That's right folks, it's back! Time to strap yourselves in for three months of ridiculous hyperbole, pointless game twists, needless backbiting and entertaining scream fights. Our favorite display of beautiful people thinking they're smart, smart people thinking they're crafty and crafty people misusing stupid lingo like "floaters", "backdoor", and "game play" has returned. And that means I will be writing at least three posts a week that none of my friends will even bother reading, yet I enjoy writing too much to give up. Now that Big Brother is back on summer has officially begun.
Per usual, this season of Big Brother is going to give us a new "twist" on the game we have come to love, coaches. Coaches are past house guests that are being brought back into the house not to compete but to "coach" players to victory. Let's start by counting our lucky stars that Big Brother spared us another three months of having to watch Rachel whine, bitch, cry, argue, make stupid comments, annoyingly laugh... I'm not sure how I feel about this obvious play by the producers to make sure old favorites get in the house without making it yet another all-star season, but I am happy, for the most part, with the people they brought back. Britney is one of my all time favorites, Mike is funny but I'm not sure how entertaining he will be without Dr. Will, Dan is vanilla, neither exciting or offensive. The only one I can't stand is Janelle, who I still contend was once a man. I'm not sure how the presence of these four will effect things, but something tells me that they will end up playing a bigger role in how things shake out then Julie led on last night.
It's hard to really comment on things after one episode. We haven't really gotten a feel for the players or the house dynamic, so most of what happened doesn't have much meaning to us viewers yet. The biggest stand out is obviously Willie Hantz, who is obviously coming in with a lot of baggage. I don't understand why Mike and Janelle were so scared of picking him for their team once they realized who he was. If I have three picks, why not make Hantz one of them? Yes, he may be kicked out quick, but if he is anything like his brother, there is also a chance that he lasts till the end. If he gets kicked out, you still have two other people in the game. And what does the "love of Dan's life" feel about him picking the two most attractive girls in the house over people with actual athletic ability. Dan picked a team that has no chance of winning a physical challenge all season. Of course that's assuming the coaches are stuck with this players the whole season, which the chances are very slim of happening. Big Brother will blast apart this format after three weeks or so.
All that being said, I think Britney has the strongest team with the best chance of having winner on it. My favorite team is Dan's for obvious reasons. Janelle's team appears to be the weakest, but then again, my opinions are totally biased.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Movie Review: Savages
Hit or miss, we've come to expect a message and a bit of heavy handedness from our Oliver Stone movies. You never really feel like you are just watching a beautifully shot, wonderfully acted piece of film, there is usually a lecture that goes along with it. While many Stone themes are present in his latest effort, the corruption of innocence, the loss of civility, the power of greed and fame, if you go into it expecting a deeper message you will be disappointed. Although at times it seems to be trying to make a bigger point, Savages is best enjoyed when seen as a early Tarantino action film. The ridiculous violence, the silly relationships and the over-the-top plot points screams more True Romance then Platoon. I'm not going to call Stone a hypocrite for making the type of movie that Natural Born Killers was trying to lampoon because ultimately it's a good looking piece of entertainment, but be warned, Savages is far from high art.
The credibility of the whole movie rests on the performance of Blake Lively, who guides and narrates us through the story, and that is where the movie falters. Her ridiculous voice over takes you out of the moment early on and leaves you wondering about the motives of the other protagonists. In a movie filled with wonderful performances, Del Toro is great as usual, Travolta is fantastic and Taylor Kitsch puts in his best effort to date, the most important one was horrible and because of that the film fails to reach the heights it's aiming for. Instead of feeling any sympathy for her plight or understanding of her boyfriends' devotion, all you feel is annoyance. The fact that Stone is a director with the unbelievable talent to pull a solid performance out of Salma Hayek, one of the most excruciating actresses in Hollywood, yet couldn't get anything close to passable from Lively doesn't say much for the young actress.
