2012 Review #17: Jeff, Who Lives At Home

Jeff, Who Lives At Home

Rated R

1 Hour 23 Minutes

Starring

Jason Segel
Ed Helms
Judy Greer

Susan Surandon

Story

Dispatched from his basement room on an errand for his mother, slacker Jeff might discover his destiny (finally) when he spends the day with his brother as he tracks his possibly adulterous wife.

Rotten Tomatoes Score

73%
"Sweet, funny, and flawed, Jeff, Who Lives at Home finds the Duplass brothers moving into the mainstream with their signature quirky charm intact."

My Grade

B-

Jeff, Who Lives at Home reminds me of a comedy show on HBO. Wherein it's labled a comedy but is really heavy on drama, emotion, and provokes deep thought. They aren't funny in the sense that say, "21 Jump Stree" was funny or that shows like "Modern Family". Movies like this are funny because they are uncomfortable and at times awkardly real to life. Situations occur that we have had happen to us or can forsee happening to us. The humor is more dark and slightly depressing. There isn't much gut busting laughter produced from films of this nature. Jeff, Who Lives at Home is a comedy that's more about the story and the characters and the messages it tries to deliver to it's audience.

This is a film about disconnection from family and disconnection from our place in the world. What are we as individuals meant for? Why am I here? Do I have a destiny? Or are we all just people living with no deep meaning, and just living to work, watch movies, spend time with friends, smoke pot, eat food, and die?Are we all really that insignificant? Well this a movie that tackles those issues, in quite a heartfelt way. You have Jeff, played by the typecast Jason Segel (The Muppets, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) in one his most dramatic roles, playing the stoner 30 year old who lives in his mom's basement. He believes in signs (as he loves the movie Signs) and wants to believe he has a destiny and that he is meant for something bigger. Could this be the pot talking or is this Jeff cognatively thinking this on his own? He kind of plays that inner child in all of us. Then you have his douche bag brother played by funny man Ed Helms (TV's The Office, The Hangover) who is having some marital issues and has never really got along with Jeff. He struggles to find his place in his own marraige and goes off on a whim and buys a Proshe, much to the dismay of his wife played by Judy Greer (TV's Archer, The Descendants). Finally we have their mother played by acting vet, Oscar winner Susan Surandon (Dead Man Walking, Thelma & Louise). She works at a call center of sorts where apparently all she does is day dream and IM mysterious people on her AOL Instant Messenger (does anyone actually use those anymore?). She is trying to discover where to go from here in her older age and if she can ever love anyone again or vice versa. She is also having to deal with her two deranged sons. The whole family has grown apart.

Movies like this have a tendancy of being overly preachy or shoving the message down your throat. The story definitley takes us there a few times, but holds back enough to actually be quite a sweet and charming tale of family, betrayl, love and fate. The whole movies takes place in one very long day. Jeff travels around town with his brother as they stalk the wife who is waltzing around town with another man. Jeff believes all of this is happening for a reason, but his brother just laughs it off and thinks he's delusional. Meanwhile, the mother sits at at work and is being stalked herself by a secret admirer who works there. She tries to figure out who it is, and when we do...it get's a little weird. Honestly, her story wasn't doing it for me. I thought Surandon did a wonderful job playing the stressed out mom who was trying to find love, but her story came off kind of pointless. At least the secret admirer aspect. There wasn't any character development for her for me to care about any of it, and when it turned out it was a female co-worker I didn't understand what they were trying to do with that. None of them were gay, yet there was a moment where they kissed in the sprinkler soaked office. It was confusing and this was not developed enough to have any power in the overall story. It just didn't seem to fit in. However, these events of hers led her to the climatic scene...so it tied in that way.

Other than that aspect of the story, I thought the screenplay was really well done. It didn't have any phoned in or silly dialog. There was humor when humor was necessary. Nothing was slapstick, in fact the majority of the comedy was subtle and relatively down to earth and relateable. As silly as Jeffs interpretation of fate and signs were to watch, his faith was actually rewarded in the end. They way it all tied together was really cool and wonderful. This whole day was mean to happen for all of them. They were all destined to meet on that bridge, Jeff was meant to save that family and nearly die in the process. It is this that brought the family back together. The story was a fantastic glimpse into redemption and family bonds that should never be broken no matter what. It was not perfect, it definitely dragged at times, but at only an hour and twenty minutes it never got that bad.

I was pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of both Segel and Helms in dramatic turns. It's always fun to see actors who are normall outrageous comedic actors dabble in drama and do it well. Actors like Jim Carrey (The Truman Show, The Majestic) and Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting) have done this quite successfully, and now I prefer both of them in dramatic roles. Point being, I love when actors go outside their comfort zone or out of the realm we know them as and do it successfully. Both did a great job in the film. While I was not the biggest fan of her storyline, Surandon showed again why she is one of the most reliable seasoned actresses in the business. This film was not perfect, it did get a bit boring at times. It also got slightly overly preachy in spots, but really in the end it's a sweet, charming story with great performances from the whole cast. It's not a movie most people have heard of, and probably wouldn't really be a movie that everyone would like all that much. This is the type of movie that most regular movie goers would never give a chance. But you might be surprised when you watch one or two of this indy flicks...there are a few gems out there. Jeff, Who Lives at Home is not a "gem" persay, but it's a worth while watch at least once.

Return of Ron Burgundy & Anchorman Announcement!!

