Thursday, November 12, 2009

secret diary

Yes, the concept of the eight episode season is both love and hate...but love today. I hadn't realised that somehow I forgot to watch Season Two of Secret Diary of a Call Girl - I mean, how did I just forget? Well, thanks to On Demand and 20 minute episodes, I managed to watch all of Season Two (I HAD watched the first episode in real time last year) between last night and this morning. Considering I'm mid crash-course with the Doctor, I couldn't help wishing that David Tennant might show up at her door. Now THAT would be an interesting episode.

I just looked to see if there's a Third Season in the works...and found out Billie Piper was preggers for Season Two. No wonder they put her in some horrendous and shapeless frocks. That C-section scar is going to be covered up from now on!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

mad for men?

I didn't blog about Mad Men at all over the past three months, I'd be kidding myself if I thought I could do Season Three any justice, so I'm not going to try.

Go Joanie, you're back.
Betty, your Main Line brat act is going to crumble like a toll house cookie.
Sally has been used perfectly to sit in as the audience - I liken her to Hurley.
Peggy needs to stop fucking Duck.

Men? I want to see you all grow up in Season Four. Catch up to the ladies.

bored to death

Although I'm loving the 6-13 episode format that's jumped the pond and infested our pay channels, I'm left up in arms that so little of a story is being given to me!

Bored to Death, case in point. Can't wait to see what Jonathan Ames pulls out of his hat next, but hell, how long will we have to wait? Ted Danson's got one hell of a head of hair, but it might sorely recede before he's back on the air again.

where are the angels?

no.195 Angels In America

Does a mini-series count as one film? Doesn't matter when it's something as amazing as Tony Kushner. I remember when the tour came to Eisenhower, I only had money to see one night, not both and I regretted not asking to borrow it, still do. This is the first time I've watched it since it's original airing. How fun it was to see some parings - the cast was amazing, in all it's versions. This IS A PLAY - the dialogue is rambling and awful and beautiful and engaging and thought provoking in it's word play. I miss spending my days in battling conversation, one word punctuated by the next.

Change. Under ALL those words, change is where it's at.

the doctor

Thank goodness DR doesn't take the time to read this, or I'd be eating crow. Yes, I did say that Doctor Who was so cheesy and not me, I'm so not that goofy sci-fi and bad aliens. Okay, I'm still not, I have no desire to run off and watch the seventeen renditions of Star Trek (I'm classic all the way). However, I got sucked into the world of the Doctor. It started on Monday mornings; every Monday morning a new Season One (Christopher Eccleston) episode popped up on On Demand. Granted, I was going there to watch the Director's Cut of Being Human. I figured, I'm laid off, I have nothing better to do on this fine late Monday morning while I drink my coffee.

Then I was hooked. I think what really did it was the swap to David Tennant. Again, no DR to push my face into the "skinny pale guy" pile of crap he tries to play with me.

Good thing I have to start my LOST rewatch now, I have to cut back on my Doctor time, although, I would like to get all the episodes in before the last two movies with David. I think I have enough sense then to go all the way back to the sixties and go nuts with the Daleks. I think...

rip offs

They've all been written before. As I go back and watch the classics, one realises that there are no new ideas, they've all been repurposed with a new backdrop and modern characters.

no. 194 The Apartment

First off, how can you NOT love a movie with Shirley and Jack? They are amongst my favorites.

Where it's ripped off?
Loser. Jason Biggs gets pushed around by his "buddies" into using his place as party central. He's so enamored by Mena Suvari that when she's incapable of taking care of herself, he fawns over her in the name of the unwilling boyfriend.

Harry and Sally. Running on New Years Eve to find the right person to spend your life with.


no.193 Out of Africa

So many iconic scenes!

Rip off?
Australia. Drover getting off his horse, running into Miss Boss' arms ie. Dennis' safari car and Karen. Strong willed woman running her own show. Amazing geography, wildlife and land. Big fire so I can find you - sing me to you.

nightbefore nightmare

no.192 Nightmare Before Christmas

The bi-annual screening! Once before Halloween, once before Christmas. It's never been the same without Smoothie signing "What Is This?" making up half the lyrics as he went.

Really?

