This Is 40 (2012)

Starring: Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, John Lithgow, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, Maud Apatow, Iris Apatow

Director:  Judd Apatow

Genre: Comedy

Rating: B

Pete (Rudd) and Debbie (Mann) are a married couple who are both about to celebrate their 40th birthday; Debbie is extremely distressed about this, Pete less so.   Deciding that they need to improve their lives, Debbie sets out to change things: they need to exercise more and eat better; furthermore, Debbie wants them to change their relationships with their fathers: Pete needs to stop lending money to his dad, Larry (Brooks) and Debbie needs to reconnect with her dad, Oliver (Lithgow).  Their problems are exacerbated by the fact that Pete's record company is failing, although he's not told his wife, and someone's stealing money from Debbie's business.

There isn't really a plot to this movie, in a lot of ways it's more just a series of events that sometimes build upon each other, and in a way this film kind of feels more like real life than most movies.  The problems that Pete and Debbie face have a very unscripted feel to them - with few exceptions - and thus feel very real.  Their fights are about stupid things that blow up out of proportion - I love the major fight that happens midway through and leaves them both questioning why they ever got married and why they're still together.  At first I wasn't as big of a fan of the way that each of them interacted with their fathers - both seemed a bit stereotypical and played out - but as the movie continued and the fights continued, I really got into both of them.

I also really love the kids.  The two children in this movie, Sadie and Charlotte (Maude and Iris Apatow) are actually the children of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, and as such the dynamic between them really feels like a sibling dynamic, the lines that they say really feel like something that they would say, and so on.  I loved Sadie's obsession with Lost and, having seen the show, I was waiting for her to watch the end of it all and have a meltdown - and thought that the way they did that was absolutely perfect.

Finally, the thing that really made this movie was the secondary characters.  From the other Knocked Up cast members - Jason Segel, Charlyne Yi, and Tim Bagley all reprise their roles - to the new additions - Melissa McCarthy, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Lena Dunham, and Chris O'Dowd.  It was all great.   None of them necessarily had to be in this movie, but they each brought something great and were hilarious.  I really enjoyed this movie.

Dark Lover

Author: J.R. Ward

Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Erotic Fiction

Rating: B

 Wrath is the King of the Vampires, known as the Blind King, but hasn't really embraced his title.  Then, one day his long time friend and brother in arms Darius asks Wrath to help his daughter, Beth, through her transition to vampire, shortly before being killed by a lesser - the vampires enemies.  Wrath then takes it upon him to help Beth, before slowly coming to realize that it is not enough to fight the lessers with his brothers, he must also lead his people.

There are a few things that should be noted here.  One is that while Dark Lover is not the best book in J.R. Ward's The Black Dagger Brotherhood series it is the one that opens us up to the world within which the series is set - and what an interesting world that is.  The second is that Ward's vampires here are really very different from other vampires, eliminating a lot of the things that really make them a threat to humans - and really removing them from the world of humans.  The third is that these books are to a degree formulaic and once you figure out the formula the ultimate ending to things becomes clear - not that you're not goign to be apprehensive and crying at some point before hand.

This book is fun.  The vampires are awesome, and really love how Ward goes back and forth between a number of different perspectives - telling the story of both the book's core relationship and things that are going on in the periphery.  I really liked the humans in this book too, although I was a bit disappointed to see that with the exception of Beth and Butch they disappear in the later books.  My favourite part, though, is that the vampires are just so different from any other vampires I've ever seen before. I love when I'm reading a fantasy book that seems to be inspired by other fantasy books but are also different and strike out on their own.  The problem that I have with some books is that their authors so clearly don't enjoy reading the genre in which they write, which is something that I never felt in Dark Lover.  It's a good, engrossing, quick read.  Perhaps a bit smutty or trashy, but still fun.

