Black Swan: A Film that En Pointes and Plies’ Ahead of Others.

It is entirely appropriate that trailers for director Darren Aronofsky’s latest film Black Swan mention his previous films Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler. That’s because Black Swan blends together themes from both of those pre mentioned films, combining the obsessiveness and need to perform from The Wrestler with the lose of one’s grip on reality from Requiem for a Dream. The result is a perfectly sublime experience worthy of a standing ovation. While it’s a movie that will have you thinking about what you just saw long after it’s over, while actually viewing it it’s best to simply sit there and allow what you’re seeing to wash over you.

Natalie Portman stars as Nina, an overly dedicated ballet dancer who’s been performing at a NYC company for several years. The director of the company Thomas (Vincent Cassel) decides that this season he will put on a completely different take of the classic ballet Swan Lake, with a single performer playing both the role of the white swan and the role of black swan. While he casts Nina in the coveted role he has doubts she can pull it off, for while she perfectly embodies the perfect form and innocence for the white swan, she is severely lacking the sensuality needed to also play the role of the black swan. Her nerves are further shaken when a new dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis) joins the company. Unlike Nina Lily has the ability to let herself go when she dances and she begins to become a rival for Nina’s part. Paranoia sets in as Nina begins to think everyone is out to get her, from Lily and Thomas to her overbearing mother Erica (Barbara Hershly). As she throws herself more and more into the role Nina’s grip on reality starts to slip and she starts to notice strange markings and textures on her skin, to where it seems she is physically transforming into an actual black swan.

Darren Aronofsky directs with a frenzied yet restrained dreamlike style, to where the audience doesn’t know at times if what they are seeing is real or not. While at first the audience can easily figure out when Nina’s mind is altering reality it becomes harder to distinguish as time goes on. This works wonders for the film, for it becomes both a film about one’s state of mind in addition to a film about ballet.

Natalie Portman is amazing in her role, and is sure to be a contender come Oscar time. Her portrayal of desperation and paranoia is as beautiful as it is disturbing. Mila Kunis flawlessly plays the role of rival and frenemy, at times even stealing focus away from Ms. Portman. Barbara Hershly is extremely effective in having viewers wonder if her character tries to control Nina’s life out of motherly love or resentment over her own lost dreams. And Vincent Cassel does a great job in having his character be hated in nearly every scene he’s in.

While Black Swan is not in wide release yet, it’s worth it to make the extra effort to go see this movie. It’s as beautiful as it is disturbing and will keep your eyes glued to the screen until the credits roll. This is one production that is not to be missed.

The Magic is Defiantly Here in this Harry Potter Outing

First let me say that I’ve always been less than thrilled with the Happy Potter movies. If I had to analyze why it’s because of how much I love the book series, and when I watch the movies all I can do is nitpick on how what I read in the book isn’t exactly represented on screen. While I’ve seen many film adaptations of books, never before have I been so critical of a film based on a book. Which is why I’m just as surprised to be saying here that I enjoyed the Happy Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 very much so. As both a movie and a representation of the book it was very satisfying.

In this first part of the two part film Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his Death Eaters have successfully taken over the magical world and are turning it into a fear and hate filled dictatorship. In order to stop him once and for all Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are on the run searching for Horcruxes, which are objects a witch or wizard would store a piece of their soul in to prevent them from crossing over into the afterlife. The task proves to be exceedingly difficult as the trio have very little information on how to find them or even destroy them.

Of all the movies this one is the most chock full of scenes and moments from the book, the result of splitting the story into two films. In some ways it’s almost too full, as there are some moments that fans of just the film series will be a bit in the dark about. One example is the wedding between Bill Weasley (Domhnall Gleeson) and Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy). While their impending nuptials were a significant sub-plot of the sixth book it’s never addressed in the sixth movie. I don’t really see a problem with this, for if anything the added plot points are more of an incentive for people who haven’t yet read the books to read them. I just feel it should be pointed out that the movie brings so much from the source material that moments that were left out of previous movies are here in full force. There are also a couple moments that weren’t originally in the book. While in the book Hermione talks about how she magically altered her parents’ memories so they forget they have a daughter in order to protect them, here we actually get to see it happen. For the most part the added material worked well in the movie.

The performances are top notch, especially from Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. While Daniel Radcliffe is also very good there are times he’s almost overshadowed by his two co-stars. Though one of the most amazing performances in the movie is by Helena Bonham Carter as the psychopathic Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. She takes this completely vial character and makes you savor every moment she is on screen.

In conclusion this is a very good movie and should definably be seen. It’s full of action, romance, suspense, and comedy. It’s so good you’ll wish the second part was being released next week instead of six months from now. So go out and have a enjoyable night at the cinema by seeing Happy Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one.

The Return of COCO

After months of anticipation, Conan O’Brien returns to television. His new show, entitled Conan, aired its first episode on Monday. While not perfect, it definably seemed a promising start for this as always funny performer.

The best part was probably the beginning, which was a pre taped bit on his journey from The Tonight Show to TBS. Of course it was anything but serious, as he goes from being executed mob style at NBC, to working as a birthday party clown and an employee at Burger King, to being saved from suicide by Larry King. It perfectly showed his ability to see the humor in everything.

Once the show began the Conan we know emerged, zany and lively. While he seemed a bit nervous if anything it fueled his already considerable energy. He, along with co-host Andy Richter, took a few jabs at NBC and even TBS, but nothing that was vindictive or truly mean spirited. The meanest jokes were at Conan’s own expense, such as showcasing an actual Halloween mask of a crude likeness of him that was called “ex talk show host”.

The weakest part of the show oddly enough was the talk show part, where he interviewed Seth Rogen and Lea Michele. Not because Conan is a bad interviewer, because he’s not. It just seems his best quality is the zany bits he comes up with. It would serve him better to have one interview guest a night and devote more time to comedy sketches. Of the two I liked the Seth Rogen interview better simply for an amusing story Seth told about how he proposed to his girlfriend, though I also enjoyed the interview with Lea Michele.

The show did go out with a bang though, with Conan rocking out with Jack White from The White Stripes. How many other talk show hosts would be playing guitar during the musical segment?

Overall it was a good first show. As prior experience has shown Conan improves as he relaxes and a bit of time passes from the beginning of a new talk show start. And he was definitely better this time around then he was when he started The Late Show all those years ago. So it seems he has the beginnings of a successful talk show.

The Social Network: The Most Current Movie Out Today

What’s most astonishing about the movie The Social Network isn’t that it was created, but the speed in which its creation occurred. The subject matter of the movie, Facebook and its founders, have been in the public consciousness for a little over five years. In film time that is astonishingly fast for a movie on Facebook to come around. In some ways the movie’s existence came about almost as fast as the creation of Facebook itself.

Jesse Eisenberg, previously seen in Adventureland, Zombieland and Holy Rollers, plays Mark Zuckerberg, the elusive co-founder of Facebook. Right away we’re meant to dislike this person, as his response to his girlfriend dumping him for being an asshole is to write malicious comments about her on his blog while simultaneously creating a website that allows students to rate the attractiveness of Harvard female undergrads. But it’s not simply his actions that make this portrayal unlikable. It’s everything about Zuckerberg. Throughout the movie he carries himself with a superior air around him; as if he believes he’s better then everyone around him. To him he’s above the rules of others and can do whatever he wants to get ahead, even if it screws over others. But it would be unfair to call him a sociopath, as he clearly does care about others and what they think about him. Eisenberg was very good in his portrayal of Zuckerberg, erasing all previous images of the very likeable characters he’s played in the past.

