TV shows I watch

The writer's strike is finally over and February sweeps held very little that was worth watching, but there are still some fun shows on TV until the general much-loved shows return. Here's my list of what's been worth watching. If you can recommend other shows, I'm all for trying them out.

Monday: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I found this show a little silly during the pilot, but it's becoming more and more interesting as the background story gets more fleshed out and the characters stop hopping through time. They just added Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills, 90210) to the cast as John Connor's uncle come back from the future. Overall, I like the mystery and uncertainty of whatever will happen.

Oh, and I still watch all the re-runs of How I Met Your Mother. Enough goes on in every episode that it's worth rewatching. Next week is the "Slapsgiving" episode which was one of its best ever.

Tuesday: Until recently Boston, Legal was still running new episodes so I was watching those. Now, not much is on as I won't watch American Idol until after the majority are eliminated.

Wednesday: For the past few months, Wednesday has been saved by Project Runway, but we only get another week of that and it's over! So sad - I hate waiting.

Thursday: Lost has been terrific this season, reinventing its appeal with mysteries about their future rather than just the mystery of the island that defies explanation. And following Lost, the new show Eli Stone has been really terrific. I LOVE the creator - Greg Berlanti (Everwood, Brothers & Sisters) and the show is as "wholesome" and straightforward as Everwood. It's fun to watch, if a little simple in its storytelling.

Friday: Friday Night Lights had more new episodes to show than practically anything (supposedly it comes from shooting in Texas and not having the distractions of LA or New York) so I've been loving keeping in touch with my friends in Dillon. Hopefully this show will return and keep going strong. Also, I love Monk and Pysch, but they run two short seasons a year, in January/February and July/August and this season is now over. I was liking Women's Murder Club but there haven't been any rumblings about bringing it back since the strike. It had potential.

Saturday/Sunday: The new version of Masterpiece Theater has been showing the works of Jane Austen and so far they've been fantastic. They showed a new version of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, neither of which I'd seen, but both were excellent BBC-type renditions of Austen's lesser-known works. They also showed the wonderful Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice. They show Mansfield Park this week, and will finish up with a new version of Sense and Sensibility. The quality of the programming has been really terrific.

Oscars relived...

I was counting the number of Best Picture Oscar winners during the broadcast on Sunday - and I've seen 46 of the now 81 winners. My current favorite is still Out of Africa, but there are many I've seen lots of times. Gone with the Wind is always a masterpiece, and I'm one of the few who loves Shakespeare in Love. I don't like Million Dollar Baby or The English Patient, but I can appreciate their quality. I'm also a fan of the musical age, with My Fair Lady, Oliver!, The Sound of Music and West Side Story. There's a great theater in Times Square that often shows Oscar winners on the big screen just before the Oscar ceremony and it was wonderful to see so many the way they premiered, or close to it.

New on DVD

To catch up on my Oscar viewing I have been watching lots of DVDs (that and new TV hasn't started yet) and Gone, Baby, Gone and Michael Clayton were some of the best I've seen this year. Gone, Baby, Gone was touted as Ben Affleck's directorial debut and it really is very well put together, well directed, and well shot throughout. However, the only thing you remember after watching it is how awesome Casey Affleck has become as an actor. I just rewatched Good Will Hunting and Casey is a skinny, sniveling, side-kick at best. And played a similar character in the Ocean's series, basically annoying and forgettable. He probably could have played character roles for the rest of his career, but this year has transformed him, both physically and his career. His roles in Gone, Baby, Gone and as Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James have definitely given him the credentials to play leading men. In G,B,G he plays a private detective hired by the family of a kidnapped little girl. He and his girlfriend/partner are torn about taking the case because they don't want to find a dead little girl, and they're not sure they have the ability to actually find her. However, the personal connections he has to the low-lifes in the Boston neighborhood are ultimately his biggest strength. He works with two older cops, one is Ed Harris in all his good guy/bad guy complexity, and the chief of the kidnapping division - Morgan Freeman. All kinds of standard kidnapping/cops scenes go on - negotiating with a bad guy with innuendo and metaphor ("if I did have the kid, she might be okay if I was given a lot of money"), the money exchange going really badly, and all the people being devastated and not really knowing what should have/could have been done. However, most movies end there and nothing new would have been brought to the genre. This movie was based on the book written by the same author as Mystic River. It goes on to find connections with other kidnapping cases and reveal a great mystery that I knew was coming, but totally didn't see the whole thing unraveling the way it did. The supporting cast is terrific, particularly Oscar-nominated Amy Ryan playing the kidnapped girl's mother. She's crass, lying, stupid, and doesn't really care about her daughter, but somehow you still hope things work out for her. The first half of the movie is sad and you don't really want the little girl to be returned to these people. However, Affleck's partner played by Michelle Monaghan, voices our concerns about how ugly and horrific some of the people connected to the little girl really are. I found that without her character voicing my own issues with the neighborhood, I'd have been screaming at the screen and not able to watch such a terrible place. But Affleck attempting to defend the status quo in his childhood neighborhood and her arguing the moral high ground gives the movie the depth it needs to make you care. I really liked the movie and can't wait to see Jesse James just to watch Casey Affleck on screen again. Nearly 5 of 5 stars (like 4.75, only diminished by the horrors of the story being difficult to watch, though very cleverly shot to avoid imprinting grisly images on our psyche).

Michael Clayton, on the other hand, makes it pretty clear throughout who is good and who isn't. But like G,B,G it doesn't make it clear that all good things come to good people. Oscar-nominated (and previous winner for Syriana) George Clooney is a lawyer with a huge firm, whose main job is to fix problems quickly. He describes his position as a janitor, not a miracle worker. It seems he calls in favors and provides favors to make sure his clients get what they need. He also seems to manage Oscar-nominated Tom Wilkinson's manic character who's gone off his meds and is sabotaging his career. The movie follows Clooney figuring out how far Wilkinson has gone to sabotage a case protecting a huge polluting mega-company. On the flip side, Oscar-nominated Tilda Swinton is also following the sabotage and as the head lawyer for the mega-company making sure they're protected. Swinton is good as a unsure, high-ranking female lawyer who is always conscious of the company she works for and protecting it. It's an interesting story, well acted, and with terrific twists throughout. It's good, but I didn't think it added a lot to the concept or the genre. Erin Brockovich does a better job representing the legal case of lots of nobodies fighting a big company for polluting, and the legal thriller is covered by all John Grisham's work. It was a good movie, but not a favorite. 4 of 5 stars.