Bachelorette (2012)

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, James Marsden, Kyle Bornheimer, Rebel Wilson, Adam Scott

Director: Leslye Headland

Genre: Comedy

Rating: B

What do you do when your "fat friend" gets married before you?  This is the problem presented in Bachelorette, as three friends, Regan (Dunst), Gena (Caplan), and Katie (Fisher) come to terms with the impending marriage of their "fat friend," Becky (Wilson).  Regan, the maid of honour, has always thought that she would be the first to marry, and is particularly devastated.  Gena, is insecure in her life, possibly addicted to drugs, and not yet over her ex-boyfriend, Clyde (Scott), who will be at the wedding.  Gena, really, is just a bitch.  After a fight with the bride the night before the wedding the trio get drunk and do cocaine, lament about their lives and the wedding, and decide to play with the wedding dres.  This all goes horribly wrong when they manage to rip the dress in two, and the night is spent in a mad scramble to try to fix it.

Going into this, I wasn't particularly sure about the film.  The three leads aren't exactly likeable, and I found the humour to be more offensive than funny.  Then the dress rips and the mad scramble starts and things really start to fall into place.  I really enjoyed the mad scramble and I found that with a goal in mind the characters all really seemed to become more likeable.  I never really wanted to embrace Isla Fisher's Gena - at the end, she was still really just a bitch, although I must say I didn't outright hate her or anything.  I loved Lizzy Caplan, though.  At the start she was the only character who I thought I might like, then I didn't, then I absolutely loved her.  Hers was the journey that made the most sense and was the most fun - but then, anything that includes "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers is awesome.  In the end, though, I found Dunst's character to be the most intriguing. It's really your typical story of a girl who appears to have everything, but really has nothing, but I still like what they did with it.

This movie gets a lot of comparison to The Hangover and Bridesmaids.  In my opinion it's a far better female equivalent of The Hangover than Bridesmaids ever was.  Where Bridesmaids is about women hating each other and fighting over whose the best bridesmaid, The Hangover series is about guys getting drunk and having an adventure before a wedding, with hilarious results - while Bachelorette does have a good amount of infighting among the bridesmaids and with the bride, the key element here is the pre-wedding adventure, with hilarious results.  It's a movie centred around a wedding, but also not centred around the wedding, and that's really why I enjoyed it.  It was fun.

Partysaurus Rex (2012)

Starring: Wallace Shawn, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Corey Burton

Director: Mark A. Walsh

Genre: Animation, Short, Comedy

Rating: B

Rex (Shawn) is a party pooper, always disrupting the toys when they're playing because he's over thinking the consequences.  That is until one day Bonnie (Emily Hahn) picks him to join her in the bath and leaves him behind in the tub.  There he learns that the bath toys would like to continue playing but can't without water - and none of them can turn on the water, because they lack arms.  Fortunately, Rex has arms and he can start the party again - and thus prove that he is Partysaurus Rex not Party-Pooper Rex.

I'm not really sure how I felt about this one.  Ben Kendrick said that it  is "easily the most enjoyable franchise spin-off to date," which I can see.  Franchise spin-off shorts tend to be less than great, and Partysaurus Rex is definitely fun.  It just doesn't really convey the emotion or, really story, that a lot of the other shorts have.  It was enjoyable, but didn't set me up as emotionally as a lot of other shorts have done.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Author: J.K. Rowling

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: B

Following the disastrous results of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry Potter was sent back to his Muggle aunt and uncle's home.  All summer he waited anxiously for news of Voldemort's return, growing more and more desperate and aggravated as the days passed by and he began to feel more and more shut out of the wizarding world.  Then Dementors arrive and attack him and his cousin.  Suddenly, Harry is faces being expelled from Hogwarts, forced to face a trial at the Ministry of Magic, and it is revealed that few in the Magical world believe him anymore.  Those who do believe him, and Dumbledore, are in the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organization that operates against Voldemort.  While Harry is able to successfully avoid expulsion and prison, things are not as they used to be at Hogwarts.  He is the subject of gossip and disdain from his peers, and is in constant opposition with the new professor of Defense against the Dark Arts, Dolores Umbridge, a woman who is clearly working for Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge against Dumbledore.

