The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Dark Knight Rises

It's been a REALLY long time since the last review, more than a year ago I think, but this post is warranted I promise.

Disclaimer: don't read it if you haven't watched it, I'm going to talk about the plot lines, ending, etc...Also, I'm going to say HONESTLY what I think about the movie and not just go with the masses and say "OMG IT'S SO GOOD! SO AMAZING! BLAH BLAH YAY LIFE! I LOVED EVERY SCENE WHEE!" I'm not that type of person to sell myself out if I don't think a movie is that fantastic. Not that I'm saying it's not fantastic or anything... so read on dear audience if you want to. But don't hate on me just because I'm telling you what my opinion is...Sorry!

Going to start pretty general first...The Batman trilogy by Christopher Nolan is probably THE best Batman remakes EVER. I love George Clooney, Uma Thurman, Jim Carrey, Michelle Pfeiffer (!!!!), Danny Devito and all them old (kitschy) remakes, but Nolan made this Batman darker, cooler, edgier and most importantly emotional. Not just a superhero with amazeballs gadgets, but a real person, with real feelings. I think that the way the Nolan assembled the Batman character was absolute perfection.

Okay, so bad news/good news time. I suck as a Batman fan, I watched all of the cartoons when I was little, including Batman Beyond (everyone remember that?) but I can't remember for the life of me much about it. So when I don't know something... I like having shit explained to me. So when the bad guys roll out I like to be like OOOH I REMEMBER SCARECROW! I REMEMBER THE BANE! Etc etc...But Christopher Nolan doesn't bother to really give us (me) the explanation of who these characters really are. Yeah, everyone knows Anne Hathaway is Catwoman but he never actually refers to her as Catwoman, did you guys catch that? But, duh, of course, I know who the eff she is, I'm not that dense. (And her googles/cat eats are so cute!) ANYWAYS: Here I am, watching the movie with my sister, someone who remembers every character in Batman and is like "OH DUH! Marion Cotillard is Talia! Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson in Batman Begins) never had a son...he had a daughter..." I'm just like who the f**k is this Talia person, and then my sister, proceeds to explain that her dad is Ra's al Ghul and the Lazarus Pit and all that jazz. All the background on Talia and her long-standing romantic relationship with Bruce in the comics. I'm just like...wtf? Why don't I know this? I seriously suck regarding anything Batman related, I know that. But one sex scene in the movie, a brief 1 minute childhood flashback, telling us her name in the end and how she's avenging her dad is NOT going to cut it as an explanation. Sorry.

Maybe I'm just dumb or something but there must be (at least I hope so!) people like me who don't know who the hell Talia is when she says her real name. Yeah, she's the bad guy blah blah but does anyone know about her background story? Besides the fact that she was born in the prison, saved by Bane, and escaped? I want to knowwwwwwwwwww everything at least SOMETHING, but I don't, Nolan doesn't develop her character, really explain who the hell she is. In fact, he doesn't develop anyone but Batman. Yeah, he's the main guy but still...come on, throw me a bone here, geez. And um, that Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Robin thing at the end...uh yeah...sorry to break it to you...but Robin was re-created many times in the comics as the character: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown (yes, a girl)...NOT JGL's name in the movie: John Blake! Where the hell did Nolan get that name? And is he supposed to be the next "Robin"????? *puzzled*

ANYWAYSSSSSSSSSSSS. Let's get to the main character. Batman. Missing from like most of the movie...I kept forgetting where the hell he was, a hermit in his manor, stuck in the prison, being a mopey depressed little d-bag suffering from an identity crisis. Yeah, call me what you want but I just called out Batman and I don't regret it. (Sidenote: this reminds me of one of my favorite series, Harry Potter, and when Harry was being a bratty teenager in the 5th book (Order of the Phoenix), I was like WTF dude, grow some balls and stop being such a little asshole!) The whole time I was watching the movie I was like where's the Batman that I remember in the other two movies? He didn't ditch us for half the effing movie. Oh, and don't even get me started on Batman getting his ass handed to him by Bane down in the sewers. Seriously...I expected a real spar not just a couple of half-assed predictable crap punches...

So I sum up the characters as: Bane with a Sean Connery voice from his little mask thingy (uh, excuse me, why did we only see ONE shot of Tom Hardy's beautifully chiseled face?), a completely missing Batman, a not-developed Catwoman, this Miranda Tate/Talia character, and JGL's rise from a little orphan to a cop to a detective. (I love JGL but he's not the main character, I feel like I'm learning more about JGL and his qualms with the city than I am about anything.) All the characters are just ... whatevers. Not developed real people. PLEASE at least tell me more about Bane and Talia's back history!!! Still totally not over this Talia thing...