Oscar Predictions

I feel like I've been hearing so much information about the Oscar predictions that I only have about a 50/50 shot on any of these. Usually I feel a little more confident, but obviously ignorance was bliss. Anyway, here are my predictions for better or worse:

Spiderwick Chronicles is great fun

I saw The Spiderwick Chronicles yesterday with a theater full of kids off from school, and both they and I loved it. It's a simple story with lots of recognizable features: kids from a broken home move to a creepy old house, discover something left by a previous inhabitant and have to solve a mystery and save themselves and the world. This variation on a theme is very well put together and uses lots of unqiue features to stand out without trying too hard. Freddie Highmore plays twins, a nerdy science twin Simon, and the bad boy twin Jared. He's a British actor and his accent was good, but not quite like his sister or mother, and thus a little distracting. Otherwise, he's terrific as both twins. Jared finds the old lab in the house of his great-relative Arthur Spiderwick who wrote a field guide describing all the secrets of the fairy world. This book is being persued by Malgarath (played occaisonally by Nick Nolte, he morphs into a huge monster too) who wants it to gain all the power and rule the world. He sends his minions to attack the house which is protected by a circle of toadstools through which only humans can pass. There are good goblins/fairies/creatures too - Thimbletack helps protect the book (voiced by Martin Short perfectly, in picture), and Hogsqueal is a Hobgoblin who helps the kids "see" the fairies. Hosqueal is voiced by Seth Rogan (from Knocked Up) and provides all kinds of light-hearted humor as he attempts to aid the kids, but gets distracted by birds constantly. The climax is perfectly done with some humor, some suspense and quick wrap-up with a non-traditional explosion (spaghetti sauce can destroy the creatures). The monsters are fun, but it's easy to see the good vs the bad just from their appearance, but unlike other fantastical stories (The Dark Crystal) these goblins aren't scary, just evil. Overall, I really liked the movie, it has a lot of humor, a lot of fun mystery explaining a new fantastical world, and really good acting from all the characters. Definitely 4 of 5 stars.

Addendum: Also, I forgot to mention the music. Usually in these kiddie-branded movies the music is sweet and treacly and manipulative. This movie felt more fresh and fun rather than sinister from music alone. The music complements the movie really well.

The Bucket List

I'm really behind in seeing this movie, and I think it's actually been playing in a local theater for weeks and weeks, but we missed the showing of Spiderwick Chronicles, and the other options this weekend weren't good locally (I'm not a fan of horror), so The Bucket List was it. And for good entertainment, it hit the spot. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman do a great job fighting and traveling and philosophizing about death. They're both handed a sentence of a few months to live, and Freeman starts writing a "bucket list" to record what he might want to do before he "kicks the bucket". Nicholson jumps on board, and luckily comes with the money, private jet, and personal assistant to do almost anything. They put some obscure things on the list (like observe something majestic) but also lots of easy to check of off kinds of things - get a tattoo and sky dive. The rest of the movie is them traveling around the world doing all kinds of things, and luckily deciding NOT to do some things - like hunting a big cat. I thought their dialogue was fun and witty, and it was the first movie where the co-stars could really hold their own against each other. Nicholson seemed on edge and unsure of how Freeman will respond, but it makes their characters more believable. Nicholson owns a huge company and has always been deferred to on everything, and while Freeman was a mechanic for 45 years (which they repeat a little too often) his "death sentence" has given him the freedom to do whatever he wants, including leaving his family to experience some of life he gave up for the family. It's a cute movie, with obviously sad overtones, but you can't really predict where it will all go. It's definitely cheesy, but for pure entertainment, it works really well. 4 of 5 stars.

Simpsons Movie

I liked The Simpsons Movie (which I just caught on DVD) more than I've liked catching new episodes lately. It's a funny story where Homer of course does something ridiculously stupid that ends up getting the whole family in trouble. They escape a dome put over Springfield and move to Alaska. Of course they decide to come back and save Springfield. I won't tell you the end cause that would spoil it. There are tons of really funny jokes throughout - "Clap for Alaska" causing an avalache - that are exactly what makes the Simpsons unique unto itself. It's nothing bigger than the average episode, but it's great entertainment if you're a Simpsons fan. It's so chock-full of little jokes that I think it'll stand up well to repeat viewing. I don't think it deserved the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature - there were surprisingly lots of other animated movies that were much better. 3 of 5 stars, but if you already like the Simpsons it's about a 4.5.

Blood is Boring

First, I loved Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in There Will Be Blood. He's brilliant, totally encompassing the role, such that I looked at him a few times thinking I recognized him from something else, which obviously I did because he's Daniel Day-Lewis. But I was looking at the character he created and not seeing DDL. He's sinister, creepy, a little ruthless, and at times strangely violent. His fights, mostly slap fights with Paul Dano are painful. You almost want to look away because you're not sure what DDL is going to do. Those were the valuable things about the movie. As a whole I didn't like it and am pretty surprised it's nominated for best picture. There was no dialogue for the first 25 minutes of the movie - you just watch DDL dig oil wells, break his leg, and then set up news ones. One of the men on his rig has a baby he's carrying around. Then the guy dies and DDL takes the kid, H.W., as his own. This kid is actually a good actor, and his story was the most interesting element in the movie. Then it was about another 30 minutes before something that actually seemed like "plot" appeared, when DDL snubs Paul Dano at the blessing of the new oil derrick. DDL arrives at a new place in California after a tip by Paul Dano's twin. He arrives, buys up tons of property, sets up a new rig and convinces the community, except Dano, that he's a good guy and good things will happen. DDL becomes rich and gets his big house and becomes a totally crazy old man. Overall it's a pretty boring movie, that could have used about an hour closer editing, and some actual dialogue. Barely 2 of 5 stars. I know I must be missing something, but this just wasn't a movie for me. Daniel Day-Lewis should and will win the Oscar though.

