Quick Screening Reviews

One of the great things about living in Atlanta is the ability to catch some screenings of some movies and TV pilots before they come out. I've been incredibly lucky the last few weeks and have caught 6 screenings over the last two weeks and have another lined-up for this upcoming Tuesday. So I'll do a quick review of these movies and what I thought of them. I'll go in the order I saw them in:

'Smash' pilot: One of my stranger interests is that I really enjoy musicals. I even still watch 'Glee', which has been pretty awful in seasons 2 & 3. So when I heard NBC was taking a shot at a show about the back-stage workings of a Broadway musical, my interest was piqued. And I liked a lot of things about the pilot, but I do have a few concerns. Katherine McPhee as the Broadway newcomer was pretty awesome (and sounded amazing) and Debra Messing as the lead writer was quite interesting. The music sounded great and the choreography was quite good. But I'm not sure where the story goes over the course of the season and the "competition" between the two leads for Marilyn could get very annoying/cliched, very quickly. With all that said, I'm in and am hoping that it'll prove me wrong and become great.

'Act of Valor': Now this was an interesting experiment in movie casting. They used real life, active-duty Navy Seals to play themselves in what started out as a recruitment video and turned into a full-length feature film. I'm sure the Seals did their best (and for beginners, they weren't that bad), but no one will be seeing this for the acting. The live-fire and real tactics made the mission scenes look and feel awesome and authentic. The first mission in the jungle was really great, but the other two big missions didn't live up to the first one. They throw an emotional gut-punch in at the end that sorta works and reminded me of how much these guys give up to protect our freedom. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but it is memorable and is something that really made me think, which is all I can ask for from a movie.

'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close': When I first saw the trailer for this and heard what it was about, I was troubled. I've heard of other movies using 9/11 as a major plot point, but this was the first one I've seen that did. The kid in this movie was quite good and really portrayed how someone with Asperger's-like symptoms would have trouble accepting something like his father dying in the twin towers on 'the worst day.' The acting across the board was good and with actors like Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, you would expect no less. They obviously try to tug at the heart-stings and the scene towards the end with the mother really resonated with me and had me misting up a bit. I still don't know exactly how I feel about using 9/11 in this way, but this movie really worked and I felt the kid's pain as he tried to stay connected to his dad after his tragic death.

'Haywire': A vehicle to jump-start and showcase female MMA star Gina Carano, this movie was a pleasant surprise. I went in with low expectations, considering it was the first movie for this female action star, but the supporting cast including Ewan McGregor, Michale Fassbender, Antonio Banderas & Channing Tatum really worked well together. Carano was obviously great in the fight scenes and even showed some acting chops in the quiter scenes, but still had some moments where she was stilted and showed her inexperience. Instead of being a straight action flick, they worked an interesting spy/revenge angle that adds some interesting layers. While it won't win any awards, it's great at what it does and should launch Carano as THE female-action hero for the foreseeable future.

'Man on a Ledge': As a thriller/heist/revenge flick, this was quite good. Another movie that's not going to win any awards but is very good at what it does. Sam Worthington is almost riveting as the titular man on a ledge and Elizabeth Banks is almost convincing as an honest police negotiator, they have enough chemistry to keep it interesting. While the heist aspect was nothing very original and the supposed "twist" not at all surprising, it still entertained for the entire running time. Sometimes that's all one can expect from a movie with a title like this one.

'Red Tails': The final movie of my two week screening binge was unfortunately the worst. George Lucas' supposed "passion project", pretty much nothing worked outside of some impressive CGI. The characters are cliched card-board cutouts with no depth and surprisingly bad acting. Even big name stars like Terrance Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr, and numerous actors from my favorite TV series 'The Wire' can't elevate material that sounds like it was written by a high school student. The story of the Tuskegee airmen is one of heroes doing everything they can for a country that wants nothing to do with them and it deserves to be told and I'm afraid that this tragic mistake of a movie will forever prevent a true telling of this amazing story.

Well, I think that catches me up on everything I've seen over the last few weeks. I'm going to try to be more diligent in the future in getting my thoughts up here in a timely manner. If anyone is actually reading this, feel free to tell me how wrong or right you think I am. This is my first time trying anything like this, so I'd appreciate feedback from anyone.

Introduction to me- Part 2

Hello again everybody!

Yesterday I started my introduction with my 5 favorite movies of all-time, so today I will focus on my other favorite medium- TV and my top 5 television series of all time. But before I get to that list, I have to say a word about a new show that premiered the other night- 'Work It' on ABC. 'Work It' is a cross-dressing "comedy" that has been getting absolutely slammed by all of the major TV critics everywhere since it was screened before the fall season, but ABC still decided to air it. After seeing all these awful reviews, I had to watch it to see if it was truly as bad as they said and I was not disappointed it. The awful stereotypes, the vaguely racist and outright sexist lines that they tried to pass off as jokes were just outright embarrassing. I have no idea how a show like that even gets on the air, but I'm just hoping it doesn't actually find an audience. 

Now back to my original topic- top 5 TV Series of all-time!

