Mr. X-Shun's Cool Glass of Orange Jews

Best of TV 2006

2006-12-16T00:36:00.000-06:00

I love this time of year and not just because of the Holidays. If you’re a frequent reader, you know that December till February is when I update this blog the most. For some reason, I just love putting together these end-of-the-year lists. Because every TV network will be taking off the next few weeks because they think people only go Christmas shopping and hang out with friends and family at night, I decided that now was a good time to put together my Best TV of 2006 list and awards. Now some of you may question while I still put Lost at the top of my list. While I do agree that the six episodes that aired this fall weren’t up to snuff, they were still better than almost everything else on TV. Lost is such an amazing show, one that may go down as one of the best shows ever, and six less than perfect episodes won’t hurt that fact. When Lost is great, nothing comes close. Now here are my picks:

The Best TV Show of 2006:

Lost

Top Ten Runner Ups:

Battlestar Galactica
Veronica Mars
24
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
House
Scrubs
Weeds
Grey’s Anatomy
Rescue Me
Everwood

Now onto my awards:

Best Actor in a Drama
Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, House

Best Actress in a Drama
Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin, Battlestar Galactica

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama
Gregory Itzin as President Charles Logan, 24

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
Katherine Heigl as Izzie, Grey’s Anatomy

Best Ensemble in a Drama
The Cast of Lost

Best New Drama (tie)
Dexter
Friday Night Lights

Best Actor in a Comedy
Zach Braff as J.D., Scrubs

Best Actress in a Comedy
Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin, Weeds

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy (tie)
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan, 30 Rock

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes, Weeds

Best Ensemble in a Comedy
The Cast of Scrubs

Best New Comedy
30 Rock

I’ll be posting sometime in the next few days for my reactions to the Jason Jennings trade and the retirement of the greatest Astro ever, Jeff Bagwell.

Thanks Drayton and Tim, You've Screwed Us

2006-12-08T22:48:00.000-06:00

ASTROS

Well, well, well...

What a horrible couple of weeks for Astros fans. First they do not offer arbitration to Russ Springer who then goes and signs with the rival Cardinals. Then they try to trade one or both of our top pitching prospects and our speedy center fielder to the White Sox for Jon Garland. The most recent, and disturbing, is their decision to not sign Andy Pettitte and let him go to the Yankees.

The rumors out there are that Drayton McLane, the Astros’ owner, was told by league officials that they were disappointed that the Astros paid Carlos Lee $100 mil over six years. So Drayton decided to stop the overspending. Where do they decide stop? Well with our most important reliever from the past few years and the only free agent starter out there who would come to Houston and keep us in contention.

Letting Andy Pettitte go may be one of the worst decisions ever for the Astros and at least it is for GM Tim Purpura. Yes, Andy probably had his worst season ever last year, especially when you take into account that he was in the National League, and that would usually mean that he wouldn’t deserve a raise. But this offseason is so insane with teams overpaying that a one year deal, with a player option for a second, for $14 mil a year isn’t that crazy. There was no typo there. Yes he signed with the Yankees for $16 mil but he was willing to give a hometown discount to the ‘Stros of $2 mil. In this crazy bullish offseason, is there really that much of a difference between $14 and $16 mil? Even though he wanted a player option for the 2008 season, he wouldn’t have optioned it if he was injured and the Astros could of just bought it out if they felt the need to. Even though he started off so poorly last year, he was one of the best pitchers in the NL in the second half if not the best lefty. Without Andy, the Astros have little chance of contending, even in our weak NL Central.

Judas?
Another thing about Andy Pettitte is that I wouldn’t think of him as being one who goes where the money is. Yes all professional sports players are that way but $4 mil doesn’t seem like that big a difference to decide where you’d be playing next year when you already have plenty of money. After the 2003 season, the Yankees decided to not go after him and that is why he was an Astro from 2004 through 2006. While he was in town, the city embraced him, not as much as Roger Clemens but still quite a bit. He just left his hometown team for his original team and I don’t really know how the people of Houston will react to this in the long term. While all should be mad at the Astros front office, I’m still wondering if some anger deserves to be thrown Andy’s way.

Because the Astros fell short in getting Andy, everyone in baseball will now know that we are desperately seeking a number two starter. Since the deal with the White Sox fell through because ChiSox GM Kenny Williams had questions about Taylor Buchholz’s shoulder, I can’t really imagine the Astros getting equal value in return in any deal for pitching. While Jon Garland has arguably been the White Sox most consistent starter over the past few years, I’m not so sure that trading our two best pitching prospects, Buchholz and Jason Hirsh, and our center fielder, Willy Taveras, is worth it. Without Willy, we will have a horrible defensive outfield and with Minute Maid’s giant center field, we need someone incredibly fast to do a decent to good job. Giving up those two prospects could also really screw up our future as a team.

Russ Springer
The event that probably foreshadowed all of these things was the Astros decision to not offer arbitration to Russ Springer. The reason this was such a huge mistake was because his leadership in the bullpen is a big reason why we had such a good bullpen over the past few years and why Dan Wheeler and Brad Lidge became what great relievers they are. The Astros claim they let him go was because they are seeking a reliever who could pitch multiple innings in multiple days. Because our rotation could potentially have two to four starters who can’t usually get out of the fifth or sixth inning, we do need someone like that. Dave Borkowski filled that role for the most part last year but became less effective after falling to the Cubs in relief in 18 innings. While Spring was very good in one inning, his numbers got worse and worse the longer he pitched in one game. Yes if we had kept him, he would’ve been slightly overpaid when you do it by the numbers, but his experience and leadership are almost invaluable. He will probably really help that young Cardinals bullpen that performed so poorly last season. A note on that long reliever role they want to fill, while the Astros are short on proven starters, they do have several pitchers (Borkowski, Fernando Nieve and Chris Sampson come to mind) that could fill that role.

Ties That Bind?
Now onto the question that all will be asking until he makes a decision: What does this mean for Roger Clemens? Well it probably means that he will retire. Why you ask well because of the following reasons:

1. With the signing of Andy Pettitte, the Yankees rotation is pretty much set, pending injury, with Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, Pettitte, Randy Johnson and either the Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa or Carl Pavano. If they are unable to sign Igawa or Pavano stays on the DL, then they’ll have room. Don’t they have that guy Hughes waiting in the minors as well?
2. If the Red Sox sign Japanese right hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, they’re rotation is pretty much set with Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Matsuzaka, Jonathon Papelbon, and Tim Wakefield with cancer survivor Jon Lester set to go in case of injury or if they can’t sign Matsuzaka. Even though I can’t think of his name, don’t they have another starter that went down about one-third of the way into the season last year?
3. Roger wouldn’t even consider pitching for the Texas Rangers because of the heat and they will likely be in third place once again come mid-season.
4. While I’ve always shied away from that Roger and Andy are tied to the hip, I think that the Astros not upping the ante for Pettitte will be seen as disrespect. While the Astros are a better fit, I really doubt to hear about him signing with them come midseason. Don’t forget that if there was no MLB team in Houston, Roger Clemens probably would be retired right now and be two years away from being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
5. HE WILL BE 45 THIS SUMMER!!!

Well I hope your happy Drayton and Tim. You may have doomed us to third place next year.

There’s nothing really to talk about. This week only had a few shows on. The networks think people only go Christmas shopping in December. Though the shows were very good this week. I’ll be off from my blog til about mid next week because of finals and I’ll have things to talk about for you TV fans.

The Last Week’s TV Grades:
Dexter: A+
Heroes: A-
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: A-
Friday Night Lights: A-
Help Me Help You: B
Boston Legal: A-
Nip/Tuck: B+
My Name Is Earl: A+ (Best hour of comedy this season)
Smallville: B-
CSI: A
The OC: B-
Scrubs: A-
Supernatural: A-
30 Rock: A+
The Daily Show: B
The Colbert Report: A-

QUOTE OF THE POST

"The Christian Coalition rejects an anti-poverty, pro-environment leader. Blessed are those who stick to the talking points"
-Stephen Colbert on Monday's Colbert Report

An Ass Out of Me, no You

2006-12-03T17:51:00.000-06:00

SPORTS
• Wow, my prognostication powers are way off this year. For some reason I knew that me calling the USC vs. UCLA game in the favor of USC, by three touchdowns, on this blog would lead to the upset. Not that I think I have that much power, but nearly every important game or series I’ve made a prediction on in the past few months has gone the opposite way. It’s not that I’m taking a wild stab on these predictions either. I only make predictions after watching a lot of games and reading a whole lot about the teams on the internet. After correctly predicting six of the seven MLB playoff series in 2005, the only MLB playoff series I predicted correctly this season was the ALCS!

Well I’ll stop talking about myself now and talk about the coming BCS controversy. After watching most of the second half of the SEC Championship Game last night, I’ve flip-flopped on who I think should play The Ohio State in BCS Championship Game. Florida played a much tougher schedule than Michigan and only lost once, on the road at Auburn. Yes they didn’t beat most of their teams by 20 points, and didn’t always look good doing it, but style points shouldn’t decide whether you make it or not. I doubt Michigan – or even Ohio State for that matter – could go 12-1 in the SEC. Another thing is that Michigan didn’t really beat anyone. Yes they beat Notre Dame, but, as you should know, they were greatly overrated. Ditto for Wisconsin who somehow got the easy way through the overrated Big 10. Also, The score of the game between Michigan and Ohio State was misleading. Yes OSU won by three points but I watched the game and it sure looked like OSU dominated it. A rematch would be boring and Michigan already had their chance to beat OSU, so no rematch. Of course this could all be resolved with a playoff system and after the coming hullabaloo, I don’t know how they can’t restructure the BCS to have a playoff system next year.

• With the MLB Winter Meetings starting today, I hear that a lot of teams want to stay away from these pricey free agents and acquire what they need through a trade. Since nothing huge will probably happen (watch this prediction go horribly wrong), I’d like to discuss why I think there should be more trades. Teams that are apparently rich in prospects – the Dodgers, Angels, etc. – seem to want to hold on to them. If I were running a team, I would hold onto my prospects but I’d never forget that there is no sure thing when it comes to these young talents. If you can get a proven good pitcher or bat and you can easily do it without hurting your team, then you should do it. Now you should rarely trade for a big talents if you will probably only have them for half the season, but a season or more seems like a good deal to me.

The Astros apparently want to solve their #2 starter situation through a trade and avoid the Lilly-Meche-Zito group and their unbelievable cost. Seeing as how they don’t have any prospects they seem to want to give up, I don’t really know how they can do it. I know the White Sox have one too many starters and I’ve heard the Rockies want to give up Jason Jennings but I don’t think any of those situations would work out well. An idea is to get one of the starters away from the Marlins because they really want Willy Taveras but I don’t think the Marlins want to give up anyone from that rotation. A problem with that is that without Willy, our outfield defense would be terrible. Carlos Lee – Jason Lane or Chris Burke – Luke Scott. Sounds error-licious!

The big problem is that Andy Pettitte hasn’t made his mind up yet. His agents say he’ll decide by Christmas but that deadline might cost the Astros. With two starting pitchers taking their time to decide between coming back and retirement, the Astros are in an extremely unenviable position. They don’t want to spend the money and make the long-term commitment to the most coveted starting pitchers on the market and have Andy decide he wants to come back. That would cause the payroll to skyrocket well over $100 million, their Opening Day maximum threshold. They don’t seem to have a problem with The Rocket coming back mid-season and pushing that payroll above $100 mil but really don’t want it to go past that before June or July. I don’t know what the Astros should do but honestly, I believe that without Andy in the rotation on Opening Day, I don’t really see the Astros making that much of a splash in the NL in 2007.

TV
Katee Sackhoff and Jamie Barber from Battlestar Galactica
• Well after I wonder on this blog how Rob Thomas was going to finish the season for Veronica Mars with only 20 episodes, we get the word. After solving the Dean O’Dell murder, Veronica will no longer try to solve a big case over multiple episodes but will instead solve one mystery per episode. Essentially it will change from a serialized show into a procedural. It won’t be a CSI: but it will only have self-contained mysteries. Unfortunately, I’m taking this to mean that those will be the last episodes of Veronica Mars which, before this season, was of the best TV shows in a long while that was part of the TV Renaissance that has happened over the past few years. Again, not that it’s been bad this year but with less focus on the major mysteries and changing the character of Veronica to a less likeable one, I don’t know if it being cancelled would be a bad thing. Would you rather watch it turn into a just okay show or remember how great it once was?

• Boxing, really? After taking the Friday after Thanksgiving off, Battlestar Galactica returned and had one of it’s worst episodes. After hearing that there would be a division between Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) and Apollo (Jamie Barber) before the season started, we didn’t really get that much of a glimpse of said division. Then in Friday’s boxing episode, we learn that, while on New Caprica, they slept together. Right after sleeping together, Starbuck freaked out and went and got married to her boyfriend. This caused the rift. How’d they get over it? They beat the living hell out of each other in the ring. This episode really needed a prominent B story. It had something about Adama (Edward James Olmos) in there but it shouldn’t have that much fighting. While this season has been very good, ever since they got off New Caprica, the plot hasn’t moved forward as much as I would like.

• In a fit of boredom the other night, I looked into what shows would be in repeats this week. After learning that most TV shows will be off this week, I looked into when shows would be back and was shocked to learn that a lot of my favorite shows will not return into the New Year. Yes several shows will air one episode in the next couple of weeks but only the shows that premiered late or are on cable will have several new episodes in the coming weeks. Now I understand why networks don’t want to air original episodes around the holidays but taking off from early December till mid-January is not cool. Because the serialized shows have become popular in recent years, networks try to avoid having repeats and like to air several new episodes in a row. This trend seems to have gone over to a lot of shows. The problem with it is that by being off the air for so long will cause people who were watching solely out of habit to stop watching.

The 24 model seems to be ideal for these serialized shows and I hope that these new hit serials, Heroes andJericho, will follow it. I think the powers that be at ABC will regret their decision to air six-episodes of Lost and then bring it back for the remaining 16 or so episodes in early February. While it’ll be gone Criminal Minds will continue to grow and dominate that timeslot. The networks seem to need to have two seasons in the span of a normal season for these serialized shows. Start one season in August and one in January but keep the procedurals and sitcoms on their normal schedules.

TV Grades:
Battlestar Galactica: B-
Saturday Night Live: C-

RANDOM THOUGHTS
• Does anyone else not like to share Chinese food?

• I can’t believe that the Browns and Titans won today. They were playing far superior teams in the Chiefs and Colts, respectively.

• Saturday Night Live needs to be completely retooled. Fire every writer and cast member, except for Amy Poelher, and start over. When Will Ferrell left, the show went down in quality but still had a funny show every couple of weeks. When the overrated Jimmy Fallon left, the show became terrible. I barely cracked a smile last night.

QUOTE OF THE POST
"I think there is something really positive about this Michael Richards thing that people are missing. Just look how far the quality of video phones have come. I mean look at the sound quality and the picture is just amazing. That was shot with a Motorola RAZR V3i. It can hold up to eight racist rants plus the Rodney King beating. You'll get the best price at P.K. Winsome's Cell Phone Emporium at the Old Orchard Mall in Skokie, Illinois."
- P.K. Winsome (Tim Meadows), a black Republican, on Thursday's Colbert Report

Must See Indeed

2006-12-01T21:04:00.000-06:00

COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Since this has been an incredibly slow sports news week, the peeps at ESPN keep talking about this week’s game between #2 USC and cross-town rival, UCLA. They like to throw out the question, that in the incredibly unlikely scenario of UCLA upsetting USC, “Who deserves to go to The BCS Championship Game to face Ohio State in Glendale on January 8th in USC’s place?” Since USC will more than likely beat UCLA by three touchdowns, these hypothetical discussions are pointless (Michigan should go by the way). What these talks do is remind us that the BCS needs to be completely dismantled, or at least change the system to put in an eight-team playoff. I don’t know the exact details of why this will probably never happen but if I remember correctly, it has to do with the bowls and the big programs wanting to keep the money at the top.

