New Year New Seasons of Shows!

I have this gift, where with enough convincing I can get anyone into a show that I love (And I'm so modest about it).  This January three shows that I love have will begin their new seasons.  This is my preview, and my gift to you if you do not already watch these shows and are currently seeking new forms of entertainment via premium cable channels.  Let me begin with one of my new found favorites, the Showtime original series Shameless.  This show follows the difficult life of a Gallagher family.  The Gallaghers struggle to make end's meat due to the absence of their mother and their father constantly squandering any money that they earn on alcohol or other unfortunate endeavors.  With no mother present the oldest sister, Fiona (Emmy Rossum), assumes the role of the matriarch.  Four out of the six Gallagher children must work to support the household, and as you can imagine things get pretty crazy with no stable parents in the picture.  Fiona also has an interesting way of coping with her stressful life which doesn't always set the best example for her younger siblings.  Tune in this Sunday for the premiere of Season 2.  It's not available on instant Netflix yet but you may be able to get all of the episodes on demand through your cable provider.  Anyway, here's a trailer for the second season.

Showtime continues it's brilliance with my favorite show and character on television, Californication.  If you haven't seen this show you must make it your top priority.  David Duchovny is an absolute genius with his character of Hank Moody, the self-loathing alcoholic and sex addict.  He's always honest and always tries to do what's best for others and it always end up getting him screwed over in the end (Sounds kind of like someone I know...minus the alcoholic and sex addict).  This show is available for instant streaming on Netflix and the pilot episode is the best pilot I have ever seen for any show.  It hooked me and I'm sure it will hook you.  I don't want to give away to much but just know that Hank is always trying to win back the love of his life.  I'm excited for this season and you should be too. Oh and by the way this is the only teaser I can find.  A lot of the clips are from past seasons; still start watching this show if you have the time and don't currently watch it.  You won't regret it.

So last show that I will shamelessly promote is Spartacus: Vengeance.  This series began with the late Andy Whitfield playing Spartacus, a Thratian slave who rose to glory through victories in the arena and eventually took his freedom by force.  The second season Gods of the Arena acted as a prequal to the original Blood and Sand due to Whitfield's illness, non-Hodgkins lymphoma (which tragically killed the actor in 2011).  Both seasons featured plenty of blood, guts, gore, and sex.  If you have any interest in the gladiatorial games, Roman society, or any of the aforementioned content then I highly recommend this show.  It provides a great dose of action and sex, and surprisingly came from Starz which usually doesn't go heavy on the sexual content.  This show is available instantly on Netflix and on demand through your cable provider.  Although I enjoyed the previous two seasons I'm skeptical about Vengeance.  Whitfield did a great job and it will be difficult for the new Spartacus to compare.  I'll tune in but I'm not as excited about this show as I am about the previous two seasons.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Tom Cruise is kind of nuts, but in addition to his delusional beliefs he's a damn good actor.  Well, actually I don't know if he's a great actor or a great movie star, but either way he can still carry a blockbuster like he best of them.  I went to see his latest film, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol due to the rave reviews and recommendations.  These reviews held true, as the movie featured a great cast, storyline, and non-stop action.  The effects, stunts, and gadgets were excellent, plus the cast proved more badass than corny (A common flop for spy movies).  I can confidently say that this was probably the best Mission Impossible movie.  I own them all and really like them all-especially 2 thanks to Thandie Newton, wonderful Scottish accents, and Ducatis- but the special effects, execution and suspense in this movie trumped the previous three which is always so difficult when producing the next movie in a series.  If you like non-stop action spy movies like James Bond, The Bourne movies, and any previous Mission Impossible movies then I highly recommend Ghost Protocol.  

 

The Devil's Double

I ordered The Devil's Double on Netflix a few weeks ago and I failed to write my review.  I highly recommend this movie to anyone who's interested  in the insanity of the late Hussein family of Iraq.  The world always had some idea about the sadistic practices of Saddam and his two sons Uday and Qusay, and this movie gave a fascinating glimpse of Uday, who many have regarded as one of the worth psychopaths in recent memory.  Uday was ruthless in every way, killing and maiming whoever he wished, while also taking whatever he wanted.  I believe that a psychopath is one of the most difficult things to play for a sane person, and in this movie Dominic Cooper did an excellent job.  In addition to playing the psychotic Uday, Cooper also plays Latif- the man Uday chose as his body double.  It amazes me how Cooper acted as two polar opposite characters in the same film.  I did not know much about Dominic Cooper before this film, only seeing him in movies like Mama Mia and a minor role in Captain America: The First Avenger (Which by the way was kind of a letdown).  Based on his performance in The devil's Double, I think that Cooper has the potential and ability to be one of the elite actors in Hollywood.  I expected great things from this movie and Cooper truly delivered a masterful performance.  If you have any interest or desire to see movies about tyrannical dictators, psychopaths, or an inside look at the Hussein family, I highly recommend this movie.