Once you get over Lively's stale performance, you are left with a solid piece of Hollywood escapism; a movie on a higher plane then Michael Bay's Tranformers but lower then Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter. I don't quite understand why Stone felt it needed a false ending, something that didn't feel genuine to the story being told, but by the time it got to that point my expectations of the movie were low enough not to be harmed. This isn't a great movie and most of it will be quickly forgotten, but, at the same time, it was worth the two plus hours I spent watching it.
The credibility of the whole movie rests on the performance of Blake Lively, who guides and narrates us through the story, and that is where the movie falters. Her ridiculous voice over takes you out of the moment early on and leaves you wondering about the motives of the other protagonists. In a movie filled with wonderful performances, Del Toro is great as usual, Travolta is fantastic and Taylor Kitsch puts in his best effort to date, the most important one was horrible and because of that the film fails to reach the heights it's aiming for. Instead of feeling any sympathy for her plight or understanding of her boyfriends' devotion, all you feel is annoyance. The fact that Stone is a director with the unbelievable talent to pull a solid performance out of Salma Hayek, one of the most excruciating actresses in Hollywood, yet couldn't get anything close to passable from Lively doesn't say much for the young actress.
Once you get over Lively's stale performance, you are left with a solid piece of Hollywood escapism; a movie on a higher plane then Michael Bay's Tranformers but lower then Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter. I don't quite understand why Stone felt it needed a false ending, something that didn't feel genuine to the story being told, but by the time it got to that point my expectations of the movie were low enough not to be harmed. This isn't a great movie and most of it will be quickly forgotten, but, at the same time, it was worth the two plus hours I spent watching it.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Reviewing The Previews 7/11
Time for another round of thoughts on some recent previews. Last time I probably should have defined my grading system, so here's how my letters break down...
F- I will never see this movie under any circumstances
D- I will never pay theater price to see this movie but may watch it on Netflix
C- I might pay to see this if nothing else is playing, if not I'll catch it on DVD
B- I am not sure excited, but I'll probably try to catch it in the theater
A- I'm all in
Here's this week's previews...
Alex Cross - D
Tyler Perry as a bad ass detective. Mathew Fox as a psychopathic killer. A movie franchise that has done nothing for me. I have little faith in the story being all that interesting and absolutely no faith in the lead's abilities to pull off their characters convincingly. All that adds up to me not caring at all.
The Bourne Legacy - C
Another preview that lost me with the name. I could not be more indifferent about a movie franchise then I am with the Jason Bourne movies. What makes it worse is that the Ludlam books are pretty amazing and the movie makers just slapped the name on the films without using anything from those books but the concept of a secret agent forgetting who he is. Not much seems to have changed now that we have moved beyond Ludlum's novels, as the preview has NOTHING to do with the book of the same name. Yet, I like Jeremy Renner and Ed Norton, so I'll probably end up seeing it at some point.
The Great Gatsby - C
10 seconds into this preview I thought to myself, "this looks like a Baz Luhrmann flick." And what do you know, it was. So, to say it will be a stylistic take on the novel looks to be an understatement. I'll out myself right now, I really didn't like this book when I read it in high school however blasphemous it may be to say. I probably should give it another try since it's considered such a classic, but my negative thoughts on the book make me not really care much about the movie. And as interesting as Luhrmann's movies are to watch, they really lack as far as everything else goes. I'm not as excited as most of America probably is to see this one.
The Man with the Iron Fists - B
The trailer started by flashing Quentin Tarantino's name across the screen, which got me all excited thinking it was Django Unchained. But then I realized it was brought to us by Tarantino, not written or directed by him, which lost my interest. Then I realized that it was a kung fu movie written by RZA and Eli Roth, which got me excited again. This movie is a total toss up. It could be a complete train wreck or it could be a lot of fun. Either way, I have a feeling it's going to be highly entertaining.
Argo - A
In all honesty, this movie had me at, directed by Ben Affleck. I have an unexplainable crush on the man which has forced me to make many an apology for enjoying more then one movie (seriously, Gigli isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be). Luckily, I haven't had to apologize for anything he's directed and this one isn't looking to be an exception. Great cast, interesting story. I'll be there with bells on.