Ladies and gentleman, Rob Burgundy (Will Ferrell) has returned!!!!! He appeared on last nights Conan episode on TBS and it was amazing!! Here is the full video of his appearance and him making fun of Conan's looks. Ha! He also made an announcement that there will in fact be an Anchorman 2!! They reached a deal with Paramount Pictures for the long awaited sequel. Unless this is some kind of prank. But I seriously hope not. Anchorman is my favorite comedy of all time! It has the greatest and most memorable quotes of any movie I've ever seen!! So I really hope this is true. I want to see the Action 4 News Team led by Ron Burgundy, Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Champ Kind (David Koechner) and of course Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) who like to put mayonnaise in toasters. Break out your Sex Panther ladies and germs, and get ready to stink of pure gasoline because they are back! It will star Will Ferrell and be directed by Adam McKay, who directed the first one as well. I don't know how much of the first cast will be back yet, but right now, just the news that Anchorman 2 is official...is knocking my socks off! Until further notice..."You stay classy San Diego!".

 .
 Here's one of my favorite scenes: "Brick Killed a Guy!" "You might want to lay low, because you are probably wanted for murder."

My Birthday Desk

Here is a glimpse of where I sit all day for work. My co-workers were kind enough to decorate my desk and also got me a gift card and a cake. This is because tomorrow is my 27th birthday...but I won't be here tomorrow. This is the desk where I do 98% of my blogging. I currently work at Deer Valley Credit Union in Phoenix, AZ. Right now I'm an actual employee of a staffing agency...but only until April 23rd or so...when hopefully Deer Valley will hire me on permanently! Happy hump day everyone!

Hunger Games Stars Racially Attacked!

Kind of a big story right now. This makes me completely sad to live in this world right now. Lenny Kravitz who plays the sympathetic Cinna and Amandla Stenberg who plays the adorable Rue in "The Hunger Games" have come under racial fire the past few days from ignorant twitter-ers. First off, the character of Rue in the novel is described as a having "dark brown skin and eyes". To most normal human beings that probably means they are black. If you think "dark brown skin and eyes" means white with blond hair, then obviously you are moron.

If you also live in America in 2012 and can racially attack a little girl, than you sir or ma'am, are a worthless piece of shit. Sorry for the language, but it's true. Someone tweeted this (And this WILL contain a spoiler): "call me racist but when i found out rue was black her death wasn't as sad #ihatemyself." OK, I will call you a racist, and also an ignorant bastard. Here's another tweet: "why did the producer make all the good characters black." Here's another question: Why do you chose to continue living each day asshole? I know that people are entitled to their opinion, but some opinions are better kept to yourself especially when they can harm a child. I'm sure Lenny Kravitz can handle these remarks as he's a seasoned entertainer and has been in the business for a long time and I'm sure has dealt with lot. But Stenberg is only 13 years old and hasn't been in this industry long.

Another thing is why do people get that hurtful over casting in a freaking movie for god sakes? It's a movie!! If your criticism can scar that deep towards a star of a movie, you shouldn't be allowed go into a movie theater ever again. You hear the phrase "It's 2012, and I can't believe we still have racism". Here's the thing, racism will never fully go away. Yes, I know we have a black President, but that doesn't change anything. Racism to me, is a form of hatred and you can't cure hatred. There will just always be people who are racist and we can't control that. But to hear it publicized all over the news like this, where this cute little girl can see it...get a life people. Why do you have to care so much about something so ridiculous?

Both Kravitz and Stenberg did a wonderful job in the movie. Both played their parts as they were supposed to, and who gives flying f**k what color their damn skin is? Even though they are described as being black in the damn books! Do we really have to live in a world where every character in a film has to be white? God forbid there were any Hispanic or Asian characters in the film. All hell would have broke lose right?

Can't we all just get along? Nope...we can't.

2012 Review #16: The Grey

The Grey

Rated R
1 Hour 57 Minutes

Starring

Liam Neeson

Frank Grillo
Dermot Mulroney
Dallas Roberts
Joe Anderson

Story

After their plane crashes in Alaska, seven oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.

Rotten Tomatoes Score
78%"The Grey is an exciting tale of survival, populated with fleshed-out characters and a surprising philosophical agenda."

My Grade

A-

Guess it's the week of survival movies for me. I know The Grey came out month or so ago, but I just now watched it..same week as The Hunger Games, another fantastic film about survival. The film tells the story of seven survivors of a plane crash in Alaska and they have to fight to survive in the harsh, cold terrain as well as a pack of wolves who stalk their every move. Now I've read reviews from every day people such as myself who saw the film, and complained because the behavior of the wolves was unrealistic and would never attack humans.  Why can't people just enjoy movies as they are? I don't know diddly squat about wolf behavior nor do I believe the film accurately portrays it. And you know what? I don't give a crap. Because I was watching a FILM. A piece of work that suspends belief, like most other movies. If you want to see true wolf behavior, watch a god damn documentary. There wouldn't be a movie if we saw real wolf behavior.

Sorry, there I go on one of my tangents again. My bad. Well, as a MOVIE, I thoroughly enjoyed The Grey. It was one of the best survival movies I've ever seen. The writer of the film did a spectacular job at making each and every character three dimensional and giving them depth. This helps the audience feel for these guys, whether it be feelings of hatred (which I felt for one or two of them) or feelings of wanting them to live through this. I think it's important in movies such as The Grey to care about the characters one way or the other, or else when they get picked off it just feels like another body. It eliminates any excitement.

The Grey however, was plenty exciting. It was one of the most riveting movies I've seen in a while. Those wolf attack scenes are quite frightening and extra brutal. With a limited set, the director still does a marvelous job showcasing the action in a very eventful way. He does a wonderful job creating tension and excitement. He creates characters you can root for and hope they don't get torn to shreds. But if you are expecting the entire cast to survive...you may not enjoy this one. I won't say who dies and how many, but trust me, there is plenty of carnage. They do not hold back on the gore factor, again this was a solid way to put us in their element. While watching the movie, I felt part of the scenario. It completely immersed me in the story, and I thank the director for that. Survival movies should come off as raw and harsh to throw the audience right into their element. This movie does that, and does it well.

