Monday, November 29, 2010

The Lovely Bones and The Killer Inside Me

Caught up on a lot of tivo viewing over the turkey day break. I've been watching Real Housewives of BEVER-freaking-LY HILLS ... wow, what a trainwreck that show is and it's because of one person ... Camille soon to be ex wife of Kelsey Grammer ... that woman, seriously, is the most unintelligent person on the entire series. She makes KellyHIEEEE on NYC look like a rocket scientist. Methinks she wanted to do the show to puff herself up and then garner sympathy in the wake of Kelsey dumping her stupid keester and it's backfiring! She gets no sympathy from anyone ... she's an insult to the female species.

Celebrity Ghost Stories ... watched it on a fluke and it's awesome! Who knew I'd get caught up in these celebrities talking about their experience with the other side? Who knows if it's even real, they are actors afterall, but it's still so stinking interesting! My favorites so far are Diane Ladd, Daryl Hannah and Connie Stevens. Marilyn Manson and Michael Rappaport's are also very cool. Great show.

And on my Michael Winterbottom fix .. sigh ... blech ... The Killer Inside Me. Can't decide if it's the subject matter or the inherent creepiness of Casey Affleck. Thought he was great in Jesse James, stole the show in fact, but in this one, yuck ... just too creepy. Wish they could have cast someone else in his role. I guess the one thing I couldn't get was the dialogue ... oh the mumbling! God, it's annoying! I couldn't keep anyone straight because whenever someone was explaining why someone was doing what to whom,I missed it. In any event ... Winterbottom, this movie SUCKED. You're lucky I saw The Shock Doctrine a week earlier because I still have faith in you.

The Lovely Bones. Still marinating ... it was good, great? I'm glad that Peter Jackson lightened up on how Susie died and didn't really show it. The scenery was magnificent. Stanley Tucci really took a risk with his character and he really pulled it off. It made me hopeful that there's more to life after we leave earth. It liked it a lot better than that Robin Williams movie about death and dying ... What Dreams May Come? Yea, that one ... definitely better than that. The girl who played Susie was magnificent. Hope to see her more! She has the most piercing blue eyes I've ever seen.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Undeclared

Since I've now watched the entirety of Freaks and Geeks, I'm now watching Undeclared ... the next Apatow television effort. It's nowhere near as good as freaks and geeks. The casting sucks!!!!! Ugh, the main guy is awful, the main girl is equally awful ... the only decent casting call was Seth Rogen's character and this show is beneath him. Glad it only lasted 17 episodes.

Raising Hope is still the best comedy on tv this year. I'm growing bored with Modern Family and I can't place my finger on why I feel that way. It's still funny ... but it's so contrived I guess. The newness is gone and it's just a routine show now. Snoozer.

Watched a Michael Winterbottom documentary called The Shock Doctrine. For the first time in my life, I'm not very happy with the University of Chicago ... wow ... Milton Friedman is evil incarnate. And he's so damn smug about it. Oh well, I guess I'd be smug too if I could go around screwing up latin america and then deny deny deny and get the freaking Nobel Prize for the screwy ideas that are in your head. Now I understand why Henry Kissinger can't travel to many countries in Latin America ... with good reason!!!! Thank you Michael Winterbottom!

In Treatment ... The Walking Dead ... Boardwalk Empire ... all plugging along. I wish that Boardwalk Empire would just end already! The Walking Dead is decent ... getting boring .. can only watch so much of the same old same old .. oh yea, more close up shots of zombies eating guts ... uh oh .. there's another one getting it's head blown off ... sad when we get desensitized. In Treatment is kind of boring this year. I'm on week 4 and I'm still waiting for something meaty. This may be it for this series.

The Big C was fabulous! The season finale was surprising and I'm glad they have re-uped for another season!

Bored To Death ended and the finale seemed to be a series ender, which made me sad because this season was hilarious. It really found it's groove. I read that there will be a third season .. yea!

Eastbound and Down wasn't long enough. The story concluded and I got a really cool song to download to my ipod called "He's Alright" by Kurt Vile.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Cadillac Records

Watched this film and 2 days later decided it sucked. Well it didn't totally suck. Any scene with Adrien Brody sucked because his character, Leonard Chess, founder of the great Chess Records in Chicago, was totally fabricated.

I will say, Jeffrey Wright is one of the most underappreciated actors in our time. The guy played Muddy Waters so amazingly well. Heck even Beyonce was passable as Etta James. Take Brody's character out, and you have one of the finest movies about the foundation of the Chicago Blues scene ever made.

Been watched Celebrity Ghost Stories and I'm hooked. The whole concept is corny .... celebrities from A-listers (Chazz Palminterri) to no-listers (Don Most)talk about their paranormal experiences and they are fascinating. Vince Neil's visitation by his 4 year old daughter was particularly heartbreaking, yet heartwarming.

Oh ... my ... gosh ... Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Doh! Camille Donatacci ... soon to be Kelsey Grammer's ex wife is one of the dumbest people breathing air right now. Seriously ... wow ... can't even begin to express what a vapid famewhore she is. And I come to find out that Kelsey didn't have a prenup with her ... dude! The other wives are cake compared that this pelletheaded simpleton. It's not even worth going into the rest of them ... well, there's a Maloof woman ... owns crap all over the place. Then there's this carp mouthed wannabe... Taylor ... yuck ... and then former child stars, Kim and Kyle Richards who are the Hilton sister's aunts ... woooooooo!!!! Kyle's pretty cool, she's probably the best looking of every housewife in the entire franchise. But this is DingDongatacci's show .. wow ..

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Cloverfield

Watched it a couple days ago, thinking it was going to be some cheesy Blair Witch ripoff ... I didn't think it was. In fact, I dowright liked it ... A LOT! That monster was an effer! Wow. And when Lizzy Caplan blew up ... yow! That was really gross. I guess you could say this film is begging for a sequel and I hope they don't do it. The other thing that bothered me was the location. I wonder how people in NYC received it, given this was a post 9-11 movie. Did they really need to see their city under attack again? But, since I'm not in NYC ... I liked it.

Raising Hope is the funniest new tv show. Hands down. It's more realistic to The Middle than The Middle. The only reason I watch that show anymore is because of Atticus Shaeffer. He's great. They are making Patricia Heaton's character more dull and desperate. And again ... they don't sound like Southern Indiana people at all!

The Big C was a real bummer this week. I can't believe Marlene killed herself :( That was so very sad. I loved her character. The show won't be the same without her.

And anytime they want to kill off Running Wilde ... please do it quickly. Ugh ... so bad, so bad.

In Treatment started up again. As usual, it sucks until week 3. This is week 3. He has a new therapist and I'm as frustrated with her as Paul is. I have to wonder why he keeps going back. She's not babying him like Gina did.

Starting to watch Infernal Affairs. It's the movie that Scorcese remade into The Departed. So far, the original is terrific. It's really too bad that reading puts me to sleep so quickly. It will take me month to get through it.