MAN UP! TESTOSTERONE FILM FEST – BOND, ROCKY, TALLADEGA


This past weekend turned out to be a Testosterone Film Festival of sorts. Here are some reviews.

CASINO ROYALE

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I really enjoyed this film. I’ve always been a casual fan of Bond movies, and the latest installment is the best in a very long time. But take my opinion with a grain of salt – my favorite is the campy A View to a Kill.

Daniel Craig is the perfect choice for Bond. I appreciated his more serious nature and that he didn’t come across as overly suave and smarmy like Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan. The action sequences and even the poker game were pretty damn entertaining. This just might be the very first Bond DVD I add to my collection.

ROCKY BALBOA

I have to admit that the theme song gets me every time; I am a total guy in that regard. But when the score is the best part of the film, you know you’re in trouble.

If the audience was supposed to feel sorry for Rocky, the movie was a success. The story and pace were a tad too slow, and there certainly was not enough screen time for Milo Ventimiglia, who plays Rocky’s son (genius casting). I liked the boxing scenes but would have preferred watching Stallone fight in a tank top or UnderArmor shirt; the texture of his chest now resembles fried eggs. It is obvious that he endured extensive training for the film, and wanted to show what he was still capable of (as Rocky and in real life).

The fact that Rocky won Best Picture in 1977 is not lost on me. Neither is the fact that Stallone was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Screenplay. He is a very talented actor (see: Cop Land) and writer. But in my esteem, the first three  Rocky films were the best. And although I did not love Rocky Balboa, it was certainly ten times better than Rocky IV or  Rocky V.

TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY

Talk about potential. Yikes. I know I’m probably the last person to finally see this movie, but I was very disappointed and actually fell asleep before the end! That NEVER happens. I will watch absolute crap just because it’s on, and can manage to stay awake through it. But not this one.

Don’t get me wrong – I like Will Ferrell. I think that my opinion of this film is tainted by the fact that I had just watched him in Stranger Than Fiction and LOVED it. You should definitely add that one to your Netflix list, for amazing performances by both Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Anyway, I found Talladega Nights dull and uneven. I only laughed out loud once, which is sad considering the cast. The best part about the entire movie was Sasha Baron Cohen and his hilarious over-pronunciating French accent. So given the choice, when it comes to Will Ferrell comedies, I’ll stick with Anchorman.

Later this week I will be immersed in an Estrogen Film Festival, as I just rented Shut Up & Sing and Marie Antoinette. Good times!

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EXTREME MAKEOVER, BLOG EDITION


You might have noticed a new look to this blog. Or not, if this is your first time visiting the site. Welcome!

Hopefully the text will be easier to read. If you experience difficulties viewing either text or photos, please refresh the page but let me know if you have any other issues.

Apparently people aren’t able to view this site on Blackberry devices, so I am looking into how to make that happen.

Thanks for your patience and for reading. Feel free to comment or drop me a line with your thoughts about the revamp or just about anything else.

- Jo

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WELCOME BACK, MULDER & SCULLY

Best news of the week (to me, anyway)…there is going to be a 2nd X-Files movie! Instead of revisiting storylines and themes from the TV show and first film, the focus will be on the supernatural (which will be a welcome change from the little green men).

I heart Mulder & Scully. Always have, always will.

Bring. It. On. 

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KISS OFF OF THE SPIDER WOMAN: LOST, EPISODE 3.14 – “EXPOSE”


THOUGHTS & THEORIES


It seems we’ve met yet another pair of cons marooned on that island: Nikki and Paulo. They join Sawyer and Kate as those with mysterious and criminal pasts.

I may not be a forensic expert, but worrying about leaving behind cigarette ashes as evidence after killing a guy and then opening a safe without gloves is pretty damn stupid.

How close could Nikki & Paulo have really been if she wasn’t aware that he was stashing a bag of diamonds in his boxer briefs, and she never smelled the nicotine gum he was secretly chewing?

In Season One, Kate sent Sawyer into that same body of water to find the briefcase with the guns. Knowing how much Sawyer likes to pilfer through other people’s belongings and then claim them as his own, you would think that he would dive down there on many occasions in search of loot. How could he not have seen Nikki’s bag and found the diamonds?

After Boone & Shannon ran into Nikki & Paulo at the airport before boarding Flight 815, Shannon told Boone to stop flirting with random guys. Either she was just being bitchy Shannon, or that was the producers’ not-so-subtle way of informing us that Boone was indeed the island’s gay character (which would be kind of creepy, considering that he had slept with step-sister Shannon).

After the last scene on her show, Expose, Nikki made the comment that “you know what happens to guest stars.” Nice inside joke, now that she and Paulo have joined Boone, Shannon, Libby and Ana Lucia in that category.

After reading Nikki’s Expose script, Hurley said that the identity of the Cobra on that show, who was supposed to be a good guy, had been shrouded in mystery for 4 seasons. Duh. The producers are letting us know that either the identity of “Him” and/or “Jacob” will be revealed next season on LOST, or that one of our Losties is really a bad guy after all.

Poor Locke. You know he’d be bummed to find out that Nikki & Paulo discovered the Pearl Station and yellow plane before he did.

Last season, when Locke found the Pearl Station, there were recently smoked cigarette butts on the tables in front of the television monitors. Did Paulo find cigarettes while rummaging through the luggage in search of the diamonds, and then go to that hatch for secret smoke breaks??

Do you think that Paulo failed to mention that he saw Ben and Juliet in the Pearl Hatch on purpose, or that he really didn’t know who Shepard, Ford and Austen were (since he knew them as Jack, Sawyer and Kate)?