Liam Neeson (Taken, Schindlers List)has really come into his own lately hasn't he? He's kind of become the proverbial bad ass. He is so fracken awesome as an action star and as just an actor. I can't say I've seen a lot of his work, but I've seen enough to know that his performance in The Grey is arguable his very finest work. He isn't just the leader of this group who knows a thing or two about wolves. He is there only hope for survival. He isn't just a tough guy, he's a man with a soul. He's a man with a rough back story and who has heart. He cares about these guys even when they give him shit. He's one of my favorite film characters so far this year. This is a man you truly want to live through this. Neeson gives a dark and gritty performance. I think if this movie came out in the later half of 2012 he would have received some award attention.

Long story short, The Grey is a brilliant movie of survival. It gets right down to the darkest core of survival films and does so amazingly. It questions faith and humanity, and  I absolutely LOVED this film, and is one of my favorites of 2012 so far. I cannot wait for it to come out on DVD so I can buy it!

Terra Nova Officially Over

Sorry fans of Terra Nova, the battle is over. Earlier this month Fox cancelled the show but there was some brief hope that the red envelope movie company Netflix would save the show and move it over to them. But it was announced today that Netflix is officially passing on the show, which means it is now definitely cancelled. I kind of expected this to happen. Honestly, I was a bit bummed at first, but now that I think of it..it's a show I can live without. Well, I can live without any TV, but that would make life boring right? Terra Nova is a show that I can be fine without having and still have fun watching TV. Make sense?

Well let's hope that Netflix decides to take The River on instead. Before the show is even cancelled by ABC (Which has not actually happened just yet, but will) Netflix was already in negotiations to continue the show on their site. No word yet on what is happening on that front, but I'm really truly hoping we get a season 2 of The River announced to us shortly! Pretty pretty please!?!?

2012 Review #15: Gone

Gone

Rated PG-13
1 Hour 34 Minutes

Starring

Amanda Seyfried
Daniel Sunjata

Wes Bentley

Jennifer Carpenter

Story

When her sister disappears, Jill is convinced the serial killer who kidnapped her two years ago has returned, and she sets out to once again face her abductor.

Rotten Tomatoes Score

11%(No Consensus. The film was not screened for critics. Which is usually a really bad sign)

My Grade

F

**This review will contain plot spoilers**

"Gone" plays out like one of those dreadful Lifetime movies, except this may be even worse. This is just my opinion here, but this has got to be one of the worst movies of this genre I've ever seen. Amanda Seyfried plays a woman who was once abducted from an unkown assailant and left for dead in a hole in the woods. She managed to escape and none of the cops believed her story. Now, some time has passed, and her younger sister was abducted and she believes it's the same man who did it to her. But of course...no one believes her. She then goes on the hunt herself and everyone thinks she's insane and half the police squad is chasing her through town trying to stop her from finding her sister.

One of my least favorite characters in film are the cops who refuse to believe the hero's story. Sometimes it can create an interesting dilema to further the plot of the film, but in "Gone" they are the most god awful annoying human beings. The lead detective and his partner, who is some disheveled, drunk looking woman, will not believe the main character for anything. They don't even humor her by looking for her sister...who IS missing. They just insinuate she's crazy and chase after her when she goes off on her own. There has got to be some kind of protocol where the authorties have to at least attempt to search for the girl. Make a few phone calls. Something. But no, they do nothing. They didn't find the hole Jill said she was thrown in when she was kidnapped...so automatically she's crazy. I'm just saying, these are the worst film cops I think I've ever seen in a movie. I hated them.

Except for the one newbie detective played by Wes Bentley (The Hunger Games) who chooses to believe her. He has no reason to believe her, and he comes off as slightly creepy. I think the  film makers were attempting to make this guy suspicious by having him give sinister looks and acting funky at times. However, he kind of just fades away towards the final act of the movie. As if the film makers gave up on that idea and got rid of him. If he wasn't a suspect, then they at least implied he would help Jill out...but they gave up on that idea as well. It's like they didn't know how to wrap that character up in the end, and he became pointless. It just didn't add up or make any sense to even have this guy in the movie.

The whole story was just so poorly told. It was all over the place and was corny line after corny line. These cops are wasting all their time and energy chasing after this girl where it could just be more beneficial to work with her. Even if they think she's insane at least work with her to keep her in your sights. They tried to do this whole chase movie, but it really did not pan out well. The action was lame and dull and Amanda Seyfriend does not do this kind of role well. She's more of that goofball girl in comedies such as Mean Girls. Putting her in a dramatic role where she has to shoot guns and swerve cars all over the place just came off as stupid and almost like a spoof. Just not believable as an action/thriller star. This movie wasn't believable as an action/thriller. I don't mean implausible, because you know I don't mind that. I'm saying it came off as comical in a bad way and like a group of high school students wanted to dip their toes in film making. Amateur...that's the word I'm looking for. This movie was very amateur.

And when the kidnapper was finally revealed you were like..."Um, who?". No attempt to make it anyone surprising. It was just some random dude who we saw in one earlier scene in the diner the girl works at. The climax was barely a climax, it was so weak. She ends throwing him in the hole and burning him. She wanted the police to believe her yet she kills and burns the man. She had so much anger and blood thirst for this guy. He didn't rape her or kill her, just kidnap her. Yes, I know that's terrible and traumatic. But it wasn't some escalated crime that would warrant her to go all ape shit on him and burn him alive and not let him suffer in a prison cell. Her sister turned out to be alive and burried underneath their house the whole time. After Jill kills the guy, she just drives back home, tells the police she found nothing and they just leave her be. Sure, she ends up sending pictures of her being help captive to the police chief...but...God, it all just ended so so bad. This movie was a horrible piece of garbage in my eyes. Maybe others liked it, and that's great for them. But I really hated the living hell out of this movie.

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer!!

Can you say HELL YES!?!?! I cannot wait for this movie!! The trailer itself is gosh damn epic! You tellin' me I have to wait a few more months for this movie to come out?? DAMN YOU!!! The Dark Knight was one of the best movies in the past decade, and The Dark Knight Rises, the conclusion to the trilogy looks to be even better! Although, it will be without Heath Ledgers, The Joker...but it can survive...right???