The Bard's Arcade

I admit I have been influenced by award winners and just overall buzz in my DVD picks recently. So yesterday I saw King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and the HBO film As You Like It. Kong was getting good buzz, and Kevin Klein won the SAG award and Bryce Dallas Howard was nominated for a Golden Globe for the Shakespearean update. I'll talk about the one I liked first. In general Kenneth Branagh has not been particularly successful bringing Shakespeare to the screen. Personally, I think he's only batting .250 (which I know is a good batting average, but it's bad for film quality). Hamlet, Love's Labours Lost, and As You Like It weren't successful in achieving his reinterpretation of classic Shakespeare. The one I really like and will watch repeatedly is Much Ado About Nothing, but that's barely reinvented and is probably the reason it still works. The newest, As You Like It, tells the story of a duke overthrown by his brother and sent to live in the forest. As the new duke fears his niece, Rosalind (played brilliantly by Bryce Dallas Howard), she is banished as well. The new duke's daughter, Celia (Atonement's Romala Garai) decides she will leave the court as well. Just before leaving, Rosalind falls in love with Orlando, the youngest brother of a bad guy in cahoots with the new duke. Rosalind, Celia, and the court jester (Alfred Molina) flee to the forest to find the overthrown duke. Rosalind pretends to be a man (often called "pretty youth") and convinces Orlando that she/he can help him woo Rosalind. As in all Shakespeare, mistaken identity and chance meetings often result in love and marriage, so Celia marries Orlando's older brother, the real Rosalind comes out from her man clothes and marries Orlando, and Alfred Molina marries a woman they find in the woods. The original language is very well spoken throughout and the acting is incredible. Howard is wonderful, which is good as she's the leading character and speaks the most. The one thing that puts this play in league with the bad Kenneth Branagh pics is that it's set in feudal Japan. There seems to be NOTHING adding to the story or being more interesting by being set in Japan. Rather than just wrestling, Orlando sumo wrestles for a minute. Otherwise it could be set in any forest anywhere, and the dresses could be standard English fare rather than pseudo kimonos. Finally, where does Kevin Klein's SAG award fit into this? He plays "Mr. Melancholy", the character that mixes all the stories together as he travels between them. He's very versatile, and integrates the stories with his knowing nod to all the characters that tells us that all will work out fine in the end. He's great, but I'm not sure award winning. Overall 3 of 5 stars. Good, but not great. If you like Shakespeare, it's terrific, if not, skip it, there's nothing new to see.




Now, here's why you should really think through why you rent movies. Renting something only because the hype is good should not supercede your inner monologue that says "will I like a movie about Donkey Kong?" My answer was probably not, but some reviewers had said there were great things about it, so I decided to give it a shot. It's about a man who dedicated his leisure life to setting the high score in Donkey Kong arcade game. It means overthrowing a 20 year old record held by a strangely unappealing guy. They have to get scores approved by an "independent" agency that doesn't seem to like having long-term scores reset, which is an odd trait in an independent agency. Basically the previous record holder plays a little dirty beating the new high score by sending in a tape of his really high score after it's been reset by our underdog. The underdog never gets to go head-to-head in public with the "bad" guy and then the film ends. It's boring, slow and never really appeals to a general audience. It definitely appeals to anyone particularly interested in video games, but the people involved are carefully pigeon-holed into good guy and bad guy. It's so artificially done that you start feeling sympathy for the "bad" guy because he just wants his high score to stand and make his real business successful. I didn't like it at all, and don't recommend it. 2 of 5 stars.

Why I love James McAvoy

There are many reasons James McAvoy is a terrific actor and will someday win his Oscar nomination (and eventually the award). I thought I'd been seeing him for ages, but it turns out not to be as long as I thought. The first movie he's really memorable for a US audience was Wimbledon, as Paul Bettany's bumbling, gambling brother who wears a cycling cap the whole time, and inexplicably wears cycling clothes the whole time. He's not all that memorable, but neither is the movie, so that's hardly his fault.

However, he's incredibly memorable in Rory O'Shea Was Here, a film about two physically disabled young men who want to get the most out of life. McAvoy plays Rory O'Shea, a bad-ass Irish guy who can move his head, face, and hands, and is completely confined to a wheelchair. He'd love to live a real life in his own apartment taking care of himself, which is nearly impossible. He befriends another man, Michael, in the home for the disabled who can barely speak due to cerebral palsy, but thanks to a lifetime of living with other disabled people, Rory can understand him just fine. The two of them manage to get an apartment and an aid to help get them into and out of bed. Rory introduces Michael to all that life has to offer, but still can't protect him from the jeers and stares nor the inaccessibility of so much of Dublin for the disabled. They get stuck in various places and find it harder than expected to care for themselves. McAvoy plays the fast-talking, womanizing, quadripelgic with so much spunk and spirit that you're sure everything will work out great, which is rarely the case. It's a really terrific movie, 4.5 of 5 stars.

I didn't even realize that McAvoy was in Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe until I started looking at his resume. Then I remembered Mr. Tumnus, the faun and it totally clicked. He's perfect, bringing the literary character to life so well. He's physically retiring, but wants to fight the witch and is nice enough to Lucy to spark the entire adventure as she seeks to rescue the nice Mr. Tumnus. He creates a character so vividly that I totally forgot it was McAvoy, and just remember the faun. The movie isn't wonderful, but I thought his performance was. There are elements that work throughout the movie, but overall, it wasn't my favorite. I'm sure it'll end up on TV often in the not too distant future and you can check out just McAvoy's performance.

The Last King of Scotland is worth skipping, if only because it gives a dead dictator the chance to poison more peoples' souls. Forest Whitaker is brilliant, transforming his unassuming teddy bear demeanor into a sociopath with moments of clarity and humor. James McAvoy plays a doctor who supposedly falls under Amin's spell, but it doesn't play that well - McAvoy comes across as a weaselly guy trying to get ahead by getting cozy with the President. He follows Amin through the insanity and spends a lot of time trying to balance the dual goals of having a positive impact on the world by advising the leader, and saving his own butt from being killed too. There are movies that portray horrific events with compassion and sensitivity, but this is not one of them. The violence become gratuitous and more than a little scary. Forest totally deserved his Oscar, but McAvoy deserved more recognition for his role too.

Becoming Jane stars Anne Hathaway doing a credible job playing Jane as a witty woman who knew she wasn't going to live a wealthy life, but thought she could buck convention and marry the man she loved. James McAvoy plays a lawyer sent to live in the country to end his frivolous lifestyle and meets Jane. He teases her about her writing and of course she gets her hackles up and she whacks him back. Their banter is really good, and McAvoy has succeeded where Jude Law never made it - as a love interest that isn't smarmy but cunning and deserving of adoration. The costumes and settings are perfect. Oh, oh, oh, and Dame Maggie Smith plays a rich neighbor who gets angry when Jane spurns her nephew's proposal. It's clearly the inspiration for P&P's Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Overall, it's a terrific historical romantic comedy. It's not overly complicated, but if you're an Austen fan, you'll see all the elements of her books represented, and you'll know that Jane's love of McAvoy's character drove most of her future writings.

And finally, Atonement was really an amazing performance by McAvoy. He's slowly moving up the scale of the love interest possiblities. He played the young man who was able to cross class lines because he was smart and know how to play by the rules. He deserved his Golden Globe nomination, and really should have made it to the Oscar pool - I'm guessing he was 6th or 7th on the list of nominees, so didn't make the show. He'll get called up eventually and it'll be terrific. His next movie with Angelina Jolie (Wanted) shows he'll be able to be the leading man/action star too. Such a great actor and finally getting the roles and attention he deserves.

