Lbs.

Lbs. is a movie that aired recently on Thirteen a PBS channel. Often they show classic and indepent films with a brief narrative about the film and the process. This film was remarkable since the main guy in the movie actually lost the weight over the year it took to film.

The film Lbs. introduces us to an overweight Italian-American man from NYC that has a heart attack and must change his habits. He eventually pushes his family to the limit with his lack of will power and buys a trailer in the woods.

Enlisting the help of drug addicted friend they try to get sober together. That fails but it pushes the fat guy to do it on his own. What helps the most is final getting some nookie from a local married woman. He gains enough confidence to lose weight on his own and return to his family. Since most of his family and friends are toxic he keeps his distant and that is the point. He must now be independent and that is the best for him.

What annoys me is that this do nothing has enough money to go around and buy expensive things for a year without working. While he has no job he bought a $5,000 plot of land and buys healthy food for a year then moves into a hotel. The movie is good and Miriam Shor was great in her small role.

Super 8

Super 8
Kids meet an alien that just wants to go home. Sounds familiar except this is a Steven Spielberg movie, oh wait never mind.

Nothing new here and the special effects when seen on an old fashion TV looks just okay. I guess every generation needs lonely alien movie but I saw the best and do not care for updates.

For those younger movie goers this may be worth it as it has minor adventures and loud noises. The group of kids are cute and great actors.

Thor

Thor was another of those Marvel comics movie. It featured Natalie Portman but in my opinion Kat Dennings stole the show. Dennings sense of humor was the only thing that made this movie fun. Portman and Chris Hemsworth made this movie serious and I will applaud them for that seeing how they are dealing with mythical characters.

Thor is rendered powerless for most of the film and must deal with an evil brother. As gods none of them were sympathetic even after losing powers or almost dying. I first learned of Thor from the classic Adventure in Babysitting but never found his story appealing.

The Avengers Movie has several origin movies and I have watched all except Captain America, it seems the most boring. Still none of them are great and yes I include Iron Man. Not to just knock Marvel but I also hated the Dark Knight movies so DC also fails at putting up great superhero movies. The last superhero movie I enjoyed was Batman with Michael Keaton.

The Hunger Games

I tend to avoid the teen adult novels turned into movies but then I still watch them on TV. All the Harry Potters were truly awful, among the worst things put to film since snuff movies were invented.

Now The Hunger Games has a ridiculous plot that I could never get past with an actress who could not act here way out of paper bag.

The plot involves people in the far future from different districts who send there children to fight and die because they borrowed food from the one's in charge. Each district is a stereotype of workers like miners, farmers, and others. Some war that ended at least 74 years earlier lead to the invention of a game where 24 kids fight each other to death until only one person is left. It is not said what the winner gets but fame and fortune is suggested.

Katniss is the tale's hero. She uses her limited emotions, or at least Jennifer Lawrence's limited emotions, to save her sister from the "I-borrowed-food-lottery" and takes her place. Katniss is a hunter so killing is no an issue but she finds the games morally wrong. Although she ends up killing a bunch of kids she wins the love of the audience who watches this tragedy as sport.

After not killing herself and new BFF from her district the two district 12 heroes return home to an unknown future. Something in the world has changed though as Katniss has inspired more than a fanbase.

This movie is forgettable and reminds me of the dozens of 1970s futuristic movies about mankind almost dying. The looked silly back in the 70s and this remake does not add anything new to the genre. 

Café

Café was a movie with then couple Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jaime Kennedy that I just saw on TV. With the exception of Jaime Kennedy trying to play a tough guy everyone else was believable.

The movie centers around an incident in a Café and what happened the days before that led up to the fateful day. The twist is that this is also a sci-fi fantasy. In the style of The Matrix we are told that what is real may not be. The ending was less than satisfying but in all the movie was enjoyable. As a short movie I think this would have worked better. Several characters were not needed and nothing.