2012 Review #14: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

Rated PG-13
2 Hours 22 Minutes

Starring

Jennifer Lawrence
Josh Hutcherson
Woody Harrelson

Elizabeth Banks
Stanley Tucci
Wes Bentley
Donald Sutherland

Story

Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match. 

Rotten Tomatoes Score:

87%
"Thrilling and superbly acted, The Hunger Games captures the dramatic violence, raw emotion, and ambitious scope of its source novel."

My Grade:

A

I would like to start by saying I've never read a single page of The Hunger Games novel. So this experience for me was just the movie. I had nothing to base my opinion off of, other than what was displayed in front of me on the screen. I don't know how accurate the film was to the book, I don't know what parts were omitted, and quite honestly, I don't really care. I went into the theater because the movie looked like something I would enjoy as a standalone film experience. My instinct was right, because The Hunger Games was one hell of an awesome movie experience. I loved it.

If you are wondering if there is a point or underlining message to the story of this film, I truly believe that The Hunger Games doesn't have any hidden agendas. What I got from the movie, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that this is a poke at our current American lifestyle and our obsession with reality TV. When the book originally came out, the coverage of the Iraq war was also deeply imbedded in our brains. So combining the two elements, you kind of get the "message" of the film/book. Katniss sort of represents morality in world where morality has slipped away from us as a people. We love watching people on TV eat bugs and bully each other. We eat it up like it's delicious five course meal. I am probably thinking way to much into it, so I don't know.

The Hunger Games as a film though, to me, is a tour de force of film making. It's a stunning portrayal of a future littered with darkness. Not literally, just the core of humanity has clearly darkened the souls of the people who represent The Capitol. They created these Hunger Games to give the lower classes a small glimmer of hope. The soul survivor represents that hope. The President of the Capitol (Donald Sutherland) states that it would be to easy to randomly chose 24 people each year and execute them. So instead they force 24 young people aging from 12-18 to fight in a "battle royale" of sorts where these children must brutally murder each other until only one survives. This has been done for 74 years now. The movie is not a happy, chipper kind of movie.

I've heard people questioning if this movie is anything like "Twilight". I will say to right now...NO! Those movies are terrible. This movie is everything those dumb little vampire movies wanted to be, but failed epically to do. Like I stated above, it's a dark story. The movie/book has a large teen and young adult following which is kind of shocking given the subject material. The film is rated PG-13 and it's a pretty hard PG-13. It's a violent one. You will see young children being slaughtered with swords and bow and arrows. It's not graphically shown to us, but you see enough to know what just happened to that poor little 12 year boy or girl. It's harsh. But I completely appreciated the story of film and was done so damn well. I liked that the director didn't hold back and make it closer to PG. This is a film where violence like this is essential to getting the point across. What is happening is brutal and the characters in the film are powerless to stop it.

It's told on a pretty grand scale as well, as it does run at 2 hours and 22 minutes. It's close to being an epic. A beautiful, sweeping epic. They created this futuristic world so convincingly, and that's due in part to a fantastic art direction team. The Capitol is bright and colorful and happy and the districts are shows as dark and morose to reflect the power the Capitol has over everyone. The second half of the film takes place in the woods and they managed to create a forest with a large foreboding feeling where you as an audience didn't feel comfortable or safe. You didn't know who was lurking behind our heroine ready to pounce. The costuming was lavishing and bit freaky. The visual effects were stunning, mainly the Hunger Games control room where they can insert whatever they want into the game with these high end computers.

If you are expecting a movie full of action, you may not get what you want with this one. The first half of the film is all set up. The tributes are chosen, we get back story to our main character. Then we move into the training segments of the tributes (the Hunger Game contestants) and the attempts to get in favor with the sponsors who can help them throughout the games. Woody Harrelson plays the mentor to Lawrence and Hutcherson, and he is fantastic as usual. However, to me all of this story and build up was not slow. The pacing and editing made it breeze on by and by the time we got the games it felt like I was only in the theater for 20 minutes. Then the games start and kicks into high gear. But like I said, it's not all about action and violence, it's about the main characters attempt to survive, which actually shows her hiding more and setting up traps and sabotaging.

The issue I had was when there was action and fighting going on, the camera got extremely shaky and blurry. They moved in way to close to the action so it was honestly quite hard to see what the hell was going on. But these moments were far and few between. The other issue I had was a certain element to the story. This has obviously been going on for a very long time in this world. The people of the districts are clearly scared and are afraid to stand up for themselves. But these young children are constantly taken away and none of the parents seem to be that heartbroken. No protest from anyone. I know they are scared, but I have to think SOMEONE would revolt BEFORE the kids go off to die, not after they are dead (there is a scene of revolt from one district in the film, but it's when a character dies).

Jennifer Lawrence plays our lead character and that girl is something special. She was nominated for an Oscar a couple years ago for her performance in Winter's Bone. A great film, and she was superb in the movie. Here she kind of plays the same type of character, just a little more bad ass. She knows how to carefully display the proper emotions necessary for her character. Unlike that dreadful Kristen Steward from Twilight who it seems to hurt her to crack a smile. It's just so awesome to see this beautiful young girl carry a role like this. I could not see this movie being as good if Jennifer Lawrence was not playing our hero. She is in nearly every moment of the film and every other actor is a supporting character. Josh Hutcherson (Zathura, Journey to the Center of the Earth) has turned into quite a good young actor and was a wonderful romantic balance to Lawrence. Elizabeth Banks was in this film...and was barely recognizable. Just wanted to point that out.