There are elements of this book that are absolutely awesome.  I love the Order, Dumbledore's Army, Kreacher, the emergence of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  There are so many really great aspects of this novel, that just add to the world of Harry Potter and make it even better.  Really in the long run, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is great because of everything in it that isn't Harry himself.  I think my favourite elements of this book are actually the DA and the growth of Neville Longbottom.  This is the book where the secondary characters really start to take form of their own and exist beyond the mind of Harry Potter.  We've seen how Harry, Ron, and Hermione have been growing all along, but we haven't seen how Neville, Ginny, etc, have been doing so - Order of the Phoenix shows us this through the furthered interactions that Harry has with the Weasleys and the development of the DA.  We also really get to see this calling for teaching that Harry has.  He gets to show others how to do the things that he can do - he gets to expand their knowledge base and in doing so he also expands his knowledge base.  Oh, plus, as much as I hate Umbridge her constant presence places this huge amount of strain on Harry throughout the year, and thus throughout the book, ensuring that the plot is always present.  Voldemort is in many ways a rather secondary threat here, Umbridge is the big focus.  In a manner, it kind of reminds me of the Little and Big Bads of the Buffyverse.  Umbridge is definitely the Little Bad, but she gains more of a focus throughout the course of the book.

The thing that I really disliked about this book, which rather disables it as a whole, is Harry.  As much as I understand what he's going through, this is the book where he really becomes a whiny, annoying teenager.  It makes it hard to like him.  There's a point in the book where I found myself wishing that it was being told from a different perspective, because I didn't care about Harry's self-sacrificing, self-hating, hating the world, attitude.  There are moments when it's great - like when he locks himself in his room out of fear that he's the weapon being used by Voldemort - but for the most part it is less than great.  We're often told that the greatest power that Harry has is his ability to love, but in this book all we see is hate.  He hates others, he hates himself, others hate him... It's a very ugly mess and given just how long the book is makes things a bit dull after awhile.

Bunheads (Season 1)

Starring: Sutton Foster, Kaitlyn Jenkins, Julia Goldani Telles, Bailey Buntain, Emma Dumont, Kelly Bishop

Creator: Amy Sherman-Palladino

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Rating: B

Michelle Simms (Foster) has fallen in life.  While she used to be a ballerina somehow her life has slipped past her, to the point that she's now a dancer in Vegas - although she is not yet a stripper.  Finally, at an all time low as she comes to the conclusion that her career, and by extension her life, is at an end, Michelle decides to take up the offer of longtime, and persistent, admirer, Hubbell Flowers (Alan Ruck).  The two get married and she moves with him to his sleepy coastal town of Paradise.  Life, however, is not as pleasant as Hubbell promised, particularly after Hubbell dies in a car accident just one day after their marriage.  Now Michelle must decide what to do with her life, figure out how to adjust to Paradise, and come to terms with her mother-in-law, Fanny (Bishop).  Like her, Fanny is also a former dancer, and in Paradise Fanny runs a ballet school, the Paradise Dance Academy, where Michelle very slowly begins to find a new life.

You can really tell that this show comes from the mind of Amy Sherman-Palladino.  The relationship between Michelle and Fanny is very reminiscent of the one between Lorelai and Emily in Gilmore Girls, despite the fact that Fanny is nothing like Emily - asides from being portrayed by the same actress.  There is no Rory here, but you can really see a relationship growing between Michelle and the dance students that is also reminiscent of that.  The other thing that is reminiscent of Gilmore Girls is the small town and the oddballs that come with it.  At times they appear to be a bit much, but I know that with time each one of them is going to really grow on us.  I particularly liked the fact that we got to see some of the old cast members from Gilmore Girls too - it'll help with the attachment to these surreal people.