That unwritten rule of you should never act on screen with your girlfriend/boyfriend because it will break you up seems to be in effect.

Why is this funny?

Bridesmaids was an okay movie I had about two or three chuckles. What I do not get is why so much hype? I remember laughing so hard at the second Austin Powers film that I could hardly breath. But Bridesmaids went to the Oscars and it had a few smile moments and a nice message but that is it.

Luckily I did not spend a dime to watch it in theaters instead I waited for my cable to show it. Reminded me of There's Something About Mary which also was much hyped and did not even get me to laugh once.

Yes I know humor is subjective and I watch lots of comedies like The Big C which have few laugh-out-loud moments but I get the humor. With the exception of Wiig and McCarthy doing SNL skits I saw little attempt at being funny.

At first I felt I am getting old. These kids today and there slapstick comedies and YouTube are not as good as in my day. Yet there were a slew of years in the late 1970s-1980s where the movies were horrid too, thanks to reruns I saw most of them. Somewhere in the mid-1980s Steven Spielberg changed it all and great movies like those in the 1940s came back.

Then came Titanic and I found nothing great about that movie yet everyone else was entranced. That ushered a teen driven mess of unwatchable hits. All the Harry Potters, Twilights, and Dark Knight movies  are among the worst movies ever yet no one seems to notice. Christian Bale is great in Empire of the Sun but in the Dark Knight he is completely not believable and The Joker is ridiculous.

Not that the past two decades have been lost but most of the entertaining movies have been romantic comedies. Honestly I know my taste are unique but in the past ten years I went from watching 20 great movies a year to less than 2 great movies a year, and these few are not even hits. I just went through the list of 2009-2010 top 50 movies according to Moviefone and I only found 2 were good.


Here is what I enjoyed recently:
Something Borrowed
Vanishing on 7th Street
The Hurt Locker
Up

Please any other recommendations will be appreciated.

The Movies

Cover via Amazon

Getting movie recommendations has always been tricky since I like a wide variety of films and most are not popular. This year The Hangover was widely popular unfortunately it was not funny.

Let me just list them and you can decide for yourself:

The Hangover (Unrated Two-Disc Special Edition)  - not funny but clever, I kept waiting for the killer punchline but it was just too light on the jokes heavy on the visual aids.

Gran Turino - Great film although very depressing. Although the old man and young boy are the main focus the brilliance comes from the young sister.

Marley & Me - While I'm never fully convinced of the love between the main characters the love for the dog was undeniable.

Revolutionary Road - Hard to watch life behind the curtains of a seemingly perfect family. Well acted and again depressing.

Orz Boys - A Taiwanese film about boys growing up without caring parents. It is cut between cartoons and real life. It is a story told in an odd way and does not translate well so it may give some people a headache.

Die Hard - A freakin' Christmas classic. Wholly uplifting.

The Mist

Image via Wikipedia

Finally I saw Stephen King's The Mist on its Showtime premiere tonight and it was good.

Not to ruin it for anyone but it is a movie about the problem with too much and too little faith, plus monsters.

Marcia Gay Harden plays Sarah Palin perfectly as everyone makes bad decisions in times of crisis.


The book ends differently.

HBO2

Home Box Office 2, Channel #96

Just everything from HBO plus one or two more movies.

Currently worth watching on HBO2:
Held Up - Nia Long and Jamie Foxx in this underrated comedy about mistaken identity.
August Rush - Keri Russell in a wonderfully magic modern day fairy tale.
Fool's Gold - It's cute and funny enough.
The Ruins - Killer plants from the Mayan empire, I actually want to read the book after watching this film.

SHO2, Flix

Showtime 2, Flix, Channel #90, #91

Both are part of the Showtime family.

Showtime 2
Mostly movies and reruns from Showtime. Unfortunately they also show reality. Big Brother After Dark shows us the uncensored stuff the networks can't air. Before you get too excited it is mostly 3 hours of talking and cursing.