The movie is not a romantic film if you are wondering that. That's where I hear a lot of comparisons to Twilight. This is a story of survival. A fight to live through a horrible experience. The romance in the film between Lawrence and Hutcherson is subtle when compared to the harshness of the rest of the story. It only fully blossoms in the later parts of the movie and never overtakes the film like those silly Twilight films. The Hunger Games is my favorite movie so far this year. I know it's still early, but this was a brave story to showcase on the big screen. The dark look into how we crave that reality television and people butchering each other on our TV's was pretty spectacular. The film was lead by solid performances and breath taking direction. It is the must see movie right now. Just be careful taking your younger children to it, because it can be a tad bit disturbing.

What an awesome freaking movie this was. I cannot wait for the inevitable sequel.

Favorite Movie Trailers: Funny Games

One of my favorite movie trailers EVER!



Funny Games US. Starring Naomi Watts and Michael Pitt. Classic film! GREAT Trailer!

The Hunger Games Weekend

Ok so I've never read the book, but I've heard it's quite spectacular. Now the movie came out this weekend and I fully expect to go see it. When I review the movie, just keep in mind I'm basing my opinion off the movie only, as I don't have the book to go off of. So no snobby remarks about how I don't know anything until I read the book and blah blah blah.

The movie looks pretty awesome on it's own, and Jennifer Lawrence is a pretty darn good actress. So all things look to lead up to a great movie experience. It's 2 1/2 freaking hours long, which is perfect because I love long movies. I'm just not to sure what to expect from it. Is it an action packed thrill a minute film or is it more like those silly Twilight movies. From what I've heard...nothing like Twilight. Which is good, because those movies are just plain awful.

At any rate, I just wanted to blog something tonight, just a random thought I guess. Kind of a pointless blog. Can't wait to see the movie though, hope it's epic! Stay tuned for my Hunger Games review!!!

Teenage Mutant, Er, Alien Ninja Turtles?

Earlier this year it was reported that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were getting a reboot movie. The turtles (Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo and Rafael) have been around since the 80's. I remember them primarily for the 3 live action films in the early 90's. My favorite being Secret of the Ooze. I wasn't to big of a fan of the one where they time travel to Japan. The series started as a black and white comic book series in 1984 then became a hit animated series in 1987. We got a CGI version a few years back that completely bombed. So now Michael Bay has his hands on the project for a reboot. And we all know how he likes to be a little flashy with his films. I expect it to be loud and explosive! However, I don't know if he plans for the movie to be live action (which would be my preference) or will he go back to the CGI/Animation route?

The biggest story for the film came out a week ago and has caused an uproar for the turtle enthusiasts. Michael Bay announced that our pizza loving, sewer living friends won't in fact have a mutant background. In fact he says, they will be aliens. This totally throws everything up on it's ass because the whole concept of the teenage MUTANT ninja turtles is that they are mutated beings created from the secret ooze. Having their origin story come from outer space changes a lot about what we love about the turtles. Why does Michael Bay have to make everything come from space? And why does he have to eff things up? Don't fix what isn't broken. It's fine that you want to reboot the series, we all just have to accept the fact that that's what kind of cinema Hollywood is chugging out these days. But don't tinker with crap that doesn't need tinkering. Does this mean Splinter is from space too?

I don't know. I just wanted to chime in and agree with the haters on this move. I'm not a turtle fan for life or anything, but I rather enjoy them. So to see it get the Michael Bay treatment is kind of sad. I guess time will tell to see how it will turn out. I foresee a Transformers 2 disaster.

The movie is scheduled for a December 25th, 2013 release.

**Update** The movie will be titled "Ninja Turtles". A lot of fanboys are loosing their cool over this title change, because they thing they are moving away from them being teenagers. However, Michael Bay confirmed that they will still be very much like teenagers. I don't care about the title change, that's a silly thing to freak out over. It's a reboot, so it has to differentiate from the previous films. Most reboots do this. I also saw that the film will be a live action movie, which is awesome! I wasn't sure if wanted to see an animated or CGI version of the film. Also, it was reported that one of the original creators of the Turtles is assisting with crafting the screenplay. So it appears to be in good hands folks. Let's just wait to see how it turns out. OK?**END UPDATE**

New on DVD: Carnage (2011)

My Grade for the Film: A-

"Carnage" was originally released in theaters on December 16th, 2011 in limited release. It got a wider release in January. It was nominated for two Golden Globes: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Comedy) for both Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet. It received a 71% Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the consensus was:

"It isn't as compelling on the screen as it was on the stage, but Carnage makes up for its flaws with Polanski's smooth direction and assured performances from Winslet and Foster."

The movie is about two sets of parents who are politely discussing a fight their children had, where one of the kids teeth got knocked out by the other. At first they calmly come to an understanding and will have the one kid apologize to the other. Then very slowly, and quite brilliantly, the calm demeanour turns into slight piturbment, then into utter chaos. It no longer is about their children fighting but becomes a 4 way battle into madness as each person points out the other's flaws. They slowly become the fighting children they are there to discuss. In a way, they turn out to be worse then the kids.

The movie stars Academy Award Winner Kate Winslet (The Reader, Titanic), Academy Award Winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Bastards), Academy Award Winner Jodie Foster (Silence of the Lambs) and Academy Award Nominee John C. Reily (Chicago) and is Directed by Academy Award Winner Roman Polanski (The Pianist). The cast here is what makes this movie as good as it is. The story is really good, and has some solid writing as well. But it's the performances that make this movie so damn good. Mainly Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster who are so fantastic at playing crazy and people who are on the edge. Winslet is one of my favorite actresses and holy hell is she awesome in Carnage. Foster hasn't really been around for a while, but she balances so perfectly with Winslet. The men are the more calm ones throughout the film, but they are both really funny.

The whole movie takes place in one room as well. It's based off a play where they also remained in one set, which is a New York apartment building. They venture into the hallway a few times, but arguments ensue and they get dragged back into the apartment. This kind of adds to the tension for the audience, at least it did for me. Kind of makes you feel a bit claustrophobic. Anyway, Carnage is a wonderfully funny movie that is sure to provide a good night of entertainment! It's only 1 Hour 20 Minutes and is now available on DVD. Check it out!