5. (tie) Firefly & Terriers- This spot will have to do for my two favorite one season shows of all time, even if they are wildly different shows. The space-western from Joss Whedon has incredible characters, epic storylines and magnificent visuals, but Fox obviously had no interest in actually letting the show work and their meddling never gave it a real chance. Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds is a fantastic rogue hero and the rest of the cast was pitch perfect. As for Terriers, the title of the show never really gave it a chance, but it is tightly written with a compelling season-long arc neatly filled with stand-alone cases and a cast that has more chemistry than anything I've ever seen. Logue and Raymond-James as incorrigible PI's Hank and Britt made me laugh constantly, but still showed surprising depth as those two characters were knocked down over and over again but kept getting back up and fighting on. That two exceptional shows like this can be cancelled after only one season while shows like 'Work It' get air time makes me lose hope in humanity.

4. Deadwood- There may never be another TV character like Al Swearengen, the fast-talking owner of the Gem Saloon and de-facto mayor of Deadwood, South Dakota. Ian McShane's monologues to severed Indian heads and whores are the stuff of legends. The list of fantastic character actors that creator/writer Milch makes excellent use of is nearly endless and Timothy Olyphant shows that there are still a few American male hero actors working today. While the show doesn't get a neat ending after a dispute between HBO and Milch cuts it off after season 3, it is still a remarkable show about how completely different individuals can come together to fight for what they believe is best in entirely different ways.

3. The West Wing- Sorkin's magnum opus about life in the White House for the POTUS and his adviser's, I can't help but imagine what a president like Bartlet would actually be like in the real world. The rich characters tell the story of good people trying to make a difference in a political world that doesn't really want to change. The life and death stakes allow Sorkin's unique writing style shine as President Barlet and his team take on everything from war to social security to Leo's Big Block of Cheese days and the ensemble cast works together in complicated and amazing ways. With great performances by Bradley Whitford, Rob Lowe, Allison Janney and Richard Schiff, I still find myself popping on this show on the regular.

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer- This unique take on how to survive high school, college and transition to the "real" world also featured a lot of vampires and butt kicking. This show was never really about the vampires, but about how a group of friends can come together to overcome any obstacle that stands in their way, whether that is school, relationships or monsters from the Hellmouth. Even when the overarching season story was weak (the Initiative/Adam) just spending time in the lives of these friends as they discover exactly how much they can actually achieve made everything else work. And it also has one of my all-time favorite TV episodes ever, the musical episode 'Once More with Feeling'.

1. The Wire- The holy grail of television, this gritty, realistic, depressing look at inner-city life in Baltimore is riveting. There has never been and will never be again a show that takes on such daunting subjects as drugs, schools, politics, news, etc. in a way that is almost totally believable and still wildly entertaining. Not the easiest show to get into for a lot of people with the almost indecipherable lingo and slow building story, the fantastic acting and satisfying payoffs are completely worth it. And the underlying theme that everything is cyclical and unchanging no matter how hard good people try is one of the bleakest and truest ideas ever put forth on television. Also, the outstanding work of Michael Williams as my favorite character Omar Little puts this show as the unreachable number 1 in my book.

So there are my favorite TV series of all time and combined with my top 5 movies of all time, I hope it offers a little snap shot into where my mind is at regarding movies and TV. I'll be posting on whatever movie or TV show catches my eye as it happens, probably at least every other day or so.

Until next time, have an amazing day!

Introduction to me

Hello everyone (or most likely no-one),

This blog is basically going to be me just writing down my thoughts on whatever movie, television or sports is on my mind at the moment. I am a huge fan of all four of those topics and feel like my perspective on them could be interesting. And if not, this will just be writing to myself for the fun of it.

So as a way of introduction, I will start with listing my 5 favorite movies and television series of all-time and why they resonated with me. So first up- Movies:

5. The Matrix- This movie gets downgraded in a lot of people's eyes due to the terrible 2nd and 3rd installments, but the original was a groundbreaking sci-fi experience that has been copied to death. The story of a man learning exactly what kind of power he has to change the world (even if that man is Keanu Reeves) was fascinating and Neo's bad ass fight at the end with Agent Smith was simply awesome.

4. Pan's Labyrinth- The first foreign film I ever really watched/paid attention to. Del Toro's twisted fairy tale vision has such a haunting, memorable look, I've never been able to forget it. This movie opened me up to a whole world of other movies I barely knew existed. The simple story of how a girl escapes the everyday horror of her life takes on a magical quality that ends in heartbreak. Just simply mesmerizing and unforgettable.

3. Caddyshack- As close to a perfect comedy as exists in my mind. Hilarious roles from Chase, Murray, Dangerfield and Knight with a strong underclass versus rich story, this movie never fails to get me rolling. Murray's Dalai Lama monologue may be the funniest spoken words to ever be filmed.

2. The Shawshank Redemption- A heart-wrenching tale of an innocent man in jail and his search for the truth, friendship and freedom in the worst of circumstances, I can never pass this movie on the guide without getting sucked in. Robbins plays Andy to perfection and Freeman's voice over & acting is spellbinding as Andy's friend Red, with a masterful villain performance from Gunton as Warden Norton, I can't think of any part of Shawshank that isn't riveting.

1. Casablanca- The endless quotes alone from this movie are enough to make it a classic, but the acting chops of Bogart & Bergman and the story of love & redemption make it an all-timer. Set in Africa during WWII, Bogie's lovable scoundrel Rick was just a great example of right part, right actor and Bergman's classic beauty was a perfect off-set to the bleak African backdrop. I'm a relatively young guy and don't have a lot of experience with old movies, but this one is simply too good for any of that to matter.

So that's it for my top 5 movies, I'll do my top 5 television shows tomorrow. Until then, have an amazing day!