A few weeks ago I saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and it lived up to my very high expectations. Some of you may be more familiar with the young adult novel, and the author of that novel finally adapted it into a screenplay. Let me preface my breakdown of the movie with my theory on why this movie matched all of my expectations as a huge fan of the novel. Stephen Chbosky, the author of the novel, also wrote the screenplay, produced, and directed the movie. I believe that the author's significant role in every aspect of the movie led to its booming success. I find that movies based on books so often fall short of expectations, and can do more disrespect than homage to the stories they are meant to portray. In this case, the fact that the author took an immense amount of time to create his story in a new medium, led to one of the best film adaptations of a novel that I have ever seen. It makes me wonder why more director's don't incorporate the original writer's in the film-making process. Then again, most novelists probably do not know a great deal about film making or the screen-writing genre, but who knows. It would be nice if great books weren't butchered when made into movies. I guess the bottom line here is that Stephen Chbosky is a ridiculously talented and artistic individual to have accomplished this feat as original writer, screen writer, producer, and director.
And now to the movie. Perks represents a young man's struggle to adapt to the high school social scene. Charlie, an awkward yet intelligent ninth grader, finds himself very short on friends due to some unfortunate circumstances. After a couple of tough weeks Charlie finally makes two friends in Patrick and Samantha, who introduce Charlie to a fast and fun social scene filled with parties, get-togethers, and even some rocky horror picture shows. While Charlie becomes closer to Patrick and Sam, he experiences many difficult situations with drugs, alcohol, and a few different love interests. Along the way Charlie has the guidance of his English teacher (played by Ball Rudd) who while enriching Charlie's education by providing him additional novels and assignments, also gives Charlie some very important advice on life.
For me, the movie is a cult classic for someone who grew up in the 90s and 00s. Anyone can relate to a number of the characters in Perks, while also feeling nostalgic remembering the awkward and fun moments in High School. All of the main characters put forth masterful performances. This isn't surprising being that Chbosky waited years until he could find the perfect cast to bring his novel to life on the big screen. Make sure you see this movie if you enjoy coming of age stories of the difficulties of high school. Great movie.
Here it is, the day that I've anxiously anticipated for the past 20 years of my life, opening Sunday of the NFL season. And for some reason I just find myself less than excited this year. I'm not even playing fantasy football this year. That could be for the best. I've found that for the past few years my desire for my fantasy players to succeed has superseded my desire for the Eagles to win. It's probably best for me to just focus my football energy on one team, once a week. This way I won't have to worry about all of these other players on other teams, and how they'll perform on Sundays. Still, I'm feeling a significant void where I usually have an abundance of excitement. Hopefully that void will fill up soon after kickoff and I can return to form.
Now would probably be a good time to make a prediction for the season. I'm pretty terrible with predictions, whether it's picking a winner or a final score. The closest I ever came to picking a final score was that Penn State vs. LSU bowl game a few years ago in that disgusting, torn up field in Orlando; worst football field conditions I have ever seen, and even then I was still one point off. I'll just say this: Andy Reid has never gone 4-0 in the preseason, and Andy Reid has never won a Superbowl. Not the most sound logic, but he's been at this for quite some time, and it would be nice if he could finally bring home a Lombardi trophy. Sure there are teams out there with more talent and ability, but I hope that the birds can just put it all together at the right time and make a run in December and January. It would make sense too, being that I'm most likely moving abroad, that they would put it all together and finally win that first, elusive Superbowl when I'm not even in town to see it.
Bottom line, I just want to get back to that point where I just enjoy watching football. No money or pride from fantasy is on the line, and anything that the birds do will exceed expectations because I have none. I just hope that for three hours a week I can get back to forgetting about all of the other bullshit that the week will bring and once again enjoy the bliss of watching football. Go Eagles.
It's been a while. Many ups and downs recently, but I'm glad to report that all is currently well and that I'm back on a positive track. Enough about me, and more about television goodness.
Due to my recent recently changing work schedule (full and part-time weeks at work, out of my control) I had a decent amount of down time, which usually means plenty of time for TV marathons. As with many good things, I discovered a new, excellent show called Strike Back by accident. Turns out that my premium cable package does include Cinemax, something new for the past three weeks (shhhh! it may be an accident on the cable company's part). So as I flipped through the channels I caught a clip of a pretty decent fire fight with plenty of explosions and AK-47s. Naturally I kept watching. With all of the complete crap out there in the movie and television industry I try to relish the moments when I actually stumble upon something that's slightly entertaining and full of uncertainties.
