retroBlog

Took the kids to watch the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie this weekend. I wasn’t expecting much since the overall rotten tomatoes score for the movie is at a lowly 4%. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the “tomatometer” that low before!! Anyway, my kids wanted to see the movie no matter what the critics said so we went. And not surprisingly, the kids ended up liking it and I was left wondering if there was anything noteworthy to write about in the flick. and that’s just it. all I felt about it was: “meh”. The battle scenes were pretty cool I must say but the story and character interactions weren’t all that memorable. I still can’t recall what went on in the story except for some deception by Count Dooku and some kidnapped slimy Hutt baby. Oh and I can confirm that the character animation in the film definitely has an eerie “Thunderbirds” marionettes feel to them. I’m not sure if it was a knowing “wink” to the old 60’s TV show but it made the characters a bit stiff and odd looking. It’s sad to see that George Lucas has to continue to milk this cash cow but … hey, my kids don’t seem to mind..

Star Wars: The Clone Wars trailer

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You know, for a while there, Jon and Kate plus 8 on TLC was a fun, lighthearted look at what the Gosselins’ life is like raising a set of twins and a set of sextuplets. The kids were cute and we all sympathized with Jon and Kate struggling to keep the kids cleaned and fed. and I’m not exactly sure when it all changed but what used to be an enjoyable lil’ reality show evolved into some twisted money making machine for Jon and Kate to use for their own gain. When things first started out, we saw the family in a modest home with Jon working a 9 to 5 job and Kate staying home to take care of the kids. By season 3 on TLC, we see that Jon no longer works and the family is supported by their numerous speaking engagements, sponsorships and of course their cut off of their reality series. Jon and Kate’s attitude has changed to where they give off this sense of entitlement that has really turned off a lot of viewers. essentially they’ve used their kids to gain a “celebrity type” lifestyle which includes a whole slew of freebies from clothes, meals, trips, vacations, child care to even Jon’s hair transplant!! What’s messed up is that Jon and Kate have no qualms about receiving these at all. In fact, they seem to expect it just because their on TV. It’s pretty sad. And it seems that the lil’ kids are paying the price for all of this.

Interestingly, I’m not the only one that has noticed the bad vibes coming off the show. There’s a growing number of bloggers, websites and forums that are raising their concerns over the show - from their parenting skills (lack there of) to the welfare of the children being on camera for days on end. A good place to start is the blog The Gosselins Without Pity. The latest scoop on the blog is about the Gosselins’ plan to move to North Carolina. Yup, that’s right, they’re moving to my neck of the woods. I guess it doesn’t matter even if they moved in next door to me since it’s commonly known that they don’t take kindly to strangers. But most likely they’ll be on a huge plot of land, isolated from prying eyes. according to this post, they’re currently building a 8000 square foot house with a pool and a separate pool house. Man, TLC most LOVE them!

And if you’re wondering why “Aunt Jodi” no longer appears on the show, be sure to read Aunt Jodi’s sister’s blog - Truth Breeds Hatred. sad, sad, sad. It seems that the Gosselins are burning all their bridges which isn’t that wise since it’s obvious their days on TV are numbered. and where will they be once the TV cameras shut down for good?

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I don’t have Showtime so I just recently had the opportunity to catch up on David Duchovny’s Californication - Season One on DVD. The story revolves around struggling writer Hank Moody (Duchovny) and his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Karen, and their daughter Becca. There seems to be some similarities to another favorite of mine - Rescue Me. Like Denis Leary’s critically acclaimed series, there are frequent dream sequences, issues with God/religion, divorce and substance abuse. The series seemed to struggle a bit during the first few episodes but by episode four, things began to click especially in terms of the dynamics within Moody’s family. Even though I’m all for nudity and sex scenes, the numerous scenes at the beginning of the series weren’t really that necessary. My guess is that it was pretty much done to boost viewer ratings on Showtime. But once you get past the gratuitous nude scenes, the great dialogue and the talented cast are surprisingly the main things that keep you watching.

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I don’t think the director or writer knew where to take the story. the film, Teeth, wasn’t successful because the director essentially sat on the fence with it. he could have went with a black-comedy or full tilt horror movie or maybe a even a heartfelt teen-angst drama. but the resulting movie is neither here or there. It just seemed director Mitchell Lichtensen simply had a checklist of items he wanted on-screen:

bloody cut off penis - check!
visit with perverted gyno - check!
evil step-brother - check!
brain-washed christians saving themselves for marriage - check!

If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s centers around a teenaged girl who ends up learning that the ancient myth of vagina dentata is actually real. the story had lots of potential but nothing noteworthy comes out of it. and the viewpoint is a bit skewed against men as well as the christian “true love waits” conservatives.
ultimately it’s a waste of talent and a waste of time. I personally give it a “thumbs down”.

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Finally Peter Tolan admits that the last season of Rescue Me wasn’t all that great. I was beginning to think I lost my senses thinking that one of my favorite TV shows was going down the crapper. Tolan is quoted in USA Today saying “the story choices we made took us away from our main guys. It was sort of treading water.” (referring to the subpar fourth season.)

the fifth season won’t being airing until April 2009 on FX so Denis Leary and Tolan decided to film some “minisodes” to keep viewers interested in the series during the extended break. look for the 5 minute clips on FX (as well as youtube, Hulu and the FX website) beginning the week of June 24th.