F- I will never see this movie under any circumstances
D- I will never pay theater price to see this movie but may watch it on Netflix
C- I might pay to see this if nothing else is playing, if not I'll catch it on DVD
B- I am not sure excited, but I'll probably try to catch it in the theater
A- I'm all in
Here's this week's previews...
Alex Cross - D
Tyler Perry as a bad ass detective. Mathew Fox as a psychopathic killer. A movie franchise that has done nothing for me. I have little faith in the story being all that interesting and absolutely no faith in the lead's abilities to pull off their characters convincingly. All that adds up to me not caring at all.
The Bourne Legacy - C
Another preview that lost me with the name. I could not be more indifferent about a movie franchise then I am with the Jason Bourne movies. What makes it worse is that the Ludlam books are pretty amazing and the movie makers just slapped the name on the films without using anything from those books but the concept of a secret agent forgetting who he is. Not much seems to have changed now that we have moved beyond Ludlum's novels, as the preview has NOTHING to do with the book of the same name. Yet, I like Jeremy Renner and Ed Norton, so I'll probably end up seeing it at some point.
The Great Gatsby - C
10 seconds into this preview I thought to myself, "this looks like a Baz Luhrmann flick." And what do you know, it was. So, to say it will be a stylistic take on the novel looks to be an understatement. I'll out myself right now, I really didn't like this book when I read it in high school however blasphemous it may be to say. I probably should give it another try since it's considered such a classic, but my negative thoughts on the book make me not really care much about the movie. And as interesting as Luhrmann's movies are to watch, they really lack as far as everything else goes. I'm not as excited as most of America probably is to see this one.
The Man with the Iron Fists - B
The trailer started by flashing Quentin Tarantino's name across the screen, which got me all excited thinking it was Django Unchained. But then I realized it was brought to us by Tarantino, not written or directed by him, which lost my interest. Then I realized that it was a kung fu movie written by RZA and Eli Roth, which got me excited again. This movie is a total toss up. It could be a complete train wreck or it could be a lot of fun. Either way, I have a feeling it's going to be highly entertaining.
Argo - A
In all honesty, this movie had me at, directed by Ben Affleck. I have an unexplainable crush on the man which has forced me to make many an apology for enjoying more then one movie (seriously, Gigli isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be). Luckily, I haven't had to apologize for anything he's directed and this one isn't looking to be an exception. Great cast, interesting story. I'll be there with bells on.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Book Review: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (48 in 2012? #23)
It's been a few years since I read The Golden Compass, I book I enjoyed quite a bit. At that time I went into the series with a fresh mind; I hadn't heard of the book, it's author, or any controversy that may have come along with them. After reading the book and forming my own thoughts and opinions on the subjects brought up, I found out that the series was seen as an anti-religion story, something I didn't fully see. It obviously takes shots at certain ideas that come from religion including the church itself, but it never went as far as saying religion was evil itself and, in my mind, took just as much time taking shots at science. I felt the book was attacking power grabbers and dogma however those things manifest themselves. Of course there was always the chance of that point of view changing over the course of three books. Now that I am two books into the series, I still see it as an even attack on the extremes of both religion and science. To say after two books that Pullman is only attacking religion is reading his work looking for those attacks. There are characters who are just as evil in the world of science, who commit deeds just as horrible as those in the church. Criticizing the story as anti-religion is limiting the scope of the novel that Pullman has created and not giving him credit for creating a fully flushed out world.
As far as Pullman's writing goes, this is very much a young adult novel. In the years since reading The Golden Compass, I must have become more critical of writing styles, because I found The Subtle Knife much more juvenile in it's language and style then I remember The Golden Compass being. Pullman is not writing anywhere near the depth of character and story that Suzanne Collins did in her Hunger Games novels. This is very much the type of novel I would normally stay away from because it just wasn't written for me, it was clearly written for young teens.
Now that I have read two of three books in the series, I'm sure that I will finish it at some point, but I wouldn't recommend these books to adults. This is a young adult fantasy series written for young adults. Many of the themes are more mature then you would expect, but the language and style is much more suitable to younger readers. Pullman has created a wonderful world with fabulous characters, but I would leave these books for the kids.
