Super Bowl is Sunday, in case you weren’t paying attention. Heroes will have an early finale. NBC decided to have it wrap up before the Olympics instead of continuing again in March. On DirecTV, Friday Night Lights finishes up its third season. I believe it’ll be airing on NBC spring or summer. This Friday, the Winter Olympics start. There are two shows that start this week with “survivor” in the title. One is another version of the CBS reality competition show and the other is a BBC America drama. Don’t confuse them!
Pick of the Week
Survivors
Channel: BBC America
Time: 8/7c
Starring: Julie Graham, Paterson Joseph, Freema Agyeman, Max Beesley, Phillip Rhys, Zoe Tapper, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Shaun Dingwall, Chahak Patel
Premieres: Saturday, February 13
Trailer
Synopsis: A virus has killed most of the world’s population. A group of survivors must figure out how to live with one another and start over again.
My Take: It has a lot going on with some interesting characters. I like the actors since I have seen a good portion of them in other BBC shows.
Continue reading “TV: Week of February 7″
Tags: Chahak Patel, Freema Agyeman, jeff probst, Julie Graham, Kelli Giddish, Max Beesley, Nicholas Bishop, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Past Life, Paterson Joseph, Phillip Rhys, Ravi Patel, Richard Schiff, Shaun Dingwall, survivor, Survivors, Undercover Boss, Zoe Tapper
There’s this little show that you might have heard about that is premiering this week: Lost. It’s the final season. Will we find out the answers? I don’t even care anymore. I just like the craziness of it all. Also this week, in order to avoid getting killed by the Winter Olympics, Bones and Fringe will be going on hiatus. They’ll come back after the Olympics are over.
Pick of the Week
Lost
Channel: ABC
Time: 8/7c
Starring: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, Michael Emerson, Terry O’Quinn, Emilie de Ravin, Henry Ian Cusick, Jeff Fahey, Jorge Garcia, Zuleikha Robinson, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Leung, Nestor Carbonell, Naveen Andrews, Yunjin Kim
Premieres: Tuesday, February 2
Trailer
Synopsis: Did Juliet really die? Did she reset the crazy time thing? Who the hell is Locke now? What is the smoke monster?
My Take: I am completely ready for head explody!
Tags: Daniel Dae Kim, Emilie de Ravin, Evangeline Lilly, Henry Ian Cusick, Jeff Fahey, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Ken Leung, lost, Matthew Fox, Michael Emerson, Naveen Andrews, Nestor Carbonell, Terry O'Quinn, Yunjin Kim, Zuleikha Robinson
Mel Gibson’s first movie in a really long time was barely hanging onto some good reviews throughout the week, but it ended up in rotten territory after more reviews came in from critics. Hardly anyone likes the When in Rome though.
Nationwide Releases
Edge of Darkness
When in Rome
Edge of Darkness
Directed: Martin Campbell
Starring: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic, Shawn Roberts
Trailer
Synopsis: Mel Gibson gains a Boston accent and has nothing to lose, just like in Lethal Weapon.
My Take: Mel Gibson has gotten super wrinkly.
RT Score: 56%
RT Consensus: For better and for worse, Edge of Darkness offers vintage Mel Gibson, working within the familiar framework of a bloody revenge thriller.
Continue reading “Movies Opening January 29″
Tags: alexis dziena, Benno Furmann, Bojana Novakovic, Danny Huston, Dax Shepard, Dror Zahavi, Edge of Darkness, Emmanuelle Chirqui, Florian Lukas, For My Father, Georg Friedrich, Hili Yalon, Hue Rhodes, Johanna Wokalek, jon heder, josh duhamel, Kate Micucci, Kristen Bell, Mark Steven Johnson, Martin Campbell, Mel Gibson, Nicole Opper, North Face, Off and Running, Peter Dinklage, Philipp Stölzl, ray winstone, Romany Malco, Saint John of Las Vegas, Sarah Silverman, Shawn Roberts, Shlomo Vishinsky, Shredi Jabarin, Simon Schwarz, steve buscemi, Ulrich Tukur, When in Rome, Will Arnett
Will Smith plays a little fish who everyone thinks is a shark slayer, but the shark is really his friend who isn’t interested in eating fish so helps his buddy get a big reputation. Can he keep the secret?
Jer and I watched this on cable a while back. It was starting when we sat down so we thought we’d check it out. I really had no big desire to see the movie before that point.
I thought it started out pretty corny with all the underwater/fish gags of stores and other city bits. That was over pretty soon though. Will Smith was goofy, but likeable as the main fish kid. I loved the shark that was a vegetarian. He was funny. Angelina Jolie was the sexy fish, but I found her to be disturbing. I think they tried too hard to make her fish look human with the hair and stuff. It just looked too odd.
The storyline was predictable, but it seemed like a cute kid movie. It wasn’t as funny as Shrek or Toy Story, but it wasn’t super annoying.