The plot in itself is a bit questionable, but I like the basic idea.  You can really tell that the marriage is just a tool to get Michelle to Paradise, and I suspect it could have been done without, but it Sherman-Palladino makes it work.  This really feels like a show that is going to grow with time, and looking back at Gilmore Girls again I remember how that grew as well.  There is a lot that I'd like to see happen with Michelle - namely her getting a good friend in Paradise who can support her - and I'm looking forward to seeing how the show plays out.  There's an episode when Michelle's best friend comes to town and I thought it was one of the best episodes of the season - I'd like to see more like that.  Oh, one last thing that I really liked, there are a lot of really random pop culture references here, and they don't simply cover things that are current.  That was one of my favourite features of Gilmore Girls and I'm glad it's being continued here.

3,2,1... Frankie Go Boom (2012)

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Chris O'Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Nora Dunn, Whitney Cummings, Ron Perlman, Chris Noth, Sam Anderson

Director: Jordan Roberts

Genre: Comedy

Rating: B

Frankie (Hunnam) has always been the focus of two things: his brother's pranks and his brother's films.  These pranks have lead to some disastrous results, notably when he became a Youtube sensation following a disastrous incident at what was supposed to be his wedding.  Wedding called off, Frankie withdrew to the desert and did his best to cut off all ties with his family.  That is, until his brother, Bruce (O'Dowd), is released from rehab and his parents (Dunn and Anderson) insist that Frankie come to the reunion.  Bruce has decided that he wants to become a director, and his favourite person to focus on is his brother.  Frankie wants no part in it, but when he finds out that Bruce secretly filmed an encounter that Frankie had with Lassie (Caplan), Frankie must embark on a journey to regain his dignity.

This journey is what makes this film absolutely awesome, as Frankie comes up repeatedly against the not exactly sane people that inhabit his brother's world - notably rather deranged actor Jack (Noth), and the transsexual Phiyllis (Perlman).  Each character in this film is really a character - most of them you suspect might be mentally unstable and a good portion of them who you really hope aren't supposed to be realistic depictions of people, even if some of them do kind of remind you of people you know - and their actions are both hilarious and infuriating at the same time.  It's very easy to relate with Hunnam's character because the events that happen to him are in a way so clear cut that it's hard not to be mad at Bruce.  At the same time, however, once you write Bruce off as not all there mentally it becomes easier to try to make allowances for his behaviour, even when he crosses the line - which he does multiple times.

The thing that I really liked about 3,2,1... Frankie Go Boom was just how unconventional it is.  It addresses issues that, while you might see addressed normally, don't get touched on to the great length that Frankie touches on them.  I mean, it's a movie that combines the power of the internet and viral videos with hidden sex tapes and erectile dysfunction.  And on top of all that it also has this great love story underneath it.  You never really care about most of the characters in this film - you aren't rooting for Bruce or Jack or Phiyllis - but there isn't any addition to it that could have been done away with.  You are rooting for Frankie and Lassie, and they need Bruce, Jack, and Phiyllis in order to make their story work.  Plus, you can't go wrong with Ron Perlman as a transsexual.

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

Starring: Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Jude Law

Director: Peter Ramsey

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family

Rating: B

"It is our job to protect the children of the world. For as long as they believe in us, we will guard them with our lives.."

As far as Christmas movies go, this one's a bit awkward.  In a way, it kind of reminds me of The Nightmare Before Christmas simply because while appearing to be about Christmas, it's actually about something more than that and Christmas itself is rather secondary.

Rise of the Guardians follows the spirit of winter, Jack Frost (Pine), on a journey as he comes to realize his destiny.  Opening 300 years ago, we see Jack emerge as Jack Frost, with no memories of who he was before, having been lifted from the ice by the Man in the Moon (who also tells Jack his name).  While Jack has great power, however, he is invisible to everyone, since no one believes in him.  Fast forward 300 years, where Jack is still unbelieved by all, the Guardians of Childhood, lead by North (Baldwin), are informed that the Bogeyman, Pitch Black (Law), has returned and it is up to them and newly appointed Guardian, Jack Frost, to stop him.  Pitch has lived much like Jack, invisible and unbelieved, but has figured out how to attack the children of the world by transforming the dreams created by the Sandman (who does not speak) into nightmares.  Pitch's ultimate goal, however, is to make the Guardians feel what he has felt, and cause all the children in the world to stop believing in them - and thus make them invisible and powerless.