As far as Pullman's writing goes, this is very much a young adult novel. In the years since reading The Golden Compass, I must have become more critical of writing styles, because I found The Subtle Knife much more juvenile in it's language and style then I remember The Golden Compass being. Pullman is not writing anywhere near the depth of character and story that Suzanne Collins did in her Hunger Games novels. This is very much the type of novel I would normally stay away from because it just wasn't written for me, it was clearly written for young teens.
Now that I have read two of three books in the series, I'm sure that I will finish it at some point, but I wouldn't recommend these books to adults. This is a young adult fantasy series written for young adults. Many of the themes are more mature then you would expect, but the language and style is much more suitable to younger readers. Pullman has created a wonderful world with fabulous characters, but I would leave these books for the kids.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Movie Review: Brave
All the publicity surrounding Pixar's new movie Brave dealt with the fact that it's the first Pixar movie with a female lead. As big a deal as the press made of this fact, it really isn't anything extraordinary since from their very first animated film Disney has consistently put women in the forefront. I know, even though Pixar works under the Disney umbrella there is a huge difference between a Disney animated film and a Pixar one, so to day that Disney has always had female main characters shouldn't be a credit to Pixar. And it isn't, but there is no way you can walk away from Brave and think of it as anything but a Disney movie. It felt nothing like what we have come to expect from Pixar and everything we have been conditioned to expect from Disney. Brave shares almost all it's narrative beats from your classic Disney films, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and had none of the funny, witty moments from the best of Pixar. While the focus of the story, the relationship between mother and daughter, is a departure from the Disney standard of relationship between father and daughter or evil stepmother and daughter, I couldn't help but feel I've seen this movie a hundred times.
That's not to say it was a bad movie. Although it lagged at points, it was a well told story that was able to both entertain and move it's audience. The relationship between the main character and her mother rang very true and set up some wonderfully moving moments. And as always, the animation was top notch. If there was one thing the movie lacked, it was laughs. Especially for a Pixar movie, there just wasn't any laugh out loud moments. It got a few chuckles from me, but there was still a glaring absence of the witty joke writing we have all come to expect from Pixar.
If you are going to see Brave because you are a huge Pixar fan and are looking for the standard Pixar fare, you should probably give this movie a pass. This is very much a movie is the classic Disney vain. It's a worthy offering and a well made movie, but a movie that belongs along side Snow White and The Little Mermaid and not Toy Story or The Incredibles.
That's not to say it was a bad movie. Although it lagged at points, it was a well told story that was able to both entertain and move it's audience. The relationship between the main character and her mother rang very true and set up some wonderfully moving moments. And as always, the animation was top notch. If there was one thing the movie lacked, it was laughs. Especially for a Pixar movie, there just wasn't any laugh out loud moments. It got a few chuckles from me, but there was still a glaring absence of the witty joke writing we have all come to expect from Pixar.
If you are going to see Brave because you are a huge Pixar fan and are looking for the standard Pixar fare, you should probably give this movie a pass. This is very much a movie is the classic Disney vain. It's a worthy offering and a well made movie, but a movie that belongs along side Snow White and The Little Mermaid and not Toy Story or The Incredibles.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Reviewing the Previews 7/4
Thanks to $5 Tuesdays at a couple of the local movie theaters, I have started seeing a bunch more movies in the theater. Since I've been spending more time in the theater I thought a fun new post would be reviewing the previews. I'm not sure how frequent a post it will be (is once a week to often to keep it interesting? is once a month to far apart?) but will try it out and see how it goes...
The Hobbit - D
I probably shouldn't be reviewing anything involved with Peter Jackson and J.R.R. Tolkien. Fair warning, I'm extremely biased at this point with my hatred of what Jackson did to my most beloved novels. If you ever want me to go off on an hour long rant all you have to do is make one of two comments: 1) Joe Montana was a better QB then Dan Marino. 2) Peter Jackson did a wonderful job translating the Lord of the Rings books into movies. I have very little faith that he will do much better with The Hobbit, so all this preview did was make me mad.
