Sep 11 2009

Movies Opening September 11

Category: 2009 Movies,Movies,Openingvelveetahead @ 8:55 pm

I guess when Hollywood doesn’t want to remake a movie, they can still borrow plot lines from other ones and call it a different name. Both Sorority Row and I Can Do Bad All By Myself seem to have the same plots as other movies, and not very good ones either. Sad.

Nationwide Releases

9x9_rotten 9
9x9_rotten Sorority Row
9x9_rotten Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself
9x9_rotten Whiteout

9

9
Directed: Shane Acker
Starring: Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, John C. Reilly
Trailer

Synopsis: Little creatures that were brought to life before all humans were made extinct must fight for their own lives from machines that want them dead.

My Take: The animation looks awesome, but it is  something that can be saved for cable.

9x9_rotten RT Score: 55%
RT Consensus: Although its story is perhaps too familiar and less complex than some might wish, 9 is visually spectacular, and director Shane Acker’s attention to detail succeeds in drawing viewers into the film’s universe.

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Sep 10 2009

Top Chef: Fancy French Cooking

Category: Recaps,Top Chef,TVvelveetahead @ 2:34 pm

04_robuchon

Top Chef: Las Vegas
Vivre Las Vegas

Here is a quick run down on the two challenges:

  • Quickfire Challenge: Create a dish using escargot in 45 minutes
  • Elimination Challenge: French pairing – protein & sauce

I believe I read it in one of the comments on a Top Chef blog a week or so ago that the producers should ban bacon and chocolate being used in any dish since those always win. I thought that wasn’t the case since Stefan was chastised last season for making a very bland chocolate ice cream dessert and then this week, there was a dish that was made worse with the bacon. It isn’t just the ingredients, but how you use them!

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Sep 07 2009

TV: Week of September 7

Category: TV,Upcomingvelveetahead @ 11:18 pm

The CW is kicking off the Fall TV season early. I should know that one network does this each year by now, but it surprises me each year. There is much razzle dazzle around their Melrose Place reboot and the new Vampire Diaries, which both look interesting enough to me to try, but the most important season premiere of the week is Supernatural. Why? Jensen Ackles. mmmmm….

Season Finales: Secret Life of the American Teenager, 10 Things I Hate About You, Leverage, Criss Angel: Mindfreak, True Blood, Hung, There Goes the Neighborhood

Pick of the Week

supernatural

Supernatural
Channel: CW
Time: 9/8c
Starring: Jared Padelecki, Jensen Ackles
Premieres: Thursday, September 10
Trailer

Synopsis: Sam thought he would stop the apocalypse by killing Lilith, but he didn’t know that he would end up freeing Lucifer by doing it. Oops! Lucifer will be played by Mark Pellegrino (Lost‘s Jacob).

My Take: I love this show. It was planned as a five-season  story arc so it could be finishing up this year. It has gotten better each season.

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Sep 06 2009

TCA: The CW

Category: News,TV,Upcomingvelveetahead @ 7:35 pm

A few weeks ago, the Television Critics Association got together to listen to all the basic and cable networks to answer questions and give the rundown of their shows this Fall. CW Network President, Dawn Ostroff resided over the executive session before a few shows were highlighted with their own panels.

CW Executive Session

During the CW presentations, network president Dawn Ostroff, talked about some things that did not work for the network last season, including outsourcing its Sunday night programming, which crashed and burned. “We tried something new, something different, which I think is one of the great things about being this young network. We really get to try different things and experiment. But ultimately, a couple of things happened. The programming wasn’t working. The economy was taking a big turn, and I think it just made a lot of sense for us, as well as for our affiliates, to give back the night and for us really to focus on Monday through Friday, which is really where our bread and butter is and where we know we can migrate all of our viewers across the schedule.” I really think it was the crappy shows  that led to no one watching them, but I’m just throwing that out there.