Back to the Old Job Search

Job searching may be one of the most annoying things in the world.  Filling out that same tedious application while you also have to provide a resume that already has all of that information filled out.  How many trees are killed a year because of these ridiculous formalities I ask? Too many that's for sure.  Oh well, hopefully I'll find something to my liking.  Let me just take this chance to plug craig's list.  Not only has craig's list provided me with some supplemental income through selling my unwanted stuff, but it also allows me to search for jobs across a variety of different areas.  Eventhough I should probably be searching for a job in one specific area...but let's not talk about that.  I am too fickle my friends.  If only I had stuck with my two most significant passions: writing and helping others.  Oh well, I'll figure it out like I always do.  If I'm being ambiguous it's on purpose.  How am I ever going to function in a marriage? I'm so fickle it's becoming destructive.  Too many decisions to make right now.  I can't even make a New Year's resolution.  My fickle nature makes me feel closer to Mikael Blomkvist from Dragon Tattoo because like him I'm all over the place.  Plus we love to drink coffee and women simply cannot resist us.  This seems like a good spot for me to Transition into my Dragon tattoo review.

I will preface this by saying that I had to wait until a good friend of mine had to watch this movie before I gave anything away with my review.  She is essentially my Berger, for those of you who understand the series.  She finally agrees with me now that she's seen the movie.  Second disclaimer: IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE MOVIE STOP READING HERE.  I DON'T WANT TO RUIN THE FILM FOR YOU.  As I expected the movie was amazing.  Mara and Craig were spot on and did an excellent job portraying the characters that Larsson wrote with such detail.  Craig made up for Nyqvist's lack of coolness and sex appeal, besting the Swede in that regard.  I respect Nyqvist's talent as an actor, and I understand his casting in the Swedish film, yet his portrayal of Mikael Blomkvist fell short in my eyes.  Craig was spot on in every way, so in regards to Blomkvist Craig emerged victorious.

And now onto the Rooney vs. Noomi debate.  This is very difficult because they both did an excellent job.  Both actresses did Lisbeth justice, but in the end I have to give the edge to Rooney.  I think Rooney showed the wide range of emotions that Lisbeth possessed while Noomi mostly just showed her anger.  I'm sure that the writing and directing played a large part but I liked how the new movie focused on the fact that Lisbeth fell in love with Blomkvist and then had her heart broken when she saw him with Berger.  I don't know if Rooney could have done a better job; her portrayal was perfect.  She underwent significant lifestyle changes and undertook so many challenges for this one film.  For a young actress to do everything that she did was simply remarkable. 

I'll now go through the more minor characters.  I loved the casting of Robin Wright for Berger.  She's an older actress who's still gorgeous, and that's what I expected when I read the books.  She had way more sex appeal than the Swedish Berger (Lena Endre) and did a nice job in her minor, yet important role.  I didn't mind Palmgren and Aramansky, as their appearance and role isn't too significant to the overall plot.  Leaving them out of most of the movie was ok by me.  All of the Vanger castings were well done, and Stellen Skarsgard played a great villain.  I'd say the only casting I really didn't agree with was Yorick van Wageningen who played Bjurman.  He did a great job playing a sadistic character, but I expected a more refined looking character.  In the books Bjurman was a sadist and a pervert, but his outward appearance wouldn't make you think so.  Yorick's Bjurman looked creepy from the start.  I may be biased, but when it came to the casting his was the only one that I questioned.

And now for the story, setting, and all of the other good stuff.  I loved that they included small characters with important roles in the story that were mostly left out of the Swedish movies.  For instance, Inspector Morrell and Blomkvist's daughter were integral to solving the Vanger case and they were rarely if at all featured in the Swedish version.  Some things were left out or cut short like Blomkvist's jail time and the relationship between Aramansky.  I didn't mind this, but I wish they would have at least mentioned Blomkvist's book and how it's publishing returned Blomkvist's journalistic credibility.  In regards to the setting, I thought that the setting was perfectly crafted for the more contemporary movie.  The Island and estate were just as I imagined them, and the great house was far more astounding in the newer movie.  I could go on singing my praises for the American-made Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I think I've made my point-I absolutely loved this movie and thought it eclipsed the Swedish version in nearly every possible way.  My one criticism is that the movie could be hard to follow for people who had not read the books.  The film moves fast because it has a lot of ground to cover, and if you don't know the story ahead of time you could struggle in staying with the plot.  Not a problem, because I think anyone who hasn't read the books should read them.  Go now, finish the first book so you can still catch the movie while it's in theaters.  I finally got an extra ticket from regal rewards points, and I may use it to go see this movie again.

