant mutated creatures like massive scorpions, ants, etc. It's also full of different clans of people, some bad some good. There are groups called powder gangers, Caesars Legion, the NCR, fiends, etc. You have the choice to either help some of these groups or work against them. If you piss them off, they will come after you and try to murder you, ha! But you play this courier (you chose male or female) who travels this wasteland trying to figure out why you were shot on your most recent job and who was responsible.

I should let you all know, I am not gaming guru. I play a lot of XBOX but I am not good at any games I play. It's as if I don't adapt or learn from other games, but I suck. It takes me a long time to complete games. If I play games like "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3", I'm the guy who you all hate when you play online. I die about 20 times and get maybe 10 kills per match. I play games for fun, not for sport. Video games are just a form of entertainment for me. I play them a lot, but I do not dedicate my life to them.

So now you know why it takes me a month to beat a game like Fallout: New Vegas. But also, this is an open world/sandbox game. A sandbox game is one where there isn't a linear path to take from beginning to end. Linear games are like Call of Duty, Battlefield. There is one storyline and you go from point A to point B, bada bing, bada boom. I love sandbox games because you are a character put into a vast open world and you can roam wherever you want. You can put the main story on the back burner for several hours as you explore and do tons of side quests. My favorite game of this kind is by far, "Red Dead Redemption"...but that's for a whole other blog. New Vegas has hours and hours and hours of extra quests and missions. There is always something to do outside the main story.

Starting with the drawbacks I have about the game. It's tedious. Fallout 3 wasn't as head ache inducing as this sequel. If you are like me and enjoy doing all the side stuff, then you will have a LOT to do in this game. Sometimes though, it got to be way to much. Each side mission seemed to consist of side SIDE missions to complete the initial quest you were given. You have to travel all over the freaking map back and forth doing mundane tasks. For the most part, I liked this aspect of the game but a lot of the missions story lines were lacking any entertainment value. I ended up skipping over half the dialog just to get to the part where I have to do something. The main story was alright and I paid attention to the dialog involved with that, but man, those side ones got frustratingly boring at times. It got to a point where I gave up doing them and just finished up the main one just to beat the game. 41 hours of game play in my head couldn't take the slow pace and tedious tasks anymore. They weren't ALL that bad...but most were. Although, I like the fact that you can jump to a location on the map once you discover it instead of having to walk all the way there. It helps.

I also didn't like how the health boosts worked in this game. Previously if you didn't have "stimpacks" (which is what gave you a major increase) you could drink water or eat a food item and that would just give you a certain amount of health boost (each item gives different amounts). In this game though, those food items give you a very small health dose over a particular amount of time. It wasn't helpful in dire situations. Especially when you are being attacked by a particular creature that takes off a third of your health with each swipe. There was also another creature, a flying bug thing that when it stung you it took off a big portion of health but also poisoned you. The poison slowly drains your health and there is no easy remedy unless you had "anti venom". Otherwise you have to keep using your health items until the poison was done. This game though, did allow you to enlist a partner on your travels. Someone who would follow you and fight with you. They died to quickly though half the time which got annoying.

I liked the upgrading aspects of the game. When you level up you can update your characters attributes. Making it easier to hack into computers and pick locks. You can update your abilities with guns. I liked to upgrade the Speech attribute so that I could lie to people easier and convince them to do certain things. The speech aspect made beating a lot of the missions so much easier. You were able to bypass some minute tasks which was cool. It didn't really seem to take much time to level up either. By the end of my game I was at level 24. In Fallout 3 I was at level 18 at the end. So they made it less dificult this time around. Score!

This game made me more frustrated than Fallout 3. I died a shit load more times this time around. And it sucks when you forget to manually save your game every so often so that if you die, you have to go really far back and do everything over again. That's more of a user error though. There were also some annoying glitches. When you use there V.A.T.S. or there slow motion action device to attack an enemy for more hit points...it would sometimes freeze and not let you attack your enemy but they were still able to attach you. That happened to me about 10 times throughout game play and it pissed me off.

