Movie: Revenge of the Nerds (1984)*****

LOVE THIS MOVIE. Not much has changed in college humor except technology, so if you laughed at Revenge of the Nerds in the 80s, then you’ll laugh even harder now. 

Best friends Gilbert and Lewis go off to college in hopes of finally becoming “men.” Instead, they find that they and a bunch of other freaks, geeks and weirdos are the lowest on totem pole at Adams College. They use their quirky charms, wits and skills to improve their situation, which leads to the fun and funny passing by all too quickly on your viewing screen.

College humor involves sex. In RotN, tHere’s a panty raid, grab-assing, and a moon-room sexual encounter. Then there’s the stand-around college boobs. What’s that? I think humor writers have this odd notion or wet dream that women just stand around talking while topless. There is no reality in this, but a stand-around boob scene always seems to pop up in college humor movies. 

This movie stands the test of time and remains one of my favorite. I laugh out loud and I want to laugh some more! Five stars**** BREAAAAAAK!

Movie: Road Trip (2000) *****

This is one of the few comedy movies I really like and can watch over and over and still laugh out loud. I also own it, which says a lot.

Josh is off to college across the country from his best friend/girlfriend. He wants to keep up their promise to stay true to each other, but finds that there’s a lot of temptations and something about a not-being-in-the-same-zip-code rule. So, I won’t give away what leads to it, but Josh and his college friends find themselves on a road trip across the country full of crazy characters and silly antics including pretending to be a member of a historically Black fraternity. It's tricky.

This is a college humor movie so sexual behavior is all over the place. There a few boners, girls kissing and falling in love after a particularly good session of horizontal mambo. There’s also the stand-around boobs that made another memorable appearance in Revenge of the Nerds. I don’t get it. I don’t know any women who just stand around chitchatting while topless. 

Anyway, this movie is hilarious and I want to watch it again, right now, in fact, but I must move onto something else. Maybe. Five stars: It’s a favorite *****

Movie: Bernie (2011)

Both parental units said Bernie was good, so the day after Thanksgiving we all plopped our overstuff butts on the couch and they pulled it up On Demand (They have cable!).

Bernie, stars Jack Black as Bernard Tiede, an assistant funeral director and eventually, close friend of the meanest lady in a small Texas town. He ends up killing the mean lady and spending a lot of her money doing good deeds and helping out townsfolk. Of course he gets caught and then there's a trial. This movie is based on a true story. You should read about it.

The movie was great and had a semi-documentary style, with interviews of townspeople and local politicians spliced with flashbacks into the story. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to take Jack Black seriously, but even though some of his scenes were drama-light and on the precipice of comical, he never took it over that edge and I credit Black's skill as well as the director for creating the light and happy feeling that didn't stumble into full-frontal humor or darkness. FYI: Jack Black can really sing, man! 

After last year's heart-wrenchingly awful movie Boyhood, I was surprised to learn Bernie was directed by the Texas-loving, Richard Linklater, who also did one of my favorites, Dazed and Confused. Bernie also stars Matthew McConaughey as the district attorney who prosecutes Bernie and Shirley MacLaine as the mean lady.

I thought Bernie was highly entertaining, well done, and I wouldn't mind watching it again, so I give it three stars ***.  

Here's some fun from the movie:

TV: The Leftovers, Season 2 (2015)

I'm done with the Leftovers. I think I might have said this once during the first season, but three episodes into the second season and it is confirmed that I don't want to know what happened, what is happening and what will happen on that show. Episode 3 confirmed it when it ended with the line: “Who wants a hug?”

From what I have understood so far, The Leftovers is a show about what is happening in the life of the main characters since The Departure, or, when 2% of the world's population just disappeared all at the same time. The first season kept you guessing: Is there something supernatural at play or is this all hoax and hoopla? The characters were interesting and that mystery wasn't too bad. But, so far, this second season has really struck the same note as Lost, Flash Forward, and all those other “shows that have no end” as my bestie puts it, so well.

So, I did some light internet research to figure out if there were any “shows that have no end” that I liked (Google search: Shows like Lost) and came up with these:

Twin Peaks- I watched this entire series, but I was 10-11 years old when this was on and it was what my parents were watching, so, I just watched it. FYI: My parents love “shows that have no end” to this day. The latest program I was appalled they followed was The Dome.

Carnivale- Oh! I knew there was supernaturalness going on in this show. There was no question about that. I'm just upset they never got to finish it. Why did you pull the plug, HBO? It's like they hired a Fox representative the week they were planning the third season.