The story of how Facebook came about is shrouded in controversy, which the film goes to great lengths to address. After Zuckerberg’s Harvard attractiveness stunt he’s approached by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (hilariously played by Armie Hammer in both roles) about helping them set up a Harvard social network called Harvard Connection. Mark agrees to help them, then goes off and creates his own Harvard social network with his friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). They launch their website, called TheFaceBook, and it is an immediate hit. Cameron and Tyler are furious since Mark not only stole their idea but intentionally led them on that he was working on their project so he guaranteed that his site would be launched first. The twins, along with their business partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) decide they will not stand for this atrocity and begin taking legal action against Zuckerberg. While this goes on the website grows to include other Northeast schools. The site catches the attention of Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who is brought on as a consultant. As Mark and Sean grow closer Eduardo begins to slowly become shut out of the project.

Throughout the film the action shifts to two depositions involving lawsuits against Zuckerberg. The first is by the Winklevoss twins and Narendra, who are suing Zuckerberg for stealing their idea. The second is by Saverin, who is suing Zuckerberg as a result of a much deeper betrayal. I won’t reveal what it is exactly, only that by the time it comes up Garfield’s character can’t even look at Zuckerberg.

The movie runs at a brisk pace without feeling rushed or to speedy. While some have said the end of the film doesn’t offer any real closure that’s entirely the point. This isn’t the story of these character’s lives, but rather a specific time in their lives. Their stories are still being written, so they should be incomplete.

Overall this was a very enjoyable movie to see. I would recommend it to anyone, especially those why have a Facebook page. In some ways, you owe it to yourselves to see how your beloved social network came about.

Let Me In: A Remake Worth The Price Of Admission

In general remakes of existing films are often met with suspicion and groans. The reason being is that in some ways films that are remakes can’t catch a break. If the remake stays to close to the story and shooting style of the original people ask why a remake was needed in the first place. And if the opposite approach is taken, in which a new story is created out of the existing picture, people complain that it destroys the credibility of the original film and ruins it.

Remakes that get the most scorn however are Americanized remakes of foreign films. The reason being is that films from other countries have a certain style and flavor of their own. Often times the qualities of the original will get lost in translation when it is remade by a filmmaker from a different country. Luckily the movie Let Me In manages to pull off the impossible, in that it is able to stand on its own two feet while keeping the magic of the original film intact.

Let Me In, based on the 2008 Swedish film Let The Right One In, tells the story of young Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a lonely 12 year old boy living in 1980’s New Mexico. In addition to having an absentee father and an emotionally distant mother he is a frequent target of bullies, often being physically abused and taughtingly referred to as a girl. One day two new neighbors move into his building: a young girl named Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her guardian (Richard Jenkins). The two develop a deep friendship, often leaning on each other for support. In the meantime a string of murders hit the town, with the dead victims found drained of their blood. This is directly connected to Abby, for in actuality she is a centauries old vampire who needs blood to survive.

While Let Me In is similar to its predecessor it’s not a shot for shot remake. Rather it is another interpretation of the original source material (the first movie was based on a novel). Some changes work quite well, like Owen realizing danger more quickly in this version and the removal of a few useless secondary characters. Other changes I found myself less thrilled with. The biggest change is how Abby’s vampirism is portrayed. In the Swedish film they were very subtle in showing her vampire nature. In this movie she physically transforms into an actual monster when she feeds. The effects and CGI are over done and take away from the sympathy of the character. It’s hard enough for the audience to root for this judicial killer. Adding a bunch of effects to further show her inhumanness makes this task all the more harder.

Like the previous film the strongest aspect of this movie are the two leads. Kodi Smit-McPhee brings sympathy and understanding to his role, even when he takes a knife and imagines threatening his enemies. Chloë Grace Moretz again plays an engaging character that is both tough and vulnerable, with more emphasis put on the vulnerability this time. But as strong as their characters are individually it is the chemistry they have together that is the real magic of the movie. The essence of the overall story is the unique friendship children form, with one of those children happening to be a vampire. And both of the young actors invoke it perfectly.

While I myself am often pessimistic about remakes, I must admit I was won over by this movie. By all means go out and rent the original. But don’t let the fact that it is as remake stop you from seeing Let Me In.

Easy A is Easily One of the Best Films of the Year.

While there have been many instances of taking a classic piece of literature and reimagining it in a modern setting (10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless, Cruel Intentions), few have the charm and wit that accompany Easy A. Rather then just a modern rehash of the novel "The Scarlet Letter" it’s a social commentary on young people’s obsession with promiscuity, told in the funniest way possible by the only harlot who’s never even had her first kiss. It’s a delightful romp with sharp dialogue and strong performances, in particular Emma Stone as the title character.

Stone starts as Olive, a whip smart high schooler who is essentially a nobody. When her best friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka of the new series Hellcats) asks her how she spent her weekend Olive lies and says she spent the entire weekend with her non-existent college boyfriend (how she actually spent the weekend is so wonderfully lame that you instantly fall in love with her). Rhiannon thinks this means Olive lost her virginity and mere moments later the rumor has been facebooked, e-mailed and twittered to everyone at school. Soon afterwards her gay friend Brandon (Dan Byrd) asks her if he can claim the two of them had sex so he won’t be picked on by his homophobic classmates. She agrees and ends up creating a business out of it, having guys give her gift cards in exchange for them saying she slept with them. But things soon grow out of control, leaving Olive trying to figure out how she can regain her old life back.

This is the first time Emma Stone has headlined a movie, having previously played supporting roles in Zombieland and Superbad. And with this single role she’s proven she deserves the title of leading lady. She manages to completely charm the audience with her combination of awkward gusto and shark wit. In some ways she is almost too charming for her role, as one wonders how a woman like her could ever go unnoticed.

The supporting cast is also very enjoyable to watch. Some other actors of note are Amanda Bynes as the head of the school Christian group who makes it her mission to get Olive out of school, Penn Badgley as the most non-judgmental school mascot around, and Thomas Haden Church as the beloved teacher who’s teaching "The Scarlet Letter" in his class. In addition we have Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive’s free spirited parents, the only two people in the world who let their daughter do whatever she wants while at the same time raising a well adjusted studious person.

In addition to the performances the movie is filled with clever and hilarious dialogue. A couple of gems I’ll reveal to wet your appetite are “What is it with gay men and lady parts? Do you think I have a Gnome down there?” and “If the Good Lord had wanted Micah to graduate, he would have given him the right answers.”

I’ll avoid the painfully obvious way of saying this film is a winner. Simply put this is a movie you should go out and see right away. You’ll laugh, you’ll smile, you might just learn a thing or two. Go see Easy A

Piranha 3D: The Perfect Mindless Summer Movie

Not every movie that is made is destined be an award winning piece of high art. Some are meant to be down and dirty, using the lowest common denominators of excessive violence, gore, sex and nudity in order to bring in an audience. While many times the result is sad and exploitative, occasionally a movie has so much of these elements in it that it becomes an enjoyable outing. Your mind will not grow from seeing the movie, but you will have a fun time.

Piranha 3D might redefine the definition of a mindless summer movie. It has nothing intelligent to say to its audience. And it’s so full of plot holes one wonders if the script was written over a drunken weekend. The plot itself is as flimsy as they come: an earthquake releases thousands of prehistoric piranhas into a lake during spring break, where hundreds of horny college students have invaded a small lakeside town. Elisabeth Shue plays the town sheriff who’s trying to get everyone out of the lake, Jerry O’Connell plays the obnoxious host of a girls gone wild type series who hires the sheriff’s son (Steven R. McQueen) to find good filming locations, and Christopher Lloyd pops up as a crazed fish expert.