Okay, so after ALL that bitching, I'm going to get into the movie instead of my shitty little summary.  The actions scenes = amazeballs. The cast = amazeballs (major girl crush on Marion! Caine and Freeman are always the best!) Storyline: amazeballs (sometimes) BUT followed by a yawn. I'm not going to lie but the movie had it's boring bits, yeah, Nolan tried to build up the fact that the city and it's people were hopeless but there was just too much of that, boring and unnecessary. I think that he could've gotten across the whole story if he just nixed some of those parts. Again, I love JGL with a passion but I'm like...please...get on with the movie...I don't care about you running around...I want to see Batman break shit and save the effing day. Not do sit-ups and watch the news helplessly...(Ok, yeah, he broke his spine so maybe I'm being rather harsh, but this is a movie damnit). AND THREE HOURS?!

The boring parts aside...some the movie's action sequences were really, really dazzling. The beginning with the plane all crazy and stuff, too cool, too cool. A little confusing with the blood and body-switching, totally did not get that til the end, but awesome. A+. The only thing wrong with it was that I didn't realize it was part of Batman. I think I was still in shock from seeing the Superman preview right before the movie (so excited!!!!!) that I was like, ooh, is this a scene from the new SM movie? Haha shit. I'm so dense but I'm being for real. And then when I realized, oh yeah, I'm watching Batman, I'm like damn that amazing. Fantastic. Favorite scene of the movie. :)

I loved the ending though! Perfect. Definitely a good ending to the trilogy, I'm going to miss the hype but it's a perfect goodbye.

Hm. After I got all of that off my chest...the rest of the movie. Pretty good. One of the Top 10 movies I'm seen this year (but seriously, 2012, where are your good movies???). Do I recommend watching it? Obviously. Did I like it? Duh. But did I have massive amounts of problems with it? Yes.

Overall grade: B/B+.

Don't hate me but I'm not going to be a little sheep and love the movie. I have my qualms and I'm going to stick to my guns.

P.S. How did NO ONE discover The Bat when they were out looting the city? It was in perfect condition when Batman & Fox found it later on the rooftop...

Fast Five (2011)

Fast Five

The 5th installment in "The Fast and the Furious" franchise

For any series to be this old (especially one that's not based on books)...makes some sort of history. Since usually the series:

1. Dies, because we all know that the sequels are never as good as the originals OR
2. The director decides to end it, on a high note, while you can still call the franchise a success, before it dies, see aforementioned reasoning.

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So I watched this movie on a whim. I honestly didn't know what it was about. I didn't put together the dots that this was ANOTHER one of those The Fast and the Furious movies. I didn't know that it was the highest grossing movie of the summer, so far, and certainly didn't know that this movie had a 78% (critics)/ 89% (audience) rating on Rotten Tomatoes. All I knew was that I was bored out of my mind and decided to take a little trip to the cinema.

And then it hit me...looking at the title at the marquee...and then on my ticket...this is really WAS another one of those The Fast and Furious racing movies!!! No!!! Why did I just pay $12 for this ticket!!!??? Is this a joke? Am I really going to put myself through ANOTHER one of these movies where the names just keep getting lamer and lamer?

Let me break down the film series for you:

1. The first movie, The Fast and the Furious, was pretty amazing. Good storyline and it introduced to the audience a new type of niche: the underground car racing circuit. 
2. By the time the second one, 2 Fast 2 Furious, came out...it was already becoming..."the sequels are never as good as the originals" cliches. 
3. By the time the THIRD one, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, came out, everyone was already dropping dead. NOT ANOTHER ONE. But at least this one was set in a different country...right?
4. Fourth one, Fast and Furious...Wow, they're too lazy to even think of a new title. They dropped the "the"s and expected us to be wowed?
5. Fifth one, Fast Five. Are you serious right now? You have to be kidding...there's another one?

Needless to say I had low, let's even say underground, expectations.

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My reactions during the movie:

The beginning:

5 minutes into the movie and it already entertaining. I was just blown away by the first scene, I won't spoil it for you but let's just say that the whole time I was poking my friend saying "OMGOOMGOMGOGMOGMOG THAT IS SO COOL!"

The ending :

"OMGOMGOGMOGMGGMOGMG THAT IS SO COOL!" *Still poking my friend* Wow. I can't believe I enjoyed that movie and I feel stupid for saying this but I kind of want to watch it again...

General thoughts:

So what changed? Why is this one so different than the last one? Did they expect me to be amazed just because they changed countries AGAIN?

The film was filled with its usual cheese-tastic lines, the standard corny cliches, the underdog prevails sequences, and the high "action" antics that was featured in every other movie...but this one...while the story line was a little slow in the beginning, really began to speed up and get interesting. Fast. Furiously fast. (I can be cheesy too!). 