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I’ve been on a Freaks and Geeks kick these last few weeks. I’m not sure why especially since I wasn’t that taken by the show back when it first aired on NBC. but it’s now probably in my top ten of all time favorite TV shows. thank goodness Shout Factory released the complete series on DVD for us late-comers. apparently it’s a licensing nightmare (not to mention expensive) to release a series like this on DVD because of all the music featured in each episode. (Thanks Shout Factory!)

and man, the “I’m with the Band” episode is just simply SPOT on! kudos to Judd Apatow, Paul Feig and the rest of the Freaks and Geeks team. Anyone who’s been involved with a band growing up can relate to this episode. the episode captured some great moments from Nick’s (Jason Segel) frustration with his band’s lack of motivation down to Nick’s heart-breaking realization that he’ll never make it as a professional drummer. oh and the contrast between what’s being heard in Nick’s headphones compared to how Nick actually sounds playing along to Rush is just pure genius! I can just go on and on about this episode along with the whole series but I’ll spare you the verbal diarrhea.

and what can I say about lovely Linda Cardellini. she was absolutely perfect for the role as Lindsay Weir.

..OK, OK, I’ll admit it. ..this is just an excuse to post some photos of Linda…

she sure doesn’t look like a geek!

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the long sought after episodes of the short-lived Dana Carvey Show are now available on Hulu!! long time fans have been clamoring for a DVD release but this will probably have to do for now. originally airing on ABC in 1996, the risk-taking series never had a chance to find an audience and was canceled after seven episodes. an already taped eighth episode never aired but is now available for viewing online. Carvey had some great talent involved with the show including Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Robert Smigel and even writer Charlie Kaufman. there are a ton of memorable comedy sketches from the show including one of my all time favorites called “the Waiters who are nauseated by food” which features Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert:

you can check out the whole series including the never aired eighth episode on HULU.com
Note: the series is also available on Netflix via their Watch Now feature.
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I’m not totally sure why Sean Ellis needed to go back and expand his award winning short, Cashback, into a feature length film. The 20 minute short was perfect as is. the feature film version on the other hand just felt long and pointless. in fact, the highlight of the feature film is the appearance of Ellis’ original short that is pretty much left intact and comes after a rather slow and dull opening sequence that fills us in on the backstory. in the film, Ellis fleshes out the story surrounding the lead character Ben’s breakup with Suzy and his developing relationship with Sharon. Ellis’ short was fresh and fun but his take on relationships here in the feature length story is riddled with cliches and stuff we’ve all scene countless of times before in other movies. it’s really unfortunate for Ellis especially after all the hype and praise surrounding the Cashback short. there’s really no need to see the film if you’ve already seen the short. … OK, maybe for the gratuitous nudity but that’s about it…

CashBack movie trailer

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why didn’t anyone inform me of how good the movie Stardust is? I overlooked it a while back, dismissing it as some sort of Lord of the Rings/Chronicles of Narnia rip-off. But the movie holds it own. in fact, I’ll place it near The Princess Bride in terms of classic fairy tale films. director Matthew Vaughn did a wonderful job in bringing to life a small 19th century village in England that just so happens to be situated next to a portal to a magical world called Stormhold. the story centers around Young Tristan who crosses over “the wall” in order to retrieve a fallen star for his love, Victoria. Tristan soon finds out that the fallen star is actually a beautiful girl named Yvaine who is being sought after by a witch and the son of the King of Stormhold. Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Charlie Cox are all featured in the film. the film is a true joy to watch with a great story line and some well timed bits of humor sprinkled throughout. the movie isn’t perfect however and left me with a couple lingering questions -
1) why doesn’t Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro) have an English accent like everyone else in the movie? is this simply a De Niro thing or is there some backstory to the character’s american accent?
2) also, Michelle Pfeiffer’s accent comes and goes at random places. but she does a fantastic job otherwise.
3) why doesn’t Una (Tristan’s mother) look any older than she did back when she met Tristan’s father at the very beginning of the story?
4) even though Ian McKellen’s voice over explains that Tristan will live forever because he has Yvaine’s heart, why does he end up looking like an old man (in the deleted scene on the DVD) while Yvaine looks the same at the end of the story? shouldn’t Tristan not age as well?
5) I love Ricky Gervais but will he ever be able to act like someone other than Ricky Gervais? seemed like his role was tailor made just for him. or maybe the director simply just worked around Gervais’ limitations?

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as with most SNL seasons, the current season has been pretty uneven in terms of comedy gold. but I have to say that the recent Tiny Fey hosted show was pretty strong. I also have to mention the one with Christopher Walken as well. The Annuale commercial spoof in particular featuring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler has to be one of the best things they’ve done in a long while. They’ve shown the Annuale clip a couple of times since the Tina Fey show and it still gets me every time. I can watch it all day long. really. Just in case you haven’t seen the clip OR if you want to see it again (and again like me!), here it is:

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