But none of that seems to matter. What matters is that there are many sights in this movie that have to be seen to be believed. Richard Dreyfuss singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home”. Two women performing an underwater nude ballet that lasts for three uninterrupted minutes. A man riding a jet ski and shooting at the piranha with a shotgun. A guy plowing into dozens of people as he tries to escape the carnage in a speedboat. A girl having her face ripped off by a propeller. A man’s severed penis eaten by a piranha and then spit back out (yes, this actually happens). If you think you’re being spoiled from these tidbits, don’t worry. There’s at least 50 other sights one will experience within this movie.

The movie is of course released in 3D, and the result is for the most part worth the extra admission. While no where near as strong as the 3D effects in Avatar, they aren’t fuzzy and unnecessary. Audiences will squirm all the more when flying body parts come flying out at you and the killer fish jump right in your face.

While I enjoy smart movies that make you think, I also see the value in turning your brain off and going for the ride at the cinema. And Piranha 3D is the most mindless enjoy the ride movie that’s been made in years. Go out and see it. You might hate to admit it, but you’ll have a good time.

Be a good little Pilgrim and see this Movie

While many movies try to create the nostalgia for classic video games and comic books through references and in-jokes, few movies truly capture the feeling of actually being in a classic video game or comic book. It’s not hard to see why, since they're two very different visual forms of story telling. But Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the very equivalent these two mediums fused together and turned into a movie. To the point in where it’s as if someone videotaped a video game being played and put the footage on screen. The result is a quirky and silly ride that’s a complete laugh riot.

Based on the Scott Pilgrim comic series, the film follows Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), an apathetic hipster slacker who plays bass for the up and coming band Sex Bob-omb. He shares a apartment with his better off and annoyingly sarcastic gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin) and is dating an impressionable high schooler named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), though their relationship is very one sided as she adores him and he sees her more as someone he can simply call a girlfriend. At a party one night he meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a cool pink haired girl from New York who keeps appearing in his dreams. He instantly falls for her and awkwardly pursues her, where eventually she starts to like him back. But at a battle of the bands event he’s attacked by Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), the first of Ramona’s exes. After an intense fight, in which Matthew is reduced to coins, Ramona informs Scott that in order for them to date he will have to defeat her seven evil exes. A few of the other exes are the “vegan power” aided Todd (Brandon Routh), the angry half ninja Roxie (Mae Whitman) and the egotistical mastermind Gideon (Jason Schwartzman).

As previously stated this movie feels as if you’re in the world of a video game. Information bars appear whenever a new character is introduced. Characters move from one vastly different location to another in mid conversation. The fights are extremely exaggerated, with fighters being punched thirty feet into the air and getting up with out a scratch, the exes and Scott having super human powers, and Scott getting prizes and power-ups whenever an ex is defeated. It makes for a very fun and zany ride.

Though Michael Cera again plays a hapless geeky guy, this time he adds a bit of a jerk quality to his performance. Though the difference is subtle, it’s nice to see a departure from his usual repertoire. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays her role mysteriously cool, never letting us entirely in but always leaving us wanting more. The two standouts though, and again proving the rule that the supporting characters are usually the most memorable, are Kieran Culkin as Wallace and Ellen Wong as Knives Chau. Culkin is delightfully selfish, displaying a charm that makes the audience root for him even when he’s a complete dick. And Wong is a real treat. Her ability to seamlessly go from sweetly excitable to obsessively starkerish is adorable to watch. Hopefully we see more of this bubbly actress in the near future.

All in all Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a huge treat for movie goers to experience. The only bad thing about the movie is that more people aren’t gong to see it. Hopefully people realize the ride of the summer they are missing and go see this movie. You won’t be disappointed.

Inception: A Head Trip That's Worth The Ride

Just as Writer/Director Christopher Nolan redefined the summer movie two years ago with The Dark Knight, he does so again with his newest film Inception. Far from a mindless popcorn movie, it’s the very example of a film that needs to be viewed multiple times in order to fully understand the complex ideas and visions that are being presented.

Although the ideas and plot points are complicated it in no way diminishes one’s ability to enjoy this amazing film. It’s without a doubt one of the best movies of the year. A solid script and wonderful directing, combined with strong performances and masterful editing, it is a much needed life raft in this summer’s sea of mediocre to lackluster movies.

The movie follows Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a man who specializes in entering people’s dreams and stealing ideas they have hidden within their subconscious minds. He has been living abroad for an undisclosed amount of time after an incident involving his former wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) forced him to flee America. He is approached by a shady businessman named Saito (Ken Watanabe) who offers him a deal. If he can subconsciously convince the son of a former business rival (Cillian Murphy) to dissolve his father’s company Saito will make arrangements for Cobb to return home. Cobb is reluctant to take the job since “inception”, the creation of an ideal within one’s mind, is almost impossible to replicate by an outside influence. But he takes the job in order to go home and see his children again. He assembles a team, which includes trusted point man Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and prodigy dream building architect Ariadne (Ellen Page), and together they work to accomplish the mission.

The film deals with the many different aspects of dreams we often wonder about and ask ourselves, including how long time lasts in a dream, at what point do we begin to remember our dreams, and what can cause us to wake up from a dream. But the film goes even further in the nature of our dreams and subconscious and addresses even more unlikely scenarios, such as how the mind would react if it realized an outside aspect was altering its reality. The concept of the movie I found most intriguing was the different levels of dreams, in which one can dive deeper within someone’s subconscious and enter dreams within a dream. The deeper one goes within the layers of dreams the harder it is to distinguish if one is in the real world or the dream world. It is this aspect that changes the difficulty of the mission in ways the team couldn’t imagine was possible.

This intelligent thriller will certainly be high on many people’s lists of must see movies for 2010. It is a jolting thrill ride that will have people talking for days to come. So forget the movies about angsty vampires and element bending children. For a truly satisfying cinema experience, see Inception.

Take a clichéd theme and remove the clichés and you get Splice

The theme of using genetics to play God and create new life, and then have everything go terribly wrong, is hardly new to movies. From Jurassic Park to Species to Godsend to Deep Blue Sea, scientists creating and tampering with life and having everything go to hell has been done so many times before that any attempt to make a similar themed movie usually gets a “why bother” from people. The only way to have this movie theme executed successfully is if we take what we’ve seen before and offer a fresh approach to the subject. Which is what works best for the movie Splice. Everything we’ve previously seen in genetic tampering movies is taken here and used in very unexpected ways. This makes for an original and enjoyable movie.

Splice starts Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as Clive and Elsa, two genetic scientists who’ve been creating new life forms through gene slicing in order to create new protein strains that can be used to cure diseases. After successfully creating two worm like hybrids Elsa wants to create a hybrid that has human DNA in it. When the company they work for forbids it Elsa and Clive decide to secretly do it anyway, reasoning that they will destroy the creature before it ever carries to term. But once they fuse the DNA the creature is born within hours and forms far faster then they ever dreamed it could. First it resembles an armless rodent with a stinger. But after a few days it starts to look more human, resembling a hairless girl with impossibly large eyes, backwards jointed legs and a tail with a stinger at the end. Elsa begins to bond with the creature, naming it Dren and treating it like a child. Within a month Dren grows into an intelligent and curious adult sized woman (Delphine Chanéac) and is moved to Elsa’s old family barn for her protection. As time goes on the three individuals form a sick and twisted family unit, with Clive disgusted with what they have done and yet also protective towards Dren, Elsa becoming colder and more stern towards her surrogate daughter, and Dren yearning to explore and experience the world beyond her prison.