I Finally got some new Furniture!

Today I went to Ikea and bought a new bookcase for my room.  After I arranged all of my schoolwork into binders I realized that I didn't have the shelving for the binders, plus the one tiny case that I had for my books proved insufficient.  I've looked at solutions to my book storage problem for a while and today I purchased myu newest piece of bedroom furniture.  Here it is:

Simple yet functional.  I'm happy with it, and I love the medium brown shade for the wood.  Once I start bringing in money I'll likely add a bed and a wardrobe to compliment the medium brown book case.  I'm looking for something small and functional.  Here it is, it's called the Engan and it's from Ikea:

I don't have a ton of stuff to hang up so I figured this wardrobe would do the trick.  I love the mirror on the door because it saves space.  By the way, if you're reading this post and you have any opinions about my choices please chime in.  The last element that I want to add to my bedroom is a new bed.  Well, I really want to get a new memory foam mattress as well, but all in do time.  A mattress is one thing that I don't mind spending good money on.  I figure we sleep for a third of our lives, so I may as well sleep on something that's really comfortable.  I'm a really light sleeper and I think it's largely due to my soft mattress.  I've gotten numerous complaints about it from people who have spent the night in my bed.  Anyway, first a bed frame because I currently do not even have one of those.  That's right, I just sleep with my box spring on the floor.  I used to think it was cool and now I just want a real bed.  It's funny how I've become such an old man.  Do you see how I excited I am about furniture? I'm crazy, I know this.  Here's the bed:

Off to do Chest and Back.  Last time I tried this workout I got sick, so hopefully I'll make it through this time.  I've been going crazy with no work to do, but the one nice thing is that I have the time to workout daily.  It's always important to find the positive aspects of any situation. 

Movie Reviews

As promised I have a couple additional movie reviews for your reading pleasures.  Let me begin with a movie titled Knight and Day featuring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz (One of my favorite leading ladies in Hollywood).  I just had an epiphany: I think I'll do a dual Cameron Diaz review and include Bad Teacher in here.  Ok, so I'll begin with Knight and Day.  For those of you expecting great action, plot, and directing, you'll likely be disappointed here.  I honestly don't know why I expected more from this film but I thought it would be a nice mix of action and comedy.  The plot was mediocre and unoriginal and the acting was bearable, not great.  Throughout the movie Tom Cruise wore that annoying Tom Cruise smile that he can never shake, and after a while you're just thinking, "Dude you're getting shot at 24/7. Stop smiling!"  Diaz was gorgeous as always and of course the director put her in a bikini at one point, but overall this movie fell short of my expectations.  A couple of solid car chases (one in Spain) and one cool fight scene on a train but besides those scenes a lot of lack-luster filler material.  If you thought that these two heavy Hollywood hitters would lead to a solid movie, you'll be sorely disappointed.  Avoid this one if you can.

On to Bad Teacher.  Cameron Diaz was funny throughout the movie, and she actually addressed a real world problem for teachers these days which is being forced to teach their classes so that students will pass the state-mandated standardized tests.  Anyway, she was funny, and her struggles throughout the movie represent what a lot of Americans are currently going through due to the recession.  All good up until now right? So here's what killed this movie for me: Justin Timberlake.  His character was horrendously written and the acting didn't help much.  He was just this super annoying and geeky do-gooder who substituted because he wanted to give back to the community.  I was surprised because I've like JT in other movies like Alpha Dog and The Social Network, but in Bad Teacher his character and acting were just pathetic.  I think the writers are to blame more for this one, but overall his character ruined the movie for me.  I expected a lot more from this one.  I'm starting to think that Cameron Diaz really isn't that talented of an actress or she just had terrible luck in choosing movies.  What happened to the good old days of My Best Friend's Wedding and There's Something About Mary?  I miss you Cameron, come back to us with some better movies.

