Comments Off
Archive for 2005In shocking news today I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was indicted for (among other things) perjury in the Plame Affair. One can only hope Karl “teflon” Rove’s liability shield (which I’m sure is extensive) will crumble under the newly expanded inquiry and pummellings by the oh so observent media. On the positive side at least Scooter had the good sense to resign when caught red-handed, unlike the other felons in waiting he hangs with… In other news of victories for the non-evil and unstupids - Harriet “the most qualified candidate ever” Miers withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court amidst waning (non-existant?) support from the left AND the right. I always chuckle when the right starts eating its own. When the Republicans are on their game they are legion - over-zealous, unbearably self-rightous and quite unstoppable. That is until one of their patriarchs puts his halfwit son on the throne and bones the lot of us for an indeterminant (and likely LOOOOOOONG) stretch of our collective future. The Democratic party is an apathetic mish-mash of ideals that only half the people believe half of the time. “We” nominate the lowest common denominator among us under the false hope that if we pick someone so mediocre that he could actually get elected. Fuck that noise. I want a candidate who will fight, tooth and bloody nail, for everything he believes in irrespective of how it “plays in the ‘burbs”. Energize the public! Don’t pander to some subsection. Don’t whore out your beliefs, your very soul, for a polling bump. Represent the best in all of us. Please. It’d be nice to go vote and not feel like I need a shower afterwards… Tags: mediocrity, politics, scooter libby
Drove over to the west si-eede Saturday for an UltraScreen presentation of Serenity. “Wow.” Let that be synonymous with whatever over-the-top expletive that tickeles your particular fancy. “Damn” is also acceptable. I won’t spoil anything in the plot, but I will say that the movie picks up a few months after the last episode of Firefly. Needless exposition is kept at the bare minimum, if you haven’t seen the show it shouldn’t be much of an issue. Except for the fact that your a complete gibbering idiot and should be lanced from the gene pool like an unsightly mole. The writing is pure Whedon, for better and worse. If you don’t read at the 11th grade level at the very least you probably won’t get some of the humor and may confuse that with an in-joke. You’d be wrong, of course, but you can refer to the mole initiative described above. Don’t misunderstand, there are some in-jokes, but that’s staple Whedon and quite frankly the fans and cast deserve at least SOME self-referential funnies. Screw the rest of you bastards. I’m not ashamed to say that more than once I was genuinely shocked, saddened and elated by this movie. Again, staple Whedon. When you write story and dialog with actual emotion in it you will evoke actual human emotion in your viewer. I know, crazy. Anywho, it’s currently sitting at a very solid 80% on Rotten Tomatoes with the entirety of the negative reviews being ridiculous in their stupidity. “It’s a TV show, ZOMG SUX!” … idiot. The other portion of the negative reviews cut out the middle-man and go straight for the “it’s a movie that GEEKS like” and therefore must suck. Yeah, keep spankin’ the monkey to mindless garbage like Desperate Housewives you mass-market douchebag. Bitter, table for me? Yeah, I suppose so. Serenity should never have existed. It should have been the second season of Firefly. Such is the curse of shows that expect the audience to be smarter than the average brook trout, or 3x smarter than the average Fox programming executive. update: 2nd place for the weekend, 10m vs Flight Plan’s 15. It showed on 1300 fewer theateres though, take that with a grain of salt. I’ll see it again next weekend, probably won’t drive back across town though. Stupid ghetto east-side
So time has like, passed and whatnot… My Name is Earl is off the DVR schedule. Sorry. Upcoming — Smallville starts tonight, Alias soon. huzzah, etc. Oh, and SERENITY. Tags: bones, e-ring, emily deschanel, how i met your mother, kelly rutherford, my name is earl, supernatural, television, the west wing, threat matrix, zooey deschanel
I’ve survived the opening slavos of fall premieres and damnation if there isn’t a crop of actual good shows! I can hardly believe it myself. How I Met Your Mother (new) Bones (new) Supernatural (new) Threshold (new) Prison Break (new) Gilmore Girls (returning) Arrested Development (returning) Family Guy (returning) American Dad (returning) Battlestar Galactica (returning) Stargate SG-1 (returning) I’m heading back to the nest for a DU dinner shortly so I’ll cut this off here. West Wing, CSI and a host of other premieres should hit between now and my next ramble. Enjoy! Tags: american dad, arrested development, battlestar galactica, bones, family guy, gilmore girls, how i met your mother, prison break, smallville, stargate, supernatural, television, threshold