When you think about it, it wouldn’t be that hard to have a playoff system. The schools say that they don’t want the students to miss classes/finals but I believe that the schools in I-AA have a playoff system and play it out in December. They could start the playoffs before New Year’s Day and play into mid-January if it is that much of a problem. They wouldn’t need to add any other bowls - but they could, like The Cotton Bowl for instance - and all they would need to do is have the top eight teams play each other at the four current bowls, then pick two of the bowls to have the second round, and then have The Championship Game at one of the other bowls. Then rotate where the subsequent rounds will be every year. Since it sounds complicated, here’s an example of how it could work out this year:
In this scenario, The Orange Bowl would get The Championship Game the following year because they did not get any higher level rounds. Someone else could figure out which bowls get the second round every year but whoever misses a higher round of playoffs, gets The Championship Game the following year. A simpler way of doing it would just to add three more bowls but I don’t think that the powers that be would let another bowl into the BCS.

TV
Last Night's 30 Rock
I doubt many of you had the chance to check it out last night, but there is a chance that NBC now has the best two-hour block of comedies ever. My Name is Earl at 8/7c, The Office at 8:30/7:30c, Scrubs at 9/8c, and 30 Rock at 9:30/8:30c. When NBC was at it’s mightiest in the late 90s, they had their two great comedies, Friends and Seinfeld, but put crap on after them. I can say without any doubt that these are the four best comedies on TV right now and to have them all in a row is pure bliss to me. NBC really deserves a lot of respect for letting these shows exist together and for taking this chance on TV’s most important night. Because CSI: had a repeat on last night, more people tuned into all of these comedies than they have in a long time - years in the case of Scrubs - and I really hope people continue to watch and tell their friends.

Even though Earl isn’t as consistently funny as it was last year, I have to say that it is a better show this season. The storylines and character development have gone way up in quality and I really like the way that major plot points aren’t being resolved in one episode. For instance, Joy’s (Jaime Pressley) robbery and kidnapping charges from when she stole a cargo truck from a store that wouldn’t let her get a refund. It also looks like Catalina’s (Nadine Velazquez) deportation storyline will last for a while.

After two great episodes in a row, The Office was a bit of letdown especially since the creators of the British Office wrote it. I don’t know why, or how they do it, but Scrubs’ season premieres never seem to stand out from the rest of the season. It's not that they're bad or anything but they usually blend right in. The only way to tell is to look for hair changes (Dr. Cox this year). Last night’s season premiere had a little bit too much of that Scrubs’ seriousness but I expect it to come back to its greatness in the coming weeks. 30 Rock continues to evolve into a truly funny sitcom and with its full season pick-up today, we will see more Tracy Morgan and Alec Baldwin greatness in the coming months.

Last Night’s TV grades
My Name is Earl: B+
Ugly Betty: B+
The Office: B-
Grey’s Anatomy: A
The OC: C+
Scrubs: B+
30 Rock: A-
Men in Trees: B
The Daily Show: B
The Colbert Report: A-

RANDOM THOUGHTS
Hall & Oates, Greatest Duo Ever?
• Can sportswriters please stop changing their opinions of teams every week. According to these writers a month ago, the Bengals were “done” and now after winning last night, they still have a chance. The Cowboys were “done” at one point in the season and the Giants were definitely going to the playoffs. Now look at the situation. Watch, if the Giants beat the Cowboys at the Meadowlands on Sunday, everyone will all of a sudden say what an amazing job Coughlin is doing and Eli should get a contract extension.

• Sir Hall & Sir Oates were the house band for The Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting. They were knighted, weren't they? (Name the reference and win a banjo) Why can't NBC get talented and popular people to perform at this thing. I think Lionel Richie performed at it as well

• I didn't hear about The Univeristy of Houston playing in The Conference USA Championship Game until this morning. That shows how much people in Houston care about the non major sports. The Dynamo won the MLS Cup and not many people seemed to care also.

QUOTE OF THE POST
From last night's 30 Rock:
Liz (Tina Fey): "I see that you bought a pager from Dennis. Now take it off"
Jack (Alec Baldwin): "I can't, I'm expecting a call from 1983"

Can I Blow Up the Monstah?

2006-11-30T15:36:00.000-06:00

SPORTS

• Year after year, we hear rumors coming out of Boston that Manny Ramirez wants to be traded. Then we hear that he changed his mind. It goes back and forth. Well it seems that Red Sox are finally trying trade him and get less value in return to get it done. They appear to finally be tired of his antics. The problem is that if they think trading him and signing J.D. Drew will fill the hole he left in the lineup, they are sadly mistaken. Drew is a good outfielder, both defensively and offensively, but he is no Manny, by a long shot.

I have an odd reaction to the Red Sox. I generally like their teams, and love David “Big Papí” Ortiz, but their fans drive me nuts. The team gets undue coverage on ESPN and the fans whine and bitch about so much, that it has led me to “hate” the Red Sox. So do I want them to be bad team next year and hear so much bitching that I want to kill someone to shut it up or for them to be a good team and get more and more coverage? I don’t really know the answer to that question but if they do trade Manny, they could once again finish third in their division. A Red Sox fan might react to that with this: “But we’re going to have the pitching this year. We’ve got Schilling, Beckett, Wakefield, Papelbon and Matsuzaka.” First of all Schilling and Wakefield are “aging”, Beckett throws way too many fastballs, and Papelbon and Matsuzaka are unproven commodities in the Boston starting rotation. There is no ace on the Red Sox, no Halladay, no Carpenter, no Oswalt, no Zambrano. Yes the pitching should probably be much better but without Manny, they will be unable to out-slug the opponents on the days when the pitching fails. Big Papí could set a record for intentional walks.

• This is the second week in the new tradition of Thursday Night Football on the new NFL Network. Tonight’s game, between the Ravens and Bengals, promises to be a good one. The problem is that I, and many other Time Warner customers, will be unable to watch it. From what I’ve read, the NFL and Time Warner could not agree for what level of a channel it should be. The NFL wants it to be a basic cable channel and Time Warner wants it to be a pay cable channel. Because of that, the NFL Network is not on in any Time Warner cities. Some people are blaming the NFL without really knowing what’s going on, so I hope that people realize that Time Warner should be blamed. I’m kind of glad that my Texans are so crappy because they will probably hold that 12 pm CT slot on CBS for the next few years locally and I will be able to watch all the games.

TV
Jericho
• I have nothing really that interesting to talk about because Wednesday night TV without Lost, has become this bleak depressing serial killer night of television. I love Bones because even though it shows the most disgustingly violent crime scenes on TV, it’s good because it has developed its characters and there is always plenty of humorous banter between Boothe and Brennan.

The other shows I watch on that night, CSI: NY and Criminal Minds, are so bleak and stiff that it’s becoming a chore to watch them. Minds seems to be a great show in the waiting that just needs a new group of people behind the scenes to fix it. Mandy “The Patink” Patinkin is dangerously underused and some of the cast one can see becoming good in this show. Paget Brewster, from Friends and Andy Richter Controls the Universe seems like a good addition but the show hasn’t improved since she signed on. I forget what the black guy’s name is but he’s just a pretty face and needs to go. Yeah I could look up his name but that shows how much I care.

CSI: NY is another story. With that cast, it should be by far the best CSI: but everyone just looks so bored. Melina Kanakaredes is just wrong for her role. She could work on that show but I just don’t believe her character as a CSI. They seemed to go for pretty faces instead of the right actor for the role in the lesser roles. CSI: Miami is fun to watch for the camp value and CSI: Original Flavor is one of the best shows on TV so for NY to be this bad is extremely puzzling.

• I fell way behind in my Jerichos, so I decided to catch up last night and after I finished, I wondered to myself “Why do I like this show?” The acting is so stiff, everything is so bleak, and the dialogue is extremely uneven. The plot isn’t exactly fascinating but for some reason, I just want to know what happens to these characters. It is nice to see Skeet Ulrich again and his character Jake may be the reason I continue to watch. I’m glad that it’s taking three months off because I need that much time to take a break from it.

Last Night’s TV Grades
Bones: B+
Jericho: C+
Criminal Minds: B
The Daily Show: B
The Colbert Report: B+

RANDOM THOUGHTS
• Today was such a weird weather day here in Houston. It was nice when I went to school this morning but when I came outside, it was really really cold. I usually love Houston in November and December but these cold and rainy days drive me nuts.

• For some reason I am just letting Day Break fill up on my DVR. I want to watch it but I guess I’m not in the mood for it.

• I know it’s about the money but why don’t they develop a playoff system in college football? I’ll probably expand this tomorrow.

• Do any other bloggers out there realize how self-centered it is to do this?

QUOTE OF THE POST
From last night’s Conan:
Brian Posehn: “I was about 10 or 11, taking a bath and playing Star Wars and I was reenacting the lightsaber fight between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader from a New Hope. I had my Obi-Wan action figure and was using my penis for Darth Vader.”
Conan: ”Why?”
Brian Posehn: ”Well, because it has a helmet”

Right Here, Right Now

2006-11-29T15:12:00.000-06:00

BASEBALL
McGwire testifying in front of Congress
• Ever since the Baseball Hall of Fame ballots were mailed out to sportswriters on Monday, the main topic of discussion is whether or not Mark McGwire will make it in. The reason most sportswriters are against his entry into the hall is because they believe, as I do, that he used steroids. But I disagree with their assertion that he doesn’t belong in the HOF. The reasons I think McGwire deserves to be in the Hall of Fame are sevenfold:
1. We have no hard evidence that he used steroids
2. We have no idea how many pitchers were using steroids at the time and, as a recent evidence suggests, pitchers were either using ‘roids as much or more than hitters
3. Steroids do not make you a better hitter, they only make recovery time better so that you can rehab and workout more often. If you were a crappy hitter before using steroids, then you would be crappy hitter afterwards. Because of that I think we should only subtract 30-50 home runs from his impressive 583 that probably would’ve been warning track fly outs.
4. We have no idea who was using performance enhancers, so, besides Rafael Palmiero, who do we keep out of the Hall? I hear sportswriters saying Barry Bonds should get in because he had the numbers to get in before he (probably) started juicing and that’s contrary to the argument against McGwire. If Big Mac cheated than so did Barry.
5. Players have always, and forever will, look for an edge above the rest. Before steroids they were using uppers and now they’ve moved on to the likes of HGH and God knows what else.
6. Steroids and other performance enhancers were not against the rules when McGwire was in the League! They should’ve been, but they weren’t.
7. If McGwire had apoligzed to some degree or denied it in front of Congress, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion (at least there wouldn't be as many people wanting to block his entrance to the Hall).

Also, why are sportswriters so uppity these days? The sports talk and news people seem to be obsessed with keeping sports pure and righteous. Should we remind them that all of sports are entertainment businesses? Now I’m not saying players should put such dangerous things into their bodies and the different sports should try their best to test for performance enhancers, but sportswriters need to realize that cheating is prevalent in all sports and there’s nothing we can do about it. Cheaters will always be ahead of the drug testers.

Kip Wells and Adam Kennedy

• I got some good and puzzling news yesterday in regards to the St. Louis Cardinals. They went out and signed a three-year deal with second baseman Adam Kennedy and a one-year deal with starting pitcher Kip Wells. I know the Cards are the World Champs but we all have to remember that they got very lucky in the playoffs. They got to play the San Diego Padres in the first round and the Padres are not able to hit at home and had a bad game plan in the first two games for Albert Pujols. Then they played the Mets in the NLCS but don’t forget that the Mets had a pretty bad rotation because they lost Pedro and El Duque. The Mets bats also went nearly silent. As we all remember, the Detroit Tigers literally threw the World Series.

The Cards only won 83 games last year and they think that a light hitting second baseman and a starter who led the NL in losses in 2005 is the answer? Yes their pitching coach Dave Duncan has fixed people in the past but this is going to be another Sidney Ponson. They better be sure that Scott Rolen is going to return to his 2004 self because besides Pujols, they have no feared hitters and will have at best the third best offense in the division. We all know that Tony LaRussa is a genius but I honestly believe that if they don’t get either Ted Lilly or Gil Meche, I can’t see them finishing higher than second place in the division.

TV
Note: I know that not everyone is able to watch shows the night they air but I will not hold back on discussing big plot events.

Kristen Bell is Veronica Mars

• Now I love Veronica Mars and Rob Thomas but I’m having a mixed reaction to last night’s Arc One finale. Unlike the past finales, this one moved as a normal episode of Veronica would until about two-thirds of the way through. Right after we learned that Mercer was the Hearst rapist and Moe was helping him out, the show moved so quickly that it was kind of hard to follow. Because the show decided to become less dense this season, they were forced to cram that all into this episode instead what should’ve been a two-episode finale. I also didn’t like that Veronica didn’t solve the Rapist case and instead her just catching Mercer in the girl’s dorm room. I’m not saying it was bad episode because a normal episode of Veronica is far better than most TV but it kept in line with this disappointing season. Since The CW only ordered 20 episodes, I wonder how Rob Thomas is going to resolve the murder of Dean O’Dell and whatever the third arc mystery will be in those remaining 11 episodes. Does anyone know who did that song that they used when Veronica was being chased? It keeps going “Right here, right now.”

• I was disappointed by Prison Break’s “fall finale”. While this season is nowhere near as good as last season, I have enjoyed myself but this episode seemed to be mostly waiting around until the big cliffhanger. Now I assume that Kellerman killed Mahone but I think that is a huge mistake. Bill Fichtner is a great actor and I really liked Mahone, by far the best thing about the new season, and losing him makes the manhunt far less interesting. Knowing the show, he could survive after events like Sara’s OD and I really hope he does.

Last Night’s TV Grades:
Friday Night Lights: A-
Veronica Mars: A
House: A
Boston Legal: A-
Nip/Tuck: B-
The Daily Show: C+ (Too much Tom Waits)
The Colbert Report: B

RANDOM THOUGHTS
• Now I know why I barely saw any press for Incubus’ new album Light Grenades. It’s by far their worst album. Unlike A Crow to the Left of the Murder, there is no great single and there are even really bad songs that just make noise for no apparent reason. There are a few okay to good songs but it’s like one really bad song followed by one or two good songs and then that pattern repeats itself. It’s sad because the best song on the album is the bonus track I got from iTunes.

• Who likes the Trans-Siberian Orchestra? They look and sound pretty bad.

• ESPNEWS forgot to bleep Michael Strahan’s numerous “bullshit”s and “damn”s when he was blasting Plaxico Burress and the press in the locker room. It seems scarier and less funny when they don’t bleep people. I wonder if Strahan was using his Speed Stick. That squirrel better look out.

QUOTE OF THE POST
“Will they let me in? I think all the glitter has come off my Porn Star tube top.”
-Mac (Tina Majorino) in response to Veronica (Kristen Bell) asking her to come to the Pi Sig party on Veronica Mars

Carlos Lee and Studio 60

2006-11-28T02:11:00.000-06:00

Here is the first post in the new phase of my blog. So let's get going.

ASTROS
Well while most of America was mobbing each other in super value stores, my beloved Astros finally acquired a big bat to protect Lance Berkman in the line-up. Lee will get $100 million over six years. I know that number seems striking but with how crazy the market has been, this seems like the best free agent signing since The Rocket signed three-years ago. I would bet that the Astros will regret this deal in a few years, when Lee will more than likely become terrible in the outfield and we won't be able to move him to DH or trade him. The reason I think it's a good idea now is that this is the first time in three years when we will have two elite sluggers in the line up all season long. Hopefully this will make everyone better and we'll see Willy Taveras and Morgan Ensberg finally be what we were all hoping for.