You're probably thinking that I hate every movie I see right? Wrong! Here's a movie that I really liked and I advise all of you to see: The Adjustment Bureau  starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt (aka Gorgeous).  The movie features the theme of fate and concludes that we all live our lives according to a plan that most times cannot be changed.  Not only does the movie feature an interesting plot with plenty of twists and turns, but there are great effects with the scene changes and cinematography.  I'm a big Matt Damon fan and I credit his acting ability as the main driving force for my watching this movie.  Some actors rarely make a bad movie and Matt Damon is one of those actors.  As I flipped through the on demand menu for the three premium channels in my cable package I went back and forth on this movie for a while.  I thought it would be a sleeper, but it kept my attention from start to finish and featured scenes and conflicts that many people can relate to.  The only thing this movie didn't have too much of is comedy, but honestly it didn't need it.  Overall this movie was solid all around because it made you think.  As the viewer you were forced to not only guess what would happen in the plot but you're forced to relate the on-screen scenarios to your own life asking yourself "What would I do?"  If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend The Adjustment Bureau.  I also now have a new crush on Emily Blunt. 

Forgive me Readers for I have Slacked

Let me begin by saying that it's nice to once again have the time and mental strength to write for pleasure.  I stuck to my resolution of writing every day, but unfortunately a lot of that writing involved lesson plans and assignments for my students.  It's time for me to return to writing for pleasure.  After all, I do still want to write professionally (even though I have abandoned so many other career ideas).

Insert furious face here.  I just deleted a well written paragraph about what's currently engulfed my life.  Besides watching TV and exercising daily (finally back to it) I've finally had the time to organize all of my things-most specifically my papers from school.  I've done a decent job preserving schoolwork from Preschool through Graduate School, and I made a goal of organizing everything into binders with dividers (Can you tell I'm a teacher).   It took more time than I anticipated, and I threw out a ton of insignificant papers-filled up one of those large paper leaf bags-but I finally finished and everything is now organized.  Now I just need to go to Ikea and buy larger bookshelf so that I can put all of my books and newly organized academic papers on display.  I also had the chance to go through lots of other junk such as toys and other possessions, and I posted numerous things on craigslist while my employment status sits in limbo.  If you're curious about what I'm selling please let me know, and I'll tell you what I have.

So where do I go from here? Blurb about the holidays or movie reviews.  Maybe the horrendous year for football.  Decisions decisions.  People usually fancy my movie reviews so I'll start there.  Let me preface by saying how excited I am to write my Girl with the Dragon Tattoo review, but one of my good friends who reads my blog has yet to see the movie so a review will only happen after she sees the film.  Then again, a good review shouldn't be a spoiler, but I'd rather make sure that my readers go in with a completely clear and open mind.  Aren't I such a good friend? One of my finer qualities.  Anyway, here we go.  I've seen a bunch of movies lately so I'll do some now and some later.

I recently orders Road House (1989) starring Patrick Swayze, and it was awesome.  If you like Swayze as the ass-kicking cool guy then you'll love this movie.  Even if you don't, he lends a great chapter to the encyclopedia of bad-asses throughout this movie.  Swayze plays a "Cooler" or a head bouncer who is recruited for a job in an up-and-coming bar.  This bar lies in a town controlled by the wealthiest citizen, and the owner struggles to break away from the tyrannical rule of Brad Wessly.  The movie features plenty of great bar fights, one-liners, and pretty ladies.  Sure the movie is cheesy at times and has moments that make you say "That would never happen," but that's why it's a movie and not real life.  I highly recommend this movie to any Swayze fans, and for people who want to see the smaller guy win the fight.  I approve of Road House.  

Next up is a newer film that I recently watched titled Crazy Stupid Love.  Now this movie features Emma Stone, so I'm naturally conditioned to love it.  With those feelings side I'll say that the movie started off slow, but featured two major twists that changed my mind on it by the end.  Of course Ryan Gosling has to show off his abs and make me and many other hard working but unsuccessful exercisers violently jealous, but his transformation throughout the movie showed the dynamic aspect of the plot and storyline.  Steve Carrell was awkward and funny as always, and Julianne Moore lent her veteran acting experience to round out a solid cast.  Kevin Bacon did a nice job playing a d-bag home-wrecker, and I don't know why but it's just so easy to hate Kevin Bacon.  He's probably the nicest guy in the world but on camera he is easily one of the most hate-able actors in Hollywood.   He's got a great commercial though.  Let me try to find it an insert it below for those of you who've never seen it. 

Ok that's enough for now.  I have to go and do Kenpo X.  I don't know how but some people don't love that workout.  I think it's easily the best P90X workout.  Anyway Happy Holidays.  More soon.