To start, I really loved the portrayal of the different Guardians, although I was a bit confused by their loss of power.  As we see that Jack Frost still has his powers without being believed in, I had to wonder why the other Guardians didn't also have their powers, or at least some of them.  Although, I guess perhaps we're only seeing the limited manifestation of Jack's powers as it is before he becomes believed by many, and it is not until he is believed in that his true power really begins to manifest - perhaps North, Tooth, and Bunny are all weakened so much because they have forgotten what it's like to not be believed in, since they've all been around for so long.  The worlds that each inhabit, with the exception of Jack Frost who is very much of this world, are absolutely amazing though, so I can't blame them for not knowing how to deal in the real world.  I'm a bit torn on who I loved most here - North, who lives in his snow palace filled with dimwitted elfs and intelligent yetis; Tooth (Fisher), whose airy castle is filled with the baby teeth, and thus memories, of everyone; or Bunny (Jackman), who's bright and festive world is very much reminiscent of Easter Island.  We don't get to see the Sandman's home, but we do get to see much of his sandy dream creations which is awesome, and we also saw Pitch's lair which is completely perfect for his character.  I look forward to a future installment in this series (if it becomes one), where we get to see Jack Frost's home.

I also liked the story, particularly how it wasn't simply about saving Christmas.  The competition between the different characters, even the ones who were technically working together, was great.  The new take on old classic characters was also great - especially as it kind of took things on a completely different path than we're used to.  I love the idea of Santa looking (and sounding) like a member of the Russian mafia.  The whole idea of the Easter Bunny was great too.  This movie was just all around good fun.

Dallas (1987) (Season 1)

Starring: Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis, Victoria Principal, Charlene Tilton

Creator: David Jacobs

Genre: Soap Opera

Rating: B

"Your folks are gonna throw me off the ranch"

Where it all started, the first season of Dallas was originally conceived as a five-part miniseries.  The overlying theme of the season is the introduction of Pam (Principal) to the Ewing family through her marriage to youngest son Bobby (Duffy).  Pam is the daughter of Digger Barnes (David Wayne), an old business partner of Jock Ewing (Davis)'s and Miss Ellie (Geddes)'s former flame, and as such there is no love lost between the Ewing and Barnes family.  This is most notably seen through the eldest Ewing son,  J.R. (Hagman), who goes to lengths to make life difficult for his brother and new-sister-in-law.  Also trying to make things difficult, although this time more for J.R., is J.R.'s wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), who often feels jilted by her uninterested husband.  Rounding out things is wild child and only Ewing grandchild, Lucy (Tilton), the daughter of absentee middle child Gary (not seen in this season, but first played by David Ackroyd in season two, and later by Ted Shackleford starting in season three and continuing in the spin-off series Knots Landing).

I like how all the different issues that become really important in later seasons of Dallas are introduced here.  Right from the start we've got the backstory of the Ewing/Barnes relationship, and J.R. established as a giant dick who has problems in his marriage.  Sue Ellen's ambitions are also made clear, particularly in regards to her desire to have a child.  Season one makes it clear just why J.R. and Sue Ellen don't have any children yet, and the end of the season really nicely sets up the problems that Bobby and Pam will have in conceiving as well.  The one thing I didn't like here was the relationship between Lucy and shop foreman Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), but mostly because of a combination of knowledge of future developments regarding Ray and a disliking for Lucy in general than anything else.  Another thing I'm not too big of a fan of is the way each episode seems to do a "on this episode" before the start of the episode, instead of a "previously."  I don't care about the lack of a "previously," but I also don't need to have the episode I'm about to watch previewed for me. The final problem that I had, although I understand why it happened due to the nature of the miniseries, was that the show seemed a bit disconnected in time.  Events of one episode did impact the next and were often referenced, but I honestly couldn't tell you just when it was all happening (except for the episode where there was snow on the ground, which I assumed was sometime around December).