TV Recap: Community (03/22/2012)

So NBC's Community finally came back on last Thursday, and I neglected to write about it. Truth is, last week's episode was not all that special. Honestly I was a bit disappointed by it, as were a lot of fans. It wasn't that strong comeback people were hoping for. There was a lot of hype (including from me) during it's "off season"  trying to get more and more people to tune in. Now, if new people were chiming into the show last week for the first time...they would probably call us all crazy and delusional for liking such a show. Don't get me wrong, it had it's moments, but it didn't feel like "Community" and was a bad sample for newbies. It focused a lot on Shirley, and no offense to the actress, but she doesn't make a very amusing storyline. The bright spot for the show however, was that it raked in a season high 5 million + viewers. This was probably due to the fact that no one watches American Idol anymore and The Big Bang Theory was airing a repeat.

I was hoping this week would be better, and it was, it really freaking was. It went back to that quirky Community we all know and love. An episode that focused on the whole cast, which are usually the better episodes. This one was about the gang being invited to a bar mitzvah by a top notch entertainment impressionist, played by French Stuart (3rd Rock From the Sun) who wasn't actually playing French Stuart, just someone who looked a lot like him. Get it? Good. Abed owes a debt to this guy because during their break he hired a bunch of impressionists to re-enact scenes from movies...in classic Abed style. Troy gets the group together to work at this bar mitzvah as impressionists to pay back the debt. Troy plays a young Michael Jackson; Britta plays a post surgery Michael Jackson (HA HA!); Abed plays Jamie Lee Curtis (hilarious!); Shirley plays Oprah (of course); Annie plays Judy Garland; Pierce tries to play Burt Reynolds, but can only pass as a fat Marlon Brando and Jeff plays Ryan Seacrest.

While all this is going on, Jeff has seen a shrink who has prescribed him medication to be more care free and not be so egotistical. Much to Britta's disapproval. She believes he needs his giant ego to function and the meds will cause his ego to explode and he will go insane. So at the party, he is constantly confronted by women saying he's a more handsome version of Ryan Seacrest (the two of them have a comical rivalry on the E! Network). This of course causes an inner and hilarious struggle for Jeff who ends up going all Hulk at the party and stealing a trophy away from boy the bar mitzvah is for. In a side story Chang is told by the Dean that he can hire some students to be his security staff and give them college credits. So in Chang fashion...he enlists a couple of young teen boys.

This episode was miles funnier than last weeks. I don't know what happened last Thursday, but every show is entitled to have their off weeks. But last night was hysterical. I love the idea that Britta looked like a post black Michael Jackson. Now that we are back on track, I can't wait for next week! The sad part though...last nights rating dipped back below 4 million. Ratings in the 3 million is not good folks. Not good at all. I can't see the show surviving much longer. I hope I'm wrong though. It was the most watched comedy on NBC last night though. So that's good right?

New Series Review: Fox's "Touch"

Kiefer Sutherland (24) is back! Except this time around he is significantly toned down from his Jack Bauer days. A month or two ago, Fox debuted his new drama, "Touch" as a sneak peek and I thought it was a pretty decent show and would check it out when it officially started airing. They replayed the premiere episode last week and then last night we got a new episode. It opened to a little under 12 million viewers, which is pretty good. Especially for Fox. The show also stars David Mazouz, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Danny Glover.

Official summary of the show: Martin Bohm is a widower and single father who is haunted by an inability to connect to his emotionally challenged 11-year-old son Jake. But when Martin discovers that Jake can predict events before they happen, everything changes. It's not really an action packed story, the events unfold slowly and finally connect at the end. It's more of a moving and "touching" story based show than it is Kiefer trying to prevent traumatic events that will cause the end of the world. This is a show about human connections and the bigger picture of our existence. It's about connecting estranged fathers and daughters, giving a son closure after his fathers death. Stuff like that. So if you are looking for suspense, I'm guessing you won't find much with "Touch". Ha, I'm a poet.



The show is not an original concept by any means. Shows like "Early Edition", "Tru Calling", and "Journeyman" and movies like "Knowing" (A horrible movie in my opinion). However, "Touch" doesn't really have the supernatural elements like those other shows do. There is no time travel involved, or mysterious newspapers that predict specific upcoming events. This about a young autistic boy who sees the universe at it's finest through numbers. So while it still definitely has moments of "unrealism" (blah blah, who cares!?), it's still fairly grounded in reality. You can nit pick all you want about how shows and movies are unrealistic, by then why are you even bothering watching this stuff?

I don't think "Touch" is a perfect television show. I think it could benefit from slightly better writing. Some of the story lines so far are a bit cliched and end predictably. Last night, I thought it was pretty obvious that the woman from the airport was the daughter of the dying man from the pawn shop and that they would be re-connected in the end. Also, the stories per each episode seem to be crowded with to much going on and to many characters. There has got to be a simpler way of reaching the point in the end. But then again, the concept of the show isn't a simple one. The dialog at times is also a bit cheesy and occasionally seems silly. The other issue I have is actually Kiefer Sutherland. I feel like him transitioning from the bad ass Jack Bauer to this more controlled loving father isn't coming off so well. He seems to whisper a lot of his lines and always sounds out of breath. He's good on the show overall, he just seems out of his element. Maybe in due time he will get better.

I know that probably sounds like I don't like the show, but actually I do. I think it's quite a beautiful show, at least the concept is. The story may be jam packed, but ultimately it's quite moving and I think it tells a fantastic message. It stretches the globe, so it's not stuck in just New York, which I enjoy. I'm wondering if this boy has a much larger role to play in the universe or is he just here to connect individuals? Or will he one day stop a horrific event that could have killed thousands? I guess we will see. I can see this show lasting a while, as long as Fox doesn't cancel it or move it to Friday nights (the doomsday spot for them).