Oscar Predictions: Best Animated Feature

This was posted on the LAMB website today as part of the series of movie bloggers predicting the Oscars.

The Oscar nominations came out last week, and I for one was pleasantly surprised about most of the actor nominations and movies. I'll probably be disappointed by the actual winners because they won't be the ones I want, but I doubt I'd be surprised. Anyway, one category I was particularly surprised to see such a small selection and relatively odd choices was best animated feature, which I was assigned to discuss for the LAMB Oscar Event. As expected Ratatouille was there. However, I was not expecting the other two, because other awards events hadn't included either of them. First, Persepolis was probably just not quite on the radar of the other awards, but the buzz and importance of it obviously penetrated the Oscar voters. The second one was Surf's Up, which I thought was just another penguin movie that had missed the year of the penguins (I loved March of the Penguins and thought Happy Feet was good, but I think penguins have been done now). The movies I expected to be there beyond Ratatouille were not, including The Simpsons Movie, Bee Movie, and Shrek the Third, which had all been nominated for other awards.

Since I do not live in a major metropolitan area, Persepolis will not be coming to my theater before the Oscars. However, a fellow movie blogger (Ferdy on Films)has written an extremely thorough review of the movie, which I draw on for my description. Persepolis follows the story of a woman reminiscing about her childhood in Iran and then in Europe. She wants to be modern and likes many things from outside Iran - Bruce Lee, punk music, ABBA, etc., all of which are forbidden after the rise of Islamic law. She is sent to live with family in Vienna, which doesn't work out. She grows up and still feels like an outsider, so she returns to Iran, but still doesn't find what she's looking for. It's described as a coming of age tale of an outsider who can't find a home to belong. It's based on graphic novels and the animation is obviously derived from the feel of graphic novels, being mostly black and white with a comic-feel of the animation. I think it's a remarkable story, and a new kind of animated movie to be made, but I'm not sure it's worthy of the Oscar. The animation is not spectacular or particularly nuanced, and holds on to the graphic novel and never really leaves the 2-dimensional space.

I was very pleasantly surprised watching Surf's Up. First, it's not a traditional cartoon story about penguins. It's an animated, (obviously) fictional, documentary about surfing penguins. There are interviews about the main character, a surfer named Z who died in a tournament a while ago. The main interviewee, Cody (voiced by Shia LeBoeuf), idolized the lost Z and is coming to compete in the tournament. He comes from Antarctica and has never been able to prove how good a surfer he is. The documentary people follow his journey to get to the Z memorial tournament. Cody arrives, gets hurt on the big waves on Pen Gu Island. Luckily there is a life guard, Lani (Zooey Deschanel) around to save him and then take care of him with the help of a washed up surfer (Jeff Bridges - perfectly channeling "The Dude" from time to time). The washed up surfer shows him how to make a new surf board that will help win the whole thing. Of course the washed up surfer turns out to be Z, who faked his death so as not to lose to the younger Tank. Cody and Tank compete, along with Chicken Joe (perfectly voiced by Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder), and of course I won't tell you who wins. Cody and Lani fall for each other and Z re-emerges to save the day. The reason this movie really struck me is both the style and the animation. The mockumentary could easily have been done by Christopher Guest and his recurring cast of kooky characters, but it happened to be animated penguins. So the script is really sharp with lots of funny bits, though most of it being as predictable as a Christopher Guest mockumentary. They did a good job creating a diverse cast of characters using many different species of penguins. It was the animation that really awed me - it was animated such that it was a camera capturing the images - with only one thing being in focus at a time. The person talking would be in focus, but the background would be blurry. It really came into a 3-D perspective and kept the idea that it was a documentary going throughout. Excellent choice by the Oscar committee, and probably overlooked by many in the theaters. However, I don't think it will win either.

I do think the Oscar will go to Ratatouille, and for a change, I think it also deserves it. The animated offering from Pixar, Ratatouille, was notoriously hard to sell - it's about a rat and the title is a stew that most people have never heard of. There are a hundred titles that would have made the movie easier to sell - "Underground in Paris", or "The Little Chef" (a phrase even used in the film). However, people flocked to this movie and loved it. Basically, it's a terrific story about being true to yourself, but trying to realistically find yourself at the intersection of different worlds. It's everything the Disney/Pixar movies have always been about - with the addition of pretty exceptional animation. This is the first CGI-animated movie I've ever seen that creates people with realistic facial expressions and twitches. Unfortunately, that skill extends to creating too-realistic shots of a very nice family of rats swarming out of a man-hole, or across a floor. That's where the heebie jeebies came in - I actually had to look away twice. It's the story of a young rat, Remy, who knows he could make better food than the garbage his kind are stuck with. He seeks out the restaurant of his favorite chef in Paris, the deceased Gusteau (who comes to him in hallucinations to tell him what to do). Of course a rat is not allowed in a restaurant kitchen, so he teams up with a lowly garbage boy and they start creating magnificent dishes that raise the declining status of the restaurant, making everyone happy. Ultimately, Remy's family accepts him for his "foodie nature" and Remy and the garbage boy create wonderful food in a kitchen no one is allowed to see. It doesn't cater too much to any one demographic, and is easy to enjoy by all - particularly if rats don't give you the heebie jeebies. I think it has spectacular animation, a fun storyline, and will win the Oscar.

10 Best "Friends"

It's been a while since new Friends went off the air, but thanks to the wonder of re-runs it might never be gone. Being snowed in today, I watched a few of my favorite episodes and thought I'd share them. There's very little in Season 1 or Season 9 that ranks high, but both seasons do a good job to set up the others. Here are my favorites:

10. Season 5, Episode 24: The One in Vegas: Part 2
The whole group has arrived in Vegas to see Joey. Rachel has ink drawn on her face and refuses to leave the hotel room, so she and Ross get drunk, and they draw on Ross's face too. They get REALLY drunk, and leave the room to get married. Monica and Chandler think they should get married, but are stopped when Ross and Rachel come out of the chapel.
"Hello, Mrs. Ross. Hell-ooo Mr. Rachel"

9. Season 7, Episode 10: The One with the Holiday Armadillo
Ross wants to introduce Ben to Chanukah, but all the Santa costumes are rented, so he arrives dressed as the Holiday Armadillo. Joey arrives as Superman, and finally Chandler is Santa. They all sit down to discuss Chanukah.
"Can I talk to Superman and the Holiday Armadillo over here? Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say."