It sure sounds like I hated this game huh? Truth is I didn't. I didn't care for a lot of the technical aspects of the game and some of the minor changes they made. Overall though, I found this to be a great time filler game. I had fun playing it. I liked Fallout 3 a lot more because it was more of a balanced game with not as many tedious tasks. But I enjoyed the open world aspects for the most part. It killed a lot of empty time for me. I would probably never play it again though.

I know this little review is about 2 years to late...but hey I just played it so sue me. I wanted to test out my gaming review abilities. I know this isn't perfect, but it's my first attempt. I'm also not some crazy avid gamer so I'm not at that nerd level to examine every single detail of a game.

The Fun World of Movie Cliches!

Movies are meant to be an escape. They are meant to entertain. You should probably never take a film too seriously, unless maybe it's a documentary about a truly important and inspiring topic. Yet we still have those critics who like to knock a movie down because it has elements of "implausibility" or being to "unbelievable". They say things like, "well that can't happen in real life, so it was just silly!". Well you aren't watching real life, you are watching the world of cinema...where anything can happen! That being said, it is still fun to point out the funny little movie inconsistencies and cliches. Here is a list of some of my favorites.


1. If there is a car or foot chase in a film, there will almost always be a pair or workers carrying a plate of glass or a wandering fruit cart for them to collide into.

2. Guns in movies have an infinite amount of ammo.

3. During a shoot out, when it's one or two hero's against a mob of bad guys; the bad guys can fire 100's of rounds and not make one direct hit. Yet the good guys can fire blindly and pick off the bad guys one by one.

4. Before a car falls off the edge of a cliff, it will usually teeter over the edge for a few minutes. The second a bird lands on the front of the car...it flies over the edge into an explosive end. But don't worry, the good guys will always get out in just the nick of time!

5. If a speeding car crashes into a parked car, the moving car will be the one to flip and spin like crazy but the parked car will barely move.

6. A movie character can go through a horrific car accident and end up in a flipped over car after rolling down a hill. Minus a few trickles of blood, the hero will always be able to get out of the car within moments and not seem hurt or at least out of it, at all.

7. During a running chase, a woman will always fall to the ground, even if she is running on a completely flat surface. It will take her 15 to 30 seconds to recover and stand up.

8. Movie women apparently don't know how or when to run until their male counterpart grabs them and carries them along.

9. When movie characters are dying or are seriously injured, you shouldn't immediately call an ambulance, but hold them in your arms and cry over their injured or dying body saying how much you love them.

10. If a movie character needs to beat an elevator, all they have to do is run up a flight of stairs and they will always get there before the elevator even opens...even if it's up multiple flights.

11. Movie characters will usually keep newspaper clipping of terrible events that happened in their lives tacked all over their walls as painful, daily reminders.

12. Before a bad guy can take the shot and kill the good guy when he has him trapped, he must give a long winded speech giving the hero or their sidekick ample time to plan a surprise defense.

13. If two characters are sword fighting, there will almost always be a shot of their shadows fighting while they are off screen.

14. Don't duel under a tapestry or chandelier...because someone will surely cut it down to crash down on of their enemies.

15. In an epic battle with one guy against a small army (with swords, axes, etc) the good guy will only fight one bad guy at a time, while the other bad guys just sit around and wait their turn instead of swarming the good guy and finish him off.

16. If a missile or a hoard of gunfire is being directed at a helicopter with a villain inside, the helicopter will immediately explode. If the same happens to a helicopter with the hero inside, the copter will first smoke and alarms will go off and the helicopter will slowly start falling to the streets below and the good guy will have time to get his bearings and jump onto a roof of a building before the helicopter finally explodes on the ground below.

17. The hero will always miss the villain leaving the scene of the crime by mere seconds...but doesn't decide to chase after them.

18. On the day of their long awaiting retirement, a film detective will always get the biggest case of their career which will probably end with them dying.