The obvious theme of this movie is not to mess with Mother Nature, because nature is unstable and unpredictable. This is shown early on when a presentation of Clive and Elsa’s original experiment goes horrifically wrong. The theme is explored even more so in Dren and how she grows and develops, both physically and mentally. She begins to communicate her frustration at being isolated and how she wants to explore the outside world. This frustration at her limited options in life has an unexpected parallel with many young people today, for like Dren many of us are trapped within the limitations of our own lives brought on by shrinking outside advantages.

What makes this movie work so well is that it avoids most of the clichés one would expect this kind of movie would have. While Clive originally is disgusted with Dren and comes close to killing her he later begins to truly care for the wellbeing of the creature. And while audiences would expect Elsa to become a mother like figure to Dren it’s harder to predict that she will become abusive and harsh towards her. What’s even more refreshing is how the character’s changing feelings (Clive’s caring and Elsa’s coldness) leads to each of them abusing Dren in very different but equally disturbing ways.

While both Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play their roles extremely well, the real standout of the cast would have to be Delphine Chanéac. Communicating only through chirps and having to act through prosthetics and CGI she manages to create an engaging character audiences will feel real sympathy for. As she explores her limited world she conveys such wondrous excitement at her surroundings. But as she struggles to understand herself and her building frustrations her features contort and compress to clearly show off her feelings. By using her body to express her feelings she communicates more clearly then if she could form cohesive words.

While it is a good movie it is by no means perfect. The last fifteen minutes makes sure that will never happen. While I can’t reveal what happens without spoiling everything I will say that it goes from a disturbing thoughtful thriller into an almost campy by the numbers horror clichéd mess. What makes the ending worse is that it went so out of its way to avoid clichés before it reached the end. It’s almost as if the writer and director grew tired from all their previous work and went the lazy route with the ending.

But while the end of the journey is a bust, the lead up to it is anything but. If you are looking for a thoughtful and provocative sci-fi thriller, then Splice is one summer movie to see.

Prince of Persia: one movie that won’t withstand the test of time

According to recent internet chatter Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is being regarded as the best movie adaptation of a video game. If that is the case then it really says much about the quality of movies based on video games. Prince of Persia was both boring and uninteresting, with wooden acting and bloated yet unconvincing special effects. In short it was a complete mess and not worth the $10 ticket price.

Here’s the plot: in ancient Persia the king adopts a street urchin named Dastan after witnessing his bravery and kind spirit. Fifteen years later the adult Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) leads a preemptive attack on the holy city of Alamut after the king’s brother and adviser Nizam (Ben Kingsley) reveals that the Alamut people are selling weapons to their enemies. During the attack Dastan subdues a palace guard and unknowingly obtains the Dagger of Time, which allows the user to travel back in time if the dagger is filled with the mystical sands of time. Thanks to Dastan’s ingenuity the Persians overtake the city and capture Tamina (Gemma Arterton), the Alamut princess. But at the victory celebration the Persian king is killed after donning a poisoned robe Dastan presented to him. Dastan and Tamina flee and learn that Nizam killed the king and plans to take the dagger to the sands of time so he can ensure he rules instead of his brother. The two form an uneasy alliance as they race to stop Nizam from releasing the sands and destroying the world.

While this sounds exciting the actual result is much less so. The movie was boring and lost my interest after about a half an hour. While the sequences where the dagger was used were done well, it only happens a couple of times in the movie. While it didn’t need to be used every second it feels like a cheat when it’s hardly used at all. In addition some of the effects, like the deadly vipers, look cheap and unconvincing. The computer effects looked like something that would be seen in 1990, not 2010. I also noticed there were way too many jerky jump cuts, making the viewing experience awkward.

While Jake Gyllenhaal can give engaging performances, such as in Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain, here he came off as annoying and dull. Not great when the character is suppose to be engaging. Gemma Arterton seemed to have one default emotion in this movie, anger. Otherwise she seemed to simply be eye candy instead of an interesting character. Alfred Molina, who played shady entrepreneur Sheik Amar, was painfully jokey and seemed more meant to portray people’s outcry on resent tax hikes then to be an actual character. And Ben Kingsley came off like any generic epic movie villain, which is a shame when you cast such a strong actor in the role.

I will say that the creators of the trailers for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time deserve an award. They managed to take a mess of a movie and recut the footage to make it look like an epic. They managed to take my $10 from me. Hopefully I can save you from losing your hard earned money. Save your cash for another trip to the theater this summer by avoiding Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

One Broadway Show That Lives Up To It's Promises

I must confess something at the beginning of this review. And that is I was not to familiar with the play “Promises, Promises” before seeing it last week, aside from knowing only a basic outline of the plot. My main reason for wanting to see it lay not with the overall story or even the catchy songs. It had to do with the fact that the play stared Kristin Chenoweth, an actress I’ve longed to see on stage ever since hearing her amazing voice on the soundtrack to the play "Wicked". Thankfully I was not disappointed, as Miss. Chenoweth was an absolute delight, both singing wise and acting wise, in this play. Even more enjoyable was the fact that I loved the entire production. It was funny and left me with a big smile on my face by the time the house lights regrettably came back up.

The play stars Sean Hayes as Chuck Baxter, an imaginative and charmingly nervous bachelor who works for the Consolidated Life Insurance Company. He dreams of someday getting promoted and recognized for his hard work and winning the heart of Fran Kubelik (Chenoweth), a charming waitress he admires from a distance. When it is discovered that he has his own apartment business associates persuade him to let them use the apartment as a place for them to entertain women, always promising to recommend him for a promotion as a reward for his “generosity”. After a few months of this personal director J.D. Sheldrakes (Ken Land) informs Chuck that he knows about Chuck’s apartment shenanigans. But rather then report him he offers to make him a deal. If Chuck allows Sheldrakes to exclusively use the apartment to entertain his mistress then Chuck will be promoted in no time. Reluctantly he agrees to this arrangement. But Chuck’s already fragile world is truly turned upside down when he finds out that the woman Sheldrakes is having a affair with is non other then his beloved Fran.

The musical numbers are very entertaining, particularly the numbers “A House Is Not a Home” and "A Fact Can Be a Beautiful Thing". And the dancing was entertaining and fun. As for the actors they were stellar. I will say that the big surprise for me was Sean Hayes. His likability and stage presence was a delight to see. And while I had heard him sing occasionally on the show Will and Grace, here he’s shown he has an incredible range and can more then lead a show, which was proven with his recent Tony nomination. Hopefully this is just the first of a long and successful career on Broadway.

While I’ll admit I may be a little bias in saying this, I’ll say it anyway. And that is that Kristin Chenoweth was spectacular in her role and was robed for not receiving a Tony nomination. In addition to her powerhouse voice she was quick witted and empathetic. But the truest demonstration of her abilities occurred when her character was at her most vulnerable. It was during the second act when Sheldrakes gives her a hundred bucks for her “services”. In a true moment of desperation Fran strips down to her slip and painfully tries to live up to her role in Sheldrakes life, that of a high class call girl. The pain and rawness of that moment would cause an audience to either sympathize with the character, who is essentially the “other woman”, or feel disgusted by her actions. Chenoweth’s talent invoked the former desired effect and should have been recognized.

Though I will say I was not disappointed that another actress was recognized for her work in the show. In addition to Sean Hayes actress Katie Finneran was also nominated for a Tony. She played Marge, a bar fly Chuck meets in the second act when he goes to drown his sorrows over Fran. Her character flirts wildly with Chuck, constantly saying she’s not looking for casual sex while her body language and innuendo’s prove otherwise. She throws herself completely into the character, contorting her body as affectively as a drunken ballerina while pouring on the charm through a husky raspy voice. Though she was only on stage for about fifteen minutes she stole every moment she appeared in.