8. Season 8, Episode 4: The One with the Videotape
Ross and Rachel tell the friends about the night they were together when she got pregnant. Ross tells that he has a tape from that night and proves that Rachel hit on him, with lines she got from Joey.
"I went backpacking through Europe..."

7. Season 10, Episode 12: The One with Phoebe's Wedding
Monica plans Phoebe's wedding, which all falls apart when NYC is snowed in. Joey marries Phoebe and Mike, and Chandler gets to walk her down the aisle. It's just a pretty episode where everyone fights about how to do everything (best man, etc.)
"Joey, Chappy's heart rate has slowed way down" - as Mike's dog dies in the cold.

6. Season 2, Episode 7: The One Where Ross Finds Out
Rachel claims to be over Ross, but goes on a date and gets really drunk Rachel then calls Ross and leaves him a message saying she is over him. Of course it works out and they kiss for the first time.
"When were you, when were you...under me?"

5. Season 8, Episode 13: The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath
Considering baby names, parents to be Ross and Rachel had no word in common except 'veto!'. Chandler was unable to understand why Monica loves taking an elaborate bath, but falls for them and keeps stealing hers (but with his boat). They all end up in the bathroom with Chandler when Rachel and Ross find out they're going to have a baby girl.
"Little baby Ruth"

4. Season 4, Episode 8: The One with Chandler in a Box
Joey won't forgive Chandler for kissing his girlfriend Cathy. To make up for it, Chandler spends Thanksgiving Day in a box. Monica gets ice in her eye and goes to see the eye doctor - Richard's son (hot Michael Vartan) who she invites to Thanksgiving Dinner.
"Fine! Judge all you want to but, [points to Ross] married a lesbian, [points to Rachel] left a man at the altar, [points to Phoebe] fell in love with a gay ice dancer, [points to Joey] threw a girl's wooden leg in a fire, [points to the box Chandler's in] live in a box!"

3. Season 6, Episode 9: The One Where Ross Got High
The Gellars come over for Christmas and Rachel makes trifle but accidentally adds beef with peas and onions. Phoebe dreams about Jack Gellar fighting Jacques Cousteau. And Ross and Monica out each other on all the secrets of their childhood.
"What's not to like, Jam:good, Custard: Good, Beef: Gooo-od"

2. Season 3, Episode 2: The One Where No One's Ready
Ross becomes very frustrated with his friends when they fail to be ready on time for a speech that he is giving at the museum. Joey and Chandler fight over the chair and end up putting on all kinds of each other clothes.
"You hide my underwear, I'm wearing everything you own"

1. Season 4, Episode 12: The One with the Embryos OR the one where they play a game to win the apartment.
Phoebe is being impregnated with her brother and his wife's embryos. She chats with them in one of the cutest scenes from friends. But the best part of the episode is the game Rachel and Monica play against Joey and Chandler to prove who knows who better. Ross makes up the questions and Joey and Chandler win the apartment. I LOVE this episode.
"That's Miss Chanandeler Bong"

Lambs Dissect the Oscars

With the first red-carpet awards show (SAG) out of the way and good intentions to end the writer's strike on the horizon, I'm allowing myself to get excited about the Oscars. The Large Association of Movie Bloggers has decided to give excellent advice about how to win your office/friend/family pool for the Oscars. Check it out weekdays until the Oscars. Personally I will be critiquing Best Animated Feature. Enjoy!

Two best picture nominees

I know I'm probably the last person to review these two movies, but I still wanted to write it down. They were both nominated for Oscars today, and both definitely rank high on my list of best movies. First, Atonement, was a beautifully-shot romantic, tragic drama. This was the first movie I saw with Keira Knightly where I actually wanted to see more of her on the screen. She's really becoming an actress that makes the story come together, and she's still really young. Her interactions with James McAvoy were just electric. They were really in love, though fighting in a very middle school kind of way for the first third of the movie. Knightly's little sister, Saorise Ronan - nominated for an Oscar!, is a scary little girl with a mean streak who is crazy jealous of McAvoy's attention to Knightly (even though she's just 11) and ultimately accuses McAvoy of assaulting their cousin (she was young, it was dark and she was angry at him). He gets out of prison to fight in the war - which was my only major problem with the movie, too much time looking at the thousands of soldiers trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk. I know I'm just an ignorant American, but I really didn't find the significance that our hero was trapped on a beach with thousands of others. Back at home was much more interesting, as Knightly and her sister are nurses in London and we find out Knightly split with her family over all the accusations against her love. Her sister (now grown up and played by Romola Garai perfectly) is trying to "atone" for the lies she told that ruined people's lives by being a nurse too. There's a big twist at the end, that blew me away and made me rethink the rest of the movie, but overall, I loved it. It's beautifully romantic, sad, and hopeful. 5 of 5 stars.

I have very little to add to all the other reviews of No Country for Old Men. You've been living under a rock if you haven't heard all the amazing acclaim it's been getting, and I agree with all of it. It's a unique movie, with incredibly odd characters, telling a very simple story with flair. I do have a confession though - I wasn't sure I could handle all the violence that's even in the previews, so I read a full description of what happens, who gets killed, by whom, etc. I actually think that made me like the movie even MORE because I wasn't dragged down by fear. It was still very suspenseful, and you're never quite sure who are going to be accessory bodies to the main killing. It made it easy to look away when something really gross was going on, but I still got to really enjoy the movie. Javier Bardem, with a very strange haircut, was the star of the movie - a hired assassin who takes it very seriously because he bargains with no one and kills anyone who sees him. I do have to give him (and the Coen brothers) a lot of credit, he's not crazy, just totally insane. He carries around a cattle gun, including compressed air canister, that he uses to both kill people and break down doors. I really liked the entire supporting cast too. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as the "Marge Gunderson" of Texas. He's the sheriff who is sick and tired of being overwhelmed with the evil coming through his area - drugs, guns, money, just out of control. He's just terrific narrating as well as acting throughout the movie. James Brolin is good as the guy hunted by Bardem, but I didn't quite understand his motivation behind stealing $2million from drug dealers. He seems to be street-wise and knows how bad it's going to get, but yet he's not arrogant in general, but is making a really stupid mistake to get involved like he does. That was my only problem with the movie. I liked the end - all kinds of people get away with surprising things. 5 of 5 stars

Overall, I liked Atonement more than No Country, but really agree with all the nominations given to both throughout the whole awards season.