It's almost an Ocean's Eleven meets The Fast and the Furious. You got: robbing money, assembling a kick ass team, and coming up with a BAD ASS mind effing plan. This is seriously what they should say on the summary. I actually don't even know what they say, I just think that this is a helluva lot more interesting and it makes so much sense!

There you have it, the movie in a nut shell, except the only difference is that you don't know who you're robbing, you don't know who's on that kick ass team, and you definitely CANNOT BELIEVE what their bad ass plan is.

******Wait, I just watched this movie again, and what didn't hit me among all the jokes and action until now is HOW SHITTY THE ACTING IS! Oh my goodness!!!! It's atrocious, I could be up there saying those lines and look more believable! WOW! How did I not notice this until now? I guess the movie is so mind-blowing that you don't look back on it!******

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The Fast and the Furious franchise never ceases to amaze me on what the hell cars can do. You don't normally see cars weaving under huge trucks. You don't normally see cars magically driving to Las Vegas from Los Angeles in 30 minutes (it takes real people 3+ hours). You don't normally see cars drift down 7 floors of a parking structure. You don't normally see scantily dressed girls dancing around pimped out rides (unless you're into that underground car scene). And this movie has even more surprises than all 4 of the last movies put together.

While I seem like a really like this movie, (I DO I DO!), I still have some qualms about this movie:

1. Where did they get all the resources to fund their operations?
2. Why the hell is the film called Fast Five? Besides being the 5th film it has nothing to do with the number 5. It would be cool if there was only 5 people on the team...I'm just sayin'...
3. How come Paul Walker is STILL THAT HOT even though he's THIRTY SEVEN! He still looks like a 25 year old boy! *drool*
4. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? THAT PLAN WAS SO AMAZING! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?? WAIT. IS THAT EVEN PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE?
5. Damn it. Why did I not stay til the end of the credits???

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Grade: B

Compared to the past 4 films, this one definitely is the best one so it kind of automatically gets props for that. The story is fresh, original, interesting and the ending is still mind blowing me, not even close to Inception status but still super intriguing. Along with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, they brought back old characters (Ludacris, Tyrese, Sung Kang, etc) and mixed in some new faces (The Rock, Elsa Pataky) to make a great, funny, and ethnically diverse cast (AKA Paul Walker is basically the only white guy in the whole movie). 

Okay but seriously, this isn't an Oscar grade worthy film, we all already know that going in, but as an action flick, it's damn entertaining. So check it out. :)

***watched it for a second time and had to downgrade this movie from a "B+" to a "B" because of the horrible acting skills by the three main characters: Diesel, Walker, and Brewster. Otherwise love love love Ludacris.***

Oh yes, there's a sixth one coming out! I have to admit that I'm going to have low expectations especially after Fast Five, but I'm pretty excited...:)

Yeah. That's it. That's all I have for you. :)

Sympathy for Delicious (2010)

SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS

Cast: Christopher Thornton, Mark Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney

Important to note: Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut and winner of a Special Jury Prize from Sundance Film Festival.

Attended a movie screening and a mild Q&A session for this up and coming independent film yesterday. It's available for wide release hopefully sometime soon. But it was released for Sundance in January. Got to see Mark Ruffalo, Christopher Thornton, and Orlando Bloom in person and even took a picture with Orlando~! That was pretty exciting.

Trailer:

Summary:

Delicious Dean (Christopher Thornton) is paralyzed and wheel chair bound, and currently living on the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles. But he soon discovers that he has to power to heal people, yes, heal people,  just by touching them. But the irony about this is that he doesn't have the power to heal himself. While Joe (Ruffalo), a Catholic priest, urges Delicious to use this power for good, Delicious extorts his power and uses it to gain money and fame instead.

Critique:

For some reason, this movie bothers me a little. The storyline is there, the characters are believable, but what's actually happening, like the power to "heal" is so ridiculous that you know this can't possibly be real. And that's sad because there's some significantly amazing acting on all of the actor's behalf, especially Christopher Thornton.

The cinematography was pretty good, there are scenes that are shot with some hand-held cameras, and blurring of the city skyline and of course, filming on location. This is a movie about a homeless man, living in his car. With such a low budget film, you don't have money to hire set builders and extras dressed up AS homeless people. Therefore, you do what you have to, so they set it in downtown Los Angeles in Skid Row where you can feel the nitty-gritty of the street life. Just watching the movie made me uncomfortable and cringe because I felt I was transported there, getting dirty with everyone else.

The story conveys the meaning of "having faith" in people, but not in an in-your-face religious evangelistic style film. More or so made for secular audiences but main message is there. You don't have to be anything close to religious to slightly enjoy this film.

