I approached The Help very skeptically. In fact I probably would have never decided to watch this movie, under my own volition (plane rides and romantic entanglements aside), if not for it being nominated for a Best Picture this year. It seemed like the tried and true nomination. A movie Hollywood loves because it deals […]
Just a note, my first viewing was not in theaters but at home. Real Steel wasn’t bad, until it was. Let’s be honest here, when you go into a movie like Real Steel you aren’t expecting tour de force acting performances. You aren’t expecting multi-leveled characters, intricate and beautiful sets, or any sort of gripping […]
After my first viewing in the theater these were my initial reactions: A really solid action movie, better and very different from most of the action genre, had a lot of 80s flair, pacing (both story and editing) was off, pretty intense. Drive is a movie that tries too hard. It tries too hard to […]
These are just impressions from the first season of Downton Abbey, I have not yet watched the second. First I have to say nothing bores me more than the stilted language, laborious plotlines (that usually fill up hundreds of pages), and the suitor/forbidden love carousels that make up most every British Victorian era novel. Having […]
#3 Pick in 2012 NFL Draft, held on April 26-28 Perhaps moreso than any other team the Vikings were the biggest disappointment of the 2012 season. With a defense known for being good at worst and one of the best running backs in the NFL today in Adrian Peterson, many thought the Vikings could contend […]
#2 Pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, held on April 26-28. One year removed from a near NFC West division title the Rams blew on, big time. The scintillating rookie campaign of Sam Bradford was followed up by a dismal second year marred with injuries. Their former head coach, Steve Spagnuolo, never ended up being […]
My initial thoughts when I saw this in the theater were that it was a flawed movie. There was only one true character, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), another half character in Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), and that the rest were basically just one-liner throw-ins to create depth. I remember that the much publicized script problems […]
The brain child of ThunderAnt, i.e. current Saturday Night Live performer Fred Armisen and relatively unknown writer/musician Carrie Brownstein, “Portlandia” is a sketch comedy TV show that runs on the IFC (Independent Film Channel, apparently indie films weren’t enough). If the name didn’t tip you off, the show takes place in and around the city […]