27 Dresses

I really liked Katherine Heigl's newest flick. As the people behind me at the theater reminded me, "she was in that pregnant movie" last summer. She even came out in Vanity Fair and said the character she played in Knocked Up was a bit shrill and a little anti-feminist. The character she plays in 27 Dresses is not shrill, but rather a pushover. She's an assistant to a magazine/clothing company boss and has taken that assisting thing to every element of her life. Because she's at an age when everyone around her is getting married (I can relate), she's the wedding assistant to all her friends and seems to enjoy doing it. She doesn't hate the bridezillas she's friends with, she's just their friend on their big day. The movie starts with her running back and forth between two weddings on the same night, changing dresses in the cab. It's funny and cute, and more importantly she meets James Marsden, a "commitments" writer for a NY paper, who is covering one of the weddings. Marsden is cute and unlike the cliche in other romantic comedies, actually seems to like her as a person, more than how he can exploit her to get out of the "commitments" gig. However, she is in love with her boss, a very sweet and un-smarmy Edward Burns. Burns of course falls for Heigl's sister and Heigl ends up planning her dream wedding for her sister, who is a self-absorbed twit that I would have pushed down the stairs as a child. Heigl eventually learns to stand up for herself after sabotaging her sister's rehearsal dinner. There's a wonderfully cute scene with Heigl and Marsden getting drunk and singing "Benny and the Jets" with all the wrong words. Overall, very cute movie, high entertainment value, and if you're of the right age, you'll recognize the insanity that is the wedding circuit these days. 4 of 5 stars.

Ellen Page was robbed...

I just watched Sarah Polley's directorial debut, Away from Her. Julie Christie is an articulate, vibrant, Alzheimer's sufferer going into a long-term care facility. However, the star of the movie is her husband, Gorden Pinsent, a well-known Canadian actor. He has to watch his wife of 45 years deteriorate and forget him. When she gets lost one day and can't find her way home, she decides to go into the facility. To allow her to settle in, Pinsent isn't allowed to visit for a month. When he finally does, she has befriended another man and has seemingly forgotten her husband. In a moment of clarity, she explains to her husband that this new man doesn't confuse her, and that's why she likes him. Christie's performance is good, but she spends a lot of time sitting still and looking confused. Pinsent is suffering with the loss of his wife, partner, and friend, and is trying to make sense of what the rest of his life will be. When Christie's friend is taken from the facility, she starts to go downhill, and Pinsent seeks out the man and convinces his wife (Olympia Dukakis) to send him back to the facility. The love Pinsent has for Christie and his fight to keep her sane and healthy as long as possible (even if she no longer remembers or loves him) is heartbreakingly beautiful. Sarah Polley's direction is terrific, the slow-moving shots are excellent at setting the pace and makes it easy to see the slow decline. Overall, it's a great movie, but Christie's performance is good, but not terrific. Mr. Pinsent should not be overlooked (though I'm sure he will be) and Polley's direction is awesome. 3.5 stars out of 5.

New DVDs I liked

I've enjoyed two newer DVD recently that I wanted to mention. One I liked very much, and the other I appreciated, but wasn't really my taste. Once is being talked about as one of the top 10 movies of 2007 on several lists, so I felt like I should at least be aware of it. Here's the description from Imdb.com: "A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story". I don't think they're quite right - most musicals (and I have a bit of experience with this) have songs that develop the story OR tell something interesting about the characters. The music in Once are just great songs (though I'll admit I couldn't always tell when they were just rehearsing a song again, or playing a new one). The story is really interesting - an Irish man who plays his songs on the street when he's not working for his dad, meets a Czech immigrant who helps him record some of the songs. They meet and in what's pretty realistic, don't fall in love in a week, but really start to care for each other. I found Once to be a lot like the HBO show, Flight of the Conchords, where music videos interrupt the story repeatedly, but for too long to maintain my interest. So, Once is beautiful, but not my style - 3 of 5 stars, but if it's your style, it's probably closer to 4 or 5.


The next movie I saw and LOVED is Paris, Je t'aime (Paris, I love you). It's a series of 5 minute stories over 2 hours, that are shot by different directors with different actors telling totally different stories. A few directors shoot more than one story, but the best part is that the overall feel of the film is cohesive and travels around Paris, so there are VERY few moments you don't want to see more of the short story. There are stories of strangers meeting, couples divorcing, couples solving problems, working people struggling, rich people partying and everyone finding some humanity (or becoming a vampire!). All kinds of actors are in it: Bob Hoskins, Fanny Ardent, Natalie Portman, Juliette Binoche, Willem Defoe (as a cowboy), Gena Rowlands, Elijah Wood, Maggie Gyllanhaal, and Emily Mortimer stick out in my memory. Some of the dialogue is in French and some is in English, depending on the actor and story they're telling, and it's mixed in such a way that you wouldn't necessarily remember it as a foreign film or English. What makes this movie different than just a series of short films is that each story feels more like part of a larger work, because not everything is explained and each ends with you wanting a little more, rather than being complete and just strung together. 4.5 of 5 stars, it's terrific.

Best Female Characters

A fellow movie blogger put together an awesome list of the 20 best movie characters of the past 20 years. However, there were not enough female characters to make the list, perhaps because the authors were predominantly male, or because a lot of the best characters have lines best suited to men (just theorizing). So I decided to put together a list of best female characters. I thought of them as characters that can be identified by name and movie and actress, with lines or actions that were immediately brought to mind. I used the same model for describing them as appears on Blog Cabins (thanks Fletch!). So in no particular order here are the top 15 female characters:

Character: Cher

Movie: “Clueless"

Year Released: 1993

Catch Phrases: "Whatever", "She's a full on Monet. From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess."

Significance: Alicia Silverstone was terrific (and never really topped this performance) and the movie put a whole new set of catch phrases into the lexicon.

Character: Juno

Movie: “Juno"

Year Released: 2007

Catch Phrases: "I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?", "Dream Big"

Significance: I think she'll have significance for years to come. It's a great story and she's a new kind of teenager, both vulnerable and willing to acknowledge her vulnerability at the same time, while working to make her own decisions.

Character: Clementine

Movie: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”

Year Released: 2004

Catch Phrases: "I'm Clementine... No jokes about my name."

Significance: Her hair is memorable, but she was an insane character with a lot of heart and cruelty.

Character: Dorrie

Movie: “Finding Nemo"

Year Released: 2003

Catch Phrases: "Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming."

Significance: This is the best performance by an actor in an animated movie, and raised the bar for all future performances. I'm just going with Dorrie being a girl cause Ellen is.

Character:Lisa Rowe

Movie: “Girl, Interrupted”

Year Released: 1999

Catch Phrases: "Take one more step and I'll jam this in my aorta"

Significance: It launched Angelina Jolie's career and won her an Oscar, and gave some suspicious notes to her real life behavior at the time.

Character: Marge Gunderson,

Movie: “Fargo”

Year Released: 1996

Catch Phrases: "And I guess that was your accomplice in the woodchipper", "You betcha."