But when I say enjoy, you have to take it with a grain of salt. While the acting is fantastical, the moral of the story is tangible, and the cinematography is great, the movie is just so predictable which renders the whole movie uninspiring. Obviously when you hear about a story about someone gaining power and has the chance to use it for good (helping others) versus evil (fame and fortune), you're already going to know the ending of the story. Good always triumphs.

That's the problem with good versus evil story lines. If good doesn't win, the audience gets pissed because they just watched a pointless movie. If good does win, the audience labels it as predictable even though there are a couple of plot twists. That's the real catch-22.

Last thing that I have to say. The Ending. Is. Terrible...

So should you watch it?

I mean, I personally had no intention of watching it and was surprised at the screening to see a movie that I had absolutely no idea about, I didn't read the summary or watch the trailer beforehand, but if I was left up to my own devices...I don't think that I would've watched it. But if you want to watch a raunchier version (ie homeless people, rock music, drugged out bandmates, oh, and Catholic influences) of this predictable story line, than, yes, by all means, you should watch it. Oh yes, another incentive to watch it: Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut! It's pretty good for a first-timer!

Grade: B-

For an awesome directorial debut by Mark Ruffalo ( I know this is my 3rd time using the same word and mentioning this but I don't know what else to call it -_-") and great acting,  but a lack of spontaneity, although there are a few plot twists, on the storyline of good versus evil. There's better films out there that convey the same meaning and message without falling into the perils of predictability. Oh yeah, and it was a bit too long for my taste.

I'm truly sorry that I didn't like it as much as I should have. Especially after an awesome Q&A session with Ruffalo, Thornton, and Bloom. They were so sweet, and Ruffalo was talking about his film like an expectant father. Reminiscing about the making of the movie and the hardships of acting and directing at the same time, and of course, the financial issues. The movie took more than 10 years to make but I couldn't appreciate it for what it was, even though I wish I could have.

Interesting fact: Christopher Thornton, who plays the main character, Delicious Dean, wrote the screenplay because he was inspired by his own wheel-chair bound experiences. Yes, he actually is paralyzed and in a wheel chair. Cool right?

What I am feeling is...sympathy for Mark Ruffalo :(

"LIVE IT. LOVE IT. KILL IT."

The Fighter (2010)

Main actors/actresses: Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo*, Christian Bale, Amy Adams

* indicates Oscar winners.

Trailer:

Summary:
Showing how torn Micky (Wahlberg) is about whether or not he should pursue his dreams or listen to his family's advice: his sports "manager" of his mother (Leo),  and especially his idolized big brother Dicky (Bale). Dicky, a once great boxer has turned to substance abuse  leaving Micky to fend for himself in the boxing world emotionally, and physically and literally lost on his career. And through all the adversity from his family, and some encouragement from his girlfriend Charlene (Adams) and a couple of others, he decides to do it and go for his dream, his way. And needless to say he becomes a great champion. :)

My thoughts:
Finally watched it, 3.5 months too late but it doesn't matter. It was amazing. Completely understand why Melissa Leo won over Amy Adams for the Oscar's Best Supporting Actress, but still iffy on Christian Bale vs. Geoffrey Rush from The King's Speech. They're just too different to compare and both of their acting abilities show a wide spectrum of genius that I kind of can't pick. But it really is amazing. I was surprised that I actually liked it but now I understand what everyone's talking about now. Should've totally watched these 2 movies before my Oscar predictions but oh well, they deserved it. :)

Review:

The movie has every sports movie cliche that you can imagine. There's a uphill battle against adversity, but in the end, it all works out. They win. Everyone's happy. End of story. But it's not.

Instead there's terrific terrific terrific acting. There's nothing forced about the movie which just makes this movie so much better and believable. The only big qualm I have about this movie is that the ending is abrupt. I mean the ending is good except it doesn't take it all the way leaving the audience wanting more. Well at least for me I guess.

I would and could write more excepts but I don't really want to ruin the movie for anyone who's planning on watching it, basically, you will WANT TO watch this movie. I promise. :)

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Even if you don't like sports movies, like me, I think that you'll appreciate it for its great cast and its tempting so go out and watch. Mad love for this movie, and it doesn't help that Wahlberg is adorable, he makes even sweat rolling down on a shirt look hot and all. :)

Grade: A- (due to the lack of an ending)

Skins: Michelle (S1E7)

Michelle...we don't really know anything about her except the fact that she's Tony's girlfriend who has no idea that she's getting effed over by him.

So in the Cadie episode, we heard Cadie say to Tony that karma's going to bite him in the ass (well different words, same meaning) and I guess it finally did because Michelle got the clap from Tony.

So that was basically the episode. Like that's it. Michelle's a boring character again, just like the past 2, honestly only Chris', Cadie's and Tea's episodes were good. But I mean I guess it was a good feminist episode. The girl who got cheated on stands up for herself la di da....the story that happens in literally every single show. Predictable. Literally.