It was too hot to do anything this weekend, so I cranked up the AC and watched the telly. Then I cranked up the AC in the car, sat in the glorious AC of the theater and watched a movie there. Back to the homestead, AC and more movies. Chuck and the Chocolate Factory was a fine summer movie. I doubt it’ll find a place on my DVD wall of hugeness. It is far, FAR less creepy than the hype would have you believe and quite frankly I don’t find that to be a good thing. The production was high-quality througout and Roald Dahl gave this movie his complete support. I’ve never read the book, so take that for what it’s worth… Shocker, Johnny Depp does a good job playing an eccentric, larger-than-life lunatic. On to the actual marathon… Tags: charlie and the chocolate factory, doogie howser, garden state, harold and kumar, johnny depp, movies, natalie portman, roald dahl, television, zack braff
Short version: zomgwtfbbq. Long version: zomgwtfbbq (times infinity) In all seriousness, great flic. I walked in with zero expectations or even hopes for the movie. But wow. I’ve never been a big FF fan, with the X4 mini and Ultimate FF runs being the only recent exceptions. The FF origin story was expertly told with very little meddling with canon. The cast melded perfectly and everyone played their roles with precision. Julian McMahon shows some serious acting chops as Doc Doom and Michael Chiklis captured the broody Thing persona as if he had lived the role his entire life. The article about him in a recent Maxim lends me to believe the nightmarish make-up ordeal he had to go through every morning for the part gave him no end of inspiration. They spared no expense making Sue Storm into a sexpot, but with Jessica Alba playing the part it’d be hard not to. Relative newcomer Chris Evans did a good job playing the Torch, the relationship between he and the Thing was executed well. Interesting how the two strongest performances came from the folks who have their own shows on FX… plug: Watch the Shield and nip/tuck or your life will indeed be forfeit. The movie is pretty predictable, but then again all comic movies should be given that they’re usually not original works to begin with. It’s not as if you didn’t know how Spider-Man would end. Marvel has definately set up another strong franchise. If they can figure out a way to bring FF-class baddies into a good story in the next movie remains to be seen, there’s only so many times you can dip into the Doom well, and I don’t think Galactus translates well to Joe Average. The movie is ridiculously funny, I can’t count how many times the entire theater burst into laughter at honest to goodness funny moments. Not *groan* how lame, or kick-in-the-nuts schlock either - Actual humor. Kudos to the writing staff and the actors for acing the execution. Oh, before I forget: They’re making a sequel to The Transporter… I’m not exactly sure what to make of that. Personally I enjoyed the first one, but I’m infamous for collecting shitty movies. The screenplay was written by Luc Beson. Which gives me hope as he did the original as well. Again - I liked the 5th Element too, so take that all with a heaping large grain of salt. Tags: fantastic four, marvel comics, movies
Is it just me or is Anna Nalick Sarah McLachlan: The Next Generation? I heard most of the album over the weekend, it’s quite good. Reminds me a lot of some of Sarah’s work in the 90’s. That’s a good thing for those of you keeping score at home. I have high hopes for this one, maybe she’ll succeed in not being a soulless corporate zombie longer than 1 whole album. She even looks sort of like Sarah. Eerie, but in a good way methinks. The first single is hitting the video channels now with a good reception, should start hearing it on Funny sidebar, whilst googling for the link to Michelle Branch above I came to the conclusion that she must have got bonked pretty hard from the entirely lackluster sophomore “effort” of hers last year. I get doing things for money and all that, but jebus girl, you actually have talent - you don’t NEED to go a-whoring. She’s now in a duo called The Wreckers with some blonde girl I’ve never heard of. Apropo title for certain, in a year they can change it to past-tense. Anywho, pick this one up if you can. It’s worth the 11$ or pir-8 liability if you are so inclined. postscript: I actually BOUGHT this CD. I know, how fucked up is that? The RIAA can thank Columbia and BestBuy, 9.99 for a DRM-free CD was cheaper than buying 11 tracks at .99 from iTunes and suffering through AAC bullshit. I’m playing the original CD in my car, it occupies slot number 4 in the changer. I am also playing the mp3’s from my desk right this second. Suck it. Suck it down. (i rule you) Tags: anna nalick, michelle branch, music, radio monopoly, sarah mclachlan
Alias was, bar-none, the best show on television this season. Disagree if you must, but that would make you an idiot. So don’t do it. Ass. The entire season, from start to finish, was an amazing arc with superior acting and writing. I just watched my DVR’d copy of the season finale and I’m still a bit hopped up. Lena Olin: You will guest star more often next season. Don’t question it woman, just do it. Without rehashing the last 5 hours of the show I will jsut say this: Next season is going to be amazing. Don’t change anything. I mean it, asswipes. CHANGE NOTHING. Tags: abc, alias, television
Enterprise has come and gone with narry a whimper, let alone a bang. Why a cast of that quality (regardless of fame) bothered to even make that show past season two is beyond me. Manny Coto and Mike Sussman should have been given full control a long time ago. In A Mirrior, Darkly was the best Trek I’ve seen since DS9. Empress Sato. EMPRESS FRICKING SATO. ‘nuf said, no? Note: Call me Linda, I <3 u. Tags: enterprise, linda park, manny coto, star trek, television, upn
|



Entries (RSS)