If one is looking to experience a Broadway show, “Promises, Promises” is the way to go. It’s one that will not disappoint.

Kick-Ass: An Enjoyable Fun Ride

While it seems almost nauseating to write the following pun, I feel there’s no way around it. Kick-Ass kicked ass, pure and simple. This modern interpretation on super heroes and heroics was a delight from start to finish. It’s both over the top entertainment and an interesting look at what exactly it means to be a hero.

The film’s protagonist is high schooler Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson); a self proclaimed average guy who has a deep love for comics and super heroes and has always wondered why no one has ever become a superhero in real life. After seeing a bystander doing nothing to help him while being mugged his patience reaches the breaking point. He buys a green wet suit from EBay and christens himself the superhero Kick-Ass, despite having no powers or training.

Right away we start to understand why more people don’t become real life superheroes; it’s dangerous. On his first attempt to be a hero Dave is stabbed by a carjacker and then hit by a car. His accident gives him superpowers in a rudimentary sense (his bones are held together by medal plates and nerve damage increases his tolerance for pain) and after he is healed he goes right back out on the street. On his second venture out he manages to stop a man from being beaten by three gang members. His actions are recorded by bystanders and posted on you-tube. This causes Kick-Ass to become an on-line sensation, with thousands of people contacting the night stick wielding superhero via MySpace for help.

As it turns out Kick-Ass isn’t the only superhero who’s been fighting crime. Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage), aka Big Daddy, has been working for years to eliminate crime boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) ever since Frank framed Damon for possession and caused his wife to commit suicide. Along with his 11 year old daughter Mindy (Chloë Grace Moretz), aka Hit-Girl, the two have been violently killing D’Amico’s crew and business associates along with stealing his drug money. The heroes cross paths one night after Hit-Girl and Big Daddy save Kick-Ass from being killed by rival drug dealers. They tell Kick-Ass they are on the same side and leave him instructions on how to contact them.

Meanwhile, D’Amico believes Kick-Ass is responsible for the deaths of his men and gives orders to have him hunted down and killed. But his son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), wanting to please his father and be involved in his life, proposes a different plan. He will pose as a new superhero and gain Kick-Ass’s trust, then lead him to D’Amico. Chris creates the identity Red Mist and pretends to perform acts of heroism. His plan works as Kick-Ass accepts his invitation to meet. But before Red Mist can deliver him to his father the warehouse D’Amico owns is burned down by Big Daddy, with everyone who was inside dead. This act sets off a chain of events that will change the lives of all four of our costumed fighters forever.

This movie is enjoyable from start to finish. It moves at a fast pace while giving plenty of time to develop the characters, both heroes and villains. Yes it is extremely violent, but it’s mostly done in a very over the top and sickly humorous way. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who chuckled when a drug dealer’s head explodes in the oversized microwave. Sure it was gruesome, but the way it was set up made it funny as hell.

As for the actors I really dug all of their performances. Aaron Johnson really brought out the determination of the character, making us root for him as he started his journey. Even when he pretends to be gay in order to hang out with his high school crush Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca) you don’t fault him for his actions. But later once he realizes he’s gotten way over his head he makes you feel for him as he is steeped in misery. This was especially true after he returns home after being saved by Big Daddy and Hit-Girl and lies on his bed terrified as he realizes he’s asked for more then he ever bargained for.

Nicolas Cage does a fine job at taking a possibly appalling character and making him likable. He goes around talking like a soft spoken Mr. Rogers, except what comes out of his mouth is battle tactics and fighting strategies. Although he has essentially brainwashed his daughter into become a living weapon he loves her more then anything and in his own way has raised her the best way he sees fit. Their relationship is the true emotional crutch of the picture, and a nice counterpoint to the relationship between the two D’Amicos. Both Mark Strong and Christopher Mintz-Plasse are very good as the villains of the piece. Mark Strong brings real creepiness to the role with just the right amount of increasing instability. And Mintz-Plasse nicely showcases awkward vulnerability with simmering anger in his role.

But the true standout of the cast is Chloë Grace Moretz as the ultra violent Hit-Girl. Displaying a maturity well beyond her young years she captivates you into rooting for her no matter how ghastly her actions are. While the novelty of her character is the fact that she slices bad guys to ribbing and curses like a sailor with coprolalia she really showcases a true depth of vulnerability not always seen with child actors. At the same time this is balanced with moments that remind the audience that Hit-Girl is still a child and does act like one, although in fairly unconventional ways. One moment that truly showcases this is when she gets a pair of balisong knives for her birthday and continually asks her dad to watch her use them while he is busy working. Although she is using a weapon the scene plays just like a kid asking a parent to watch them perform a dance move while they are busy on the phone.

Kick-Ass has drawn a lot of criticism for its violent content, claiming that is glorifies violence. But I didn’t get that impression. If anything it realistically shows what would happen if someone did try to become a superhero in real life. When Kick-Ass gets hurt he doesn’t just get up and shrug it off. He yells out in pain and actually bleeds blood. This is way more realistic then many superhero movies when the hero can take punishment and doesn’t react to it until well after the fight is over.

Though by far most of the criticism has been directed towards Hit-Girl, and how it is appalling that an 11 year old would be made to curse and kill people on screen. Though if you’ll notice there was far more criticism over her swearing then her violently killing people. Once again, while people will admit violence is a problem, it takes a back seat to another agenda. First of all Hit-Girl is meant to be over the top. Her character is an exaggeration on steroids. Second, the fact remains that the character Hit-Girl and the actress Chloë Grace Moretz are two separate people. As the actress has stated in interviews she doesn’t go around swearing up a storm in real life. She fully understands that this is a character she is playing, not herself. It should also be mentioned that the film does address that it is wrong to put children in these situations. In one scene an old friend of Damon’s confronts him about how he’s basically brainwashed his daughter for his own purpose of revenge, declaring “You own Mindy a childhood.” The fact that the film itself is even saying that kids should be kids shows that this isn’t real life but fantasy entertainment.

In short, Kick-Ass is a delight that should be seen. It’s a thrilling combination of on-the-top action, depthful emotion, memorable characters, and wicked humor. Don’t miss this fun fanboypalooza.

Why Do We Care So Much When Someone Changes Their Hair?

Like many people I am always on the lookout for a new show to watch and get into. After asking some friends for suggestions I was recommended the show V, a remake on the 1980’s serial about aliens infiltrating earth. Wanting to catch up before the show returned I started watching the first episodes on-line. As I watched the show I discovered that several actors from past sci-fi and fantasy shows were cast as regulars on the show. One nice surprise was seeing that the head alien Anna was played by Firefly cast member Morena Baccarin. Although I must admit it took me a minute to recognize her, for while on Firefly she had long wavy hair on V her hair has been cut into a short pixyish style.

After watching the first four episodes I visited various message boards to see what others had to say about the show. And interestingly most posts about Morena Baccarin focused on her hairstyle instead of her acting ability. Her performance on the show is reflected on only a little. But her choice in hairstyle causes everyone to post their opinion.

It’s not that surprising when you think about it. Our society is very fixated when it comes to hair. May it be finding the right style to maximize one’s appearance, spending tons of money on hair coloring and hair care products, or finding the right solution to regain confidence when one loses their hair. People are even going the other route and are embracing a no hair look, either by excepting their own hair lose or willing shaving their head and choosing to go bald. I’ll admit I’m not immune to this obsession with hair, as I’m bitter at already begining to lose my hair in my twenties. So it’s not surprising for people to focus so heavily on an actor’s hair.