Dallas (2012) (Season 1)

Starring: Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe, Jordana Brewster, Julie Gonzalo, Brenda Strong, Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Larry Hagman

Creators: David Jacobs, Cynthia Cidre

Genre: Soap Opera

Rating: B

It's kind of ridiculous just how into this show I've gotten. When it started airing I had no real desire to watch it; I hadn't watched the original series, had no desire to, and so I figured I'd skip this one.  That was until Larry Hagman died.  Because I like to do something of a tribute when people die, I figured the easiest way would be to watch the first season of this run of Dallas, after all it was only ten episodes long.  Then I watched it, and by God, I got sucked in.

The first season of Dallas pits the original star, Bobby Ewing (Duffy) against his elder brother J.R. (Hagman), one of TV's greatest villains, once again.  Things are more complicated, in a manner, however, and a lot of the action actually occurs between the next generation of Ewings, Bobby's son, Christopher (Metcalfe), and J.R.'s son John Ross (Henderson).  John Ross is an oil man, like his father and his grandfather before him, and he's found oil on the Southfork Ranch.  Bobby, however, is adamant that drilling will not happen on Southfork, according to the desires of his deceased mother Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes).  Having recently been diagnosed with cancer, Bobby wants instead to sell Southfork to a conservatory, where he can guarantee that the land will go undrilled, and use the money to fund Christopher's attempts to drill methane gas in the ocean.  Making things a bit more dramatic is the presence of the Ewing women; Christopher is engaged to marry Rebecca Sutton (Gonzalo), who is not all as she seems, but might have lingering feelings for childhood friend and ex-fiancee Elena Ramos (Brewster), who is currently both John Ross' business and romantic partner.  Meanwhile, John Ross' mother, and J.R.'s ex-wife Sue Ellen (Gray) is running for Governor of Texas and struggles with handling that and her family; furthermore, she's being blackmailed by Harris Ryland (Mitch Pileggi), who also happens to be the ex-husband to Bobby's third (and current) wife, Ann (Strong).  Oh! Plus, in recent years J.R. has been living in nursing home suffering from clinical depression.  Also, making appearances are Dallas original features, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), and Lucy Ewing Cooper (Charlene Tilton).

There is so much going on in this show that it never feels dull.  It's definitely melodramatic at points, and there's a few squick moments - although none so bad (so far, at least) as some of the things that happened in the original series.  I can see how some of the melodrama could get old after awhile, but at the same time I think it's very fitting for the genre and is really reminiscent of the original series.  There are a lot of moments that have me simply yelling at the TV because of just how ridiculous the characters are acting or how simple, to me, the resolutions to the plot seem.

Despite not having been a fan of the original series, I really like how much it attempts to recreate the feel of the original series.  There are a lot of little shout outs to the original series, and a lot of brief appearances of characters who played big roles in the original series - and it's planned that there will be more next season.  I also love how it tells you what happened to at least some of the characters who haven't appeared and won't be appearing - notably, Miss Ellie.  At the same time, however, I also love how this show is trying to move forward.  Issues that play a big role in today's role have been coming up in this entity of Dallas, most notably sustainability.  You have to question what a family like the Ewings, who made their fortune out of Texas oil, plan to do in reaction to the need for an alternative.  Dallas approaches that.  I really enjoyed this addition of the show, so much so in fact that it made me decide to go back and watch the original.

Face Off (Season 3)

Starring: McKenzie Westmore, Ve Neill, Glenn Hetrick, Neville Page, Patrick Tatopoulos

Genre: Reality, Competition

Rating: B

Face Off is a Project Runway-esque show on the SyFy channel about special effects makeup artists.  Each week contestants are given a challenge to create something original - covering everything from a character that could belong in the universe of Star Wars to video game characters to zombies based on Alice's Wonderland.  Some of the things that they create are absolutely awesome, some of the things that they create are absolutely horrid.  At the end of each episode, one person is sent home, and at the end of the season one person wins it all.

