Monday, December 31, 2007

It's Official



YEp. the show has pretty much taken over my life AND thoughts and I am obsessed with it. It happened with 24 to the point where it would seep into my dreams every single night and I would dream myself as one of the characters. While I am praying that it doesn't happen with Dexter (no serial killer dreams) I am 1 episode away from the end of season 2 and I am LOVING it. To agree with Trent from Pink is the New Blog, this is easily the best show on television now. I'm almost annoyed I'm coming so late into the game here. I have a few ideas on how they will try to tie up the last episode but I am keeping them to myself as Matt hasn't seen 22 and 23 yet and I cheated and watched them both this afternoon by myself. More on the finale tomorrow.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Kids films that bug me......




I know, I know, everyone thinks Pixar is this godlike entity but The Incredibles seriously bored the hell out of me. I think I laughed maybe once if at all. The best things I can say about it is yes, it's smart and original and I do appreciate the jabs at the insurance industry but the overall impression was one of overwhelming blah-ness. And I really don't get that it was made for kids; much of the subject matter is way over even a dim adult's head. Too scary and not funny enough. Brad Bird should stick to short segments or television.



Another institution of my generation but simply put, I just sneer every time the stupid elephant is on screen. They just make him look so ridiculous and foolish and not cute at all. Something about the way his eyes are animated seriously rubs me the wrong way and prevents me from any sentimentality at all, even when the kids and bitchy old elephants are being mean to him. I seem to allign myself with the mother and pity her for the fact that her uncute, disabled elephant freak son forces her to be ostracized.



A real double-whammy here. I don't know who/what is worse, this ridiculous pig and its ANNOYING voice or dakota fanning. that's really all I can say.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

MY scariest moments in horror films



1. Norman's face and mother's superimposed at the end of Psycho.
2. That creepy hall moniter in Nightmare on Elm Street, "Hey Nancy, NO RUNNING IN THE HALLWAYS...."
3. Emma Spool all hunched over coming to kill the pot smoking kids in Psycho 2
4. That crazed doppelganger chasing after the dude at the end of The Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image."
5. The infected-s running up all of a sudden to the darkened house in 28 Days Later when they see the candle inside.
6. Mrs. Voorhees grabbing Kevin Bacon-bits from under the bed in the first Friday the 13th.
7. Mrs. Voorhees' fricking MOUTH chanting the words "KILL HER MOMMY! GET HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!!"
8. Amy and Paul in the cabin toward the end of Friday the 13th pt. 2...."Something doesn't feel right....something's wrong....THERE'S SOMEONE IN THIS ROOM PAUL, THERE'S SOMEONE IN THIS GODDAMNED ROOM!"
9. Norman dressed up again at the end of Psycho 3 with creepy grin at Tracy Venable, "Why can't you leave my poor son, my Norman alone?"
10. Norman taking out the rotting arm of corpse to caress in the back of the squad car at end of Pyscho 3
11. Rocking chair at the end of Psycho 4
12. Kid standing in corner at end of Blair Witch Project (which I found to be the ONLY scary part of this movie)
13. The end of Saw.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

The Genius of Dexter



The best thing about this show has got to be the subtle facial expressions of Michael Hall. Reaction shots get full marks, seriously. Actors are crazy. In all the years I watched this guy in Six Feet Under, never once did I find him attractive at all. Now I can say he has a completely different intrigue and I wonder what that says about me as an American media fiend.....as a conservative gay undertaker he has no physical attractiveness at all but turn him into a hip, smart Miami-Dade serial killer and suddenly I find him hot? The show is great.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

An Interesting Discovery



Though I was thoroughly impressed with the previous two installments ala Daniel Ocean (not only because of G. Clooney but because I thought they were quality films), I found this to be my favorite one. I have only talked to one other person about this really, and he said this one was his least favorite one, that it sucked, and that he hated it. This person was my husband, of course, and it is extremely rare that we differ on our opinions of movies so naturally I was confused as to how I ended up loving something he found so lame. What he hated most about it was that they basically spelled out everything they were going to do straight off from the beginning and then they did it. I guess the little union strike at the dice plant was thrown in for a bit of I don't know what, but mostly, I agree with that viewpoint. The difference in the viewing experiences came, I'm pretty sure, from him watching the film with the subtitles on. I did not do this. I watched this for the first time back in September while we were at the Marriot waiting for our house to get finished with the volume down low during the kids' naps. I didn't "get" many of the Vegas/Gambling references but in context, I had a very basic idea of what was going down. I remember thinking that your average filmgoer would probably have been very perplexed at all the inside lingo and how frequently they all spoke it, finishing each others' sentences, etc. But I also think that was the point of the movie this time around, second sequal, blah blah blah. Many people I know hated how the second one turned out and thought the twists were completely out of no where. Yeah, kinda. But I still totally think it was a fine effort nonetheless. Toloure dancing in the blue lazer fields? COME ON. That shit is some kind of genius. The whole explanation scene on the train? Beautiful.

Anywho. I can definitely see where having everything spelled out to you (as is with subtitles) would dampen the effect of the big bang at the end, even if you are sophisticated enough to understand all the heist pretense. Regardless, I still think it was great. Outlandish in parts, yes, but again, very much the point, right? Some of my favorite scenes, in all three films actually, are the exchanges between Scott Caan and Casey Affleck (the utah brothers?) Nice. I'm glad I saw it.
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