Wonder what's going to happen between Stanley and Michelle now? And if Tea and Tony are going to go public? We shall see...

Daisy's next. It better be good after this shitastic and underwhelming past 3 episodes.

So over it.

Letters From the Height of Summer (Dear Bird) -- Kowalski

"We're STD compatible..."

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One last thing to add: I really really really like Michelle's hair. Both the color and the style. The same goes for her outfits. Okay that's it. Done.

Skins: Abbud (S1E6)

So this week focuses on the slightly mysterious Abbud. We actually don't know anything about him. And I don't think I have ever heard him speak, except for that one time when he asked Tea to dance. THEREFORE, I  am pretty amped to see his background and all that. After last week's boring Stanley episode, I'm ready for something interesting.

Episode summary from MTV:

What happens when you go on a class field trip into the woods for a little self-discovery? You create your own "trip"...by any possible means. But no amount of drugs, no buzz will make Abbud forget that he's completely in love with his best friend. He longs for the day when those feelings are reciprocated. Sadly, it looks like that day may never come.

So we have ourselves a little adventure in Canada which is a nice break from wherever the hell Skins is supposed to take place in. Haha. They "totaled a moose." Nice. I'm still kind of confused what the teacher did to the moose?! Am I that naive or is anyone else confused with me?

Anyways, it's really cute that he likes Tea. :) Except she's his best friend. And lesbian. Those significantly lower his odds down to 0. Oh yeah, and she has that thing with Tony as well... Ah. The perils of horny teenagers on Skins. And she doesn't want a relationship with Betty. Who and what does she want?! It's so confusing, she's so confusing, I wish that she could just get it together and stop leading a bazillion people on.

NO DRUGS soooo the boys go hunting for shrooms and end up licking a toad and throwing up EVERYWHERE. Watching Chris lick/tongue that toad is absolutely hilarious and disgusting. And it's still moving in the shot. Gross. I seriously think Chris is my favorite character because he has so many dimensions but uses humor as his outlet. And the sex advice that he gives Abbud is hilarious, so wrong, but hilarious. "Target the sick and the weak!" Oh yeah, and him and Tina. Cute. :) Or kind of not, because that's like sexual harassment, but I think that they're kind of adorable. And I like how he kind of cockblocks Dave for Tina. He's so immature yet he's mature around Tina. But then again, Tina is one of the most insecure adults ever. So perfect match I say.

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Overall, this episode wasn't really about Abbud at all. It was kind of just an all around trip that didn't focus on him at all. Once again, I don't know anything about him except the fact that he likes Tea. Oh, and he almost died. And I discovered that Chris is my favorite character, the only good part about the episode.

Skins. Boring again! Hope next episode gets better with Michelle, although she doesn't seem that interesting either. You're so tame now, I want the old Skins back! Or maybe I should just start watching the UK Skins now. I'm annoyed now too because I think all of the characters are actually not that great at acting. This episode only exemplified it. Skins, I'm like Tea, I can't decide if I like you or not.

But I like this song...:)

STRFKR -- Millions

"Cool. I usually get put in the room. The one with no windows?"

Latest Happenings

I'm quite distraught.

Today I learned that The Cape is being cancelled (only 2 more episodes left!). Lackluster viewers have caused NBC to inevitably pull the show. From cutting the order from 13 to 10, the series is doomed for failure. It's actually quite a good show, a unique idea just hindered by the fact of it's super lame name and the fact that is indeed yet another superhero show, oh yeah, and it's cheesy as hell. Serennie will finish out the series when it finally ceases to exist. I wonder how she feels about the it being cancelled after she put so much effort into blogging about it.

I was looking forward to watching a bunch of new shows this season and instead, the one show that I actually, The Cape, started to like is being cancelled. A total WTF moment for me.

Another thing that I'm remorseful over is that Royal Pains, currently being un-blogged by us, is finished with it's second season. Such a tease. It started out happily in January and I expected it to be a year-long show like our perennial favorites Gossip Girl and Glee, but instead it ended. It was my happy show, my show that I look forward to that I can zone out to. And then suddenly, at the end of February. WTF. I actually didn't know it was the season finale until I was so bored with just the first 15 minutes of the show and then suddenly saw the wrap up of the season leaving a couple of burning questions. Is Divya's lovely suitor coming back? Are they really canceling the wedding? What's going to happen with Hank by his lonesome self? When is Jill coming back? And lastly, has the past 2 seasons, spanned over filming for 1.5 years, just been one whole summer in the Hamptons in Royal Pains world? Oh Royal Pains, when are you coming back? 