V- V? I was going through the list of Lost replacements and someone recommended V. I disagree. That show has an ending. A damn good one and a theme sequence that shows a horse vs. a space ship!

Okay. I think that's it of the Lost replacements aka “shows that have no end” that I agree with.

As far as The Leftovers, Season 2, it gets one star*. Yay! The first one star* post! It gets one star* because, unlike real leftovers, I don't want to finish it. Happy belated Thanksgiving, by the way.

Movie: Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Idris Elba plays a supporting role next to the AMAZING, Abraham Attah. Attah's acting made this feel like a documentary. Like you were a fly-on-the-wall of this boy’s life. If he isn’t nominated for any awards, that is a sure sign this year will be another Oscar crock.

The story: A boy named Agu sees his family torn apart during a civil war and he flees into the arms of an army of child soldiers, led by an exploitative adult comandant in an effort to aid the rebel side take over the country.

There were some interesting visual effects in this movie. I’m particularly interested in talking to the director about the scenes where flashlight and spotlights were used. I thought they can somehow all be tied together. And also the use of coloring, literally painting a scene and setting the tone. 

I might need some more time to digest this, but as of now, I give this movie four stars ****.

I want to see it, again. I thought the acting, everyone’s performance, was amazing and I’m so intrigued by this film’s feel, as well as, look. 

Filler: Week of November 9, 2015

I recently learned that PBS abridges the Masterpiece Theatre shows from the original UK versions. I'm determined to re-watch as much as I can and reclaim what has been stolen from me. It's like finding out in adulthood that you were adopted. "How were you able to keep this from me so long, PBS?! How and why?!" Crackhead-like sobs.

I spent most of Thursday sick in bed and watching a day-long Blue Bloods marathon on Ion. I've been leaning more towards crime shows the past couple of weeks, capitalizing on Ion's multi-hour blocks of Criminal Minds, Law & Order: SVU, and, of course, Blue Bloods. I need to take advantage of the Heroes Network. I think I saw that Homicide: Life On the Streets is on there, and I used to really like that show. It felt like Oz, but on the other side of the bars.

One morning before work, I caught this show, The Great Fire, about the fire that destroyed a whole lot of London during King Edward II's reign. I thought it was just a onesie, and I turned it off after the fire started, because, well, we can all figure out what happened next. But it turns out this is a miniseries and I caught episode 2 this week. Seems like I have something else to watch! Yay!

I also checked out a series I'd never heard of from the library (shameless plug!) called Dancing on the Edge. A BBC offering, that never aired in The States, starring Chewitel Ejiofor. My word! I watched episode 1 for my Sunday morning Masterpiece block and was enthralled. Glad I checked out the whole set!

Back to the screen...

Movie: Memphis (2014)

I just finished writing a post about another film, Stop the Pounding Heart, and it reminded me of this this movie, Memphis, that in a similar way to the former, had me upset with the filmmaker after watching it.

It's been a while since I watched the whole movie, so I just used YouTube to jog my memory. What I recall about Memphis is that nothing happened. There was a whole bunch of jumping into stories, possibly-interesting characters popping up everywhere, and the main character walking around looking lost and full of himself at the same time. The most stupid thing about the story was the beautiful girl who seemed to have her wits about her making herself available to this dude.

This is another two star ** because I hope to never see it, again, and the only reason I made myself revisit it was because I was trying to remember the funny part I played over the phone for my bestie:

“There’s no glory in bars and there’s no glory in talking for an extended period of time.
There’s no glory.
You find glory alone, by yourself, with nobody around.
Nobody can hear you.
That’s were the glory is found.
You don’t find glory in a woman’s pussy and, if you’re gay, you won’t find glory with a dick up your ass.
You’ll find glory by yourself. Alone. No sex.
I fucked the dirt one time and I came in the fucking dirt. That was glorious to me.
I was walking up from the porn shop and I had this ad, this American Apparel ad I pulled my pants down and I layed down in the dirt and I fucked the dirt.
I came in the dirt because the dirt was soft and warm and that was glorious to me because now I know if I get desperate enough I can go out and fuck the dirt.”

If, for some reason, you're interesting in watching this, I found the full movie on YouTube HERE. The above soliloquy is at 44:21.

I checked the DVD out from the library.

Movie: Stop the Pounding Heart (2015)

I am not a filmmaker nor a film school student. I say this because I think that this is one of those films this is made by a filmmaker who makes films that other filmmakers will enjoy. I watched it, but I didn't enjoy it.