Currently worth watching:
Valmont (1989) - Anything with Colin Firth and Fairuza Balk is always worth watching.
Hostel 2 (2007) - Gore films can be enjoyable, to a point.

Flix
Older movies but that doesn't necessarily mean quality.

Currently worth watching:
The Perez Family (1995) - Great movie about an informal Cuban family. Plus Marisa Tomei is at her best here.
The Gate (1987) - Claymation demons terrorize children. Actually scarier than it sounds.
From Dusk til Dawn (1996) -Great action vampire movie.


Part 3
Bolllywood Hero concluded on typical happy ending note, I think. The timing was off and TiVo did not record the last 5 minutes and I don't know when they rerun it.

TMC

The Movie Channel, Channel #86

Once independent now part of the Showtime family. Get ready for a shock. This station shows nothing but movies! Cue dramatic music... ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

Themes:
Yesterday's theme was Splatterdays on Saturdays featuring movies like the new Halloween, Scream, and other slasher-comedies and horrors of recent years.

Other themes can include That Guy You Know by Face, Blondes, Heroes Who Die, etc.

Currently Watching: July 2009

Meteor - NBC mini-series about an Earth killing asteroid where everyone is horrible, even Marla Sokoloff's character who is the hero of the story turns to a killer, justifiably of course. A complete opposite of the ABC kiler asteriod mini-series Impact where everyone helped each other.

Tonight's conclusion should determine if Earth is worth saving, I'd vote no but Sokoloff is the only thing worth saving.

True Blood - Vampire, shape shifters, religious nuts, mind readers, and something ancient lurking in the deep south. My Buffy withdrawal has been quenched.

Weeds - Never saw the first season and still love these episodes. Funny show.

Nurse Jackie - Edie Falco is a great actress but I still can't feel for Jackie.

Royal Pains - Still funny, it is like MacGyver got a medical degree.

Movies
Eagle Eye -Shia LaBeouf being himself while recreating Enemy of the State by Wil Smith.
Made of Honor - Funny romantic comedy, no surprises.
Immortal - A mixture of 98% CGI and 2% real actors where humans, aliens, and Gods mess with each other in the future. Freaky, would be great if it weren't for all the bad graphics.
Margot at the Wedding - A truly evil sister comes to a wedding and spreads her evil.
Pineapple Express - Action adventure pot comedy. Dumb, not a judgment but the category.
Naked Fear - Joe Montegna must of desperately needed a paycheck.
El Cuerno de la Abundancia - Cuban families try to inherit a large fortune, chaos ensues.


Deaths- Round 2?
Walter Cronkite before my time but a gold standard of news anchors.
Frank McCourt brilliant writer and former NYC school teacher.

TCM

Turner Classic Movies, Channel #41

Before television was popular the local cinema showed movies and shorts in a schedule similar to today's TV programs. Cartoons, newsreels, propaganda, commercials, and movies.

TCM has an enormous collection of the classics and if you're feeling nostalgic this is the place.

No commercials.
No editing.

Most people don't notice but when movies are put on television even cable they are edited. This always confused me why, for example, the Men In Black in theaters had one small scene cut during HBO's run, then had three scenes cut on regular cable.

With TCM you see it all. This may not appeal to everyone since the sensitivity of 1940s America may not translate well today. Still I take into account the time it was made and am very impressed people were not as awful as the secondhand stories one might hear.

I just watched a 1935 classic the third of six Perry Mason movies.

The Case of the Lucky Legs
Perry Mason, played by Warren William, is on the case of some broad who is accused of murder. William plays Mason to the hilt. Why no one shoots the famed lawyer is a surprise, his arogance is titanic in nature. The secretary steals the movie.

The breaks between movies are filled with original trailers and mini tributes to the old actors. Hearing Michael Caine talk about his encounter with Cary Grant was nice. After Grant retired he could walk down the street without being noticed. While Caine thought this was sad I think it is great. The ability to act for years then live a normal life is something wonderful, especially in today's internet-24/7-stalking-paparazzi.