Along with Lee, we signed 40-year old pitcher Woody Williams for two-years and $12.5 million. Now I'm happy for Woody that he signed with his hometown team but the more I think about it, the more I think we overpaid. He spent the past few seasons pitching in an extreme pitcher's park in San Diego and, to a lesser degree, the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis. I think we all forget what a hitter's park Minute Maid should be. We've been spoiled over the past few seasons by having some of the greatest rotations in history pitch there. I do think he's a good pitcher and should help Jason Hirsh and Matt Albers along, but I expect him to have an ERA closer to 4.50 than 3.00 and will probably only pitch for two-thirds of the season. Since it seems more and more likely that both Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte will retire, the Astros obviously need another veteran starter or two but the rumored Kip Wells is not the answer. I really hope the Astros are looking into Ted Lilly and Gil Meche.

TONIGHT'S TV
After watching the underwhelming "Six Months Ago" episode of Heroes, I actually had the craving to watch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It's usually the last Monday show I watch because I usually find the plot to be condescending and pretentious but admire the quality of the great cast's acting and Sorkin's dialogue. Tonight's "B-12" episode was the first time we saw the show we were all expecting. There were no long diatribes supporting the liberal fantasy world it usually lives in and we just got to enjoy the great dialogue without being distracted by the politics. The show still needs to move away from the behind the scenes stuff and focus more on the characters but the revelation that Amanda Peet's Jordan was pregnant shows that will happen, to some degree, in the coming weeks.

A show I think more people should be talking about is Julia Louis-Dreyfus' show The New Adventures of Old Christine. Don't let the show that leads into it and the overly pastel set and costume design fool you, it's a very funny show. The dialogue and storylines are often very funny with a severe dark comic twist. I'm often shocked that they're able to get away with so much sickly hilarious innuendo about sex and drinking. I'm also glad to finally see Wanda Sykes do something funny. If it keeps it up, it looks to be the funniest CBS sitcom in a very long time.

TV Grades (of the shows I saw tonight):
Prison Break: B
Heroes: B-
The New Adventures of Old Christine: B+
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: A-
CSI: Miami: C+
The Daily Show: B-
The Colbert Report: B

RANDOM THOUGHTS
I have seen no advertising anywhere for the new Incubus album "Light Grenades" being released tomorrow. I really want to hear it and I have to assume millions of people agree so what was their label's plans for this?

Can someone please explain to the news networks what the word "tirade" means in today's culture? Michael Richards did an amazingly stupid thing but he wasn't going off on the whole race. He was obviously being heckled by incredibly obnoxious black people and really overreacted. It's not that he had a career anymore but he deserves to lose whatever he had left of that career. But we can they please stop acting like he raped and murdered two black children while in a KKK robe. Everyone is a little bit racist and many people let that show when they're incredibly angry even though, when calm, have no ill will towards any race.

Am I the only one who was shocked that Bill Parcells cut Mike Vanderjagt? I know he's been off this season but the guy he replaced him with is probably not the answer. Vanderjagt is the most accurate kicker in NFL history!

QUOTE OF THE POST
"My sisters played with Barbies when I was a kid and I spent my entire post-pubescent life looking for a seven foot tall woman with a 17 inch waist line and no nipples. It's always disappointing when they have nipples."
-Stephen Colbert

Reboot

2006-11-28T01:34:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

When I started this blog nearly two years ago, I intended to update it anywhere from five to ten times a month. At the time I was so into movies that I thought I could keep that up and make this into a somewhat notable movie blog. I know that sounds ridiculous but isn't that what all bloggers set out to do?

The problem was that right around that time I discovered the greatest/worst thing ever, the DVR. With my newly acquired DVR, I realized how great television had become and started to watch more TV then even I thought possible. Instead of wanting to see a highly anticipated blockbuster starring Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta-Jones, I was dying to see the new episode of Lost or Veronica Mars.

Unfortunately for us all, 2005 was a horrible year for movies. There were a lot of good ones but I kept going to see movies and leaving the theater being disappointed. There were very few movies released that year that I think we will still be talking about in 20 years.

During the spring/summer of 2005, I fell in love with my hometown Houston Astros and found myself watching their games on TV instead of going to see my usual one to four movies a weekend. This led me, for the first time in my life, to be very interested in sports. So in the last year and a half, my intense interests have changed from one to three.

While I was sitting and watching TV tonight I realized that I liked to share my thoughts with people but I didn't have to restrict myself to long, often boring posts about movies that many didn't care about. So, as of now, I changed the name of my blog from Rob's Movie Thoughts to Mr. X-Shun's Cool Glass of Orange Jews but the site will retain the same web address. I can't really think of a good title but if anyone has any ideas just put it in the comments section.

My intention for this new blog is not to update it daily but update it more often. The worst being once a month and the best being five times a week. I will talk about whatever is on my mind from reaction to the night's TV to some big shake up in the National League.

Enjoy,

Rob

The TV Season Is Over

2006-05-25T01:04:00.000-05:00

Well now that Lost and American Idol have had their season finales, the broadcast TV season is now unfortunately over. There were so many good to great shows on the broadcast nets this year that I am kind of fearing the summer. To cap the season I felt I should do my usual top ten list and awards but this time at the end of the season. Before we get going, you all should know that I do not watch Gilmore Girls and other shows because they were on TV for a long time before I became a TV addict and I felt I was giving them a disservice by not seeing most of the episodes or every episode. Just so you know, major plot points to a couple of my favorite shows are down there so I'm issuing a SPOILER WARNING!!!!

The Best Broadcast Show of the Year: Lost
Top Ten Runner Ups:
1. Veronica Mars
2. Scrubs
3. 24
4. The Office
5. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
6. Grey’s Anatomy
7. Arrested Development
8. Everwood
9. Prison Break
10. House

The Awards:

Best Actor (Drama)
Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, House

Best Actress (Drama)
Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

Best Supporting Actor (Drama)(tie)
Gregory Itzin as President Charles Logan, 24
Harold Perrineau as Michael, Lost

Best Supporting Actress (Drama)
Jean Smart as First Lady Martha Logan, 24

Best Actor (Comedy)
Steve Carell as Michael Scott, The Office

Best Actress (Comedy)
Marcia Cross as Bree Van De Kamp, Desperate Housewives

Best Supporting Actor (Comedy)
Donald Faison as Turk, Scrubs

Best Supporting Actress (Comedy)
Jaime Pressly as Joy, My Name Is Earl

Best Ensemble
Lost

Top Six Season Finales
1. Lost
2. Veronica Mars
3. The Office
4. Grey’s Anatomy
5. 24 (The first hour was not good but the second hour was excellent)
6. House

Best Cliffhanger
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) brutally beaten and on a cargo ship headed to Shanghai, 24

Best Twist of the Season
President Logan (Gregory Itzin) revealed as being behind everything, 24

Biggest Shock of the Season
Michael (Harold Perrineau) shooting and killing Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) and Libby (Cynthia Watros), Lost

Most Disappointing Shows After A Previous Strong Season
• Alias
• Desperate Housewives

Biggest Fall From Grace
• Commander in Chief

Most Up and Down Season
• 24 (The first two thirds were the best season ever but the next six or so episodes were close to bad. The season ended on a ridiculously strong note though)

The “Why Did You Have To Leave Us?” Award
• Alias
• Everwood
• Invasion
• The West Wing

The “Thank God They’re Finally Gone” Award
• That 70’s Show
• Will & Grace

Oscar Reactions '06

2006-03-05T22:49:00.000-06:00

Well the Oscars have come and gone and once again I was near perfect in my predictions. Usually when I'm wrong with Oscar predictions, I'm unpleasantly surprised like in 1999 when SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE upset SAVING PRIVATE RYAN for Best Picture. But this year, the much more deserved CRASH upset BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for Best Picture and I couldn't be more pleasantly surprised. I went eight for nine in the big awards and the one I incorrectly predicted went to my possible upset and should win selection. The only other upset I noticed was MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA upsetting BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN in the Cinematography Category. Jon Stewart did a very good job with what little time he had but the awards themselves were very boring and there were way too many video montages that no one should care about. So to sum up I went eight for nine in predictions, the ninth award went to my possible upset and should win selection, and the Academy agreed with me in four out of nine categories.

So any of you that doubt my powers should now be shaking in your boots. In the past year, I've correctly predicted the 2005 Oscars, the 2005 Major League Baseball postseason for the National League Champion Astros (though I wish it had ended differently), the 2006 Rose Bowl, Super Bowl XL and got 94% on my predictions for the 2006 Oscars (8/9 does equal 89% but since my one wrong prediction went to my upset selection, I gave myself a half so divide 8.5 by 9).

Oscar Predictions '06

2006-03-02T22:02:00.000-06:00

Well I finally decided to do my Oscar predictions. I will again be doing the big 9 categories. This year I will show the nominees then I will predict who will probably win, who might upset and who should win. Here we go:

Best Animated Feature

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
TIM BURTON'S THE CORPSE BRIDE
WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

Likely Winner: WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
Possible Upset: Pick one of the other two
Should Win: WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

Best Adapted Screenplay

Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Dan Futterman - CAPOTE
Jeffrey Caine - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Josh Olson - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
Tony Kushner & Eric Roth - MUNICH

Likely Winner: Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Possible Upset: Dan Futterman - CAPOTE
Should Win: Josh Olson - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Best Original Screenplay

Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco - CRASH
George Clooney & Grant Heslov - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
Woody Allen - MATCH POINT
Noah Baumbach - THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
Stephen Gaghan - SYRIANA

Likely Winner: Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco - CRASH
Possible Upset: George Clooney & Grant Heslov - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
Should Win: Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco - CRASH

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams - JUNEBUG
Catherine Kenner - CAPOTE
Frances McDormand - NORTH COUNTRY
Rachel Weisz - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Michelle Williams - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Likely Winner: Rachel Weisz - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Possible Upset: Michelle Williams - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Should Win: Amy Adams - JUNEBUG

Best Supporting Actor

George Clooney - SYRIANA
Matt Dillon - CRASH
Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN
Jake Gyllenhall - BROKEBACK MOUNTIAN
William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Likely Winner: George Clooney - SYRIANA
Possible Upset: Matt Dillon - CRASH or Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN
Should Win: William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Best Actress

Judi Dench - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA
Kiera Knightley - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
Charlize Theron - NORTH COUNTRY
Reese Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE

Likely Winner: Reese Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE
Possible Upset: Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA
Should Win: Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA

Best Actor

Phillip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE
Terrence Howard - HUSTLE & FLOW
Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Joaquin Phoenix - WALK THE LINE
David Strathairn - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

Likely Winner: Phillip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE
Possible Upset: Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Should Win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE or Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Best Director

George Clooney - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
Paul Haggis - CRASH
Ang Lee - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Bennett Miller - CAPOTE
Steven Spielberg - MUNICH

Likely Winner: Ang Lee - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Possible Upset: George Clooney - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK or Paul Haggis - CRASH
Should Win: Paul Haggis - CRASH

Best Picture

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
MUNICH

Likely Winner: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Possible Upset: CRASH
Should Win: CRASH

Top Ten 2005

2006-02-20T00:20:00.000-06:00

Of course I am late with this but it took me longer than expected to to see all the movies I wanted to see. Just on a quick side note before we get to the list, I've decided to not talk about the Oscars this year because for the first time since I can't even remember I have no strong desires for one movie to win anything. I might still do predictions but we'll see.

I have barely come close to seeing everything that came out last year, so expect changes on the top ten list over the next few weeks. Since I made a point to not see anything that looked remotely horrible to me, I saw very few horrible movies. Case in point, WAR OF THE WORLDS being #10 on the bad movies list. Last year WOTW would have been a major dissappointment for me but wouldn't have been on my bottom ten list. Now to the list:

Best Movie of the Year:

BATMAN BEGINS

Top Ten Runner Ups:
1. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
2. CRASH
3. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
4. BROKEN FLOWERS
5. MILLIONS
6. SIN CITY
7. KING KONG
8. SYRIANA
9. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
10. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Honorable Mention: FEVER PITCH, SHOPGIRL, KISS KISS BANG BANG

Now onto the "awards"

Best Actor (Tie)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE
Heath Ledger, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Best Actress
Felicity Huffman, TRANSAMERICA

Best Supporting Actor (Tie)
Ed Harris, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
William Hurt, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, JUNEBUG

Best Acting Ensemble
CRASH

Best Director
Christopher Nolan, BATMAN BEGINS

Entertainer of the Year
George Clooney for writing, directing and acting in GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK & for executive producing and acting in SYRIANA

Best Original Screenplay
Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco, CRASH

Best Adapted Screenplay
Josh Olson, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Best Animated Film
WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

Biggest Dissapppointment (Tie)
ELIZABETHTOWN
WAR OF THE WORLDS

Worst Movie of the Year: BE COOL

Bottom Ten Runner Ups (First is Worst):
1. FANTASTIC FOUR
2. XXX: STATE OF THE UNION
3. BEWITCHED
4. MONSTER-IN-LAW
5. STEALTH
6. THE RING TWO
7. RUMOR HAS IT...
8. GUESS WHO
9. ELIZABETHTOWN
10. WAR OF THE WORLDS

Top Ten TV Shows of 2005

2005-12-21T00:19:00.001-06:00

Sorry about the long hiatus, I became obsessed with the Astros and while all of that was going on I went to the movies very rarely (because most looked pretty bad). Here is my top ten list for TV. The movie list will come in mid-January because that is when most of the movies receiving Oscar buzz will be released here in Houston. I will follow up that with reactions to the Oscar nominations, predictions the week of the Oscars, and finally my reaction to them. So here are my top ten TV shows of 2005:

1. Lost
2. Rescue Me
3. Veronica Mars
4. Alias
5. 24
6. Everwood
7. Arrested Development
8. The West Wing
9. nip/tuck
10. Grey's Anatomy

Best Actor (Drama)
Matthew Fox, Lost

Best Actress (Drama)
Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars

Best Supporting Actor (Drama)
Terry O'Quinn, Lost

Best Supporting Actress (Drama)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy

Best Actor (Comedy)
Steve Carell, The Office

Best Actress (Comedy)
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives

Best Supporting Actor (Comedy)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage

Best Supporting Actress (Comedy)
Jessica Walter, Arrested Development

Top 25 Movies of All Time

2005-06-20T02:09:00.000-05:00

After seeing BATMAN BEGINS a couple of times I realized that it is one of my top five movies of all time. Well that got me thinking about my top 25 all time list I had over at my old site and I decided to update that list. When I say top I don't mean best, I mean favorite. That's why some movies that have appeared on my top ten lists for previous years aren't on the list and some that never appeared on any list for me ever is on it. Well here it is:

1. GOODFELLAS
2. PULP FICTION
3. BATMAN BEGINS
4. MEMENTO
5. FIGHT CLUB
6. CHINATOWN
7. KILL BILL
8. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
9. THE GODFATHER PART II
10. THE USUAL SUSPECTS
11. SLEEPY HOLLOW
12. MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
13. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
14. SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER, AND UNCUT
15. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
16. DONNIE DARKO: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT
17. THE GODFATHER
18. THE MATRIX RELOADED
19. THIS IS SPINAL TAP
20. THE MATRIX
21. HALLOWEEN
22. ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY
23. FARGO
24. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
25. THE AVIATOR

BATMAN BEGINS

2005-06-19T22:07:00.000-05:00

Well it's been almost a month since I updated this site and I thought I should kick it off with my second full review for the site, this time for BATMAN BEGINS, and not the mentioned summary of my fabtabulous trip to Europe or the essay on the EXORCIST prequel movies. Well let us get started.