Grade: C
Liam Neeson is a former government agent named Bryan, whose dumb teenager daughter insists on going on an unsupervised trip to Europe with her friend. Almost immediately after they arrive, they’re targeted by kidnappers who break into their apartment and take them away to be sold into prostitution. As that’s happening, the daughter is able to call Bryan and give a brief description of the kidnappers. After that, things get nuts. Bryan flies to Europe, leverages some of the connections he has from his former profession and starts killing the people involved, while trying to track down and rescue his daughter.
The movie is completely implausible, but never takes itself too seriously. Bryan is a complete badass in the vein of Jason Bourne, no big gun battles, just a lot of breaking limbs and snapping necks. His daughter is annoying and stupid and I’m glad she’s kidnapped and absent for most of the movie.
My favorite part of the movie is a phone exchange between Bryan and the kidnapper, immortalized in the trailer and TV spots for the movie:
Bryan: I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
It’s a mindless, good time, for sure, and Liam Neeson is excellent.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The movie was hyped for months before it was released. We were supposed to be amazed at the technology. When I finally saw the trailer, I didn’t understand the hype. The story didn’t look too interesting to me and I didn’t see anything mind blowing. Maybe I was already amazed at Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. If it was 3D that was amazing, then that isn’t super exciting to me. It could be my vision being a bit off, but I don’t like wearing 3D glasses over my regular glasses. I actually like to go to theaters with big enough screens so I can get away with wearing any glasses, but I think I am missing out on some 3D action due to it. You can take all of this into account when reading this review.
Continue reading “Avatar”
Tags: Avatar, James Cameron, Michelle Rodriguez, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Zoe Saldana
Cable television has a lot of premieres this week with the third seasons of Damages and Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Psych continues its fourth season with its winter premiere on a new night. The only new premiere on network television is Kitchen Nightmares on FOX. This week also has the series finale of Dollhouse.
Pick of the Week
Damages
Channel: FX
Time: 10/9c
Starring: Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, Campbell Scott, Martin Short, Lily Tomlin
Premieres: Monday, January 25
Trailer
Synopsis: Patty Hewes is back, this time going against an investment firm. Ellen still doesn’t trust Patty and Tom is finally made a partner.
My Take: It went a little all over the place last season, but was still better than a lot of television out there. I also like eventually learning the mystery that is set up at the beginning of each season.
Continue reading “TV: Week of January 24″
Tags: Ashley Madekwe, Billie Piper, Campbell Scott, Cherie Lunghi, Corbin Bernsen, damages, David Dawson, Dule Hill, Glenn Close, Gordon Ramsey, Iddo Goldberg, James D'Arcy, James Roday, Joanna Bobin, Kirsten Nelson, kitchen nightmares, La La Land, lily tomlin, Maggie Lawson, martin short, psych, rose byrne, secret diary of a call girl, Tate Donovan, Tim Omundson
It is Paul Bettany’s week. He’s an archangel in Legion and Darwin in Creation. Neither one of them look very interesting though. The other wide releases don’t look too great either.
Nationwide Releases
Extraordinary Measures
Legion
Tooth Fairy
Extraordinary Measures
Directed: Tom Vaughan
Starring: Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, Keri Russell
Trailer
Synopsis: A father goes to great lengths to pay for experimental research from the scientist that might find a cure for his sick kids.
My Take: The critics talk about it looking like a tv movie. When I first saw the commercial on tv, I thought it was for a tv movie.
RT Score: 27%
RT Consensus: Despite a timely topic and a pair of heavyweight leads, Extraordinary Measures never feels like much more than a made-for-TV tearjerker.
Continue reading “Movies Opening January 22″
Tags: Adrianne Palicki, andre techine, Ashley Judd, Brendan Fraser, Brian Baugh, Bubba Lewis, Catherine Deneuve, Creation, D David Morin, Daniel Hendler, Deja Kreutzberg, Dennis Quaid, dwayne johnson, Émilie Dequenne, Extraordinary Measures, Gabriel Medina, Girl on the Train, harrison ford, Jazmin Stuart, jennifer connelly, Jeremy Northam, Jon Amiel, Joshua Weigel, Julie Andrews, Kate Walsh, keri russell, Legion, Lucas Black, Martin Feldman, Mathieu Demy, Michael Lembeck, michel blanc, Miguel Dedovich, Nicolas Duvau, Paranoids, Paul Bettany, Pop Star on Ice, Randy Wayne, ronit elkabetz, Ryan Sheckler, Scott Stewart, Sean Michael, Stephen Merchant, Steven Crowder, To Save a Life, Toby Jones, Tom Vaughan, Tooth Fairy, Tyrese Gibson, Veronica Perdomo, Walter Jakob
I usually do my favorite albums from the past year, but I also downloaded a lot of singles that I loved. I didn’t want to forget them. For most of these, I have the albums to go along with the song, but some of them are just really good songs all on their own when the album didn’t really do it for me.
Below there is a clip of each song. The entire playlist is also available on YouTube.
Favorite Song 2009
Artist: Miike Snow
Song: Animal
Album: Miike Snow
How did I determine which would be my overall favorite song of the year? In 2008, I could not stop listening to “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon over and over and over again. This year, that honor goes to Miike Snow’s “Animal”. I still am not sick of it. It is just catchy and makes my head start bouncing whenever I hear it. I heard it for the first time while I was listening to the new releases on Amazon, which I really need to get back to doing. I then heard the song a couple of times on 94.7. It wasn’t played too often, but I loved it. They are a Swedish band. I saw them live a few months back. They were excellent.