To Rome With Love - B
It's very rare of late for Woody Allen to put together two good movies. It feels like its only one out of every four or five is worth watching. So after last year's Midnight in Paris I figured it would be a few years before we saw a quality piece of work from the master. This preview seems to say other wise. Of course there is always the chance that the preview captured all the funny moments, but with someone like Allen I wouldn't think that would be the case. After seeing the preview, I'm looking forward to this one.
Monsters University - B+
Monsters Inc. was probably my least favorite Pixar movie, so the idea of a sequel does very little for me, but the preview before Brave was really funny. I still won't be running out to see this when it's in the theaters, but this first preview is worth checking out.
Pitch Perfect - A
Here's an example of a trailer that is good enough to get me to see a movie that you never would have been able to pull me into otherwise. If you told me you were making a movie about a bunch of college girls who put together an A Capella group to enter competitions, I would have laughed in your face and said "I've seen Glee, it sucks, no thank you." But the trailer is really funny, the cast is phenomenal and the music seems pretty good. This may be a case of all the good moments in the trailer, but it has me hooked.
Step Up Revolution - A+
This is the type of trailer that makes this kind of post fun and interesting. There is no way in hell I am ever going to see this movie, not in the theater, not DVD, not for free with a gun held to my head, yet the three or four minutes that this trailer runs is three or four minutes of genius. If I made a parody trailer it couldn't be as perfectly ridiculous as this one. It has what could easily be the trailer line of the summer... "Enough with performance art, it's time for protest art!" I almost fell out of my seat laughing. Please, stay far away from this movie, but by all means check out this horribly awesome trailer.
The Hobbit - D
I probably shouldn't be reviewing anything involved with Peter Jackson and J.R.R. Tolkien. Fair warning, I'm extremely biased at this point with my hatred of what Jackson did to my most beloved novels. If you ever want me to go off on an hour long rant all you have to do is make one of two comments: 1) Joe Montana was a better QB then Dan Marino. 2) Peter Jackson did a wonderful job translating the Lord of the Rings books into movies. I have very little faith that he will do much better with The Hobbit, so all this preview did was make me mad.
To Rome With Love - B
It's very rare of late for Woody Allen to put together two good movies. It feels like its only one out of every four or five is worth watching. So after last year's Midnight in Paris I figured it would be a few years before we saw a quality piece of work from the master. This preview seems to say other wise. Of course there is always the chance that the preview captured all the funny moments, but with someone like Allen I wouldn't think that would be the case. After seeing the preview, I'm looking forward to this one.
Monsters University - B+
Monsters Inc. was probably my least favorite Pixar movie, so the idea of a sequel does very little for me, but the preview before Brave was really funny. I still won't be running out to see this when it's in the theaters, but this first preview is worth checking out.
Pitch Perfect - A
Here's an example of a trailer that is good enough to get me to see a movie that you never would have been able to pull me into otherwise. If you told me you were making a movie about a bunch of college girls who put together an A Capella group to enter competitions, I would have laughed in your face and said "I've seen Glee, it sucks, no thank you." But the trailer is really funny, the cast is phenomenal and the music seems pretty good. This may be a case of all the good moments in the trailer, but it has me hooked.
Step Up Revolution - A+
This is the type of trailer that makes this kind of post fun and interesting. There is no way in hell I am ever going to see this movie, not in the theater, not DVD, not for free with a gun held to my head, yet the three or four minutes that this trailer runs is three or four minutes of genius. If I made a parody trailer it couldn't be as perfectly ridiculous as this one. It has what could easily be the trailer line of the summer... "Enough with performance art, it's time for protest art!" I almost fell out of my seat laughing. Please, stay far away from this movie, but by all means check out this horribly awesome trailer.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Book Review: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (48 in 2012? #22)
My new addiction to the TV show Psych is starting causing me to fall behind on my reading and writing. I have two books I've finished and need to write about and I've fallen behind the pace I need to get through 48 books. I also have three more seasons of Psych to get through, so chances are I'm going to fall even for behind before all is said and done. Damn my friend for insisting I go back and watch it. Damn Steve Franks for creating a clever, hilarious, incredibly addicting show. Damn Shawn Spencer for his snarky, pop culture referencing, crime solving. But anyway, back to books...