BATMAN BEGINS

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Michael Caine as Alfred
Liam Neeson as Ducard
Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow
Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone
Rutger Hauer as Earle
Ken Watanabe as Ra's Al Ghul
Gus Lewis as Bruce Wayne - age eight
Linus Roache as Thomas Wayne
Richard Brake as Joe Chill
Sara Stewart as Martha Wayne
Mark Boone Junior as Flass
Larry Holden as Finch

Directed by Christopher Nolan. Written by Nolan and David S. Goyer. Produced by Larry J. Franco, Charles Roven, and Emma Thomas. Original music composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Distributed by Warner Bros. Rated PG-13 for intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements. Running time is 141 minutes.

If you have been reading my blog since I created it five months ago and read my very detailed third post on this site about the three upcoming movies I was anticipating the most and many subsequent posts, you'd know that I've wanted to see BATMAN BEGINS for a very long time. When I first heard about it almost two and half years ago on the now nearly defunct upcoming movies section on Yahoo! I almost shit my pants because at the time I was a huge fan of BATMAN BEGINS' director Christopher Nolan's first major film, MEMENTO. Then in the weeks and months following I learned that cult/comic book screenwriter David S. Goyer (The BLADE "trilogy", DARK CITY) was writing it and the cast Christopher Nolan was assembling kept getting better and better. By the time filming got started, Christopher Nolan had assembled probably the highest quality bunch of actors ever assembled for a huge blockbuster (Just look at the cast list above!). Every single actor has starred in movies by themselves without any other major stars in them that I wanted see, badly. Then as filming was wrapping up I learned that two of my all time favorite composers, Hans Zimmer (known for doing Ridley Scott movies and other huge blockbusters) and James Newton Howard (known mostly for his scores for M. Night Shyamalan movies) were teaming up for the score to BATMAN BEGINS. How could I not see this movie as soon as it comes out?

Well my expectations were pretty high but BATMAN BEGINS blew them out of the water. BATMAN BEGINS is the best movie I've seen in a very long time. Better than my 2004 pick for best film, THE AVIATOR, my 2003 pick for best film, KILL BILL VOL. 1, my 2002 pick for best film, ADAPTATION, and going back for as long as I've been writing about movies. Yes it's better than SPIDER-MAN 2, or X2 or any of the original BATMAN films from the 90s.

What makes it so great is that stays very true to the spirit of the Batman comics but at the same time stays really grounded in reality. It works because there is attention to character and plot so that you believe why Bruce Wayne would devote himself to fighting crime and you understand why the villain does what he does.

BATMAN BEGINS starts off with a very young Bruce Wayne playing with his friend Rachel on the grounds of Wayne Manor and falling into a cave and being swarmed with bats. Then we are immediately taken to modern time as Bruce Wayne (Bale) is being held in a prison in an unnamed Asian county along the Himalayas and is freed by the mysterious Ducard (Neeson) who promises to help Bruce Wayne learn to fight against injustice. Bruce hikes for miles and comes to the home of Ra's Al Ghul (Watanabe) head of the League of Shadows. There he trains and learns to use darkness, fear, and distraction to help him fight those who prey on the fearful. After "disagreeing" with the beliefs on the League of Shadows he returns to Gotham intent on stopping the crime boss Falcone (Wilkinson) who has run Gotham into being a drug and crime filled city.

While all of that is going on we are taken back in flashbacks to Bruce's younger days and we see his parents being murdered and all the grief that consumes him as a child and then as a college student. In BATMAN BEGINS, Bruce's parents are murdered by Joe Chill, as it was in the comics, and not the Joker, which was a huge relief because that was one of the many problems that plagued the original. In these flashbacks we see all that motivates him as an adult like why he is terrified of bats, why he feels guilty for his parents murdered and why he hates to use guns.

When Bruce returns he learns that his family company, Wayne Enterprises, is about to taken public and the head of Wayne Enterprises, Earle, treats Bruce as if he was still a child. Bruce tells Earle that he wants to get to know his family company and asks to see the Applied Sciences division. We know that he wants to see the division so he can get gadgets and such to help him fight crime. We then meet Lucius Fox (Freeman) former board member turned pariah who was banished to the essentially useless, to the company, Applied Sciences. Lucius becomes Bruce's Q and gives him all that he needs with very few questions but his belief that it's is Bruce's company is the reason for no questions asked.

Bruce's childhood friend Rachel is now an assistant DA and her boss is trying to take down Falcone but a seemingly corrupt psychologist, Dr. Jonathan Crane, has declared three of Falcone's thugs insane and moved to his hospital, Arkham Asylum. Dr. Crane, though, isn't working for Falcone and plans to use something that is being smuggled into Gotham that puts the fear into people.

We don’t see Batman until about halfway through the movie but when he finally appears you’ll get a huge smile on you’re face. Batman doesn’t just go fight the bad guys, he uses his surroundings and darkness to scare the criminals so he can defeat the more easily. The fight sequences are extremely frenetic and hard to follow but that is a good thing because I think were all getting sick of overly stylized and choreographed fights that are very nice to look at but not at all realistic. There is an amazing chase scene where the new tank-like Batmobile is being chased through the streets of Gotham and seems like a real car chase and not one where the right thing happens and the perfect moment to save our hero or heroes.

This time around Gotham is not an overly art directed city filled with many large statues and bright pretty colored lights everywhere but a realistic looking city. Whenever we see Gotham from an elevated point of view, it looks so realistic not only because of the masterful use of CGI (which is used very little in BATMAN BEGINS) but because they merged different cities together so effortlessly that it looks like a capital of the world. The exterior shots were done in Chicago but you can’t always tell because the digital artistry makes it seem real and familiar and at the same time some unbelievably big metropolis.

BATMAN BEGINS is filled with many layered and three dimensional performances and no one does bad work here. The performances that really stand out are Gus Lewis as the eight-year-old Bruce Wayne, who does an amazing job getting us to tear up after Bruce’s parents are murdered; Linus Roache as Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s father, who is amazingly good dad who kept Bruce honest and did anything he could to help out the people of Gotham; Michael Caine as Alfred who wants to help out “Master Bruce” but also do anything to protect the Wayne family legacy while exchanging barbs and one liners with Bruce; and Cillian (pronounced Kill-ian) Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow who is so creepy and smart that you believe he could do all of what he does.

BATMAN BEGINS is not only a great comic book film but also a great film. It shows us the reasons why and how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman not just shows us Batman and tells us that he did this only because his parents were murdered because it’s more complicated than that and BATMAN BEGINS perfectly nails it.

Grade: A+ (If it were possible I’d give it a higher grade)

Ranking: Best to worst, comic book/superhero movies that I’ve seen:
1. BATMAN BEGINS (Grade: A+)
2. SPIDER-MAN 2 (Grade: A+)
3. X2 (Grade: A)
4. HULK (Grade: A)
5. SPIDER-MAN (Grade: A)
6. BATMAN RETURNS (Grade: A-)
7. X-MEN (Grade: A-)
8. BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (Grade: B+)
9. BLADE II (Grade: B+)
10. BATMAN (Grade: B+)
11. HELLBOY (Grade: B)
12. SUPERMAN II (Grade: B)
13. SUPERMAN (Grade: B)
14. BLADE (Grade: B-)
15. BATMAN FOREVER (Grade: B-)
16. DAREDEVIL: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT (Grade: B-)
17. BLADE TRINITY (Grade: C+)
18. DARKMAN (Grade: C+)
19. DAREDEVIL (Grade: C+)
20. THE PUNISHER (Grade: C-)
21. SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (Grade: D)
22. ELEKTRA (Grade: D-)
23. CATWOMAN (Grade: D-)
24. BATMAN AND ROBIN (Grade: F)
25. STEEL (Grade: F-)

Mini Movie Reviews 5/22

2005-05-22T02:55:00.000-05:00

To my millions of readers,
I’m sad (for you) to say that I’ll be leaving in a few hours for a 10-day trip to Italy and one of those former Yugoslavian countries (they’re all the same, right?). I’ll be leaving you with three more mini-reviews and the response I got from the last ones (that I only put online a couple of hours ago and fiddled with it too make it seem I posted it on Wednesday) was amazing. I should really stop using this reading my thoughts software. My butt is itching. Well here you go:

KICKING & SCREAMING (Rated PG for thematic elements, language and some crude humor)

I put this flick on my most anticipated movies for ’05 list for only one reason and that is because it stars Will Ferrell. For a “family film” this really pushes the boundaries because you can really feel all the PG-13 stuff they are trying to sneak in there past the MPAA. The movie is pretty funny but would’ve been hilarious if they just made it PG-13. Will Ferrell screaming at people is one great pleasure and he does it frequently. The movie has many moments that only teenagers and adults would only laugh at like when the team goes to help the two star players at their Uncle’s butcher shop and arrive in at the field covered in blood. If you want to have an enjoyable time at the movies and be able to take the kids then this is one to see.
Grade: B

UNLEASHED (Rated R for strong violent content, language and some sexuality/nudity)

This is a hard movie to describe in a short paragraph. If you want to see an exciting, extremely violent, and sometimes poignant flick then check this out. Jet Li delivers probably his best performance, Morgan Freeman does another great job, and Bob Hoskins revels in his part as the conniving and crooked mobster. The action choreographed by The Matrix’s Yuen Woo-Ping is brutal and great to watch. The way that Jet Li was raised as an attack dog is disheartening and how he falls in love with his new family and becomes a better person is touching. Not a great film but is much better than the usual action flick.
Grade: B

DOMINION: PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST (Rated R for strong violence and disturbing images)

Now the subject of how this movie came to be will most definitely be expanded on this blog but since I’m so fucking tired right now I’ll just be writing this mini-review. Yeah I said fuck. You have a problem with that, you fucking son of a bitch? To sum up my point on this movie is that I totally understand why Morgan Creek decided to have a new director brought in to reshoot this movie. Not that EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING is any better but the great Paul Schrader was not the right choice to direct this. The movie is slow, not scary and is hampered by the obvious lack of postproduction that was given to Paul Schrader’s version. He handled the movie more as a drama than a supernatural thriller, which is how it should’ve been handled. The remake was a horror film and didn’t work either but was at least some points interesting. When I return I will write a much more detailed essay about my feelings about both movies and the situation that brought both of them into existence.
Grade: C

STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH

2005-05-19T23:42:00.000-05:00

Now for the first time ever a full review on this blog. Yesterday, I was one of the many losers who went and saw STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH last night at midnight and it was quite a scene. I saw it at AMC Studio 30 here in Houston and I have never seen this huge theater as crowded as it was. There were people in full STAR WARS costumes and people would cheer when an old STAR WARS character would simply make an appearance. Well now my thoughts in another muddled essay for this blog.

STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH
Starring:
Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker
Natalie Portman as Padmé Skywalker
Ian McDiarmid as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
Frank Oz as the voice of Yoda
Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu
Jimmy Smits as Senator Bail Organa
Matthew Wood as the voice of General Grievous
Christopher Lee as Count Dooku
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Kenny Baker as R2-D2
Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca
James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader

Written and Directed by George Lucas. Produced by Rick McCallum. Original Music by John Williams. Distributed by 20th Century Fox. Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some intense images.

STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH is an amazing conclusion to an otherwise lackluster and disappointing prequel trilogy. The original STAR WARS trilogy contains three of the best films ever made, most notably STAR WARS: EPISODE V – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and this prequel trilogy started off with two exceedingly boring and tedious chapters. STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE was a decently written movie with a plot that would make NPR listeners fall to sleep. STAR WARS: EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE CLONES was a horribly written movie with a decent plot. Both movies were filled to the brim with bad acting from good actors.

REVENGE OF THE SITH (ROTS from now on) doesn’t even come close to resolving the writing problem that has plagued this prequel trilogy (and slightly hampered the original trilogy) but the plot is so fascinating that no matter how dreadfully awful the words coming out of the actor’s mouths are the movie is still great.

ROTS starts off with the Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker engaging in a fantastic spaceship battle that puts any of the original trilogy’s to shame. They are trying to rescue the kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from the hands of the evil Count Dooku and General Grievous. Once they return from the rescue we learn that Anakin’s wife, Padmé, is pregnant (with her twins Luke and Leia) and since Jedi are not allowed to have children this is something she must hide. We also learn that in the few years in between ATTACK OF THE CLONES and ROTS that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and Anakin have become friends with Anakin, sharing his thoughts and feelings with the Chancellor. As everyone should know, Chancellor Palpatine is actually a Sith (the opposite of the Jedi that use the dark side of the force) lord who becomes The Emperor in the original trilogy. Because they are becoming closer, Palpatine is slowly trying to get Anakin to go against the Jedi and join the dark side.

All of that is a primer for anyone who hasn’t seen this yet. I don’t feel like spoiling it for anyone. Now I’ll get into what I did and didn’t like about ROTS.

One problem with ROTS is that one gets the feeling that way too much plot is crammed into this one. Now ROTS is far better than the first two installments in this trilogy but so much goes on that one wishes the movie was actually longer. I believe that George Lucas has been planning this chapter since he started writing EPISODE I because when you look back, the previous two chapters were there only to set up things that happen in ROTS. EPISODE I served the story solely so that the Jedi would meet the young Anakin and to get the then Senator Palpatine elected to Chancellor. EPISODE II killed off Anakin’s mother so that when he fears Padmé will die during child birth, we know he will do anything to save her because he slaughtered the sand people that killed his mother.

Another small problem with ROTS is the overuse of digital technology to create environments. The environments are beautiful and well detailed but for most of the movie you feel like you are watching a video game so the spaceship battles and lightsaber battles lose a little of their punch.

The main problem with ROTS is, as mentioned way above, the dialogue. The words coming out of the actor’s mouths are basic, ineloquent and sound like something I would write. The horrific writing hampers even the great Samuel L. Jackson. George Lucas has admitted that he not a very good writer, so I must ask why doesn’t he just come up with the story and have someone else write it, like the best STAR WARS movie ever THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK which Lucas only got a story credit on. He is obviously a visionary when it comes to plot and what technology can do but on the slight chance that this saga ever gets started again and he is still alive, let’s hope he has very little writing input.

With all of that said I must point out that three main actors (Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, and Natalie Portman) have much improved since the last two movies. Even though they have all improved the show is stolen by Ian McDiarmid as Chancellor Palpatine who masterfully seduces and manipulates Anakin to get him to switch to the dark side and become Darth Vader.

Each one of the prequel films has had a new villain, each one in some way an apprentice to Darth Sidious a.k.a. Chancellor Palpatine. In EPISODE I we had Darth Maul, a red and black faced, horned alien who was the only reason to see EPISODE I because he used a double bladed lightsaber. In EPISODE II we were introduced to Count Dooku played by the great Christopher Lee who did only a decent job. In ROTS we get General Grievous, a wheezing, coughing, hunched over baddie but we don’t get to know him well enough so he seems less menacing and more annoying.

This chapter in the STAR WARS saga is by far the darkest. It really deserves the PG-13 rating compared to the previous five installments because the things that Anakin does when he switches to the dark side make anything in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK look like a kid's flick.

Even though a lot of press has been given to the lightsaber battle at the end between Anakin and Obi-Wan, I have to say that I prefer the lightsaber battle that is interspliced with that one, between Emperor Palpatine and Yoda. Their battle within The Senate for The Republic is very cool and I have become used to the fully digital Yoda and seeing them through pods at each other is very cool.

STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH is so much better that the previous two that I think it makes the movie look a lot better than it actually is but the spell is working on me and I declare it the best “studio” movie to come out so far this year.
Grade: A

STAR WARS Movies Ranked (in their original titles):
1. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (Grade: A+)
2. STAR WARS (Grade: A+)
3. RETURN OF THE JEDI (Grade: A+)
4. STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH (Grade: A)
5. STAR WARS: EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE CLONES (Grade: C+)
6. STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE (Grade: C)

Mini Movie Reviews 5/18

2005-05-18T19:00:00.000-05:00

I know I said I would return with a full review for KINGDOM OF HEAVEN but finals took a lot more out of me than I ever thought they would. I know it's been almost two weeks since it came out but here are mini reviews for the past few movies I've seen:

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Rated R for Strong Violence and Epic Warfare)
As you should know by my many posts on this movie I was really looking forward to seeing it. In recent years I have become a huge Ridley Scott (the director of KINGDOM) fan and loving his most recent movies HANNIBAL, BLACK HAWK DOWN, and MATCHSTICK MEN. So I was expecting to love this movie but I ended up only liking it. The movie is filled with an amazing atmosphere helped by beautiful cinematography and well-orchestrated battles. The major problems with the movie are the performances which are either boring, like Orlando Bloom's Balian, or we do not get enough of a particular character, like Liam Neeson's Godfrey or David Thewlis' Hospitaler. The movie also is trying to be way to PC with the only villains in the movie being blood thirsty Christians and treating the Muslims too well. Another thing that has to stop with these "sword and sandal" epics is the speeches that the main character gives to his troops; there are about 10 in KINGDOM.
Grade: B

CRASH (Rated R for language, sexual content and some violence)
This is a movie I've been anticipating ever since I saw the full trailer for it months ago. I really regret not mentioning it on the blog and letting the bigger "event" movies steal it's thunder. CRASH is one of the most provocative, intelligent, well acted, well written, well directed, and beautifully shot movies I've seen in a long time. It mainly deals with race in Los Angeles but it is much more complicated than that. Their are about a dozen characters who in the span of a couple days "crash" into each other and get into arguments, discussions, and fisticuffs that are initiated by fear of someone else based solely on skin color. No one in the movie is one dimensional with many of the less liked characters doing something amazing and our favorite characters doing something hypocritical and awful. It is really hard to review this movie but you must go see this movie, probably the best movie to come out this month.
Grade: A

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (Rated PG for thematic elements, action and mild language)
Not that I was really looking forward to this movie but with the cast involved with this movie I expected it to be at least good maybe even great. I have liked each one of the actors in many other projects but the main problem with this movie is not the actor’s fault it lies in the script. I have never read the book THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY but this movie thinks it is a lot funnier than it is and the fault lies solely on the director Garth Jennings. Movie adaptations of novels should make you want to read the novel because as everyone knows the movie is never as good as the book. The author of the book, Douglas Adams, wrote the original draft of the script and if this is what he wrote it does not make me even want to look at the novel. Besides thinking it is funnier than it actually is, the cast does a decent job with what they have and the special effects or okay.
Grade: C-

XXX: STATE OF THE UNION (Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence and some language)
I know this movie looked really really bad and that anyone who comes to my blog wouldn’t see this movie anyway because of how bad it looked but you were all wrong. XXX: STATE OF THE UNION is actually one of the worst movies you will ever see. It’s not just really really bad, it is beyond awful and should be banned from movie theaters because I actually became stupider watching it. The director, Lee Tamahori, directed the worst of the recent James Bond movies (DIE ANOTHER DAY) so Sony must of wanted the sequel to the mediocre XXX to be even worse. All of the main cast members have done amazing work before and should really be embarrassed for even being at the premiere for this movie. DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!
Grade: F

HOUSE OF WAX (Rated R for horror violence, some sexual content and language)
For some reason I have always had a soft spot for horror movies so if you usually hate horror movies than you will disagree with almost everything I’m going to say. HOUSE OF WAX is one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. This is a remake of a 1953 Vincent Price film but it is much more a copy of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake but is still well acted (yes even Paris Hilton does a decent job), beautifully shot and has great art direction. It differs from the usual horror formula by having more than one killer and one of them doesn’t wear a mask! I f you want to have an enjoyable time, see gorgeous people run and scream, and see Paris Hilton brutally murdered than check this out.
Grade: B

THE LONGEST YARD (Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, violence, language and drug references)
Being one of the few people at the screening last night who hadn’t seen the original 1974 Burt Reynolds’ film, I went into THE LONGEST YARD expecting it to be a usual Adam Sandler live action cartoon. I was wrong. The movie is much more serious than you ever think it will be and also more violent but not in a funny way. Someone is murdered for crying out loud. There is not enough character development with any of the characters and the entire movie seems more like a comedy trying to be a something much more serious. The focus of the entire movie is about training for the game between the guards and the cons and the game itself. If the movie had been a little longer and gave us more time with the characters than it would’ve been good but it was not at all what I was expecting. Maybe when I see the original my opinion will change.
Grade: C

Movie Grades

2005-04-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

Since I've started this site I've talked a lot about the Oscars and upcoming movies. What I haven't done that I set out to do was to review movies I've seen. I'll most likely start writing full reviews with KINGDOM OF HEAVEN but for now I'll post letter grades for all of the movies I've seen in the past five months. A+ is the highest grade a movie can get on this site. Anything below a B- is a negative grade. So here they are in alphabetical order:

• THE AMIITYVILLE HORROR: B-
• ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13: B-
• BE COOL: D-
• CONSTANTINE: B+
• ELEKTRA: D
• FEVER PITCH: A
• HITCH: B
• IMAGINARY HEROES: B+
• THE INTERPRETER: B
• KUNG FU HUSTLE: B
• MELINDA AND MELINDA: A
• THE RING TWO: D+
• ROBOTS: B
• SAHARA: C-
• SIN CITY: A-
• THE UPSIDE OF ANGER: B+
• WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: D-

Best Media Months Ever

2005-04-27T01:39:00.001-05:00

The main reason I've not been posting on this blog as much recently is that I find that movies so far this year have not been very good. This summer looks promising but lately I've been getting more into music and TV because that seems to be where the quality is. From mid May to the end of June will officially the best media months of my life and I mean that my favorite TV shows will be having season finales that should amaze, some of my favorite bands will be releasing new albums for the first time in years, and some of my most anticipated movies ever will be released. I've put together a list, again by date, of the coolest shit happening in movies, music and TV from mid May to the end of June. For the movies, the links will take you to previous posts I've done for that movie. For the TV shows, the links will take you to that TV show's official site. For the albums, the album name link will take you to Amazon.com and that album's artist link will take you to that artist's official site. So here you go.

May 19th
-The theatrical release of STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH
-The Quentin Tarantino directed season finale of CSI:

May 22nd
-The season finale of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
-I leave for Italy

May 23rd
-The two-hour season finale of 24

May 24th
-OUT OF EXILE by Audioslave (Audioslave's first new album in more than 2 ½ years)

May 25th
-The two-hour season finale of LOST
-The season finale of ALIAS

June 1st
-I return from Italy

June 7th
-X&Y by Coldplay (Coldplay's first new album in nearly 3 years)

June 14th
-IN YOUR HONOR by Foo Fighters (Foo Fighters' first new album in more than 2 ½ years)
-The BATMAN BEGINS score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard (two of my favorite movie composers who have always done scores by themselves but teamed up for BATMAN BEGINS)

June 15th
-The theatrical release of BATMAN BEGINS

June 29th
-The theatrical release of WAR OF THE WORLDS

So that sums up the best media months of my life and if you disagree then you're an idiot and I'll punch you right in the mouth.

Summer Movies That Look Good (By Date)

2005-04-25T00:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long. I wrote a few reviews a couple of months ago and was too lazy to edit them and lost interest and I'll be starting up again with reviews during the summer becuase I'll have more time probably with THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY or KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. I got bored yesterday and put together a list of movies coming out this summer that look good by the day they came out. You'll notice that May and June are filled with movies that look good but July and August do not (Late August is always filled with shitty movies anyway). Click on any of the movie titles to either be sent to an earlier post I worte about that movie or that particular movie's page at imdb. So here you go:

May 6th
• KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
• HOUSE OF WAX

May 13th
• KICKING & SCREAMING
• UNLEASHED

May 20th
• STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH (May 19th)
• DOMINION: THE ORIGINAL EXORCIST PREQUEL

May 27th
• THE LONGEST YARD
• MADAGASCAR

May Limited Release
• CRASH
• JIMINY GLICK IN LA-LA WOOD
• LAYER CAKE

June 3rd
• CINDERELLA MAN
• LORDS OF DOGTOWN

June 10th
• MR. AND MRS. SMITH
• THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY & LAVA GIRL IN 3-D

June 15th
• BATMAN BEGINS

June 24th
• BEWITCHED
• LAND OF THE DEAD

June 29th
• WAR OF THE WORLDS

July 15th
• CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
• THE WEDDING CRASHERS
• HUSTLE & FLOW

July 22nd
• THE ISLAND
• THE BAD NEWS BEARS

July 29th
• THE BROTHERS GRIMM

August 5th
• 3001
• THE DUKES OF HAZZARD

August 19th
• DOMINO
• THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN

Reactions To The Oscars

2005-02-27T22:46:00.000-06:00

Oscar Host Chris Rock with the accountants from PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Well The 77th Annual Academy Awards have just finished and all of my predictions came true. Out of all 19 categories that made it onto my first post on this blog, only six awards went to my first choice (Best Actor, Animated Feature Film, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Editing, and Best Original Screenplay). So to sum up my psychic skills are top notch but I do not know what is good, at least according to The Academy. My favorite moment of the night was Charlie Kaufman finally winning a screenplay award. Yes he has only been writing features since his debut, 1999's BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, but he was long overdue.

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman finally winning an Oscar

My least favorite moment was Clint Eastwood beating out Martin Scorsese in the Best Director category. Clint easily deserved it last year for MYSTIC RIVER but lost to THE RETURN OF THE KING's Peter Jackson. After tonight Clint Eastwood now has four Oscars and Scorsese has NONE. Clint has two for directing and producing UNFORGIVEN and now two for directing and producing MILLION DOLLAR BABY. He now has enough Oscars to last him for the rest of his life. Martin Scorsese will next be in theaters with THE DEPARTED probably sometime in 2006 and DRUKEN ANGEL, a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1948 film, sometime after that. Both will star Leonardo DiCaprio and THE AVIATOR’s John Logan will script DRUNKEN ANGEL.

Clint Eastwood winning for Best Director and Best Picture

The only other disappointment to me was Jan A.P. Kaczmarek winning for his score for FINDING NEVERLAND. The award really should've gone to John Williams for his score for HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, his best score ever in my opinion, but he lost because he already has five Oscars and 42 previous nominations.

Jan A.P. Kaczmarek winning for Best Score

The biggest surprise of the night for me was RAY winning for Best Sound; stealing the award from THE AVIATOR or THE INCREDIBLES. Yes that was the biggest surprise in a very predictable Oscar ceremony. In the years I have been seriously watching The Oscars, there have only been a few surprises. They are SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE beating out SAVING PRIVATE RYAN for Best Picture and THE PIANIST winning for Best Actor (Adrien Brody beat out the far more deserved Daniel Day Lewis for GANGS OF NEW YORK), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood stole it from the brilliant Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman for ADAPTATION), and Best Director (Roman Polanski robbed it from perennial bridesmaid Martin Scorsese for GANGS OF NEW YORK).

Morgan Freeman finally winning an Oscar

Well this marks the first time since The 2000 Oscars that a deserved movie (AMERICAN BEAUTY) won for Best Picture. I didn't want MILLION DOLLAR BABY to win but it was one of the best movies of the year (unlike the previous winners GLADIATOR, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, CHICAGO and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING) and I am happy that The Academy recognized a great film.

Cate Blanchett winning for Best Supporting Actress
(THE AVIATOR's only major win)

P.S. The people at Miramax should be ashamed of themselves for letting THE AVIATOR lose in most of the top categories. THE AVIATOR has the makings of a movie that The Academy usually loves. It is long, beautifully shot, a period piece, and has many stars giving amazing performances. The only ads I saw for the movie were right after it was released in late December and The Academy has a notoriously short attention span. The people at Miramax should have been pushing THE AVIATOR like they have in the past. Not as strong as they did in 2003 for GANGS OF NEW YORK, which turned off a lot of Academy members, but pretty strong. THE AVIATOR could have easily won if only Miramax had handled the PR better.

And The Winners Are...

2005-02-27T22:30:00.001-06:00

Here are the winners for The 77th Annual Academy Awards (excluding the short subjects):

Best Motion Picture of the Year:
MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Best Achievement in Directing:
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
Jamie Foxx - RAY

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:
Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:
Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen:
Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published:
Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor - SIDEWAYS

Best Achievement in Cinematography:
Robert Richardson - THE AVIATOR

Best Achievement in Editing:
Thelma Schoonmaker - THE AVIATOR

Best Achievement in Art Direction:
Dante Ferretti, Francesca LoSchiavo - THE AVIATOR

Best Achievement in Costume Design:
Sandy Powell - THE AVIATOR

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score:
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - FINDING NEVERLAND

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song:
"Al Otro Lado Del Río," music and lyrics by Jorge Drexler- THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

Best Achievement in Makeup:
Valli O'Reilly, Bill Corso - LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

Best Achievement in Sound:
Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer, Steve Cantamessa, Scott Milla - RAY

Best Achievement in Sound Editing:
Michael Silvers, Randy Thom - THE INCREDIBLES

Best Achievement in Visual Effects:
John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, John Frazier - SPIDER-MAN 2

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year:
THE INCREDIBLES

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:
THE SEA INSIDE

Best Documentary, Feature;
BORN INTO BROTHELS

Movies with more than one award:
1. THE AVIATOR (Five Awards)
2. MILLION DOLLAR BABY (Four Awards)
3. THE INCREDIBLES and RAY (Two Awards Each)

Oscar Voting Clarification

2005-02-26T23:19:00.000-06:00

This will be my shortest post ever on this site. Since the Oscars are tomorrow, I've been reading a lot of stuff at different sites about Oscar predicitons (just like mine) and those sites give reasons why each person will win or lose (unlike me). They have been saying that SIDEWAYS will win in the Best Adapted Screenplay category because it will most likely lose every other award it is nominated for and they've been saying that if Martin Scorsese wins for best director than MILLION DOLLAR BABY will most definitely win in the Best Picture Category. The problem with saying that is that it gives the impression that everyone in The Academy votes in every category. NOT TRUE! Only actors vote in the acting categories, only directors vote in the directing category and only writers vote in the writing categories. The only category that everyone votes for is Best Picture. Last year everyone said that THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING would win Pest Picture and Best Director (and it did) but because of that it wouldn't win in the Best Adapted Screenplay and some other less important categories. Of course that wasn't true and RETURN OF THE KING won in every category for which it was nominated (11 Oscars total, tying the record for most wins and setting the record for sweeping every category nominated a move was nominated for). So to sum up, stop saying that people will vote one way because they have or haven't voted for that movie in a different category.

Other Movies To Catch In '05

2005-02-24T23:15:00.000-06:00

Since I had such a good time writing that post on BATMAN BEGINS, THE DEPARTED and SOUTHLAND TALES, I’ve decided to do a post on the other movies I’m looking forward to in 2005. Below are the 23 films I’m most looking forward to in 2005 (besides BATMAN BEGINS and SOUTHLAND TALES), why I want to see those movies and their tentative release date. Well here we go (in alphabetical order).