19. During a fist fight, the good guy will never show pain after being beat mercifully. But when it comes time for a woman or a doctor to apply rubbing alcohol to their wounds...they wince in pain.

20. A sidekick who is built up as a nerd and a wimp, will usually pull through in the end and save the day.

21. No matter what their job is, movie characters who live in New York always seem to have huge, expensive looking apartments.

22. If there are ghosts or demons in a movie characters house...they will never actually leave.

23. If there is an intruder in their home, a hero will grab a weapon and press their back against the wall and shimmy along as if that makes them hidden.

24. There will always be a cat or a crow locked inside a closet or armoire that jumps out at just the right moment.

25. If you have a facial scar, that usually means your bad news.

26. A single lit match will have the same power a high wattage light bulb and will be able to light an entire room.

27. To save a persons life, no need to seek medical help, just shake them and scream at them things like "You can't leave me now!" and start to cry over their body...they will soon come back to life.

28. People in films don't have any common courtesy on the phone: no one ever says "bye"!

29. Most seasoned movie detectives are divorced, live in a crappy apartment and usually drink themselves to sleep each night.

30. An epic gun battle can happen in the middle of a busy street, but the cops will only show up after it's done no matter how long the battle was.

31. No woman is in labor for several hours...the baby usually pops out in a matter of minutes.

32.  In prison based movies, there is usually one evil guard.

33. When a character turns on the radio or TV news, they will always turn it on at the exact moment when the case relevant to them is being announced.

34. Also, when a character called by a friend to turn on the news right now, the character will do so but will be able to hear the news story from the very beginning and not turn it on in the middle.

35. When a character rewinds a video or tape recorder segment, they will always stop it at the exact moment they need to see or hear.

36.  Movie teachers never seem to be able to keep track of time. They are always interrupted by the end of class bell in the middle of their lesson.

37. After a steamy sex scene, the female character will always have the sheet pulled up to her neck while the man will have it pulled up to his waist.

38. Bags of groceries will always have some kind of large vegetable sticking out of the top, or a baguette.

39.  If the good guy has snuck into the bad guys lair, he will probably find himself in a situation where he will have to hide by pressing his arms and legs into a niche on the ceiling just above the bad guy. He will then begin to sweat and a single drop of sweat will drip off his face and just barely miss the bad guy.

40. Bad guys will never die the first time. You can shoot and stab them, but they will resurrect at least one time to attach the good guys one last time until they are shot again and finally die. Until the sequel.

41. If you are in a war movie, do not show a picture of your lovely family back at home...because you will die.

42. When people look through binoculars in a movie, and we see the view from their perspective, we always see two circles..not one.

43. No one ever locks their cars.

44. While driving, people seem to move the steering wheel side to side to signify to us that they are in fact driving. Yet if they moved the wheel that way, they would be all over the road crashing into several cars.

45. You can hack into any computer quite easily from a separate laptop. Passwords are usually pretty easy to crack.

46. If you don't want people to recognize you, such as a bad guy you are running from, simply cover your face with your hand or slip a small part of your jacket over your face...no one will notice you then.

47. In order for you to realize how much you love your ex-spouse who you are going through a nasty divorce with...they have to get kidnapped and you have to rescue them in order to re-spark that old flame.

48.  You brand new car will not start when a masked serial killer is chasing you...well it will, but not until the very last possible moment.

49. Women can run at top speeds from bad guys in high heels just fine.

50. The bad guy and good guy are in a face off with guns pointed at each other. A shot is fired and there is a dramatic pause before we find out who was shot. The camera will then slowly pan back to reveal that a 3rd party fired a gun to kill the bad guy.

NBC's Community: Best Show You Aren't Watching!