Significance: She was just terrific and really came to the forefront of movies with "Fargo" and this character. The accent is just so perfect without being overdone.

Character: Miss Daisy,

Movie: “Driving Miss Daisy”

Year Released: 1989

Catch Phrases: "Hoke, you're my best friend"

Significance: This was just a terrific movie that gave an older woman and an older man a great story line that others will always try to emulate.

Taken from Blog Cabins since I totally agree:

Character: Tracy Flick

Movie: "Election"

Year Released: 1999

Catch Phrases:"It's like my mom says, "The weak are always trying to sabotage the strong."

Character: Bridget Jones

Movie: "Bridget Jones’ Diary”, "Bridge Jones: Edge of Reason"

Year released: 2001, 2004

Catch Phrases: "Bridget Jones, wanton sex goddess, with a very bad man between her thighs","Oy,"

Significance: She gave voice to all the crazy thoughts all women have, and her embarrassing moments outweigh any in reality.

Character: Amelie Poulain

Movie: "Amelie”

Year Released: 2001

Catch Phrases: "At least you'll never be a vegetable - even artichokes have hearts."

Significance: She's just awesome, and a totally different archetype than previous existed.

Character: Clarice Starling

Movie: “Silence of the Lambs”,

Year Released: 1991

Catch Phrases: "Your anagrams are showing, Doctor."

Siginficance: A lot of her power came as she reacted and forced reaction from Hannibal, but she is still powerful on her own.

Characters: Thelma & Louise

Movie: "Thelma & Louise”
Year Released: 1991

Catch Phrases: "Thelma: OK, then listen; let's not get caught. Louise: What're you talkin' about? Thelma: Let's keep goin'! Louise: What d'you mean? Thelma:...Go. [Thelma nods ahead of them] Louise: You sure? Thelma: Yeah.

Significance: It was the best female buddy movie ever. Still is actually. Two women who go away for the weekend, become criminals and then drive off into the sunset precluding any sequels, what more could you ask for?

Character: Penny Lane

Movie: “Almost Famous”

Year Released: 2000

Catch Phrases: "You're too sweet for rock and roll"

Significance: She was awesome, almost holding it together to be mysterious and flirtatious and the perfect object for William Miller's affection, but then couldn't keep it going.

Character: Stifler’s Mom

Movie: “American Pie” series

Year Released: 1999, 2001, 2003

Catch Phrases: "I got some scotch. Finch: Single malt? Stifler's Mom: Aged eighteen years. The way I like it. "

Significance: Launched the MILF concept without being cliched.

Character: Elle Woods

Movie: “Legally Blonde” series

Year Released: 2001, 2003

Catch Phrases: "The rules of hair care are simple and finite. Any Cosmo girl would have known"

Significance: The first movie was awesome, and the second dreadful, but the character stayed strong. In a totally tongue-in-cheek way proved that blondes can be smart.

Golden Globes predictions

While I support the writer's strike to gain their fair share, I'm sad that the Golden Globes won't be on TV. I like watching awards shows, they're often funny (thank you writers) and offer unique views of actors. So here are my predictions for the Golden Globes, both who I think will win, and who I'd pick if it were the IiE awards, starting with TV.

Best TV Series - Drama
Will win - "Mad Men"
Should win - either "Mad Men" or "The Tudors". Both are unique shows with exceptional characters and reveal a new side to what were thought to be well-explored stories.

Best TV Series - Comedy
Will win - "Extras"
Should win - "30 Rock"
I haven't actually seen "Extras", but the critics love it and the Hollywood Foreign Press would likely be one of them.

Mini-Series or MFTV movie
Will win - "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"
Should win - "The Company"
I really liked "The Company", but "Wounded Knee" has won just about everything it's been nominated for.

Actor in TV Comedy
Will win - Ricky Gervais, "Extras"
Should win - Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"

Actress in a TV Comedy
Will win - America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"
Should win - any of them, Mary Louise Parker is unlikely, but was still terrific even in a bad recent season of "Weeds", Christina Applegate only had a few episodes of "Samantha Who?" to show off her skills, and Tina Fey and Anna Friel were good, but perhaps not stand-outs yet.

Actor in a TV Drama
Will win - Hugh Laurie, "House, M.D." or Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Should win - Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"

Actress in TV Drama
Will win - Glenn Close, "Damages"
Should win - Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
I just liked "The Closer" better.

Actor in TV supporting role
Will win - Donald Sutherland, "Dirty, Sexy, Money"
Should win - Jeremy Piven, "Entourage

Actress in TV supporting role
Will win - Katherine Heigl, "Grey's Anatomy"
Should win - Rose Byrne, "Damages"
Rose was terrific figuring out the story behind "Damages" and how to play along, but Heigl has won everything so far this year.

On to movies:

Best Picture - Drama
Will win - "No Country for Old Men"
Should win - I haven't actually been able to see ANY of these seven movies yet.

Best Picture - Comedy
Will win - "Juno" or "Charlie Wilson's War"
Should win - "Juno"

Best Actor - Drama
Will win - Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will be Blood"
Should win - James McAvoy, "Atonement"
Day-Lewis has won most of the awards so far, but I think McAvoy would get a bigger boost from winning.

Best Actress - Drama
Will win - Julie Christie, "Away from Her"
Should win - Angelina Jolie, "A Mighty Heart", she worked really hard and was really convincing in a terrible story.

Best actor - Comedy
Will win - Tom Hanks, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Should win - Tom Hanks

Best Actress - Comedy
Will win - Marion Cotillard, "La Mome"
Should win - Ellen Page, "Juno"

Best Actor - Supporting Role
Will win - Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Should win - John Travolta, "Hairspray"

Best Actress - Supporting Role
Will win - Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Should win - Julia Roberts, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Amy Ryan is getting lots of great reviews for her performance, but I really liked Roberts character and performance.

That's all I'm going to predict, comment on. Enjoy

Excellent Commentary

I love this comment in New York Magazine. I totally agree with her comments on using Philip Seymore Hoffman instead of Will Smith. Here's my I Am Legend, and Charlie Wilson's War. This might have been why I didn't like Legend as much as it's box office would suggest I should.