I would not describe what happens in Stop the Pounding Heart as a story, but for the purpose of this post, I'll just call it that. The "story" in this movie is that of a teenage girl living with her very religious family on a goat farm in rural Texas. There's also a sub "story" of a teenage boy who lives nearby, who is practicing to be a bull rider. Supposedly, the girl was into the boy, but it would have been a stretch for me to get that out of the film if I hadn't have read the box description.

I gave this two stars ** because I could, at least, tolerate watching the whole thing through, but I'll be damned if I ever watch it again. This would have made a better short film, in fact, just watch the trailer. 

So, that music you hear in the trailer? It is the only music in the whole film and it plays for approximately 40 seconds out of a 100 minute movie. And that cross burning? Yeah. There's no explanation for that. Just a cross burning. Click HERE to watch the whole scene.  I will say that I wish that more super-religious people were as rational as the mom character.

I checked this DVD out from the library.

Filler: Week of October 25, 2015

It's been a while since I've posted in comparison to the amount of screen time I've consumed.
Masterpiece Theatre is pumping out some good stuff. I'm part of the way through Indian Summers and Home Fires, both good so far. And I'm surprised to say it, but The Great British Baking Show has official got its hooks into me. It's my guilty pleasure, kind of, but I don't know why. I don't feel naughty when I watch Martha Stewart Bakes or any other cooking show for that matter. Hmph. Oh well.
I ran a new scan on my TV and picked up a couple of new free digital channels, notably the Heroes Network for crime drama lovers like myself. I've also been enjoying Ion's mini-marathons of Criminal Minds and Blue Bloods.
And wouldn't you know, there's a telenovela about Celia Cruz! I can watch it online with captions! Yay!
Back to the screen...

TV: Ray Donovan Season 3 (2015) ***

Finally finished watching season 3 and what an emotional rollercoaster it was. I'm happy I dragged watching this season out over months because it was intense! I was poking a blame finger and yelling at different characters all over the place!

At the beginning, it seemed as if things were being repaired between Ray and his wife and children, but , don't you worry, that all falls apart not too long into the season. It's a whole series of can't-keep-in-your-pants, second-nature-lying, undercover priests, listening-to-teenage-logic and moving dead bodies around like pieces on a checker board.

I like this show. I like how it has grown increasingly complex and equally interesting. Ray Donavan started off almost a little too milktoast-ish, about a guy who knows how to take care of rich-people problems and his spoiled family. But then the complexities began being sprinkled in, like the relationship with his father, the priest sex abuse and Ray's attracted-to-shiny-objects penis. Things have only gotten more complicated as the show progressed to a season 3.

Looking forward to a season 4.

I give Season 3 a tentative three stars ***. I know I liked it, but I'll see over time if this is something I can enjoy watching over and over, again.  

Movie: A History of Violence (2005) ***

It's been a while since I've watched A History of Violence and I have to say, I have discovered some flaws that I was able to overlook when I first saw it. There are spoilers from here on.

Let me first revisit what I thought and continue to think makes this movie good: The fight scenes are great: Well choreographed to give you a sense of how crazy or well-trained Viggo Mortensen's character, Tom/Joey, was.

Then the scene where Tom finally gives in to Joey is a testament to Mortensen's acting skills. Some people don't see Joey until Tom says “I should've killed you back in Philly,” but, if you pay attention, during the driveway standoff, Tom's innocent-family-man's face changes to a knowing smirk. It's a Bruce-Lee-like transformation, and it is masterfully done. The contrast in those two characters played by the same actor, the movie's screeching-turn transition makes this movie intriguing, although there are some annoying elements.

The little girl is a space cadet. That scene between her mom and Fogarty in the mall? I've been in a similar situation when I was little and I was scared beyond belief that my mom was squaring up against a scary man. Space Girl hops on a nearby kiddie ride completely oblivious of the danger she could potentially face. That was annoying.

Next, the teenage son who blows up after the last straw of being bullied by an alpha-male jock character and finding out his dad is a killing machine. Before that scene he was silly teenager, taking bullying like a pro, hanging out with the questionable girl in school, and being cynical about the world with no real reason. This line came out of no where: “Eventually, we uh, grow up, we get jobs, we have affairs and become alcoholics.” What a nice and perfect life he had lived up until finding out about his dad. That odd line wasn't even an ironic.