There have been many instances on people focusing heavily on the hair style of performers. When the movie V for Vendetta came out people’s main focus wasn’t if the movie would remain true to the Alan Moore comic, but on the fact that Natalie Portman had shaved her head for her role in the movie. And when the ratings for the show Felicity fell during the second season people blamed it on lead actress Keri Russell’s change in hair style, rather then on the show’s move from Tuesday nights to Sunday nights. The second reason seems like the more realistic one, for if the show’s success hinged entirely on the hair of its lead character then it really reveals the shallowness of its audience. If an actress changing their hairstyle is a ratings disaster, then why did the ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer go up during the second season when Sarah Michelle Gellar started the season with a new shoulder length do?

And it’s not just women who face this hair scrutiny. It affects men also. When Daniel Craig was cast as the new James Bond people complained left and right at the thought of a blond haired Bond. When Brad Pitt shaved his head for the movie Fight Club several news stories focused on his new look. So it’s not just women performers who fall under this obsession with hair, but men also.

I’ve recently given some thought as to why people are particularly focused on the hair style of celebrates. And I have come to believe that it goes deeper then a simple preference for one hair style over another. I think it has to do with people’s initial recognition with a performer. That just as we tend to associate an actor and actress with the first role we saw them play, we also freeze them in our mind’s eye with the look they had during that initial performance. And when they take on a new role and change their look for the role we feel uncomfortable with this change since it differs with how we originally saw them. Often it takes a bit of time for us to get used to their new look. Even when we end up preferring their new look over the old one we often still remember how they looked in the first role we saw them in. Like baby ducks imprinting onto the first thing they see people seem to imprint onto the initial appearance they first see on an actor or actress. And since a performer’s hair style frequently changes from role to role we find ourselves at unease when their appearance differs from how we first saw them.

This also affects people we know in real life in addition to performers. Often when someone we know changes their hair style we find ourselves debating which look is better. And often we find we preferred the hair style they had when we first met them. Not always, but often.

Hopefully I’ve given you something to think about the next time you find yourself mulling over the hair style of others. For while hair is at the top of a person, its roots seem to run deeply throughout us.

Nip/Tuck: Don't Ruin Another Classic Villian

This Wednesday Famke Janssen returns to the FX show Nip/Tuck as Ava Moore, the season two nemesis highly regarded by most fans as the best villain to appear on the show. Since Nip/Tuck has only two episodes left before it ends the writers are hoping that by bringing the infamous character back the show will go out on a bang. They need all the help they can get, as this show is suffering in a bad way.

This once great show has been going down in quality since the third season. When fans look back longingly at the third season, after they once complained that it was terrible, you know the show is in bad shape. At this point it’s just a shell of it’s former depraved self. I’ll even admit that I’m only watching the remaining episodes because the show is ending and I’ve stuck with the show for so long I should see it to the end. Obviously bringing Ava back is a last ditch effort to recapture its former glory. However, my fear is that this move will backfire and instead tarnish the memory of this deliciously vile character. Which is understandable since the last time they brought back a previous villain his former memory become tarnished. I’m talking about when they brought back season one villain Escobar.

During the first season Sean and Christian encountered Escobar, a sinisterly charismatic drug dealer who confronted the doctors when they performed surgery on one of his associates. After the associate died on the operating table Sean and Christian were forced to dump the body in the Florida everglades. Later in the season Escabar used the incident to force the doctors to remove heroin filled breast implants from desperate women. After several tense surgeries, one of which led to anesthesiologist Liz being shot in the leg, Escobar offered to leave the two alone in exchange for changing his face so he could leave the country and get off the top 10 most wanted list. The plan backfired as instead they altered his face so he looked like another man on the most wanted list and he was arrested at the airport.

While he made a few appearances as a representation of Sean’s darker impulses the character didn’t physically reappear until the middle of the fourth season. He convinced the doctors to change his appearance back or he would reveal what they did. They performed the surgery and he was able to escape while recovering. If his story line had ended here it would have been fine. But instead it was later revealed that he was the ring leader in the organ harvesting plot of the fourth season.

This reveal made little sense. Not only was the character in prison while this was going on, but he looked like a different person. To me it’s a hard sell that he was able to convince his workers that he was really Escabar and run his operation behind bars. Furthermore this reveal seemed to only be created in order to lead to the character being shot and killed in the finale of that season. They should have just left his story line alone instead of bringing him back and ruining it.

The treatment of Escabar makes me very uneasy on Ava Moore’s return. In my opinion she is the best villain to have appeared on the show, even more so then Escabar and The Carver. She brilliantly manipulated everyone in her wake and led to several memorable plot turns, such as entering into a relationship with Matt and then revealing to him that Christian was his biological father. Like many intriguing villains you root for her even when she destroys the lives of the heroes. It would be terrible if her return destroys the integrity and perception of her character.

The only thing to do now is wait for Wednesday’s episode and hope the writers don’t mess it up.

The Return of the Deadpan Queen

Daria, the clever spin off of Beavis and Butt-head, is finally coming to DVD. I have just learned that MTV will begin releasing this hilariously deadpan series on May 11th.

So far conformation of a release date is all that is known. Other pressing questions are unavalible at this time, such as if the entire first season will be released on May 11th or just part of the season. Or if the episodes will contain the original broadcast music or generic filler tracks.

Daria aired on MTV from 1997 to 2002, containing five seasons and two TV movies. While both of the movies were released on DVD only a handful of episodes have been released on VHS. But now it seems the series will finally be avalible for repeated viewing.

Hopefully sales are strong enough for the rest of the series to be released. Otherwise the show could suffer the same fate as Gargoyles and only have part of the series released. Which in my opinion would be worse then having no episodes released at all. At least then there was hope of someday having the entire series avalible.

Not Enough Bang For The Bucks They Spend

Like many people I spend yesterday at a Super Bowl party watching the Super Bowl. Though as indicated by my last posting I was more interested in the commercials then the game itself. This makes it even more disheartening to report that this year’s crop of Super Bowl commercials were no where near as funny or as memorable as they have been in previous years.

A great or beloved Super Bowl commercial is always debatable. In talking to a few people at the party the famous Mean Joe coca-cola ad was brought up, with a number of people remarking on how they didn’t think it was as good as people make it out to be. And my personal favorite Super Bowl commercial (A FedEx ad that parodies Cast Away) is probably not well remembered. But in my opinion only a few of this years offerings were good, and only one will be remembered in years to come.

Rather then list my response to every single commercial (which would become very tedious very quickly) I have decided to voice my opinion on a few. They have been divided into four categories: what was good, what was bad, what was simply so-so and what was memorable.

The Good:

Monster.com, beavers: While not particularly effective in advertising its product (the commercial seemed to say that using monster.com will lead to success through luck rather then finding a job), you can’t go wrong with a beaver playing a fiddle.

Bud Light, Survivor: Airing less then a week after Lost’s season premier, this silly commercial proved that survival is less important then fun.

Bud Light, Two Ladies: “I’d like to hear you read some words.” Saying anything else would just ruin it.

Flo TV, My Generation: An impressive collection of good and bad memorable moments set to an amazing song.

Snickers, Betty White: For some reason it’s always funny to see a beloved actress being tackled and berated.

The So-So:

Focus on Family, Tebow and Mom: A woman talks about how special her son is and how she almost lost him when suddenly she’s tackled by quarterback Tim Tebow, revealing the woman to be his mom. This pro life ad was so vague I had to go on-line to find out what it was suppose to be advertising. It also loses points for airing right after the Snicker, Betty White commercial. Don’t air two commercials with exact same elements (in this case woman getting hurt) back to back. Have a little wiggle room.