This is a very refreshing channel that dedicates itself to movies the way they were originally meant to be seen.


Sidenote: I can't keep up. Please stop dying.
Fred Travalena a great impressionist in the time when this was a respected art form.
Karl Malden a serious legend in his field.

Why Movies Why?

I just saw The Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder, and Transformers on cable.

Each one was horrible and badly acted.

Honestly why was Batman still doing the scratchy voice when he was alone with Lucius Fox?
Where were the jokes in Tropic Thunder?
Why does Megan Fox look forty when she is supposed to be a teenager?

I sometimes feel bad when I miss a film at the theater but then I watch it a year or two later and realize I made the right choice.

Update:Megan Fox...confessed to Entertainment Weekly that she was terrible in her breakthrough role in "Transformers."
100% agree

Pushing Daisies: Kerplunk
Series finale ties up most of the loose ends but very hastily. They did some bad CGI with Arquette holding some macaroni. The sweep of the entire town was meant to show every episode but again time and CGI made it looked rushed. The dog running through CGI daisies was laughable.

All in all great show. On par with Wonderfalls.

Another Decent Flick

I watch most of my movies on the small screen which has a great property of making CGI even worse then it does on the big screen. In this case CGI was not an issue the movie was beautifully shot.

No Country for Old Men
The genius of this movie is the separation of the characters. By this I mean there is no chance meetings, no crossing paths, or almost meetings. Each character is left to their own devices.

I've been overwhelmed by TiVo recording these crime-drama where there is always a twist of some sort. It is refreshing to see a story unfold based on the crime not some outside influence. Granted it is completely unrealistic unless your living in a third world country.



A must see.

So your remaking my childhood...

Fine then I want more candy and a TV in my room.

Wait you just remaking my favorite shows and movies, never mind.

Robert Englund has been out promoting his new movie Jack Brook: Monster Slayer and let it slip about his older productions which as far as he knows he will not take part in.

First he reveals that the newest Freddy Krueger movie will be a remake with a budget. Oh yeah Billy Bob Thorton is in line for Freddy Krueger.

Second he reveals V the great sci-fi series is being remade. The script has already been partially leaked here.

He did make the point that hardly anyone watches the original King Kong but that the remake by Peter Jackson was awful with a nice ending.

I haven't watched any of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, or other horror remakes because they look so bad.

I saw The Hills Have Eyes both remake and original on the same day. While both are B level the original is far superior.

Got Brick'd

˙sǝlʎʇs puɐ sǝɹuǝƃ dılɟ sǝıʌoɯ uǝɥʍ ʇɐǝɹƃ ʇ,usı

Finally saw the movie Brick recommended by Dani. I agree with her assessment it was like walking through a 1940's detective novel. I do recommend it but then again I've been deep into crime-dramas over the last two months. Love the posters.



If you like this one then I suggest Fresh starring Sean Nelson and Giancarlo Esposito it is the ultimate kid turn vigilante/detective movie.


Moving to my lack of TV reviews.

Well simply put they're awful. Plus other sites like TV Squad and AOL get the shows up to a month in advance and ruin any hope of posting a fast review. So unless something catches my eye I won't bother. My original hope for this blog was to visit movie sets like Amy but my lazybones and scholastic goals shut that down. So while I'll try to keep this site TV related it may transform.

Doctor Who: Journey's End
Fantastically sad.

Gone Baby, Gone

Finally a decent flick. Don't worry I won't ruin the plot or even try to review it but since it is so rare that I enjoy a movie I'll just say if your a fan of crime stories or a Boston hater this movie is for you, effing A.

This is not a mind bender but very well acted and of course it's less about the crime and more about the people. Now I want to read the book which is even more rare for me.

Exclusive: On the set with Pierce Brosnan

I am not the paparazzi or is it paparazzo? Either way I'm bad at it.