Bad writing or poor time management led to the worst scene of the movie: The conversation between Joey and, his brother, Richie in the Philadelphia mansion. They had plenty of time to do some kind of montage or voiceover to recount for the audience who Joey was and the things he had done, but instead they did one of those catch-the-audience-up conversations that usually work best on television shows, but was placed in this otherwise pretty good movie.

A discussion with my BFF turned up another idea: Tom and Edie Stall raised their annoying children in a safe-and-rosy-environment, not preparing them for a bigger world where violence lives and can stop into their diner, home or school at any time. So that's another thing, about this movie: The rude awakening every member of the Stall family gets when Tom's history of violence becomes apparent. Hooray! I got to use the title in my review!

I'm giving this movie 3 stars *** because I like it, and it is one of the movies that I will watch over and over again.

I own this DVD.

Movie: Blood Ties (2013) ***

When you get to the bottom of it,  Blood Ties is a movie about brotherhood, regret and redemption. The movie starts out like a out of control fire hose spraying all kinds of plot lines and character stubs all over the place.  The production of the first half created a staccato feeling and didn't give the audience a chance to really get to know the characters or story. Unfortunately, due to poor character development, you don't really get a good sense of why Chris (Clive Owen's character) jumps into the deep end of crime after only a couple of set-backs in trying to succeed in a non-criminal line of work. You also miss out on why Zoe Saldana's character all of a sudden changes her mind about Frank (Billy Crudup's character). Finally, about halfway through the film, what I'm supposed to care about comes through. It felt like the director was swapped out mid-shoot.

 And accents all over the place! Clive Owen can never really tuck that accent between his legs and the French speakers, Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, couldn't cover themselves either.

I'm giving Blood Ties three stars *** because it wasn't bad, especially if you can hang out past the mid point and I wouldn't be opposed to watching it again, but I will probably never seek it out on my own.

I watched this on Amazon Video.

Filler: Week of September 20, 2015

I don't want to review everything I watch because I watch a lot of TV, as you may be able to tell by the name of this blog. But I'll use the filler posts to try to keep an untidy list of some of the unreviewed shows I watch. 

One thing I saw this week that was pretty awesome was the Keep On Cooking Julia Child autotune remix (PBS).

Speaking of keep on cooking, I came across an episode of America's Test Kitchen (PBS) that I haven't seen before: Mahogany Chicken and Asparagus Stir-Fry looked delicious. Hope I can try them some day.

I am continually alluded by the Forsyth Saga (PBS). I finally caught episode 1 a couple weeks ago, and just this week managed to catch the last 10 minutes of episode 3. I wish the series was on Amazon or PBS Video, but everyone is keeping it to themselves and rationing it out on live TV.

I caught a couple episodes of This Old House and Ask This Old House (PBS). They're working on building a house for a severely injured veteran.

The Doctor Blake Mysteries (PBS) had an episode where a Filipino character was accused of killing the guy who beat him on a TV quiz show.

I watched a couple episodes of The Great British Baking Show (PBS), which along with Geneology Roadshow (PBS) are slick and cheesy production reality shows and my guilty somewhat pleasures.

On Nova (PBS) I saw Dawn of Humanity about a new species of humanoid found in a deep, dark, South African cave.

I found myself watching an episode of the Ghost Whisperer on Ion. I was suspended for a few minutes, but honestly, Jennifer Love Hewitt just cannot engage my interest. I don't need to watch that show, again.

Movie: Inside Man (2006) *****

Inside Man starts off as a fantastic bank robbery movie where some reality needs to be suspended. As Spike Lee is wont to do, social and political issues get dropped in all over the place, but there's nothing to be scared of: Lee weaves these issues in with a bank full of interesting characters, funny moments, and good ol' Denzel Washington (Det. Keith Frazier) swagger:

Frazier: “Alright, Big Willie and the twins for you when I get home.”

Sylvia: “Ummm.... I got the handcuffs.”

Frazier: “I got the gun.”

Sylvia: “Bye, Big Daddy.”

What I really like about this movie is the cast, the soundtrack by Terence Blanchard and the impressively unpretentious way the bad guy gets it in the end. Its just a good, entertaining movie that I want to watch over and over. For that I give it five stars ***** 

Check out this Roger Ebert review of Inside Man where he sounds like he watched and critiqued the film after someone stole his lollipop!

IMDB

I own this DVD.

Movie: No Country For Old Men (2007) *****

Holy cow! I can't believe this movie came out in 2007! I remember watching this with friends New Year's Day 2008. Doesn't seem that long ago, but I guess it was. Oh! And it won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2008. That was a fulfilling culmination to a good movie year. Check out these titles!