Check out my article about other funny TV shows by clicking the link: Comedy TV

If there was one show on television right now that I would beg people to watch it would be NBC's "Community". It is the best show that no one seems to watch. It's cursed by dark and smart humor that plagued another brilliant comedy by the name of "Arrested Development". People clearly don't want to think or process jokes in their minds when it comes to comedy. People seem to just want to be clearly told why that joke was funny right then and there. People don't want to have to remember jokes told a season ago when it's referenced in a much later episode in the series. Continuity? Come on! Get real! People these days want in your face, slapstick humor that isn't funny and that's why shows like "Are You There Chelsea?" and the terribly unfunny "Whitney" get to stick around while little shows like "Community" get pushed around.

"Community" is a show with serious heart. Each week it tells a pretty poignant 30 minute story that has some kind of message attached to it. They aren't all sweet stories, but all of them have perfect levels of comedy. Don't get me wrong, it's not all dry, witty humor. There is some in your face comedy to try to please everyone. A lot of the humor though, some people may not get, and that's why I think it hasn't registered well with a large audience.

The show follows a group of friends at a community college named Greendale. They started off as a study group for Spanish class. Well it started off with the main character, Jeff, played by Joel McHale starting a fake study group just to get with Britta, the hot blond in the Spanish class. One thing led to another and now we have an eccentric group of friends: Jeff, Britta, Annie, Troy, Abed, Shirley and of course, Pierce. It's not longer a study group but more of an excuse for this group of people to meet every day and become involved in each others crazy lives. It's like a more dysfunctional and modern day version of "The Breakfast Club". 

In fact, the show is awesome at movie and TV references. It's one of those shows that sometimes knows it's a TV show and will break that fourth wall from time to time. There are so many good episodes based off popular films. There was a Pulp Fiction/My Dinner with Andre episode (sounds crazy I know, but it was amazing). They have made several fantastic references to the new Batman series. They have ripped apart Glee on two occasions. They have payed wonderful homage to action films with 2 very popular paintball episodes. Yes, sometimes they leave the reality of their show to do things like "A Fistful of Paintballs" where the show becomes action movie serious and look like a big budget project. The paintball episodes are TV classics in my opinion. They also did an awesome episode making fun of Dungeons and Dragons (one of the best 30 minutes of comedy TV in recent memory) oh and not to mention their "bottle" episode. A bottle episode is where you put the cast of the show into one location for the entire running of the episode to save money on building extra sets. This particular one took place in the study group room and it involved the stealing of one their beloved pens. Of course, we knew this was a bottle episode because Abed clearly says it is. There they go breaking that pesky fourth wall.

Next to "Modern Family", there is no better comedic cast on television then Community. "Parks and Recreation" would be third. This whole cast jives so perfectly together and there isn't a single weak link. They all have their moments. They have all been robbed for Emmy consideration way to many times, and I know by now, it will never happen. Every one of them is just slightly crazy (some more than others) and that's why they are perfect for each other. Pierce, played by Chevy Chase is probably the craziest. He's the instance, racist old man of the group. He has no filter and sometimes it alienates him from the group. Sometimes the way his character is written can be a bit annoying at times, but you can't help but love him. The brightest spots of this show are Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi). The two of them are a match made in heaven and God are they hilarious! Almost every episode ends with the two of them doing some kind of oddball skit not always related to the rest of the episode. They have such bizarre personalities but that's what makes them shine. Troy and Abed are funny as hell and there is no better Christian Bale Batman impression then Abed!

This is a show on the verge of cancellation. It's inevitable at this point and it's a damn shame. The reason being, there are no viewers for this show. It pulls in somewheres around 4 million viewers a week, which for TV standards...is not good. In fact, it's bad, real bad. The show has recently been on hiatus since December and will be returning on March 15th. Plenty of time for everyone to catch up on Season 1 and 2 and the first few episodes of season 3. This show got pulled for crap like "Whitney" and "Are You There Chelsea?" which is apparently what America wants to see. Stupid. Even slipping shows like "30 Rock" and "The Office" can move aside for "Community" I don't care. Just...please give the show a shot. I assure you, if you just watch a few episodes, you will be hooked! It's the smartest comedy on TV and no one is watching it...so please watch it!

It airs (normally) Thursday nights on NBC in the same block as 30 Rock, Parks & Rec and The Office.