And a show I've been kind of keeping up with, Mr. Sunshine, kind of sucks. I don't know why I keep watching it.

But maybe it's for the better. I'm desperately behind in a lot of shows that I'm blogging about. That's another thing that I'm sad about. Couch Potatoes is slowly coming at a stand still, not so up to date as it should be, but don't worry, we're going to do our best to keep it up, and play catch-up with our shows.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that Entourage is premiering their FINAL SEASON this year? I have yet to start watching it since I am behind by a whopping 7 seasons.

Oh and whenever I see the two words, SERIES FINALE, I get kind of sad. It reminds me of my absolute favorite show: Nip/Tuck. I'm still grieving from my loss. A show that I will re-watch from the very beginning and blog every step of the way. It's not so much for you, but for me. I need this therapy in order to get over my year long loss. :(

Now do you see why I'm kind of depressed this season? Really mostly about The Cape though, not going to lie. I actually like ABC/NBC's action shows: Flashforward, Heroes, The Event and now The Cape. All dead, or at least in the midst of dying.

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On a bright note, I'm being cheered up with Archer, my favorite show this season, and the new breakout hit Bob's Burgers. While a little annoying and extremely cheesy, I can't help but watch Bob. I really wish his kids would be less annoying though. But Archer definitely cheers up my week every week. :) What would make me really happy though is seeing Ugly Americans back on air. :)))))

Oh and a fun fact that I learned recently when I was researching The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington is actually Tim the Bear's wife aka Arianna on the show The Cleveland Show.

So here's my list of shows I'm, I'm not sure about serennie, mar, and nivisaur) currently going to blog about and what I'm just watching on the side:

Current: Glee, US Skins, Shameless, 90210, Gossip Girl, Justified, and any movie reviews I plan on doing

To be blogged from this past season: Boardwalk Empire (I think Mar's doing this one), The Big C, Dexter (hopefully Nivi can finish this one)

To be cancelled from blogging (at least by me): The Walking Dead, Community, the cancelled Mr. J Channel

Watching on the side: Nikita, Parenthood, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, American Dad, Bob's Burgers, Archer, Mr. Sunshine, Off The Map, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy [the last 3 which are all doing horribly this season, may have to discontinue and wean off of my Shonda Rhimes], oh yes, and my favorite:Chinese/ Taiwanese dramas. I'm saddened by the fact that I have to end watching Endless Love. :(

I'm a bit busy and I feel like CP started out really ambitious but it actually takes a lot of effort which I did not plan for, fret not, it'll get done. I promise.

Cheers,
heyitsabell

83rd Academy Award WInners

We'll just go straight to the winners, I don't really have a preamble as usual:


PREDICTIONS IN BLUE :)
WINNERS IN RED :)
PREDICTIONS + WINNERS MATCHING UP IN PURPLE


Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”

YAYAYYAYAYAYAY I love Colin Firth <3

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Mmmm. I really liked Geoffrey Rush, must go watch The Fighter to see if Bale is really THAT good!


Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” -- Comedy
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” -- Drama
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Definitely deserved it out of all of the other nominees in this category. And she was so pretty with her pregnancy bump on the red carpet at the Oscar's :)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film

“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3”

Obvious winner...

Art Direction

“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“True Grit”

What?! This is a little weird. But I guess Alice in Wonderland did have it's good parts, I can't really remember, all I remember was watching the movie in 3D, which only exacerbated the crappy parts of the movie. Oh, HBC's super large head! That was pretty amazing. :)

Cinematography

“Black Swan”
“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“The Social Network"
“True Grit”

Well deserved :)

Costume Design

“Alice in Wonderland”
“I Am Love”
“The King's Speech”
“The Tempest”
“True Grit”

Yes, AiW's costumes were good. Once again, Tim Burthon, HBC and Johnny Depp prevail in having the weirdest but AMAZING costumes.

Directing

“Black Swan” -- Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” -- David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” -- Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” -- David Fincher
“True Grit” -- Joel Coen and Ethan Coen


I didn't think that the directing in The King's Speech was really memorable. I remember Colin Firth's and Geoffrey Rush's amazing acting skills, the weird gray color of Lionel's apartment and the ominous microphone. Hmm, still think that Black Swan should've won. The directing and crazy editing was what MADE THE MOVIE, well besides Natalie Portman, well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree with this one. Hmm, I wonder what would have happened if Inception was thrown into this mix...

Documentary (Feature)

“Exit through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”

Documentary (Short Subject)

“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up"
“The Warriors of Qiugang”
Film Editing

“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”

Yay! The Social Network! I loved the jump between scenes of the legal discussions and the chronological events of how Facebook was born. It was not headache-y or too confusing, but just perfect. :)
Foreign Language Film

“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

“Barney's Version”
“The Way Back”
“The Wolfman”


How come Alice in Wonderland not in this category?!
Music (Original Score)

“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”

Mmm, I guess this is once again something I don't agree with. Must watch The Social Network again and listen to the music I guess. All I can really remember is the pounding fog horn sound from Inception, maybe that's clouding my memory.