THE MOVIES
THE BAD NEWS BEARS BEWITCHED THE BROTHERS GRIMM CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY CORPSE BRIDE DOMINO ELIZABETHTOWN HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE THE ISLAND JARHEAD KICKING & SCREAMING KING KONG	KINGDOM OF HEAVEN MELINDA AND MELINDA MR. AND MRS. SMITH THE NEW WORLD A SCANNER DARKLY SIN CITY STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH SYRIANA WALK THE LINE WAR OF THE WORLDS ZATHURA

THE BAD NEWS BEARS (Back to top)
Why? Even though I have never seen the original BAD NEWS BEARS, I want to see this for three main reasons: 1. Richard Linklater is directing it. 2. The same writing team behind BAD SANTA is writing it. 3. It stars BAD SANTA’s Bill Bob Thorton. If you have no idea who Richard Linklater is, then you should be ashamed. He has directed BEFORE SUNRISE, DAZED AND CONFUSED, WAKING LIFE, THE SCHOOL OF ROCK, and BEFORE SUNSET, which every single one of those films is a modern masterpiece in their genre. BAD SANTA was one of the sickest, crudest, funniest films you will ever see. Billy Bob Thorton is one of today’s most versatile actors who constantly gives great performances no matter the type of film. Proof of his range is in the films he chooses such as SLING BLADE, ARMAGEDDON, PUSHING TIN, BANDITS, MONSTER’S BALL, and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. The film is about a coach trying to turn a baseball team of misfits into champions and also stars Greg Kinnear and Marcia Gay Harden.
When? June 10th, against MR. AND MRS. SMITH and Robert Rodriguez’s THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY & LAVA GIRL IN 3-D.

BEWITCHED (Back to top)
Why? Because I’ll see anything with Will Ferrell in it. BEWITHCED is not your usual classic-TV-show movie; the story is about a producer who wants to revive the classic sitcom and casts an actual witch in the role. The film stars Nicole Kidman as Isabel Bigelow, the witch who lands the role of Samantha Stevens, and Will Ferrell as Jack Wyatt, the man who gets the role of Darrin and, from what I’ve heard, falls in love with Isabel. BEWITCHED also stars Shirley MacClaine, Michael Caine, Jason Schwartzman, Stephen Colbert, David Alan Grier, and Steve Carell. The film is directed by Nora Ephron (SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE and YOU’VE GOT MAIL) and written by Ephron and Adam McKay (Co-wrote and directed last summer’s hilarious ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY).
When? July 8th, up against FANTASTIC FOUR.

THE BROTHERS GRIMM (Back to top)
Why? Even though the story sounds interesting, I just want to see Terry Gilliam’s next movie. His films have always been so amazingly absurd, visionary, brilliant and often times creepy. Terry Gilliam was the lone American in Monty Python and has emerged as the only one out of the pack to keep bringing genius and nothing crappy like Idle and Cleese have occasionally done. Gilliam has directed MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, TWELVE MONKEYS and FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS and each one of them is brilliant in so many different ways. THE BROTHERS GRIMM is loosely based off the lives of legendary brothers who put fairy tales into a book. The film is about two brothers (Matt Damon and Heath Ledger) who are renowned collectors of folklore who pretend to rid villages of enchanted creatures. They are called in by Napoleon’s French government to investigate a haunted forest. The film also stars Monica Belluci and Jonathan Pryce and was written by Ehren Kruger, who wrote SCREAM 3, THE RING, and THE RING TWO.
When? July 29th, up against Rob Cohen’s STEALTH and Cameron Crowe’s ELIZABETHTOWN.

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (Back to top)
Why? Uh, why oh why would I post this as a movie to look out for in 2005? Oh that’s right, it’s a remake of the 1971 classic WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY starring Gene Wilder, directed by the one and only Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Tim Burton is an amazing director and his many collaborations with Depp have yielded some of my favorite movies like ED WOOD and SLEEPY HOLLOW. This time around the movie is not a musical and the sets are even more mind blowing than the original. The trailer is so amazingly weird; it reminds me of acid induced hallucinations seen in hippie movies. The story is supposed to be much closer to Roald Dahl’s original novel, even though he did a draft of the original film. John August who wrote Burton’s last film, BIG FISH, is credited with writing and BIG FISH, while not even close to being Burton’s best, showed a lot of talent and promise in the writing department. The film also stars FINDING NEVERLAND’s Freddie Highmore (recommended by Depp and Kate Winslet to Burton) as Charlie Bucket, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Bucket and Christopher Lee as Dr. Wilbur Wonka.
When? July 15th, up against the THE HONEYMOONERS and THE WEDDING CRASHERS.

CORPSE BRIDE (Back to top)
Why? Because it’s Tim Burton’s return to stop motion animation, which he hasn’t directed any stop motion animation since the Vincent Price narrated short, VINCENT. I know your response to that statement: What about THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS? Well genius, he didn’t direct that, he only produced and gave the story to it. They used his name as a promotional tool, a la Quentin Tarantino and HERO. Burton here co-directs with an animator from CHRISTMAS and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH unusually named Mike Johnson. The story centers around Victor (Johnny Depp) who is on his way home when he puts his fiancé’s ring on a finger shaped rock that turns out to be the finger of The Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter). The film also stars Emily Watson as Victor’s fiancé named Victoria, Albert Finney, and Christopher Lee.
When? September 23rd, up against THE PINK PANTHER remake/prequel.

DOMINO (Back to top)
Why? Lets see, so many reasons. First of all it’s written by Richard Kelly whose DONNIA DARKO is one of my all time favorite films. Second of all it’s directed by Tony Scott, who has an amazing visual style but has never really directed a masterpiece but his films are always entertaining to watch. He has directed TOP GUN, ENEMY OF THE STATE, SPY GAME and MAN ON FIRE. Finally, it has a really cool cast including Kiera Knightley, Mena Suvari, Delroy Lindo, Mickey Rourke and good ol’ Christopher Walken. DOMINO is based off of the life of the original MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE star Laurence Harvey’s daughter Domino, played by Knightley. She left the life of being a model to become a bounty hunter.
When? August 12th, up against AEON FLUX, starring Charlize Theron; DUECE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO; HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES sequel THE DEVILS REJECTS; and THE SKELETON KEY, a GRUDGE like horror film starring Kate Hudson.

ELIZABETHTOWN (Back to top)
Why? Because it’s Cameron Crowe’s first film since 2001’s VANILLA SKY and his films are so brilliantly written and acted, that no one can deny his genius. His three major writing-directing efforts (JERRY MAGUIRE, ALMOST FAMOUS and VANILLA SKY) are three of my favorite films. ELIZABETHTOWN is about a man named Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) who is fired after ruinous product debut at the Oregon Shoe Company who becomes suicidal. Learning of his father’s death he flies to his hometown for his father’s memorial and on the flight he meets a quick-witted flight attendant named Claire (Kirsten Dunst) who helps him through his troubled journey home. The film also stars Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Jessica Biel, and Bruce McGill. This one will definitely be one of the year’s best.
When? July 29th, up against Rob Cohen’s STEALTH and Terry Gilliam’s THE BROTHERS GRIMM.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (Back to top)
Why? Because the last HARRY POTTER was a masterpiece and was criminally underrated just because it was a family fantasy blockbuster. Taking the reigns from AZKABAN’s Alfonso Cuarón is Mike Newell, director of smaller films like FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, DONNIE BRASCO, and MONA LISA SMILE. That, in my opinion, is not exactly good news but HARRY POTTER 2 and 3 were both very good films and that is why I’m looking forward to this. Everyone is back from the first three films and joining the cast this time around are Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, Brendan Gleeson as Mad Eye Moody, and Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter. GOBLET is about Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts and a tournament that Harry is mysteriously included in. GOBLET is my third favorite Potter book after ORDER OF PHOENIX and PRISONER OF AZKABAN but I do love the series and the only thing that holds the novel back is Rowling’s handling of Harry and his liking of girls, which was handled masterfully in ORDER OF PHOENIX.
When? November 18th, up against the Johnny Cash biopic WALK THE LINE.

THE ISLAND (Back to top)
Why? It’s a Michael Bay movie, that’s why. This time around Mr. Bay’s movie actually has a story that makes sense. Personally I love watching Michael Bay movies, except for PEARL HARBOR, but they are not “thinking” movies. You turn your brain off and enjoy the ride. THE ISLAND is science fiction movie that deals with cloning and a utopian society that’s not at all what is seems. It stars Ewan McGregor as Lincoln Six-Echo and Scarlett Johansson as Jordan Two-Delta, two worker bees in a society that is the only remnant of humanity after some end of the world disaster. People who live in the society hope to win a lottery to take them to the only undestroyed place on earth named The Island. Lincoln investigates and discovers that the society he lives in is merely a farm for clones to rich people who may one day need the organs. He and Jordan escape and try to prove to the world about cloning and get chased around a lot. The film also stars Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi and Michael Clarke Duncan.
When? July 22nd, up against the Martin Lawrence comedy REBOUND and another Hilary Duff movie, THE PERFECT MAN.

JARHEAD (Back to top)
Why? It’s Sam Mendes first movie in three years. He is the director of AMERICAN BEAUTY and THE ROAD TO PERDITION and those are both masterpieces so why wouldn’t I want to see this? JARHEAD is based off of the memoirs of marine Anthony Swofford and his experiences in Saudi Arabia before Desert Storm and him fighting in Kuwait. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Swofford in a role he beat many other stars to get like Leonardo DiCaprio. The film also stars Chris Cooper, Dennis Haysbert, Sam Rockwell and Peter Sarsgaard.
When? November 11th, up against Chris Columbus’ take on the musical RENT and Terrence Malick’s THE NEW WORLD.

KICKING & SCREAMING (Back to top)
Why? Because I like to see Will Ferrell yelling at people, specifically yelling at children. This is a family comedy so it will not be as funny as OLD SCHOOL or ANCHORMAN but it should still be really funny because Will Ferrell is the funniest person on the planet. The film is directed by AMERICAN WEDDING’s Jesse Dylan, son of Bob, who showed he can handle comedy. KICKING & SCREAMING is about Will Ferrell’s Phil Weston having to coach a soccer team against his father’s team whose star player is his father’s son from a new marriage. Robert Duvall plays his father and that’s about it in notable costars. Look for a lot of trademark Ferrell screaming.
When? May 13th, up against the Jennifer Lopez-Jane Fonda comedy MONSTER IN LAW and UNLEASHED, starring Jet Li and Morgan Freeman.

KING KONG (Back to top)
Why? Peter Jackson taking his skills to remake the 30’s classic. That’s about it actually. Do you need another reason? The LORD OF THE RINGS director has brought all the people who helped him make the trilogy so it should be visually stunning film and hopefully it will be much much shorter than any of THE LORD OF THE RINGS movies. The film stars Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jack Black, Colin Hanks, Jamie Bell and Gollum, I mean Andy Serkis, as Kong.
When? December 16th, up against nothing at this point but who would be stupid enough to go up against this?

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Back to top)
Why? It’s a Crusades epic directed by Ridley Scott. I know, I know you’re thinking last year had many disappointments in the epic category. TROY, KING ARTHUR and ALEXANDER were all considered disappointments (TROY was actually good but you people just didn’t get it) but this one will be different. In recent years Ridley Scott has been at the top of his game, GLADIATOR, HANNIBAL, BLACK HAWK DOWN and MATCHSTICK MEN are all great films, and this should be another one. The story is set in 12th century when Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom) a young blacksmith in Jerusalem who helps his people protect themselves from invaders. The film also stars Liam Neeson as Godfrey of Ibelin, Balian’s father, in another Qui-Gon Jinn role; Eva Green as Sybilla, Balian’s love interest; and Jeremy Irons as Tiberias, whose someone who has something to do with the story (he looks like a king in the trailer).
When? May 6th, up against the horror remake, HOUSE OF WAX.

MELINDA AND MELINDA (Back to top)
Why? It’s Woody Allen’s latest film and, from the early buzz, it is supposed to be his best in years. Oh and one of its stars is Will Ferrell. MELINDA & MELINDA is about a writer who doesn’t know if his story would be better told as a comedy or a drama. He tells his story to his friends and the movie is the telling of the story switching between comedy and drama. The basic story is that a woman named Melinda (Radha Mitchell) crashes into the life of a married couple and how she changes their lives and her own life. Mitchell is the only actress who is in both versions of the story. In the comedic version Will Ferrell and Amanda Peet play the couple in the comedic version and I believe Chloë Sevigny plays the wife in the dramatic version (sorry don’t know who plays the husband). Even though Woody’s last few films were far from great (SMALL TIME CROOKS was pretty good though) but this one looks like he stepped back into brilliance.
When? March 18th in New York and March 23rd in select cities.

MR. AND MRS. SMITH (Back to top)
Why? It’s an action film in the vein of TRUE LIES, it stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and THE BOURNE IDENTITY’s Doug Liman directs it. It’s about two spies who are married to each other who do not know of their spouse’s real profession. Once they learn their spouse’s true allegiance, they try to kill each other. That’s pretty much all I have on this one. It looks like it will be really fun and super cool with lots of amazing action and wordplay. Vince Vaughn, Angela Basset and Adam Brody costar.
When? June 10th, up against Robert Rodriguez’s THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY & LAVA GIRL IN 3-D and Richard Linklater’s THE BAD NEWS BEARS.

THE NEW WORLD (Back to top)
Why? The reclusive filmmaker Terrence Malick’s first film since 1998’s THE THIN RED LINE and even though I am not a fan of that film (I really should check it out again because I haven’t seen it in like four years), as a film buff I feel the need to check this out. THE NEW WORLD is the telling of 15th Century Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell) and his cronies coming to America and encountering Native Americans like Pocahontas and setting up Jamestown, Virginia. The film also stars Christian Bale, David Thewlis and Christopher Plummer.
When? November 11th, up against Sam Mendes’ JARHEAD and Chris Columbus’ RENT.

A SCANNER DARKLY (Back to top)
Why? It’s a very faithful adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel of the same name and directed by Richard Linklater. Linklater used the same technology he used on his masterpiece WAKING LIFE to animate over the actors so it should be visually stunning. If you didn’t read my summary of THE BAD NEWS BEARS (you should) you will know why I love Linklater. The story is set in the future when America has lot the “war” on drugs and an undercover cop named Fred (Keanu Reeves) is hooked on a drug named Substance D that makes its users develop split personalities. Fred goes undercover to stop the drug dealer named Bob who happens to be Fred’s other personality. Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder costar.
When? September 16th, up against SYRIANA, starring George Clooney and Matt Damon.

SIN CITY (Back to top)
Why? Because it’s an amazingly stylistic and faithful adaptation of three of the great Frank Miller’s SIN CITY graphic novels. For years Hollywood tried to be able to make a movie based off of the series but it took Robert Rodriguez, the director of the EL MARIACHI trilogy, to convince Miller. Because Robert Rodriguez wanted to make this as faithful as possible, he wanted Miller to co-direct and The Director’s Guild would not let Miller get a credit so Rodriguez quit the guild and had to pass on a big budget film over at Paramount. In another attempt to keep it as faithful as possible, the entire film is mostly in black and white (with brief flushes of color) and many of the shots match perfectly to the graphic novels they’re based off of. The film has probably the coolest cast ever assembled and it includes Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, Michael Madsen, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Rutger Hauer and Alexis Bledel. Also check out a scene between Clive Owen and Benicio Del Toro talking in a car that was directed by Rodriguez’s good friend Quentin Tarantino.
When? April 1st, up against the BARBERSHOP spin-off BEAUTY SHOP, starring Queen Latifah.

STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH (Back to top)
Why? Because it’s the last STAR WARS film… ever. Even though George Lucas’ last two installments were really quite awful, I really want to see this. The main reason to see this is the lightsaber battle at the end between Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin (Hayden Christensen), which is supposed to kick some serious ass. The film looks like it will have more amazing action sequences but we’ll probably get more lame dialogue (like “I don’t like sand”) so try to turn your ears off. Lucas has been talking that it might be PG-13 because it will be very dark with Anakin turning to the dark side and becoming Darth Vader and that is what is keeping my hopes up. Everyone is back from ATTACK OF THE CLONES so it has a good cast and it looks like this one could save the prequel trilogy.
When? May 19th, up against nothing. No one is that stupid to put something against it.

SYRIANA (Back to top)
Why? It’s TRAFFIC screenwriter Stephen Gaghan taking a seat in the director’s chair for only the second time and a very interesting story involving the bureaucracy within CIA. George Clooney plays Robert Baer (the real life Bear wrote the book the movie is based off of) a man who spent many years within the CIA fighting terrorism who saw bureaucracy take over. Also there is something going on in the family of Bryan (Matt Damon) and Julie (Amanda Peet) Woodman just as Bryan is about to close a deal with an oil sheik. Gaghan’s first film, ABANDON, showed a lot of promise for a writer-director but it kind of fizzled at the end. Was it a college drama or psychological thriller? With Clooney gaining several pounds for the role, look for him to snag his first Oscar nomination (which he deserved for O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?).
When? September 16th, up against Richard Linklater’s A SCANNER DARKLY.

WALK THE LINE (Back to top)
Why? Because it’s a biopic of the coolest man to ever live, Johnny Cash. Even though I am not a fan of the director, James Mangold, I think this will be a good film. Mangold’s films KATE & LEOPOLD and GIRL, INTERRUPTED were okay and were as good as I expected them to be. His IDENTITY was so contrived and annoying that I had a headache when I left the theater. WALK THE LINE stars Joaquin Phoenix as my man Johnny Cash, Reese Witherspoon as his wife June Carter, and Robert Patrick as his father Ray Cash. Once again, Johnny Cash is cooler than any other person ever. Yes, cooler than Frank Sinatra and Jesus. Before they died the real Johnny Cash and June Carter gave their stamp of approval to this so if they approve then I probably will.
When? November 18th, up against HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE but I hope they move it (if it’s a wide release) because HARRY will clobber it.

WAR OF THE WORLDS (Back to top)
Why? Because it’s an adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise. This time around it’s set in modern times and the aliens are not from Mars. Tom Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, father of Dakota Fanning’s Rachel, and he tries to stay alive as the aliens attack earth. Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto costar. Spielly is an amazingly talented director; I have loved every movie he has ever done to some degree. I have never hated any of his movies even though HOOK came pretty close and when you look at the sheer volume of movies he has directed that is pretty amazing. His last two forays into summer blockbuster science fiction were both my second favorite movie of that year, A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGNCE and MINORITY REPORT, so looking forward it’ll probably be second to BATMAN BEGINS or SOUTHLAND TALES. David Koepp writes the screenplay and he has written some of the biggest movies in history like JURASSIC PARK, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK. This is reportedly the most expensive film ever made (because they have to rush to get it out by this summer) so it should be visually amazing.
When? June 29th up against nothing. FANTASTIC FOUR went running after the Super Bowl spot.

ZATHURA (Back to top)
Why? It’s based off of JUMANJI author Chris Van Allsburg’s other board game novel but this time in involves two brothers being pulled into an intergalactic adventure. ZATHURA is directed by Jon Favreau who did an amazing job directing ELF (he has also starred in such films as SWINGERS, THE REPLACEMENTS and DAREDEVIL). In ZATHURA, he has tried to use as little CG as possible and movie that has spaceships that are miniatures these days deserves a look in my book (hey that rhymes!). The film stars Jonah Bobo as Danny Budwing, Josh Hutcherson as Walter Budwing, Kristen Stewart as Lisa Budwing and Tim Robbins as their father.
When? November 25th, up against nothing but will fight the previous week’s HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE at the box office.

As you most doubtedly didn't notice, some peoples named turned up in more than one of the movies in my upcoming movies posts. Now it is time to announce the winner of my 2005 Most Anticipated Upcoming Movies Award, which salutes actors, writers and/or directors that appear in more movies than anyone else on my list.

The Winner
Will Ferrell for starring in BEWTICHED, KICKING & SCREAMING and MELINDA AND MELINDA.

The Runners Up:
Richard Linklater for directing THE BAD NEWS BEARS and A SCANNER DARKLY.
Liam Neeson for starring in BATMAN BEGINS and KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
Gary Oldman for starring in BATMAN BEGINS and HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE.
Tim Robbins for starring in WAR OF THE WORLDS and ZATHURA.
Mickey Rourke for starring in DOMINO and SIN CITY.

Well that only took me a couple of days. Isn’t that sad? I’m sure I’ve missed something and I will create a new post for some movie I have missed. As the year passes, movies that even I have never heard of will come into light so expect a couple more upcoming movie posts over the year.

Oscar Predicitions

2005-02-21T20:00:00.001-06:00

Well since it's about a week before the Oscar's I thought I would post who is going to win and who should win (which was in my first post with explanations of why they should win.) Now I will only be covering the big nine awards because the other 15 are much harder to pick out the winners. So lets get started.

In the best supporting actress category, the nominees are:
Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR
Laura Linney - KINSEY
Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS
Sophie Okonedo - HOTEL RWANDA
Natalie Portman - CLOSER
Who should win: Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS.
Who will win: Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR.

In the best supporting actor category, the nominees are:
Alan Alda - THE AVIATOR
Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS
Jamie Foxx - COLLATERAL
Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Clive Owen - CLOSER
Who should win: Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS.
Who will win: Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

In the best actress category, the nominees are:
Annette Bening - BEING JULIA
Catalina Sandino Moreno - MARIA FULL OF GRACE
Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE
Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Kate Winslet - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Who should win: Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE.
Who will win: Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

In the best actor category, the nominees are:
Don Cheadle - HOTEL RWANDA
Johnny Depp - FINDING NEVERLAND
Leonardo DiCaprio - THE AVIATOR
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Jamie Foxx - RAY
Who should win and will win: Jamie Foxx - RAY.

In the best animated feature film category, the nominees are:
THE INCREDIBLES
SHARK TALE
SHREK 2
What should win and what will win: THE INCREDIBLES.

In the best adapted screenplay category, the nominees are:
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Kim Krizan - BEFORE SUNSET
David Magee - FINDING NEVERLAND
Paul Haggis - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
José Rivera - THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor - SIDEWAYS
Who should win: Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Kim Krizan - BEFORE SUNSET.
Who will win: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor - SIDEWAYS.

In the best original screenplay category, the nominees are:
John Logan - THE AVIATOR
Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Keir Pearson and Terry George - HOTEL RWANDA
Brad Bird - THE INCREDIBLES
Mike Leigh - VERA DRAKE
Who should win and will win: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.

In the best director category, the nominees are:
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Taylor Hackford - RAY
Mike Leigh - VERA DRAKE
Alexander Payne - SIDEWAYS
Martin Scorsese - THE AVIATOR
Who should win: Martin Scorsese - THE AVIATOR.
Who will win: Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

In the best picture category, the nominees are:
THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY
SIDEWAYS
What should win: THE AVIATOR.
What will win: MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

As I said in my first post on this blog, I have never agreed with the nominations of the Oscars so much. In almost every category I mentioned above, the "will win" selection is my second choice (if it isn't my first already). The only exception is the best actress category where Hilary Swank is my third choice after Kate Winslet. Check out the site on Sunday because I will either be posting my responses to each award after the award was handed out or right after the show.

One quick note: Two years ago, many people believed that MIRAMAX was way too aggressive in trying to get Martin Scorsese his long overdue Oscar for GANGS OF NEW YORK and that’s why he and CHICAGO's Rob Marshall (who was seen as the only other director who could steal it from Marty but he probably lost it because CHICAGO was also a MIRAMAX production) lost to Roman Polanski for the THE PIANIST. This year, if Marty loses, I can only blame MIRAMAX because this year I've heard almost nothing about MIRAMAX pushing any of its films. They did get FINDING NEVERLAND a lot of nominations, which it will win none and deserve none, but THE AVIATOR is nominated 11 times and it looks like it will either win all or most of its awards in the technical categories (the ones I didn't list above). THE AVIATOR is by far the best film of the year and when it loses the top two awards (picture and director) it'll be MIRAMAX's fault because they've let MILLION DOLLAR BABY get all of the momentum in only a few weeks. Even though I don't pray, I'm hoping and praying that the older members of the Academy will vote for the old Hollywood they use to be a part of and vote for THE AVIATOR where it needs it.

BATMAN BEGINS, THE DEPARTED and SOUTHLAND TALES

2005-02-13T21:55:00.000-06:00

Well I believe it's about time I actually do something besides looking back into 2004 for choices of what's the best and what's deserving. So for my first look ahead on this blog talking about the three movies I'm looking forward to the most.

First off I'll talk about the newest adaptation of my favorite comic book hero, BATMAN BEGINS. This is the first time Batman's origin has ever been put into any medium. None of the movies, comics or TV shows never really went in depth with how he became Batman. All the others just mentioned that his parents were killed but none focused on his extensive training before he became Batman. Now those who say they will never like a comic book movie should really check this movie out (like they should've last year with SPIDER-MAN 2) because of the high caliber cast and crew involved. Co-written and directed by one of the greatest directors to emerge in the past few years, Christopher Nolan (MEMENTO and INSOMNIA), and co-written by the new "it" comic-book-movie-adaptation-writer, David S. Goyer (The BLADE Trilogy and DARK CITY), BATMAN BEGINS will most definitely be the best comic book movie ever and is the only movie that shines of greatness coming out this summer besides the Spielberg-Cruise WAR OF THE WORLDS.

BATMAN BEGINS stars Christian Bale (AMERICAN PSYCHO and REIGN OF FIRE) as Batman/Bruce Wayne; Michael Caine (GET CARTER, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, THE QUIET AMERICAN, and AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER) as Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth; Liam Neeson (SCHINDLER'S LIST, STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE, and KINSEY) as the henchman who trains Bruce, Henri Ducard; Morgan Freeman (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, SE7EN, and MILLION DOLLAR BABY) as Batman's Q, Lucius Fox; Gary Oldman (JFK, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, AIR FORCE ONE and HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN) as the future commissioner, Lt. James Gordon; Ken Watanbe (THE LAST SAMURAI) as the villainous Ra's Al Ghul; Katie Holmes (DAWSON'S CREEK, WONDER BOYS and PIECES OF APRIL) as Batman/Bruce Wayne's love interest Rachel Dodson; Cillian Murphy (28 DAYS LATER and COLD MOUNTIAN) as the evil Scarecrow a.k.a. Jonathan Crane; Tom Wilkinson (THE PATRIOT, IN THE BEDROOM, and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) as the mob boss Carmine Falcone; and good old Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND and bit parts on TV's ALIAS and SMALLVILLE) as the power hungry acting head of Wayne Industries, Richard Earle.

Besides the amazing, cast two of my favorite composers are teaming up to work on the score together and they are James Newton Howard (UNBREAKABLE, SIGNS, COLLATERAL and TV's ER's main theme) and Hans Zimmer (GLADIATOR, HANNIBAL, and THE LAST SAMURAI). I know I've written so much that no one will read this but what I've typed above should be enough evidence that it will be a great movie. On another topic every actor involved will lend his or her voice for the BATMAN BEGINS video game so that should be kick ass also. For more info on the movie go to www.batmanbegins.com. BATMAN BEGINS will be released by Warner Bros. on June 17th so check it out or I'll kill you.

My second most anticipated movie is Martin Scorsese's next "picture", THE DEPARTED, a remake of the hit Hong Kong film INFERNAL AFFAIRS. The reason I'm so excited about this film, besides the fact that the greatest director in the history of cinema is directing it, is the cast. Scorsese's new DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, is starring for the director once again with Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and now Jack Nicholson has signed on. There is a female role yet to be cast but I'm expecting a huge female star to take that role.

From what I know about the plot, THE DEPARTED centers around DiCaprio's character who is a Boston cop who goes undercover into the Irish Mob. While he's doing that Matt Damon plays an Irish gangster who goes undercover into the Boston Police Department. Their characters hear about each other and they are trying to figure out the identities of the moles in their organizations. Mark Wahlberg is supposedly playing a friend of DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson is playing THE Irish Crime Boss.

THE DEPARTED is written by William Monahan who wrote this summer's Ridley Scott epic KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, a draft of JURASSIC PARK IV, and another epic that was supposed to be directed by Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe but I haven't heard anything about it in a couple of years so that could've changed. So the screenwriting aspect is something I can't judge but most of Scorsese's films are not triumphs of writing but acting and mainly direction. The sciript just a got a review over at Ain't It Cool News and it now sounds even better. To check out the script review click here. THE DEPARTED starts shooting next month but Scorsese takes a very long time editing his films so do not expect it in theaters until November or December 2006, most likely aiming to get as much Oscar attention as possible as his last two films were released in December. Keep an eye out for this one.

Another movie I'm really anticipating is Richard Kelly's SOUTHLAND TALES which, honestly, I know almost nothing about. The reason I really want to see it is because the only film Richard Kelly wrote and directed was DONNIE DARKO, one my favorite movies of all time (and he released a director's cut of DONNIE last year which was even better). From what I know about it, SOUTHLAND TALES is about a three day heatwave in L.A. in 2008. He has described the movie as 30% comedy, 30% musical, 30% thriller, and 10% science fiction and with a description like that how could you not be interested.

The film will star Sarah Michellle Gellar (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, The SCOOBY-DOO movies, and THE GRUDGE), Seann William Scott (The AMERICAN PIE movies and THE RUNDOWN), Janeane Garofalo (bitter female stand-up comic), Ali Larter (The FINAL DESTINATION movies), Jason Lee (CHASING AMY, VANILLA SKY and THE INCREDIBLES), Tim Blake Nelson (O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? and bit parts in MINORITY REPORT, SCOOBY-DOO 2 and MEET THE FOCKERS), Amy Poehler (Cast member of UPRIGHT CITIZEN'S BRIGADE and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE), Kevin Smith (Has written, directed and starred as Silent Bob in CLERKS, CHASING AMY, DOGMA and JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK), and Kristen Stewart (PANIC ROOM and CATCH THAT KID).

The movie is supposed to come out sometime this year and I've heard that it hasn't even started shooting yet so expect it late in the fall. Go see this movie as soon as it comes out because I'm sure it will blow your mind. Something that should definitely blow your mind is the SOUTHLAND TALES website (located at www.southlandtales.com) which is part game and part puzzle and the site gives you a peak into the score that is supposedly done by Moby and Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. Also you should check out the Richard Kelly written, Tony Scott (TOP GUN, TRUE ROMANCE and MAN ON FIRE) directed DOMINO starring Kiera Knightley (BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL and KING ARTHUR) as the titular woman who left the life of being a model to be a bounty hunter.

Best of 2004

2005-01-31T06:08:00.000-06:00

So as my second order of business on my "blog" is to post my picks for the Best of 2004. I believe 2004 was one of the best movie years in a long time. Movies that looked terrible were better than expected but not good by any means like I, ROBOT or THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. There were many huge disappointments like SPANGLISH or THE VILLAGE.

The best were so good that it was extremely hard to make a decision in many categories. For instance, in the Best Actor category I had a very hard time picking between Jamie Foxx (RAY), Don Cheadle (HOTEL RWANDA) and Leonardo DiCaprio (THE AVIATOR). In the Best Actress category I had an even harder time picking between Imelda Staunton (VERA DRAKE), Uma Thurman (KILL BILL VOL. 2) and Kate Winslet (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND).