Continue reading “Favorite Music 2009″
Tags: 1901, All Rebel Rockers, animal, Bang! Bang!, Barracuda, Boombox, break-up, can't stop feeling, Conditions, day and age, Fantasies, Grizzly Bear, Habeas Corpus, Help I'm Alive, hockey, Incredibad, Invaders Must Die, It Don't Move Me, It's Frightening, Julian Casablancas, kinky, little boots, Living Thing, Living Things, Lonely Island, Manners, metric, Michael Franti & Spearhead, miike snow, Mind Chaos, of montreal, Oxygen, Papel Volando, Passion Pit, percussion gun, Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson, Peter Bjorn and John, phoenix, prodigy, Relator, Remind Me in 3 Days..., Say Hey (I Love You), Skeletal Lamping, Sleepyhead, spaceman, strangers, Sweet Disposition, the killers, The Knux, The Temper Trap, To Punctuate, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, too fake, Triphallus, Two Weeks, V, Van She, Veckatimest, Warrior's Dance, white rabbits, wolfgang amadeus phoenix
The Golden Globes are tonight. They are my favorite award show since the celebrities are able to eat and drink before the awards start, so that makes some acceptance speeches entertaining. They also chair hop quite a bit so you never know who will be sitting where when the camera tries to find a certain celebrity. Starting tonight, 24 will be trying to kill everyone again with too much of it with two nights of two-hour episodes. Human Target will premiere tonight before moving to its regular Wednesday night. This Friday all the broadcast networks and quite a few cable channels will have holding a telethon for Haiti.
Pick of the Week
Human Target
Channel: FOX
Time: 8/7c
Starring: Mark Valley, Chi McBride, Jackie Earle Haley
Premieres: Sunday, January 17
Trailer
Synopsis: A personal security guard puts himself in harm’s way for various clients. He doesn’t have super powers, but a bit of a suicide wish.
My Take: I love Mark Valley and hope this is the show for him. I think it looks like a lot of fun. I also love Chi McBride, even if he plays the same character in every show.
Continue reading “TV: Week of January 17″
Tags: 24, Alessandra Toressani, Andy Whitfield, Anil Kapoor, Annie Wersching, Antonio Te Maioho, Austin Basis, Britt Robertson, Bruce Campbell, burn notice, Caprica, Cherry Jones, Chi McBride, Chris Diamantopoulos, Craig Parker, Eric Stolz, Erin Cummings, Esai Morales, Freddie Prinze Jr., Gabrielle Anwar, Golden Globes, Human Target, jackie earle haley, Jai Courtney, Jeffrey Donovan, John Boyd, John Hannah, Katee Sackhoff, Kerr Smith, Kiefer Sutherland, Kirstoffer Polaha, Life UneXpected, Lucy Lawless, Magda Apanowicz, Manu Bennett, Mark Valley, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Matt Bomer, Mykelti Williamson, Natalie Morales, Nick E. Tarabay, Paula Malcomson, Peter Mensah, Polly Walker, Sasha Roiz, Seth Peterson, Sharon Gless, Shiri Appleby, Spartacus: Blood & Sand, Tiffani Thiessen, Tim DeKay, Viva Bianca, White Collar, Willie Garson
The Lovely Bones went into wide release this week. It’s reviews didn’t improve though since it is still rotten. Other than that, it is either Denzel Washington kicking ass or Jackie Chain kicking wussier ass. The only thing of interest to me is the Fish Tank British movie in limited release.
Nationwide Releases
The Book of Eli
The Spy Next Door
The Lovely Bones
The Book of Eli
Directed: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes
Starring: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Michael Gambon, Evan Jones, Jennifer Beals
Trailer
Synopsis: It is like an updated version of The Road Warrior with a random extra plot of teaching a girl how to be a killer thrown in.
My Take: It looks like it would be mindless, stylized fun.
RT Score: 45%
RT Consensus: It’s certainly uneven, and many viewers will find that its reach exceeds its grasp, but The Book of Eli finds the Hughes brothers injecting some fresh stylish fun into the kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland filmgoers have seen more than enough of lately.
Continue reading “Movies Opening January 15″
Tags: 44 Inch Chest, Albert Hughes, Alina Foley, Allen Hughes, Amber Valletta, Andrea Arnold, Billy Ray Cyrus, Book of Eli, Brian Levant, christopher plummer, Dave Legeno, denzel washington, Evan Jones, Fish Tank, Gary Oldman, George Lopez, Harry Treadaway, Helen Mirren, ian mcshane, Jackie Chan, james mcavoy, Jennifer Beals, Joanne Whalley, Katie Jarvis, Kerry Condon, Kierston Wareing, Lovely Bones, Madeline Carroll, Malcolm Venville, Michael Fassbender, michael gambon, Michael Hoffman, Mila Kunis, paul giamatti, Ray Stevenson, ray winstone, Rebecca Griffiths, Spy Next Door, The Last Station, tom wilkinson, Will Shadley