Music (Original Song)

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
“I See the Light” from “Tangled”
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours”
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3"

Enough said.

Best Picture

“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter's Bone"


After watching The King's Speech I understand why it won Best Picture. All of the actors/actresses were amazing and believable, the screenplay was fresh and entertaining, and it was just an overall great movie. Black Swan on the other hand only had one character, Natalie Portman and she was amazing but the rest of the movie was only a shadow to Portman's character. So The King's Speech was really an all around best winner for this category.

Short Film (Animated)

“Day & Night”
“The Gruffalo”
“Let's Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)”

Short Film (Live Action)

“The Confession”
“The Crush”
“God of Love”
“Na Wewe”t
“Wish 143”

Sound Editing

“Inception”
“Toy Story 3”
“Tron: Legacy”
“True Grit”
“Unstoppable”

Okay, I guess I understand, but no Tron music? :(

Sound Mixing

“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“Salt”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit”


Yes, Inception should definitely win for this one, but if Tron was in this category, I would pick Tron again.

Visual Effects

“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
“Hereafter”
“Inception”
“Iron Man 2”

Aptly deserved.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter's Bone”

Yes. Yes. Yes. :)

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“Another Year”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King's Speech"


Understandable but Inception was way more original in my opinion. Hmm, looking back on all my comments, it seems like I love Inception, but trust me, I really liked The King's Speech much better, but in some of the categories, I really think that Inception deserved it...


---


Predicted big winner: Inception


Actual big winner: Tie between Inception and The King's Speech with 4 each


Technically The King's Speech is the winner because it won the most important categories: Best Actor and Best Picture so yeah. Yay for The King's Speech. :)


10/18 with 6 opt outs. 


My grade: 55% correct


...


Well I guess that's better than The Golden Globes Predictions that I had last time.


But super yay for The King's Speech, I'm so happy I was able to watch it before the Oscar's and I really think that it deserves almost all of the awards that it wins in :)


What's next? 


Overall I'm happy with the result because I loved a lot of the movies that came out in 2010. Yay! This year went much better than last year in my opinion. Well maybe it's because I don't really like The Hurt Locker but that's a WHOLE other story...


See you later for more TV/Movie posts :)

83rd Academy Awards Predictions

The Awards are going to go down on Sunday, February 27th, 2011 and here are some of the predictions that I made based off of what I watched AND I also added which nominees WON during the Golden Globes. That way we can compare the winners from the Golden Globes and the winners from the Oscars to see if there were any discrepancies.

I hope that this time my predictions are going to be more accurate based on my new education of the movies (I finally watched most of them!) and the winners of the Golden Globes. I don't necessarily think that all of the GG winners should of won but that's my own opinion. As you can see I do differ than them in quite a few of them. Also, I'm not going to predict just for the hell of it, as we can see from last time, I opted out of 7 predictions because there was no way that I could have made a educated guess. Enjoy~!

Here are the nominees and predictions and GG winners (and if my predictions/GG match up), oh yes and I crossed out the ones who I don't think should win:

[Side note: when I crossed out some of the nominees, it's not that I don't like them or they don't deserve to win, but I think that some other of the nominees had way of a more substantial impact.]

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”

OH MY GOSH! Colin Firth was AMAZING in The King's Speech! Just watched it about a week ago, hence the review, and his acting was impeccable. His stammering and stuttering was not forced, his troubles and tensions seemed real and he was just fantastic. Jesse Eisenberg was also good as Aaron Sorkin's version of Mark Zuckerberg, all weird and tweaked out and AWKWARD and I guess that was the point? But I saw Zuckerberg (the real one) along with Eisenberg and Mark doesn't seem that weird in real life. Jesse on the other hand, really is all nervous like that...for real. So for Firth, he was acting, and for Eisenberg, he was being himself. Therefore, Firth wins. :)

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

I haven't seen Rush in any other film except for Pirates of the Caribbean and as Lionel Logue in The King's Speech he was the polar opposite of a Pirate. He was dignified and lovely while still being odd and quirky with his mannerisms and methods. I think I just love the idea of  Lionel and it was Rush who was the medium, therefore I think that Rush should win. :)

Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” -- Comedy
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” -- Drama
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Natalie Portman, hands down. I don't think that Annette Bening was better than Natalie Portman in this category. Sorry!

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

I really liked The King's Speech but I don't think that HBC was really AMAZING in it, she was a cute and quirky character but the main players in the movie were definitely Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, so not sure that HBC deserves this one. But I LOVE AMY ADAMS! WOOT!