"Touch" airs Thursday nights on FOX.

Update on Potential Season 2 of "The River"

So while show runners of the horror show from Oren Peli and Steven Spielberg, The River, are awaiting cancellation or renewal from ABC, there may be some good news. In news posted today, Netflix is currently in negotiations to bring the struggling show to them.

The River never picked up a solid audience. It averaged roughly 4 million viewers per episode. And only 1.8 million in the key 18-49 demographic. Those are pretty horrible numbers for a network TV show if you were wondering. Leslie Hope, who plays Tess on the River stated that there is lots more story to tell on the show should it continue. She also said that if renewed, they would more than likely do another 8 episode season. The River is a found footage show that takes place on the Amazon River where a reality show TV crew searches for a mission beloved TV host who went missing 6 months prior. They encounter strange creatures and witness "magic" at it finest. It's a pretty creepy show.

Right now, the show is only in talks with Netflix, so nothing is set in stone. But it's good news they are in talks with them even before the show is officially cancelled. Netflix is also said to be in talks with the producers of the recently cancelled Fox series "Terra Nova". If I had to choose between The River and Terra Nova to be picked up by Netflix...I'd go with "The River". Overall, it was a much better show and had more potential to stretch over many seasons.

So keep your fingers crossed folks...we may see more of The River after all.

"24": The Film Update

Just a brief report:

It was announced today that the "24" is not completely scrapped. The film was recently pulled for budgetary reasons. It was reported that the studio wanted to spend no more than $30 million on the film, but the movie's producers were estimating it to be upwards of $40 million. When the original news broke, Kiefer Sutherland, star and producer or both TV show and film, was furious. He poured his soul into the role of Jack Bauer so it would be reasonable for him to be upset about them pulling the film.

Well it was said this morning that the "24" film IS still on the schedule but now not until next year. They plan to hire a new writer to do a rewrite on the script. Apparently Sutherland has made peace with Fox and will continue to film their current show, "Touch" (airing tonight on Fox).

So it looks like there is still hope for Jack Bauer to be revived on screen and murder some bitches. You don't want to cross Bauer for to long...he'll cut you.

Wednesday Night TV Recap: Survivor - Colton's Demise

Ladies and gentleman, the witch...is dead. Or is it the bitch? Let's go with both. Colton Crumbie, quite possible the worst person in the world, and easily one of the worst people to ever play Survivor met his end last night. More than half way into the episode, Colton started to complain of head aches and severe stomach pains. Christina comforts him, even though she should have let him suffer (given the way he treated her) and in swoops Tarzan to diagnose Colton. Tarzan, the old man who clearly suffered from dementia and can't think a clear thought for himself, became a doctor last night. Thanks anyway Tarzan, but they had to call in the real medical team to which they pre-diagnosed Colton with appendicitis and he was pulled from the game...permanently. I was a bit sad that we as an audience did not get the satisfaction of him being "blindsided" and voted off the game like a real man, ha. Oh well though, it was still nice seeing him in pain and the phrase "Karma is a Bitch" really, really applied last night to him. Sorry if any of that sounded terrible, but he was so cruel and heartless that it was nice to see.

Before all of this though, Colton gave us one more glimpse into his little she-devil heart. And before he went out, a new villain rose from the ashes in the form of Alicia. She was already a bitch before this episode, but she went from bitch to Satan's lover. I'd like to mention that she is labeled on the show as a "Special Ed Teacher". If her students and school are watching this season, I'd have her fired immediately. She is leading a nasty, despicable influence to her kids. The episode started off with Colton and Alica (who feel they have this game in the palm of their hands) bullying poor Christina. Telling her to her face "You're the next one gone, who cares about you" and "even if we merge, no matter what you are out of here first so don't even try". Later in the episode that said to her "You can either quit, wait to be voted out in 2 days, or jump in that fire." They bullied they living hell out of that poor girl and she just took it for the most part. I never understood why everyone has this hatred towards Christina...she's done nothing wrong. Sure, she's not much help in challenges but she helps out around camp a lot. She's a nice enough girl who doesn't really cause any problems. But Alicia simply hates her and that fueled Colton's hatred too. Then Tarzan got in on the action and he told Christina "You would not be friend on the outside, but everyone else would be". I think he's blindly following whoever he thinks is the head honcho.



Even at their reward challenge they were treating her like crap. Yes, I know, she didn't do a damn thing at the challenge, she missed the targets by a mile. But only with her, whenever she ran back Colton would scream at her "RUN!!!" and called her something like a "stupid fu**ing idiot". Funny thing is, Colton missed the targets just as bad and did nothing to contribute. Alicia was even worse! She could barely throw the coconut to the launch pad thing. She sucked! Best part was Jeff mocking her saying that his young nephew can throw better than her. It was so awesome to hear him ripping her apart. But it was Christina who got blamed...of course. It's not enough that Colton and Alicia know they are in control of their tribe, but do they have to be such dicks about it? Christina was trying to strategize with Jonas and Leif and said Alicia should go, and Alica was standing there the whole time. She did the whole slow clap thing and then ripped Christina apart again saying "You suck at this game, that's it girl, your done!". I hate her almost as much as Colton.

But then Colton got medevaced and that changed Alicia's game drastically. Best part about it, was that Colton kept his immunity idol as a souvenir and left Alicia in the cold. She was pissed about it, and I thought it was hilarious. She betrayed the women last week with the idea that she and Colton now were running the show and had an idol...but that's all out the window now. But I have this sick feeling that she will bully her way in to lasting longer in the game. One asshole dies and a new one is born all in the same episode. I just sometimes don't get how these people think sometimes. Why would this group of misfits follow these worthless, cruel pieces of crap? Why do none of them stand up for themselves and take the bull by the horn? Well now with Colton gone maybe the curse he had placed over everyone will be lifted.