Storm of Swords is probably the best of the Song of Ice and Fire series that I have read so far, yet many of the problems that I had with the first two books continue to persist. Martin has created a wondrous world filled with deep and intriguing characters and tells a tale that forces you to tear through page after page, yet it never seems to quite satisfy. Many people laud Martin for creating a fantasy series that feels more real then most, a series that has proven that no character is safe from death and tribulation. But I feel all Martin has done is turn the fantasy genre on its head, not make it more real. In most fantasy stories the true and noble win out while the evil and wicked fall, but Martin seems to find pleasure in punishing the noble and putting the evil consistently on top. Granted, I'm only three books into what is supposed to be a seven book series, so there is still a chance that the characters we love will rise to victory over the ones we hate, but at the moment they just seem to be falling into deeper and deeper pits of despair, if they live at all, while the hated gain more and more power.
But even with all that despair and death, Storm of Swords was as intense and suspenseful a fantasy novel as I have ever read. Every one of the 1216 pages drips with intrigue, suspense, and eventful happenings, so much so you can't stop turning pages. It may be a book of enormous size, but it reads like something of much shorter length. Martin may have created a world where the good suffer great indignities, where the evil get to celebrate the spoils of their dispositions, where the perverse just to be perverse rules over all, but all that seems to add up to a great page turner.
I'm not sure where Martin is going with some of his storylines, the zombies are a plot point I'm very scared of (not scared of the horror, but scared of it being a stupid direction to be taking us), the fire religion seems to involve a bit more magic then I would like, but none of that took away from my enjoyment of this book. As much as I fear where things are headed, as much as I fear for the demise of every character that I like, as much as I dislike the spiral of despair Martin seems to be taking us down into, this was an excellent read. Storm of Swords is fantasy writing at its best and makes the reading of the first two books all that much more worth it. This may very well be the pinnacle of the series, and if that is so, it is still quite the high point and makes the series worth a read.
Storm of Swords is probably the best of the Song of Ice and Fire series that I have read so far, yet many of the problems that I had with the first two books continue to persist. Martin has created a wondrous world filled with deep and intriguing characters and tells a tale that forces you to tear through page after page, yet it never seems to quite satisfy. Many people laud Martin for creating a fantasy series that feels more real then most, a series that has proven that no character is safe from death and tribulation. But I feel all Martin has done is turn the fantasy genre on its head, not make it more real. In most fantasy stories the true and noble win out while the evil and wicked fall, but Martin seems to find pleasure in punishing the noble and putting the evil consistently on top. Granted, I'm only three books into what is supposed to be a seven book series, so there is still a chance that the characters we love will rise to victory over the ones we hate, but at the moment they just seem to be falling into deeper and deeper pits of despair, if they live at all, while the hated gain more and more power.
But even with all that despair and death, Storm of Swords was as intense and suspenseful a fantasy novel as I have ever read. Every one of the 1216 pages drips with intrigue, suspense, and eventful happenings, so much so you can't stop turning pages. It may be a book of enormous size, but it reads like something of much shorter length. Martin may have created a world where the good suffer great indignities, where the evil get to celebrate the spoils of their dispositions, where the perverse just to be perverse rules over all, but all that seems to add up to a great page turner.
I'm not sure where Martin is going with some of his storylines, the zombies are a plot point I'm very scared of (not scared of the horror, but scared of it being a stupid direction to be taking us), the fire religion seems to involve a bit more magic then I would like, but none of that took away from my enjoyment of this book. As much as I fear where things are headed, as much as I fear for the demise of every character that I like, as much as I dislike the spiral of despair Martin seems to be taking us down into, this was an excellent read. Storm of Swords is fantasy writing at its best and makes the reading of the first two books all that much more worth it. This may very well be the pinnacle of the series, and if that is so, it is still quite the high point and makes the series worth a read.
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