Animated Feature Film

“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3”


This one is an obvious win. Toy Story 3 is a genius end to a genius series. It deserves the win. No doubt.

Art Direction

“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“True Grit”

You have to admit, whether or not you liked Inception (I watched it 3 times, and I loved it all 3 times) the art direction was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and so so so beautiful. Mind blowing and something that I think that a lot of future movies will turn to in reference. Remember when Matrix was regarded as so innovative with the scene of Neo dodging all those bullets in slow motion? And then it was imitated like 100 more times in other movies. Well, I think that Inception is the next Matrix.

Cinematography

“Black Swan”
“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“The Social Network"
“True Grit”

Cinematography is defined as "the art of making movies" by www.dictionary.com and I think that Inception really was the most artistically crafted movie out of these 5.

Costume Design

“Alice in Wonderland”
“I Am Love”
“The King's Speech”
“The Tempest”
“True Grit”

No matter how much of a failure Alice in Wonderland was, the costumes and makeup were out of control FABULOUS! I loved all of the main characters' costumes. :)

Directing

“Black Swan” -- Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” -- David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” -- Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” -- David Fincher
“True Grit” -- Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Black Swan still...I honestly don't think that the directing in The Social Network was better...

Documentary (Feature)


“Exit through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”


Documentary (Short Subject)


“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up"
“The Warriors of Qiugang”

Film Editing

“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”

I really liked how The Social Network was filmed and edited with the back and forth between the memory flashbacks and the legal battles. Edited beautifully and it wasn't confusing at all.

Foreign Language Film


“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria


Makeup


“Barney's Version”
“The Way Back”
“The Wolfman”


No freaking clue.

Music (Original Score)

“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”


Still kind of disagree with The Social Network as having better music than Inception from the GG...

Music (Original Song)

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
“I See the Light” from “Tangled”
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours”
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3"

Hmmmmmmm I think that Disney movies always pull through with the best music, not going to lie, so for me it's Tangled vs Toy Story 3. Loved Toy Story 3's "We Belong Together" much much better so TS3 it is!

Best Picture

“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter's Bone"

I can't decide. I hate how they give us so many choices!! It makes it impossible to pick which one's "better" than the other one, but they were all so amazing! Yikes! The Social Network was the largest winner in the GG but I still think that Black Swan was better. And then The King's Speech was also super amazing!!!!!!!!! And then they also threw an animated movie into here??? It's so strange because it's on a whole other level. Oh no, so hard to choose! Got to go with my gut feeling on this one. :)

Short Film (Animated)


“Day & Night”
“The Gruffalo”
“Let's Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)”


Did you watch The Gruffalo with Helena Bonham Carter??? It was beyond adorable. :) Yet I didn't watch the other ones so I can't say that it was necessarily better. Ahh short films are so hard to get a hold of! :( Must skip this one.


Short Film (Live Action)


“The Confession”
“The Crush”
“God of Love”
“Na Wewe”t
“Wish 143”


I can't make an educated guess on this one. I didn't watch any of these movies so I'm NOT going to guess for the hell of it. Skip. :(

Sound Editing

“Inception”
“Toy Story 3”
“Tron: Legacy”
“True Grit”
“Unstoppable”

I loved the music in Tron: Legacy, because not only do I love Daft Punk but I think that the music matched the movie PERFECTLY. I have the Tron: Legacy OST in my car. :)

Sound Mixing

“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“Salt”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit”

What exactly is sound mixing?! Is it like the music and how well it blends in with the movie? Than it's definitely Inception!

Visual Effects

“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
“Hereafter”
“Inception”
“Iron Man 2”

A little bit tied up about this one. I thought that Inception was amazing, but I also loved Harry Potter's effects. Is it me being a nerdy HP fan or do I really think that it's better? Whatever, I picked Inception.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter's Bone”

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“Another Year”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King's Speech"

No doubt about my prediction for this one. The screenplay was beyond original and whether or not the Academy Awards agree with this one, I definitely think that this should win. I'm serious.

I think that the big winner will be Inception, and it's not because I loved the movie, I actually think that it's a little bit overrated after seeing it so many times but for most of the categories that it IS nominated for, I truly believe that it deserves it. And let me just tell you, I am probably one of the FIRST people, maybe the only one, to say that Inception is overrated and I don't apologize for it. The Indie Spirits Award's biggest winner last night was Black Swan though, but Black Swan isn't in many of the other categories that I think that Inception should win for.

I skipped 6 of the predictions, but hopefully the rest of mine will be right. *crosses fingers* :)

What are YOUR predictions? 

See you soon~!

Information compiled from: www.oscars.org and www.goldenglobes.org