Cars.com, Growing Up (2010): A young genius who grew up performing amazing acts is nervous about buying a new car. It would have been clever and memorable, if the exact same commercial hadn’t aired during last year’s game.

Teleflora.com, Rude Flowers: While it’s gratifying to see rude people gets their comeuppance this ad just didn’t do it for me.

Bridgestone, Bachelor Party: This ad might have been a little better if it had been a parody of The Hangover or Free Willy instead of a combination of the two.

The Bad:

GoDaddy.com, both ads: You know a commercial is bad when even the prospect of soft-core porn doesn’t make a person want to use a product.

Coke, Simpsons Moving: This one might have simply been so-so if not for defacing such beloved icons. With only two characters speaking (one not even a Simpsons regular) and the message that cola can make up for final ruin this ad was a major stinker.

Doritos, Play Nice: While seeing a grown man slapped by a little kid is funny to some I found it to be disturbing. Also, was the woman meant to be the kid’s mom or sister? Meaning if that question has to be asked then they definably cast someone who looks to young for the part.

Dockers, Wear No Pants: Overweight men in tighty whities marching through a field is not something I want to see while I’m snacking.

Select 55, Lightest Beer in World: Where’s the fun in a Super Bowl commercial if it looks as ordinary as a regular one?

Anheuser Busch, Clydesdale Friend: This bland and overly cute spot would have been simply so-so if not for the hilarious Anheuser Busch commercials the Super Bowl has given us in the last few years.

Vizio, Beyonce: The whole time during this commercial all I was reminded of was big brother telling us what we should find entertaining.

Dennys, all three ads: Those freaked out chickens were just creepy, and not in a cool pleasing way.

The Memorable:

Late Show, Leno, Oprah & Letterman: Of all the ads that aired this is the only one that will probably be talked about in years to come. Poking fun at their famous feud the ad has both hosts brought together by Oprah to watch the Super Bowl. But it’s clear neither want to be there, with the two late night hosts barely tolerating each other. Topical and at the same time somewhat timeless.

Why Even a Unfan of Football can Love the Super Bowl

Growing up I was never into sports, despite my father’s efforts. While he himself was never a sports fanatic he did try to instill an appreciation for physical games. He played catch with me and would take me to professional football and baseball games. His efforts unfortunately ended up in vain as even those simple gestures didn’t interest me. I was more interested in the arts and visual media then in watching professional athletes compete for glory. However, once a year a paradox always ends up taking effect. And that is that in spite of my indifference for sports I love the Super Bowl.

Whenever people hear that they ask me how can I love the Super Bowl if I don’t care for sports? I always have my answer ready, and it’s not jumping on the bandwagon. I love everything about the Super Bowl except the game. To me the day is a joyous spectacle with many things about it to enjoy. So here is a list of all the things that make Super Bowl Sunday immensely enjoyable, even if one doesn’t care about football.

1. The Atmosphere: Although Super Bowl Sunday isn’t a national holiday it sure feels like it. Such a big deal is made about that one game that there seems to be a feeling of energy in the air. Seeing so many people excited about the upcoming day’s events can make anyone feel just a little bit giddy.

2. The Parties: Even if you don’t like the game everyone likes a party. And odds are someone you know will be throwing a Super Bowl party. I say go to one and enjoy yourself. Or throw one yourself. It’s a great excuse to get friends together and have a good time.

3. The Food: With the exception of Thanksgiving people eat more food on the Super Bowl then any other day. I say indulge and enjoy yourself. Some well loved staples include chips and dip, salsa, chili, and baked ziti. Though no party would be complete without the big hero sandwich, which always seems to have a little bit left over no matter how many people eat it. Just make sure you don’t wait until the last minute to order one.

4. The Commercials: The Super Bowl is the one event where people actually want to watch the commercials. Advertisers pull out all the stops in order to have people remember what they are selling. This has led to many memorable commercials which are talked about for years after they originally aired. A few personal favorites of mine are a McDonalds spot in which a tyrannosaurs rex skeleton turns into a playful puppy at the site of French fries, a parody of the movie Cast Away in which the unopened FedEx package is revealed to be everything one would need to survive on a deserted island, a Budweiser spot in which a hopeful Clydesdale trains like Rocky in order to make the team, and a advertisement for Doritos in which a magic snow globe can grant wishes if you throw it at the right item.

5. The Alternative Programming: It would seem the fact that not everyone cares about the big game is catching on, because in the last few years other channels have been offering up other programs to watch on Super Bowl Sunday. While many are aired during the halftime show other channels have offered people something to watch during the game itself, such as many cable stations showing all day marathons of favorite shows. Though the biggest counterprogramming can be seen on Animal Planet with The Puppy Bowl, a simple program that has adorable puppies playing in a football themed pen. But be warned, if you’re at a Super Bowl party do not suggest switching over to another channel. You could lose a limb or two that way.

6. The Post Game Show: Since so many people watch the super bowl networks cleverly air special programs after the game in order to maximize how many people view it. Networks have premiered shows after the game (Family Guy, Survivor All Stars) or simply showed special episodes of already established shows (Friends, The Office). This year the show after the Super Bowl is Undercover Boss, a new reality show in which CEOs secretly work remedial jobs within their own company.

So there you have it: six reasons to enjoy the Super Bowl even if you don’t care about the game. I hope this guide is helpful in having you enjoy this unofficial national holiday. Good luck and enjoy yourself.

Now Even Lost Followers Are Lost

When watching Tuesday’s season premiere of the sixth and final season of Lost, the phrase that best comes to mind is “What the hell is going on?” Whenever I recommend this show to people I always insist they go back and start watching it from the beginning, because there’s simply no way one can understand what is going on if they try watching it randomly from the middle. But now even long time Lost lovers will have a hard time figuring out what is going on.

The premier started right where we left off last season, with a “previously on Lost” flashback of Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) detonating the hydrogen bomb in 1977 in an attempt to stop Oceanic Flight 815 from ever crashing onto the island. A flash of white light occurs and suddenly we’re back at the faithful 2004 Oceanic flight. Things appear more or less the same, with Jack (Matthew Fox) talking to Rose (L Scott Caldwell) while she waits for her husband to return from the bathroom. There are deliberate differences however. This time Rose is comforting a nervous Jack and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) is now a passenger. The cold open ends with the camera pulling downward into the ocean, where after an impressive underwater zoom we see the island under water. Which begs the question: what exactly are we seeing?

Things become even more complicated after the commercial break. Again we see Juliet detonate the bomb, but now Jack and everyone else who was transported into the 1970s wake up back on the island in 2007. And since Jacob (Mark Pellegrino) later confronts Hurley (Jorge Garcia) and tells him he’s been killed it’s safe to assume this group is in the same 2007 we witnessed last season.

My two best guesses as to what we are seeing are these. Either the 2004 scenario is an extreme flashfoward/rewind in which the events of the final season will lead to. Or the bomb detonation created an alternate reality in which we see how things would have unfolded if the energy from the hatch had never been released. While I’m sure I can go on-line and read a spoiler as to what happened, I would rather take the more patient route and naturally see what unfolds on screen.

My guess is Vincent the dog is the one behind it all.

Death of a Studio: The Sad Demise of Miramax

Today another loss of an entertainment venue is to be reported. However this is one of a larger scale. Miramax studios, the movie studio that brought us such films as Reservoir Dogs, The Crying Game, Clerks, Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Chasing Amy, Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, and No Country For Old Men, has been shut down. It was announced today by Disney, which bought the studio in 1993, that the studio is now no more. In one day eighty people have lost their jobs and the fate of six Miramax movies that are waiting distribution, such as The Debt and The Tempest, are as of now unknown.