It's been over a month? Really? I'm pathetic. No NAMI, I should have time and I haven't blogged. I'm going to make a big old "I'm a loser" list.

no.191 The Time Machine (2002)
Toss your fucking bowler.

no.190 Adventureland
Ah, old Kennywood! It's a sleeper, but the music is fabulous. It's an awkward love story, almost written backwards, they start and stop very quickly, we kinda get it's about her mom. Not enough big Pittsburgh hair.

no.189 Suddenly Last Summer - BBC
I hate it when people do NOLA accents wrong. Shouldn't do them at all, even if you are a Dame. Hello, Rob Lowe in a BBC production? Lighting was horrible, they tried to convey stage to screen, but this time, it was bad.

no.188 Dirty Pretty Things
Immigrant's story - how can people survive in London/NYC, so expensive yet people migrate there from other countries with their big dreams. Doctors are driving cabs and watching the overnight desk.

no.187 House Bunny
Good to see Kiely, I remember her when she was 12! Katherine, too.

no.186 Charlie Bartlett
Sometimes, all you need is a little validation, someone who believes in you.

no.185 Choke
It's a little slow, but how fast can you make a film about a sex addict who is a con-choker to get money to pay for his mom's spiral from an radical Vicks inhaler junkie to a stomach tube while making a stop in Colonial America by way of the Vatican and Jesus' foreskin?

no.184 From Hell
Johnny chases the dragon...and finds a really horrible dye job called Heather Graham. I really must pick up this book.

no.183 Nim's Island
Abigail Breslin, Gerard Butler and Jodie Foster make a good lookin' island family.

no.182 Hounddog
Was there really any need for this to see the life of day?

no.181 Cube
Individuals at their most extreme, tested, pushed, strained. Yet these characters are trite caricatures. The Doctor is horrendous.

no.180 Bride With the White Hair
Had to fast forward through the "sex" scenes, they were more like really bad make out scenes that only eleven year olds might find remotely interesting. The Cheesy song montage ending was borderline love and hate.

no.179 Cassandra's Dream
Collin Farrell doesn't fit the Woody Allen neurotic schmuck very well.

no.178 310 to Yuma (2006)
I've seen them both, but I think Russell makes a better bad guy.

no.177 The Women (1939)
Now I get a Reno Divorce. Thank goodness I watched this then, or I wouldn't have understood what Betty was going to do...

no.176 The Happening
Glad M.Night keeps putting money into the PA Film Industry, but it would help if it was a good film.

no.175 I Could Never Be Your Woman
Mother Nature was a decent idea, but she never worked, threw off the flow of the film. Paul Rudd was sooo funny, too bad this went straight to DVD. Reminds me of a relationship I thought would never end, but sadly enough, laughter didn't win in the end.

no.174 Howard's End
I'm having a go around with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins.

no.173 Oscar and Lucinda
Weird vehicle for two great actors. Weird. Did I mention it was weird?

The 2nd Act is so sad - flip side of the comedic Jack Lemmon. Reminds me of "Loser" with Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari - Biggs likes her so much that he's willing to do things in the name of the slimy Greg Kinnear. Oh, what about Harry and Sally - running on New Years Eve

no.172 A Knight's Tale
A guilty pleasure - there's only one new film to show his dear face and smile. Plus, who doesn't want to see a little mockery of Shakespeare in Love? (Yes, that's where you remember the dance class from.)

no.171 Sex and the City
Maybe I would have enjoyed this had it come out the year after the show ended. They really needed to add a good poor girl to the mix.

no.170 Last Chance Harvey
It's great to see a love story that isn't all hokey and filled with 18-year olds. You can feel the level of unease...which melts away into something new.

no.169 The Tale of Despereaux
I picked up the book the next day. The palate was gorgeous, choosing a painting as the basis of each environment. A hero comes along when the world needs one.

no.168 The Remains of the Day
So shallow and surface the character, glorious the acting.

no.167 Night of the White Pants
I love Tom Wilkinson, he pulls of a great Texan accent, whereas the rest of his family can't seem to figure out where they're from. PUNK. Did I mention this was a horrible film?

no.166 Age of Innocence
Loved the specials - the DP had a great idea I can't remember seeing in a film - made it feel as if it were on the stage. She never asked yet he gave her up - he does the same in the end, never asked, yet walks away. DDL's method is insane, but it does make him the man on the page.

no.165 Kalifornia
It took Kalifornia to remind me why I started thinking the man from Californication was hot in the first place.

no. 164 Miracle At St. Anna's
I thought this was supposed to feel like a "black" WWII film? Spike didn't do anything different, if felt like every other except the language was a bit more hip. Where did Spike go?

no.163 Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning
Totally different take on the victims of the Holocaust. Beautiful and heartfelt.

no.162 And Then She Found Me
"You can't really love until you make peace with betrayal."

no.161 All The Pretty Horses
Sometimes it feels good when the gorgeous girl doesn't get everything she wants.

no.160 The Soloist
This should have a huge entry itself, but all I can say is that, "It gives me hope."

no.159 M.Butterfly
How blind we are when it comes to love - or is it that we see only what we want to see?

no.158 Ash Wednesday (2001)
Irish Catholic guilt and New York; it's an Ed Burns film.

no.157 Five Children and It
Why was my childhood never this fun?

no.156 Bottle Shock
Who doesn't love an underdog story about Napa Valley wine (or Alan Rickman!)