She also talked about how her network is big with the kidlets by being super duper popular on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.  “People are tweeting about the CW once a minute. Social networks are the modern-day water coolers,” she said. “We don’t have to wait for our audience to get in to work the next morning to talk about our shows. They’re talking to them as soon as they’re on the air.”

smallsuper

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Sep 05 2009

TCA: Cable Channels

Category: News,TV,Upcomingvelveetahead @ 9:08 pm

A few weeks ago, the Television Critics Association got together to listen to all the basic and cable networks to answer questions and give the rundown of their shows this Fall. The first day was all the cable networks. There were some panels with MTV, TV Land, TBS, Comedy Central, History Channel, National Geographic, and ESPN, but none of those shows interested me so I skipped over what I read on websites and Twitter. Below is what I did find interesting.

Starz

spartacus-blood-sand-hero

The series with the most buzz from Starz was the new series premiering in January called Spartacus: Blood and Sand. It’s like a mixture of 300 and Rome, filled with tons of graphic blood and sex. Most of the talk at the press conference concerned Lucy Lawless teaming up with her old Xena producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi.  She also will end up naked at some point, like most of the other characters in the show, but she isn’t super excited about it. “Look, I am a little bit nervous about it but there’s nothing I can do,” she laughs. “It’s a great role!” There will also be an enhanced prosthetic for the men since I guess when they are naked, they need a little something extra. Lawless said, “That thing gets shared around, though. At the moment, it’s pinned to the wall next to all the merkins in the makeup truck.”

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Sep 04 2009

Movies Opening September 4

Category: 2009 Movies,Movies,Openingvelveetahead @ 4:30 pm

This weekend there is a workplace comedy that looks similar and probably not as funny as Office Space, a slightly different version of Death Race, and a stalker “comedy”.

Nationwide Releases

9x9_fresh Extract
9x9_rotten Gamer
9x9_rotten All About Steve

extract

Extract
Directed: Mike Judge
Starring: Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig, Ben Affleck
Trailer

Synopsis: A company owner has to deal with it a workman compensation issue when he’s trying to sell his company.

My Take: It appears to be more in the funny vein of a Mike Judge movie, like Office Space, rather than the trying too hard and failing movie of Idiocracy.

9x9_fresh RT Score: 64%
RT Consensus: Extract has some very funny moments and several fine performances, but the film feels slighter and more uneven than Mike Judge’s previous work.

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Sep 03 2009

Top Chef: Whole Lot of Scrumptiousness

Category: Recaps,Top Chef,TVvelveetahead @ 3:44 pm

hangar

Top Chef: Las Vegas
Thunderbirds

Here is a quick run down on the two challenges:

  • Quickfire Challenge: Create an “out of this world” dish featuring potatoes
  • Elimination Challenge: Create a meal for 300 airmen at Nellis Air Force Base

At the beginning of the episode, Preeti and Laurine were saying that their room is getting empty since they lost Jennifer and Eve out of it. That only leaves Preeti, Laurine and Jesse in that room. Based on Jesse and Preeti’s track record, it almost sounds like the loser room to me. I think Laurine should get out of there while she can or maybe she is working on getting the entire room for herself.

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Sep 01 2009

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Category: 2009 Reviews,Movies,Reviewsvelveetahead @ 10:03 pm

gijoe

I played with my brother’s GI Joe figures when I was a kid.  I didn’t watch the cartoon since I thought it was silly. I don’t really remember much about them including their names so it would have helped if some characters had more of an introduction in the movie. It then made me sad when some of the characters in the movie didn’t get a backstory or I didn’t even know their names until the end credits. I would have much rather learned more about Heavy Duty than watch Channing Tatum, who played Duke, try to act. He was horrible! He had one facial expression for when he was concentrating, surprised, angry, sad or happy. It is the face in the poster. There, now you have seen his acting range. I would have much rather the producers had done a better casting job with Duke and Ripcord. It would have made it a lot more enjoyable. I tried to give Marlon Wayans the benefit of the doubt. He played his role too jokey. He could have added comic relief in a better way, but it became tiresome to watch. It was too bad since I love comic relief in action movies.

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