Either way I found out that the movie The Greatest staring Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon was being filmed near me. It is a Shana Feste film about two parents dealing with the death of their son when a young woman comes into their lives and causes more problems. It's a drama.

Before I start out with the excuses why my pictures are awful lets start with how to find a film shoot.

I saw this pink flyer.
This is taped to all the post and street lamps when a film crew decides to take over the streets.

For filming on the streets you would see one like this...


Know I saw nothing of the Pippa Lee movie but still found their flyer.


So I know the movie The Greatest is being filmed near me but it will not be on the streets most likely be at a local medical facility.

Here starts the excuses

It is hot in NYC over 90 degrees and with the humidity it feels like 100+. So I decide instead of waiting outside in the heat I would be indoors and just look out the window.

Film shoots are long and boring since I have no access to the set I must wait for hours so I start taking random pictures to set my shot when a celebrity approaches.

I was waiting at the window when Pierce Brosnan comes out and walk to his trailer but I had my camera off and next to me and nearly killed my self focusing and clikcing buttons but only got this shot...


Yes that really is my exclusive first on the scene photos of Pierce Brosnan in The Greatest.

So I learned I must be more professional, since he must come out of the trailer soon I leave my camera on and practice taking photos of moving objects.


After 45 minutes I get a bit tired and my camera automatically shuts off and wouldn't you know Mr. Brosnan comes out so I hurry to turn on my camera, focus, turn off the flash, and point and shoot. Well the result was one shot that was less then stellar.

Honestly that is Pierce Brosnan.

I gave up after this even though they kept filming until midnight and Pierce showed up once more but again I was too slow to set my camera to night mode.

There has been other movies I was privileged enough to watch in person and equally legitimate excuse that I have no pictures.

Ransom = I didn't own a camera.
Malcom X = I wasn't near any cameras.
Keeping The Faith = It was filmed indoors and I saw nothing.

Movies On TV

It is common knowledge that most modern movies are horrible. Thanks to over hyping, internet spoilers, and the worst special effects since Jason and the Argonauts. Come to think to think of it most special effects these days are worse then Jason and the Argonauts, this is thanks to CGI.

Image Source: http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2006/08/30/cgi_gone_awry/page2.html

So since I'm not paying for a movie and I have the Gold Package on my cable box I wait to see them. Here are the best and worst that I've seen, of course this my opinion so that means little. Please feel free to agree or disagree. I've just seen these movies in the past 6 weeks even if some have been out for years this my first time watching them.

Best:
An American Crime: It has to be the best piece of drama in years. Ellen Page is beyond brilliant in this crime-based docudrama. The horrible nature of people is on full display .

Resident Evil: Extinction: Reminded me of the last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Simpsons Movie: Sure it's just a very long episode but I did laugh out loud.

Surf's Up: It was cute.

Smokin' Aces: Only on the best list for the crazy violence.

28 Weeks Later: Good enough but still depressing.

The Game Plan: So The Rock is not the best actor I still found this movie enjoyable.

Knocked Up: It wasn't that good or that bad so since there is no blah category I'll keep it here.

Worst:
Superbad: I waited for this young couple to fall in love and kiss at the end instead they go their separate ways. Plus to much cursing.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: I fell asleep twice during this magically awful sequel. They're just not cute anymore. Add to the fact that unless you read the books you will be lost with all these pale characters.

Premonition: I love time traveling flicks but this one had such a huge hole that is throws you out of the plot.

Freedom Writers: Isn't great when a the privileged come down from their high horse to rescue the troubled youth. Exaggerating to make your point is fine but the little hoods in this story took it to a whole 'nother level.

Hot Fuzz: It is no Shaun of the Dead.

The Number 23: A crime-drama falsely elevated to a mythic status.

Rush Hour 3: Chris Tucker could have carried this movie by himself but he was teamed up with dead weight.


If you have any suggestions of movies to either watch on cable or TiVo for later just leave a comment I give all movies an equal shot.