Founded in 1979 by producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the studio was a haven for releasing artistic films and films that were experimentally creative. While the Weinsteins often drew criticism for rumors of bullying tactics and for re-cutting foreign films distributed in the US, it can’t be denied that the duo had a eye for finding new and creative talent, both in the people they worked with and the films they released. Filmmaker Kevin Smith has said that he owes his career to the studio, saying “I’m crushed to see it pass into history, because I owe everything I have to Miramax. Without them, I’d still be a New Jersey convenience store register jockey. In practice, not just in my head.” (The Wrap, Jan 2010)

In 1993 the studio was bought by Disney, who at first left the Weinsteins with an exceptional level of control over the studio. The Weinsteins left Miramax in 2005 over creative differences with Disney to form The Weinstein Company.

The future of Miramax has been uncertain for a while now. In October 2009 Disney announced that the number of movies released by Miramax would go from 6 to 8 films a year to 3 films per year. Then at the end of October 2009 Daniel Battsek, who took over as president of the studio after Bob and Harvey Weinstein left, resigned as head of the studio. Now the certainty of the studio is clear; it is to sadly die and go by the wayside.

While it may be no more, it will live on forever due to the amazing films it has been able to bring to the public. RIP.

One Time Betty's Optimism wasn't Enough

Even when one is expecting bad news it’s still hard when you finally hear it.

Yesterday it was announced that the fourth season of Ugly Betty will be its last. ABC had decided to cancel the rating struggling show and will air its last episode sometime in April. In addition the network had decided to trim the episode order from 22 down to 20, making it even harder to wrap up the story lines for these characters we’ve grown to love and hate.

While it is not surprising that this decision has been made it is still upsetting news. Ugly Betty is a fun little show with a diverse cast. Furthermore it’s a pleasing visual show that’s exceptionally quirky, something I feel people need in the wake of such difficult times. America Ferrere plays Betty with such optimism and gusto, making you love her even more when she embarrasses herself and quickly shakes it off. The rest of the cast is terrific, especially Vanessa Williams as Wilhelmina Slater, a character that one on-line poster described as someone “you don’t want to see win and yet hate to see lose.”

Ugly Betty started off strong as a ratings darling for ABC, but lost it’s footing in the second season, partially brought on from a depletion of episodes as a result of the writers strike. Things seemed grim indeed this season when the show was moved to the Friday Night Death Slot, a move that has led to many once popular shows dying off. As a last ditch effort to save the show it was moved to Wednesday nights after the cancelation of The Witches of Eastwick. While ratings did pick up it seems it wasn’t fast enough to save the show.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: A Labor of Love Through the World of Imagination

While his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight will always be thought of as Heath Ledger’s crowing achievement, it would seem that he has even deeper ties to his last film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. His involvement was instrumental in getting the Terry Gilliam movie financed in the first place. Furthermore it was his enthusiastic performance that drove the movie to be finished after his untimely death, so that his final performance would not become lost and unseen. It’s good that audiences were able to see this film, because it is a wonderful if not confusing ride.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus tells the story of an old fashioned traveling theatre troop, led by the wizened storyteller Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer). Thousands of years ago he made a “devils deal” with the cunning Mr. Nick (Tom Waits). The deal was which of them could win over twelve souls first, Parnassus by using stories and imagination and Mr. Nick by using feeble desires and addictions. Doctor Parnassus wins and is granted immortality, but continues to age despite not being able to die. Now he and his theatre troop entertain people by having them pass through a magical mirror which leads them to a mystical realm powered by one’s own imagination, which is referred to as the Imaginarium. But in spite of winning his original wager with Mr. Nick, Doctor Parnassus still has reason to fear him. For in three days time Mr. Nick will come to collect Doctor Parnassus’s teenaged daughter Valentina (Lily Cole).

As they are traveling on the first of these three nights they save the life of Tony (Heath Ledger), a philanthropist who seems to be suffering from amnesia. The next day Mr. Nick pays Doctor Parnassus a visit and offers him a new wager; if he can win over five souls in two nights he can keep Valentina. Seeing that Doctor Parnassus is in a bad way Tony proclaims he can increase profits by modernizing the act and making it sleeker. At a show held in a mall he manages to charm several women into going into the mirror, where they are so overwhelmed by the extraordinary sights they see inside that they empty their purses and proclaim heartfelt thanks upon exiting. But just when the troop are one soul away from winning the bet a group of mobsters arrive demanding money from Troy. It soon becomes apparent that Troy is really a lying con artist who’s more devious then Mr. Nick, and Doctor Parnassus is the only one who can stop him.

Easily the most amazing visuals of the movie are the scenes in the Imaginarium world, where anything can happen if one can just imagine it. The viewer is taken into multiple worlds, featuring such sights as a riverboat surrounded by shoes and fashion to soaring in space on a sea of giant jellyfishes. It is in the Imaginarium that Troy’s appearance changes with each visit, where he is respectively portrayed by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farell. Since Heath Ledger had filmed all of his scenes outside of the Imaginarium his appearance only changes inside of this magical world. This makes the fact that multiple actors are playing the same character simple to except. The other unexpected quality to this is it makes the change in Troy easier to realize, for each time he physically changes he grows closer to who his true self is.

It is a grand treat that this visually stunning film was able to be seen by the public. Hopefully others go out and see this eye-catching ecstatic ride. It’s an experience one should not miss.

Conan O'Brian Further Screwed Over By NBC

It seems that NBC really is doing everything to keep things the way it was, even if it means completely reinventing itself and screwing others over in the process. By this I mean that they are doing everything they can to keep Jay Leno on their network.

This all started in 2004 when Jay Leno announced that he would be leaving The Tonight Show in 2009. At first things went as they were expected to. A successor (Conan O’ Brian) was chosen and other networks started trying to lure the popular comic over to them. But in December 2008 it was announced that Jay Leno would remain on NBC with his own talk show. Furthermore it would air at 10pm five nights a week, significantly reducing the number of hour long scripted programs the network usually aired.

Let’s get one thing straight, this decision was mainly based on money. True NBC didn’t want to lost Leno, who was a ratings darling for the network. But a bigger realization in this decision was that it was much cheaper to produce one five days a week talk show then five hour long dramas. And the fact that this decision came during the beginnings of the recession only added more incentive for the network to try and save money.

It has been four months since The Jay Leno Show began airing and the results haven’t been great. Viewership for the show has been less then expected. Today it was announced that The Jay Leno Show will no longer air at 10pm after February 11th. Instead it will be trimmed to a ½ hour format and air at 11:30pm, with The Tonight Show airing at 12:05AM instead.

This is a slap in the face to Conan O’Brian, who already has had to put up with a ton of crap from NBC and Jay Leno. First instead of simply handing over the late night torch, as Johnny Carson did when he named Jay Leno his successor, Leno stole a lot of O’Brian’s thunder with his decision to remain on television. With Leno doing topical humor at an earlier time Conan’s material would unfortunately seem like it was already heard. Not that it was his fault; just that it was the nature of the situation.

But this is an even greater insult. Because Leno isn’t doing well in a 10pm time slot he’s rewarded by getting his old slot back and having Conan give up time for his show. That is not right. Leno had his tenure during the late night hours and now its Conan’s time.

While I would like to see Conan remain The Tonight Show host, it might be for the better if he moves to another network. One where he is appreciated and treated with the dignity he should have gotten all along.