Both tribes ended up going to tribal council and both sides were scheming because they weren't sure what was going to happen. They didn't do an immunity challenge so they were all freaking out figuring out who to vote out. But when they got there, all Jeff did was announce that Colton was officially gone and no one else would be voted off tonight. A slightly boring conversation ensued and Jeff ended it by saying those famous words "Drop your buffs, you are merging". Interesting part about the merge is they are back to where they started. Equally divided: 6 men, 6 women. So it could actually prove to be an interesting storyline next episode to see who flips. I just hope they don't go the easy route and vote out Christina. They need to eliminate someone like Alicia. A girl who clearly has power and influence. She's also a loose cannon and just a terrible person to be around. But on the flip side, keeping her could be beneficial. There's no way in hell she can win this season now as she has pissed off people and alienated several others. So keeping her to the final 3 would probably favor the other 2 to a better chance of winning. But I still hope she gets the boot really really soon. She will make every episode unbearable to watch if she's still around. God...what if Colton didn't go home...I shiver to think of how that would have continued to play out.

Once Alicia and Tarzan are gone...I will be much happier with the remaining cast. But no one else remaining pisses me off more than those two. Man, this season has been full of nasty ass people. But there are some decent/good ones developing. There are a few people now to root for, so I'm happy about that. Ugh, this season has just been a giant stress ball!

 

Survivor: One World - Colton The Asshole

Colton Crumbie is a cast member of this current season of Survivor: One World. He is arguably the worst human being to ever play this game, and one of the worst human beings in existence on this planet. Here are some snippets of his amazing work on this season so far.

A montage of Colton being an asshole on Survivor.
Colton nearly drowned by his fellow Survivors...HA!
AND HIS SHINING MOMENT: Colton a Racist? Just a biggot? Or just a stupid piece of crap asshole?

I hate Colton with a passion. And I know that sounds awful...but...you just don't understand if you don't watch the show. UGH!

"Dark Shadows" Theatrical Trailer!

Trailer for the new Johnny Depp film, "Dark Shadows". Looks pretty cool, I'll go see it!!



Dark Shadows will be released May 11th, 2012.

ABC's "The River": Season or Series Finale?

Well last night ABC aired the final episode of the first season of The River. The episode was right up there with the past few episodes. It just got better from week to week, and last night of course ended with a cliffhanger. Last week they found Dr. Emmet Cole wrapped up in a cocoon on some medical base, and this week he's up and running on the Magus, healthy as a clam. The crew are wanting answers, but he's hesitant to really speak about his journey and his motives for venturing out here to begin with. As Emmet is trying to reconnect with his son, a mysterious gun shot is fired and Lincoln pushes Emmet out of the way and takes a bullet to the neck and dies. I was a bit taken aback at first, but the I remembered what show I was watching. Within the first 20 minutes, he was dead and then resurrected by a demon.

The episode itself was probably the most intense one of the season. It pretty much focused on Lincoln and him being possessed by this demon and wreaking havoc. We learn that it was Jonas (the cameraman who was left for dead by Emmet previously) who attempted to kill Emmet but shot Lincoln instead. So the demon Lincoln slashes his throat and kills him. I don't think he'll be brought back anytime soon. We also learn that Kurt definitely has some hidden agenda and he has met this demon before. But we do not get the full back story to Kurt. It's also revealed that AJ, the other cameraman is gay. Kind of a random plot point, but whatever. A good chunk of the second half of the show focused on Emmet and Lena trying to rid the demon from Lincoln. That demon said some pretty nasty things and was fairly creepy. He made "Row Your Boat" one of the freakiest songs of all time now.

Well by the end of the episode, all seemed to be well. The demon left Lincoln and father and son had a nice bonding moment. No one really seemed to care that Jonas was dead. For that matter, no one even seemed to acknowledge the fact that Rabbit was mauled to death last week. I guess this show doesn't seemed to recognize the fallen very well. As to be expected though, the episode ended with a cliffhanger. The crew was happy as can be because they were finally out of the treacherous, ghost and monster filled waters and were going home. Or so they thought. They have one of those cool mini helicopter cameras so they can get high shots and they used it to see why their helicopter was not there. The camera pans up to reveal the river was literally re-shaping itself and closing them on. So mysterious force was blocking them in and the last line of the show "the river, it's not going to let us go"....then...boom...cut to credits. Total cliffhanger, and what are the odds we will find out what happens??

Well the odds are probably slim to nil. In fact I can probably almost guarantee there is a 0% chance we will not get a season two. The River is ABC's lowest rated drama. Other than the premiere night which started with 10 million the first hour than about 7 million the second hour, the average weekly ratings for the show teetered around 4 million. From what I understand, and this is no official, I read that last night's finale dipped under 4 million viewers. Folks, for a Network show, ratings in the 3 millions means that show is dead in the water. Unless ABC feels a tickle in their heart, there is literally no way The River will be back for season two. So for all intensive purposes...we watched the series finale last night, not the season.

Which really sucks, because I really enjoyed this show. It was cool and unique. But it just didn't get the pre-season advertising push that it should have received. I don't really know why else this show didn't average a steady 10 million viewers each week. I mean a show like The Walking Dead (another show about the other worldly) gets more viewers and it's on a PAID cable channel. So clearly people eat shows about the supernatural up, so I can't explain why The River wasn't a hit. But the sad truth is we probably won't get to see what happens to the crew of the Magus. They will be stuck in that river for all of TV eternity. We will never have answers to the mystery surrounding Emmet Cole. We will never know exactly why he was in a freaking cocoon. We won't know why there are now zombies all over the place. And we won't get to find out what that damn source was all about. Again, it's not officially cancelled, and I like to remain optimistic, but I can't foresee this show being renewed. Damn shame I tell ya.

Oh well, on to the next.