Luckily I tuned in right at the beginning of the episode and caught the whole thing, after which I was hooked. I actually watched episode nine in a ten episode season, so I backtracked over the next three days and caught up with the first season right before the second season aired this past Friday. Off topic, here we go, synopsis. So there's this British led special forces/covert ops unit called Section 20. After one of the operatives is killed in action Section 20 seeks out the help of an ex-delta, American soldier named Damien Scott. Scott joins a seasoned British operative named Michael Stonebridge, and the two operate in the field while others help them from a command center. Sector 20 is under the command of Colonel Eleanor Scott, a seasoned and tough authority figure who does what she needs to in the war against terror.
The first season chronicles Section 20's attempt to capture a major Pakistani terrorist named Latif. Every episode has to do with the team attempting to bring down Latif or someone closely linked to him. There are constant fights, gun battles, and intense scenes which keep the audience on the edge of their seat every episode. The refreshing part about this show is that there are no "filler" episodes in the series. Every episode plays a crucial part in Section 20's hunt for Latif, and in result there are plenty gun battles. Oh, and let me remind you that the series is on Cinemax so naturally there's plenty of nudity and sex. And I'm not talking like a boob here and there, I'm talking borderline soft-core porn. So if you're into that and lots of action definitely catch this show. The full first season should be one demand along with the first, ninety minute episode of the second season. Trailers for both below. Oh, P.S-little bonus: Some of the actors from Game of Thrones appear in Strike Back!!!!!! Specifically Iain Glen aka Sir Jorah Mormont, and Charles Dance aka Tywin Lannister although not according to IMDB, but the episode just aired so maybe they are a little behind.
Could only find the Season 2 trailer, but still check out Season 1:
Saturday, July 21, 2012
To anyone out there who knows me and has been around me lately it's pretty apparent that I haven't been myself lately. I'm definitely in a funk right now and I'm motivated to bust out of it. Big changes are in order. A wise man once told me if you do what you've always done, you won't end up anywhere new. I'm ready for the new nd exciting possibilities that have always been waiting for me. All my life I've waited for something great to come my way, to just fall into my lap. A couple of years ago I realized that's never goin to happen unless I make it happen. Well friends, I'm about to make it happen. Wish me luck.
I've recently seen trailers for two remakes or movies that were released in my lifetime, and let me tell you, neither of them movies should have been remade for two different reasons. Let's begin with the Total Recall remake starring Colin Farrell. This remake angers me because the first version Total Recall (1990) starred Arnold Schwarzenegger in his glory days as Hollywood's king of action movies. The original movie is filled with plenty of classic Arnold lines like "I've never been to Mars!" and plenty of classic Arnold grunting. I'll never forget the first time I saw the scene with the prostitute who had three boobs. As a little kid you don't see many boobs at all and when you see three at a time, let me tell you that blew my mind. The original Total Recall is still one of the classic Arnold action movies, and any attempt at a remake is simply an insult to Arnold's legacy. View the trailer below:
The second remake that has me fuming is titled Dredd, and is a remake on the 1995 movie Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone. Haven't heard of it? I'm not surprised. For those of you who do remember that travesty of a movie, you may also remember that it received the Razzie Award for Worst Movie of the Year. No joke. This movie was absolutely horrendous. The plot, acting, action, and costumes were all terrible and it would do the film industry justice to just destroy all memory and record of this film. But no, we're talking about Hollywood here, where some big time studio exec has the crazy idea that he/she could take this terrible movie and remake it into movie gold. Why even try? Have the script writers become some bad and have they run out of any original ideas for action movies that they must now revert to remaking one of the worst action movies of all time? I'm in complete shock an awe that any studio executive would green light this remake. Oh, and by the way, the remake looks terrible too. If choosing to remake terrible movies is all the skill needed to be a studio executive in Hollywood then anyone could do that job. Still fuming over this one; I hope it crashes and burns in the box office.
I used to think that I just wanted enough money so that I could sit around and do nothing all day. I have since realized that doing nothing is quite boring. After a while I get super antsy and self-conscious about being so unproductive. It's not so bad; I accomplish at least one productive thing a day (Exercise, cooking, running errands, cleaning, etc.), but I still don't have a summer job and it's getting to me. I'm glad that I've matured to the point that I'm actually motivated and willing to work full-time, and it's pretty discouraging when I can't find a job that would best suit my talents and qualifications. Hopefully a good job is on the horizon (interview yesterday and I have a "screening" tomorrow for a different job) because I'm getting sick of sitting around the house. This seems like a good thing, the fact that I don't like stagnation that is. Hopefully this means that I'll always be looking for the next challenge in life. I like to think that's how I live my life, but in periods such as this one where I'm just sitting around the idea of striving for great things seems so distant. On a positive note, since I'm not working I have plenty of time to watch UEFA and the NBA finals which is nice (And there I go, always putting a positive spin on things). I just felt like letting you in for a second, and I hope that wasn't too much. Everyone needs to vent every once in a while.