I have yet to see three or four movies that might make me change the list, but out of all the movies I've seen that were released in 2004, here are my choices:

Best Film: THE AVIATOR
Top Ten Runner-Ups:
1. KILL BILL VOL. 2
2. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
3. MILLION DOLLAR BABY
4. CLOSER
5. BAD EDUCATION
6. HOTEL RWANDA
7. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
8. COLLATERAL
9. BEFORE SUNSET
10. SPIDER-MAN 2

Best Actor:
Jamie Foxx, RAY

Best Actress:
Imelda Staunton, VERA DRAKE

Best Supporting Actor:
David Carradine, KILL BILL VOL. 2

Best Supporting Actress:
Sharon Warren, RAY

Best Acting Ensemble:
Jude Law, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts, CLOSER

Best Director:
Martin Scorsese, THE AVIATOR

Entertainer of the Year:
Clint Eastwood for Directing, Producing, Scoring and Starring in MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

Best Original Screenplay:
Charlie Kaufman, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Patrick Marber, CLOSER

Best Score:
John Williams, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN

Best Song for a Movie:
“Afternoon Delight,” Performed by Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, and David Koechner, composed by Bill Danoff of Starland Vocal Band, ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY

Best Foreign Language Film:
BAD EDUCATION

Best Animated Movie:
THE INCREDIBLES

Funniest Movie:
ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY

Biggest Disappointment:
THE VILLAGE

Worst Film of 2004 (That I Saw): ALIEN VS. PREDATOR
Top Ten Runner-Ups (First Is Worst):
1. THE VILLAGE
2. TORQUE
3. EUROTRIP
4. THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
5. THE WHOLE TEN YARDS
6. LAWS OF ATTRACTION
7. THE ALAMO
8. I HEART HUCKABEE'S
9. THE MACHINIST
10. THE AGRONOMIST

Oscar Nominations Are Out

2005-01-25T10:41:00.000-06:00

Well as everyone should know that the nominations for the 77th Annual Academy Awards were announced today. Right now as my first post on this blog I will make my picks in all the categories I can. In the DOCUMENTARY FEATURE, DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT, FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM, SHORT FILM (ANIMATED) and SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION) categories it would be impossible to see all the movies before the Oscars because either they haven't been released yet or will never be released. So here they are:

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Don Cheadle - HOTEL RWANDA
Johnny Depp - FINDING NEVERLAND
Leonardo DiCaprio - THE AVIATOR
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Jamie Foxx - RAY
My Pick: Jamie Foxx - RAY
Why? Because Jamie Foxx totally became Ray Charles in a way that has to be seen to be believed. Don Cheadle is simply amazing as Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of a high class hotel in Rwanda who does anything he can to save refugees, but his performance is not the best of the year. I never thought it possible but Johnny Depp is my last choice, he is an amazingly multi-talented actor but his nominated performance is not up to snuff. Leonardo DiCaprio gives the third best performance of the year by an actor as Howard Hughes but again he is not worthy. Clint Eastwood gives the performance of his career as Frankie Dunn the extremely grizzled boxing trainer of Hilary Swank but for the part of the film he does his old shtick. Honestly I wouldn't be upset if Don Cheadle, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Clint Eastwood won because they all give simply remarkable performances. The only thing that would bother me would be Johnny taking that award from these much deserved performances.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Alan Alda - THE AVIATOR
Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS
Jamie Foxx - COLLATERAL
Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Clive Owen - CLOSER
My Pick: Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS
Why? Because he is hilarious and sometimes touching as the former TV star Jack who steals almost every scene he is in. Alan Alda is very good as the evil Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster but it is not an Oscar worthy performance but one of his best. Jamie Foxx, oddly enough, is my dead last choice in this category. He is good as Max but his performance is not supporting in any way. He is the main character and it is an above average performance for a thriller but Tom Cruise deserves this nomination. Morgan Freeman is also good as Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris a former boxer who is now the live-in manager of Clint Eastwood's gym. He brings the heart to the film with his narration but Clint and Hilary Swank overshadow him. Clive Owen is very good as Larry, a man who starts good and mostly innocent and ends up the most despicable person of the main four. I wouldn't be upset if Morgan Freeman or Clive Owen won instead of Church but the other two do not deserve nominations.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Annette Bening - BEING JULIA
Catalina Sandino Moreno - MARIA FULL OF GRACE
Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE
Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Kate Winslet - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
My Pick: Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE
Why? Because as the title character that gives abortions to help out women in 1950s London, she becomes something that is hard to describe, a criminal with such a heart it is extremely hard not to cry for her. Annette Bening gives another great performance as Julia Lambert, a famous London stage actress who goes through a sort of mid-life crisis and will do anything to be the center of attention. She doesn’t deserve the award because at times she chews the scenery a little too much. Catalina Sandino Moreno gives a great first performance as a drug mule from Colombia but she was only nominated because this wasn't a good year for female performances in film and The Academy had to pick someone for the fifth slot. Hilary Swank gives her best performance since Boys Don't Cry (which I've never seen all the way through) as Maggie Fitzgerald, a 32 year-old powerhouse boxer who is just getting started with her career, and in any other year, she would deserve this award. Kate Winslet plays the Jim Carrey role wonderfully as Clementine Kruczynski, a woman whose personality is all over the place and decides to have her ex Joel (Jim Carrey) erased from her memory. She shouldn’t get it because there are two other performances that are just much better. To sum up, if Imelda Staunton loses either Hilary Swank or Kate Winslet deserves that statue.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR
Laura Linney - KINSEY
Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS
Sophie Okonedo - HOTEL RWANDA
Natalie Portman - CLOSER
My Pick: Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS
Why? Because as Maya, the object of Paul Giamatti's Miles affection, she gives her heart and soul in this performance. The perfect example is her explanation of why she loves wine and how she came to love it. Cate Blanchett gives another fantastic performance as Katherine Hepburn, the multiple Oscar winner who was one of Howard Hughes' squeezes, and totally embodies the role similar to Jamie Foxx in RAY. Laura Linney is just okay as Clara, wife of famed sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, but her performance is one of my least favorite of hers because it is more of a half look into Clara instead of a fully realized performance. Sophie Okonedo has been called this year's Shoreh Agdashloo (2003’s HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG) for her performance as Tatiana, wife of Don Cheadle's Paul, but it comes nowhere close to that level of acting. Her performance shows that one day she could be one of our greatest actresses. Natalie Portman is almost perfection as Alice, girlfriend of Jude Law's Dan, who is by far the most innocent of the main four is CLOSER and is also the most interesting. She doesn't deserve to win because Virginia Madsen and Cate Blanchett are far better in their roles and because she is young enough to come back and win again later in life.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

THE INCREDIBLES
SHARK TALE
SHREK 2
My Pick: THE INCREDIBLES
Why? Because it is the only great animated movie of 2004. It is funny, exciting and much more that makes it perfect entertainment. SHARK TALE is probably the worst movie ever to be nominated in this category (well maybe second to JIMMY NEUTRON), with its creepy-characters-that-look-way-too-much-like-the-actors-voicing-them and it being not funny. Its nomination really should've gone to THE POLAR EXPRESS. SHREK 2 was funnier than the original SHREK but no where near as good; it was trying to hard to be funnier. THE INCREDIBLES is the only film nominated that deserves a statue.

ART DIRECTION

Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo - THE AVIATOR
Gemma Jackson and Trisha Edwards - FINDING NEVERLAND
Rick Heinrichs and Cheryl A. Carasik - LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Anthony Pratt and Celia Bobak - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Aline Bonetto - A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT
My Pick: Anthony Pratt and Celia Bobak - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Why? Because it was so gorgeous, that looking at it almost made up for two and half hours wasted sitting though it. So much work went into building the sets and props that it elevates this from terrible to okay. The intricacy and beauty were so astonishing it made a visual masterpiece. All of the other nominated films have amazing art direction but it is pretty hard to compete with something like PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Robert Richardson - THE AVIATOR
Zhoa Xiaoding - HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
Caleb Deschanel - THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
John Mathieson - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Bruno Delbonnel - A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT
My Pick: Robert Richardson - THE AVIATOR
Why? Because Robert Richardson captured the way film use to look for each decade so marvelously that you felt like you were in the that time. Honestly, all of the films have great cinematography but the skill that went into THE AVIATOR makes it the best of the year.

COSTUME DESIGN

Sandy Powell - THE AVIATOR
Alexandra Byrne - FINDING NEVERLAND
Colleen Atwood - LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Sharen Davis - RAY
Bob Ringwood - TROY
My Pick: Colleen Atwood - LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Why? Because all the other nominees seem to be less original. THE AVIATOR, FINDING NEVERLAND, RAY and TROY required their costume designers to look at a history book or other movies. Colleen Atwood takes the clothes to another level to match the dark and gloomy atmosphere of the film and that is why she deserves to win. PHANTOM OF THE OPERA deserves a nomination and the award because, like art direction, it was a visual masterpiece in every facet of the production.

DIRECTOR

Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Taylor Hackford - RAY
Mike Leigh - VERA DRAKE
Alexander Payne - SIDEWAYS
Martin Scorsese - THE AVIATOR
My Pick: Martin Scorsese - THE AVIATOR
Why? He deserves this award for many reasons. First of all, he is the greatest living director and he has never won an Academy Award. Second of all, he directed the best movie of the year with such skill that no one could’ve made THE AVIATOR as well as he made it. Both Taylor Hackford and Mike Leigh did good jobs with their films but neither deserves a nomination or the award, the actors in their films deserve the kudos. Michel Gondry (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) and Mike Nichols (CLOSER) deserve their nominations. Clint Eastwood did an amazing job with MILLION DOLLAR BABY and if Scorsese wasn’t nominated he would deserve the award as he did last year. Alexander Payne did a nice little job with SIDEWAYS but that film is much more of a triumph in acting and writing and that is why he doesn’t deserve the award.

FILM EDITING

THE AVIATOR
COLLATERAL
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY
My Pick: THE AVIATOR
Why? Because THE AVIATOR is the best movie of the year and I find that either big spectacle movies or action/thrillers usually deserve this award. So after THE AVIATOR I wouldn’t be upset if COLLATERAL won but MILLION DOLLAR BABY, FINDING NEVERLAND and RAY all had minor pacing problems and they do not deserve the award.

MAKEUP

LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
THE SEA INSIDE
My Pick: THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
Why? Because all of the other nominee's makeup wasn't great. THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST's makeup made the savage beatings of Christ look freakishly real. Both LEMONY SNICKET and THE SEA INSIDE's makep just made the performers look slightly different and wasn't as remarkable as THE PASSION'S makeup.

MUSIC (SCORE)

John Debney - THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
James Newton Howard - THE VILLAGE
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - FINDING NEVERLAND
Thomas Newman - LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
John Williams - HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
My Pick: John Williams - HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
Why? Because without a doubt it is the best score in years. The way John Williams brings magic into this score that wasn’t in his score written for the original HARRY POTTER (which was reused for number 2) is simply astounding. In my opinion the only other score that deserves the nomination is THE VILLAGE. The movie was terrible but it had another great score by James Newton Howard. Thomas Newman’s score sounds like every other score he has done and the other two scores were not memorable enough for me to remember them.

MUSIC (SONG)

"Accidentally In Love," music by Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immergluck, Matthew Mallery and David Bryson, lyrics by Adam Duritz and Daniel Vickrey - SHREK 2
"Al Otro Lado Del Río," music and lyrics by Jorge Drexler- THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
"Believe," music and lyrics by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri - THE POLAR EXPRESS
"Learn To Be Lonely," music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
"Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)," music by Bruno Coulais, lyrics by Christophe Barratier - THE CHORUS
My Pick: "Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)," music by Bruno Coulais, lyrics by Christophe Barratier - THE CHORUS
Why? Because it is a beautiful and touching song that made me want to see this movie (yes I haven’t seen it). My next choice would be “Al Otro Lado Del Rio” which is a also a beautiful song but it is missing something that keeps it from being a great song. My number 3 pick would be “Accidentally In Love” which if it came out by itself I wouldn’t like it but it works very well in SHREK 2. “Look To Your Path” is average musical fair but it it’s my number 4 because Andrew Lloyd Webber is extremely overrated and “Believe” is a truly terrible song and doesn’t deserve the nomination. That nomination belongs to Wycleaf Jean for “Million Voices” from HOTEL RWANDA.

BEST PICTURE

THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY
SIDEWAYS
My Pick: THE AVIATOR
Why? Because it is without a doubt the absolute best movie in recent years. Martin Scorsese gives us his best film since GOODFELLAS and the way it explores a few decades of Howard Hughes’ life is incredible. MILLION DOLLAR BABY is the only other nominee that could possibly deserve winning the award. SIDEWAYS is a nice little comedy but it has already received way too many awards for best film of the year and that makes me not like it because there are so many other movies that deserve the nomination. RAY and FINDING NEVERLAND really don’t deserve their nominations so why would they have a shot at the top? FINDING NEVERLAND is just an okay movie and was a big disappointment because everyone involved has done such amazing work in the past. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and CLOSER deserve their nominations because they are beautifully intelligent movies Oscar should be giving love to.

SOUND EDITING

THE INCREDIBLES
THE POLAR EXPRESS
SPIDER-MAN 2
My Pick: THE INCREDIBLES
Why? Because it sounded good (or is it well?) and it uses sound better than the other nominated films.

SOUND MIXING

THE AVIATOR
THE INCREDIBLES
THE POLAR EXPRESS
RAY
SPIDER-MAN 2
My Pick: THE INCREDIBLES
Why? Some reason I gave above. Does anyone care about these sound awards? They should be in the Technical Achievement awards.

VISUAL EFFECTS

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
I, ROBOT
SPIDER-MAN 2
My Pick: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
Why? Because in year where the computer generated imagery (CGI from here on out) actually looked real and this HARRY POTTER used it in a way that progressed the story so marvelously that no other nominee should get the award. SPIDER-MAN 2 and I, ROBOT had good special effects but HARRY POTTER 3 was a much better film. If THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW had been nominated I would’ve picked that because that looked so real that it was frightening.

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Kim Krizan - BEFORE SUNSET
David Magee - FINDING NEVERLAND
Paul Haggis - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
José Rivera - THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor - SIDEWAYS
My Pick: Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Kim Krizan - BEFORE SUNSET
Why? Even though a lot of the script was semi-improvised, the way Ethan Hawke as Jesse and Julie Delpy as Celine spoke to each other was on the level of great literature and I was glad to see that the Academy’s writers picked this as a nomination. Unfortunately it will most definitely lose to SIDEWAYS, which is my second choice because it is an extremely funny and sometimes touching script with many lines that stick with you for a long while. MILLION DOLLAR BABY had a good script but it is more of an achievement in direction and acting. The other two nominees really do not deserve to be nominated because they are just okay films that were surprisingly uninteresting.

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

John Logan - THE AVIATOR
Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Keir Pearson and Terry George - HOTEL RWANDA
Brad Bird - THE INCREDIBLES
Mike Leigh - VERA DRAKE
My Pick: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Why? Because it is the best script of the year, hands down. Also the fact that Charlie Kaufman, the most gifted screenwriter of our generation who wrote BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION, has never won an Oscar makes this his statue. All of the other nominees are great scripts and all are on level with each other and could possibly deserve the award in any year when Charlie Kaufman wasn’t nominated.

Overall I have never agreed with Academy so much and I'm glad that it actually recognized greatness in film. The biggest surprise was definitely Clint Eastwood getting Paul Giamatti's nomination in the best actor category. The biggest disappointment was the lack of love showed on ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND in the best picture category. So there you go.