Juno

Have you ever had the moment with a TV show or movie where you're sad that those are characters and you can't be part of it in real life? I totally wanted to be the president's assistant on The West Wing (yeah, I'd be taking Charlie's job), and I want to live in "Stars Hollow" and have coffee at Luke's. Now I want to be Juno's friend. It was a terrific movie about a 16-year-old getting pregnant, taking a little time to think about her options and being more mature than any other 16yrold I have ever met, while still maintaining her optimism. She's wonderful, witty, smart, and definitely not ready to be a mother. The supporting cast is terrific all around. Each of the characters has enough that I could describe each of them really well, which is unusual for supporting cast. J.K. Simmons and Alison Janney are her dad and step-mom and really like Juno but know she's going to do what she wants. They're actually smart enough to pick up on her digs and throw them right back (Juno walks in the room and her dad asks "how is my incredibly inflated version of Juno?" mocking her pregnancy, but showing his love). The other fun couple is the adoptive parents, Jason Bateman as a man-child being raised by his wife, Jennifer Garner. She's trying to nest and get ready for the baby, and her husband is still trying to reinvent his rock band career. The movie is terrific, with all kinds of unexpected twists and is without all the cliches you'd expect. Also, the music is terrific. This is my favorite song.

DVD Update

I've gotten a little behind in my DVD blogging, but fear not, I've still been watching lots. Here are 4 that I've seen lately, from best to worst, and one is the worst.

The most recent Hairspray is based on a movie I didn't like very much. I've seen a lot of theater, and really wanted to like the original 1988 John Waters version (as a cinemaphile I feel like I'm going to get kicked out of some club for disliking it, but I found it trite and not very funny, and wishy washy on its themes of outsiders). So I resisted seeing the movie of the musical version with John Travolta and Niki Blonski, even though it got great reviews. However, I caved, and LOVED it. It was everything I wanted the original to be, in addition to being a terrific musical, the acting talents of all the actors were extremely well used to tell a good story about why being different in 1960s Baltimore was so hard. Of course, it's mostly a cotton-candy version of that story, but they still stick to the core of what they're doing rather than getting dragged (pun intended) into the gimmicks they have going. Nikki Blonsky was terrific as Tracy Turnblad, with her radiant smile, you actually believed she was more interested in dancing than in being popular. Her singing is wonderful and she actually carries the movie mostly on her own. John Travolta does a good job really making you believe he's a woman and not a man in drag. He and Christopher Walken have actual chemistry and make sense as a couple. All the supporting characters are terrific, and it's good entertainment that is expertly carried off. 5 of 5 stars. Also, I'm assuming from all the reviews that Juno will win the Golden Globe, but both Travolta and Blonsky deserved their nominations.

Next, The Namesake is a wonderful story of a father and son raised in different cultures trying to understand each other. I read the book before I saw the movie and the movie is very faithful to the spirit of the book, if taking a few things out of order for increased clarity. The father is a native-born Indian getting his degree in the U.S. The movie starts when he's returned to India to marry and bring his wife to the U.S. They advance in the world of academia struggling to maintain their familiar foods and customs while blending into the U.S. environment. They have a son, played very well by Kal Penn (from Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and the most recent season of House, M.D.), who really wants to blend into American culture, and doesn't understand why his parents cling to their roots. It's a great story about the culture clash of generations and geography, and how sometimes the best things about someone can't be communicated across these boundaries. Also, the relationship between the parents is wonderful. They were raised in a culture of arranged marriages, so trying to have an "American marriage" is foreign to them, but they work on it, and in trying to have a better more modern marriage, they fall in love. It's a beautifully crafted film, by Mira Nair, of Monsoon Wedding and Vanity Fair). 4 of 5 stars.

The next movie I liked is also out of the mainstream, but still a fun, well crafted movie. I'm Reed Fish is about a young man who has a morning radio show that basically provides all news to a very small town, from trimming the town halls hedges to helping a guy with a flat tire just outside town. The main character, Reed Fish (a wonderfully geeky Jay Baruchel - the Led Zeppelin fan in Almost Famous), lives in the shadow of his deceased father and continues to the show in his memory. He's engaged to a girl he's known forever, Alexis Bledel (formerly Rory Gilmore), but his high school crush returns to town just before their wedding. Of course chaos ensues and he cancels his wedding, but because he's never had the chance to live his own life, he doesn't know how to commit to either woman or even to the radio show anymore. There are lots of fun twists and turns, and you find out the whole first part of the movie is actually a film of the story they're trying to tell, which continues both in film and in the movie within the film. It's quirky and fun, and definitely worth watching. 3.5 of 5 stars.

Finally, a movie I will not recommend because it doesn't actually add anything new that It's a Wonderful Life didn't already cover, Adam Sandler's Click. Sandler's character is given a remote control by Christopher Walken (who only appears as if he's on drugs, and makes no sense as the guide to Sandler's journey - Don Knotts was better in Pleasantville). The remote allows Sandler to view his life as if it's TiVo'ed. He can pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. However, the remote takes over and starts fast forwarding on its own once it learns what Sandler dislikes - so it fast forwards sex, being sick, traffic, etc. Within just a few minutes Sandler is on his death bed. He finally realizes you must take the bad in order to experience the good. It's a really trite movie, and Sandler never reaches the point where you like him enough to care that he screwed up his silly life. Kate Beckinsale plays his wife and it's a dreadful role, sucking up and being a good non-complaining wife. Overall, boring and not worth watching 2 of 5 stars.

Charlie Wilson is great!

I went to see Charlie Wilson's War on New Year's eve, but with the new year starting, I forgot to post. As expected, given that Aaron Sorkin wrote it, I really liked it. I've seen several of the "war-themed" movies this fall, The Kingdom and Lions for Lambs, and CWW is by far the most fun and entertaining while dealing with important and timely topics. Charlie Wilson was a representative from a small district in Texas in the 1970s and 80s, that in his words "wants nothing", and gives him the opportunity to become a major power and influence peddler in Washington. He sits on the committee that authorizes funding for the CIA, which is at the height of fighting the cold war. Russians have just invaded Afghanistan and Wilson is starting to get involved. His foray into making a difference is aided by a rich, super-right wing Texas socialite, Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), who is convinced that fighting the communists is the christian thing to do. Ultimately, Wilson and CIA agent, Philip Seymore Hoffman in all his scruffiness, find ways to convince the armed services subcommittee to fund a covert war against the Soviets by supplying the Afghans with weapons that will destroy the Soviet helicopters that are murdering the people of Afghanistan. Overall, the movie is very fast paced, with lots of quick jokes and tons of prophetic irony. Each of the characters has a pretty strong accent, and with Sorkin's words, some were lost, which will only make it more fun to watch again later. All of the acting performances are very strong, and you actually are drawn into the story enough to forget the huge celebrities acting on screen. There are lots of small nods to the future - Rudy Giuliani is the prosecutor investigating Wilson's alleged drug use - but they don't mention any specific terrorist threats to come, it's left to the audience to make the connections to the future. 4 of 5 stars for fun and explosive entertainment.