Did Paulo ever actually use the walkie-talkie he found in the Pearl? Did he communicate with the Others? He doesn’t seem like the sharpest knife in the drawer, so it’s quite possible that he was manipulated and/or tricked by the Others into providing information about his fellow survivors.

The infamous ‘monster’ sound appeared after Nikki threw the spider at Paulo, followed by the baby spiders that then bit her. Were the baby spiders this week’s Black Smoke Monster Manifestation? After all, right before dying at the hands of the Black Smoke Monster That Was His Brother Yemi, Eko told Locke that “they were next,” and Nikki & Paulo were there when that happened.

Before (apparently) dying, what do you think Nikki said to Hurley and Sawyer: a) Paulo Lies, b) Parallel Lives, c) Power Lines or d) Paralyzed? The answer is: Paralyzed. Which is quite an interesting term to use in light of the fact that last week’s episode was all about the formerly paralyzed Locke…

Did Vincent the dog remove the blanket that was covering Nikki & Paulo because he sensed that they were still alive?

Geez, Jack is nowhere to be found and folks get buried alive based on an assumption that they look dead. They need the Doc back, stat.

Are both Nikki and Paulo dead? No. Not yet, anyway. It was no secret that one character was being killed off of the show last night, and clearly that was Paulo. It didn’t help that Rodrigo Santoro, who plays Paulo, gave an interview a few months ago to the Brazil version of Rolling Stone Magazine that said his character was going to die this season. I’m sure the producers were less than thrilled when that tidbit hit the Internet…

FORESHADOWING

While opening the safe, in Nikki’s Anti-Smoking PSA Moment, she tells Paulo that they already poised Zuckerman, so they shouldn’t poison themselves. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Foreshadowing.

But wait, there’s more! After meeting Boone & Shannon at the airport, Paulo tells Nikki that he hopes they don’t turn out like them. Oops, you did. Bye-bye now.

AND…when Nikki tells Paulo to climb up to the small yellow plane and he refuses, she makes fun of him for preferring to go down into a dark tunnel instead. Our friend Locke did the exact same thing; he sent Boone up to the plane (and to his death) and didn’t even hesitate to blow the hatch door to explore the thing once he discovered it. 

FILE UNDER ‘RANDOM’

LOST creator JJ Abrams is a huge Star Wars geek. Thus, the Billy Dee Williams cameo.

Paulo is from Brazil, and the two men in Penny Widmore’s listening station were speaking Portuguese? Coincidence? I think not.

Dr. Artz discovered many new species of bugs on the island. More than likely, they were born or manufactured in the zoological station/hatch on the other island (with the empty aquarium tanked that housed Jack as a prisoner and the bear cages that held Kate and Sawyer).

Charlie is toast. You just know that Jin will find out about his abduction of Sun.

Let’s see…the late Mikhail was Russian and Nikki’s diamonds were hidden in Russian stacking dolls. Interesting.

Hurley Numbers Alert! The diamonds are worth $8 million and the spider bite paralyzes for 8 hours.

In an island flashback, they made a point to remind us that Jack used to have the key to the guns around his neck. Nikki took the key from around Zuckerman’s neck after killing him.

Last week in my LOST blog, I posted the above photo of what I thought was Sayid discovering an underwater cable. Yeah, I was wrong. It was Paulo diving for the diamond bag. Yawn.

Between Sun last night and the preview for next week’s episode…Women of LOST: 2, Men of LOST: 0. The island ladies are kicking some serious ass lately, and it’s about time.


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SEASON PASS-WORTHY? ANDY BARKER, P.I. & THE RICHES

Queen, please!

My, my. Eddie Izzard has transformed himself once again.

Are you watching The Riches? It’s a strange and funny series about a family of Travellers (similar to gypsies) who pretend to live above their means by utilizing whatever methods are neccessary: lying, acting, squatting houses, etc. Minnie Driver plays white trash much better than I expected, and this role is a perfect foray onto the small screen. I haven’t decided if I’m committed to the entire season yet, but I will stick around for the time being.    

Check it out for yourselves:
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/theriches/

Kudos to FX for now offering some of the most innovative and original programming outside of HBO and Showtime, from Rescue Me to Dirt to The Riches. These shows break and explore more boundaries far more than most series on traditional networks, so grab your remote and set this channel as one of your favorites. You won’t be disappointed.

On to the next new show…

“Ellen!”

Remember that high-pitched shout out on Ellen? It certainly didn’t belong to Ellen DeGeneres, nor was Joely Fischer responsible for it. That yelp came from none other than Ellen’s friend Audrey, played by Clea Lewis.

Well, Lewis is back. And thankfully, that voice has changed. It might have even come down a decibel or two. She’s now appearing on Andy Barker, P.I. as Andy Richter’s wife.

I have watched the first 6 episodes online, and they were entertaining enough to earn a Season Pass. The comedy is subtle and the supporting cast is excellent. The show highlights the misadventures of Richter, an accountant who dabbles in the private investigator business with a surprising level of success.

Although I’m still mourning Arrested Development, it is really nice to see Tony Hale (a.k.a Buster Bluth) again on a regular basis.

And character actor Harve Presnell, who I’ll always think of as the curmudgeonly Wade Gustafson from Fargo, plays crabby just about better than anybody on television.

So give Andy Barker, P.I. a shot. It is currently in NBC’s Thursday night lineup, but who knows where it might wind up.  You can still watch the first six episodes for free online right now: http://www.nbc.com/Andy_Barker_PI/.

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