I watched this movie in it's entirety for the second time tonight and it holds up against time very well. In fact, as with many good movies, upon second viewing, I caught details I missed the first time and can appreciate more of the acting more since I recognize more of the players.

No Country For Old Men is about a sociopathic mercenary set on a mission to kill a man who got himself involved in something way over his head. The sheriff, who is small town, but not in the figurative sense, finds himself on the bloody trail of this mercenary. I'm being rather vague in my description because it's better to go into this movie knowing as little as possible. This is a Coen Brothers movie, so it is off-kilter from your average movie story lines, full of good actors, acting, and interesting dialogue. I am intrigued by how the Coens managed to maintain an atmosphere of calm panic throughout this film. Masterful!

Even if you've never seen this movie, you've probably heard about the character played by Javier Bardem's exceeding creepiness punctuated by a bowl haircut. If you've seen the movie you might remember that his name, Anton Chigurh, is creepy as well. The sheriff, played by Tommy Lee Jones, really reminds of the sheriff in Misery, especially their relationships with their wives. And wouldn't you know, another creep-master, Garret Dillahunt, is in this as well, but playing a somewhat ditzy, but competent deputy. I recently saw him as KD in Hand of God.

I'm giving No Country For Old Men five stars***** because it is a quality movie with great writing, I enjoyed both the first and second viewings, and I'm sure I will watch it again. It's not exactly a favorite, but I think very highly of this movie and it would probably fall on a list of best movies ever if I was writing it.

No Country For Old Men on IMDB

I own this DVD. 

TV: Walt Disney (2015) ***

PBS's American Experience produced another good one, and this one is a two-parter! Walt Disney, the biographical documentary, covers the entire subject of Walt Disney and goes very deep into his life, processes and motivations. Honestly, I didn't think Walt Disney the person would be intriguing enough to warrant a two-part documentary, but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of captivating information and archival matter.

My favorite facts learned were 1. Walt Disney Company used to be Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Walt and his brother Roy ran the company together. That's awesome since you always hear about people parting ways because they're "heading in different directions" or something like that. 2. Many of Walt's ideas were often a creative way for him to relive part of his childhood, especially the time spent in the town of Marceline, MO.

I'm giving this three stars *** because I think it was really well produced, entertaining and I would watch it again and again.

TV: The Hand of God (2015) *****

Hand of God, An Amazon Original released in 2015

What started off as a strange, but intriguing pilot, blossomed into a perfect full season. No moment wasted, no superfluous lines, no unnecessary characters: Hand of God is great TV. It was a perfect season, from my point of view and I would watch it over and over, again. 

Synopsis:A very powerful, but selfish, contemptible, bought-with-the-right-price judge comes to believe that he is anointed by God after his son nearly succeeds at committing suicide. But something is showing him that things aren't as simple as they may seem and that he has to do something to right the wrongs. 

Don't read beyond this point if you haven't seen the show yet.

Crystal was almost always wearing black or dark clothes and Tessie was almost always wearing white.  Even Tessie's house was decorated with white, but in the scene when her son/brother decides to leave, she's wearing black pants with a white top, and the dining room was mostly white, but the bottom of the table was black as if illustrating Tessie's underlying dark past/ darkness.

Almost the whole show until the last two episodes, I thought Josh had something to do with PJ's suicide and possibly even Jocelyn's rape. That video was a major plot twist and I was totally off! Well done, writers. Well done.

I'm giving this five stars ***** because I now list this in my favorites and I think Hand of God is an all-around exceptional TV show that, like fine wine grows better and better with each viewing.

wikipedia.org/wiki/HandofGod

Movie: Mr Turner (2014) **

I wanted to watch this movie with last year's batch of Oscar hopefuls and I finally got it through the library. Not impressed. It was rather vanilla.

Timothy Spall plays the great British artist J. M. W. Turner in this biopic that covers the last 26 years of his life. He wasn't the best of people and only maintained two quality relationships, that between him and his father and also a relationship that developed with a landlady he would visit when he was scouting vistas to paint.

The film was beautifully shot, and at times, some of the panning scenes looked as if they were paintings.
Spall was tranformed in the role with an amazing amount of grunting. I watched the movie with captions on and reading the transcription of his grunts was quite entertaining.

I'm giving this two stars ** because I don't ever want to watch it again, and although I thought the cinematography was pretty good, nothing else stood out. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2473794/