Know what my favourite part about this season of Face Off was?  The almost complete lack of inter-contestant drama.  I really hate competition shows that are based on what a contestant can produce and yet still spend half the show focused on the contestants bickering with each other or badmouthing the creations of other contestants.  More so than in just about any other competition based reality show, this season of Face Off was just about the actual work being created.  Sure there was a little bit of drama in the first episode and a bit in the last two, and there was definitely some poor crafting, but for the most part the contestants at least pretended to get along.  Heck, they even helped each other out, which is something you almost never seem to see in these shows.

The second thing that I really liked about this season was the sheer skill of the competitors and the fact that almost everyone seemed to go home right when they deserved it.  There was one elimination where I didn't agree with who went home, not because I thought that they hadn't done poorly but because I thought that someone else had done worse.  Early on I picked a favourite, and by midway through I picked a second, then a third, and when my first favourite was eliminated I was actually happy - not because I didn't still love that person's work or because I wanted someone else to win more, but because based on that challenge I really thought that my favourite was the person who deserved to go home the most.

The only thing I didn't like about this season was the fact that the final winner was determined not by the judges but by an audience vote in.  I don't really agree with audience vote ins for a few reasons.  In Survivor-esque shows, I think there's a lot that goes into the editing of the final show that can manipulate the way the cast is portrayed and, as such, the way that the public is going to vote.  The same thing can happen in shows like Face Off or Project Runway where the editing portrays the contestants in a certain way.  Furthermore, in a show like Face Off or So You Think You Can Dance a huge part of the competition is based on some skill that the viewing audience isn't all that likely to be an expertise in.  I can vote for something I liked to see or watch, but when you look at things closer or from a more technical standpoint I have no clue.  The judges, however, do.  There are a lot of dancers in SYTCD who appear to progress simply because they're fan favourites, but it's people like the judges who will give them a job.  It's the same thing with Face Off - the fans aren't the ones who know the technical stuff, nor do we get to really see things close up, but the judges do.  I'd rather see them pick a winner than America pick one.

The Casual Vacancy

Author: J.K. Rowling

Genre: Tragicomedy

Rating: B

When I was a teenager I stumbled across the comedic styling of George Carlin almost by accident.  I was flipping channels while waiting for the parents of the kids I was babysitting to come home, the kids having been put to bed, and I found this comedy special that caught my attention.  The entire time I was watching it I was trying to figure out where I knew the comic from, but I just couldn't place him.  Then, all of a sudden, he told me stating that he'd been Mr. Conductor and I realized that this man who had been cursing up a storm was from one of my favourite shows as a child, Shining Time Station.  It was really rather jarring.

I had a similar feeling in reading The Casual Vacancy, although I knew the entire time where I knew the author from.  Vacancy is so unlike the Harry Potter books that if you go into it expecting magic you'll be sourly disappointed.  I'm not sure how much I went into it expecting magic and how much I went in with no expectations. It did take me a while to really get into this novel and I was thoroughly shocked when topics and language that were so unlike the ones utilized in Harry Potter.  Perhaps I was expecting some magic.

The Casual Vacancy follows the little town of Pagford after the death of Parish Councillor Barry Fairbrother, particularly the many people affected in some way or another by Fairbrother's death.  The issue at hand, beyond the actual death, is the case of the Fields, a rundown and poor local estate that some town members wish to be rid off because of the way in which it degrades the reputation of the town.  Among the adult characters factions form between those who are in favour of the Fields, or simply want to honour Fairbrother's memory, and those who wish to be rid of it all.  The younger generation is no less divided, although somewhat less so on the issue of for or against the Fields.  Through its course, Vacancy covers the huge issues of class, politics, drugs, prostitution, rape, bullying, sex, sexuality, suicide, and race.

This book is immense, both in size and scope, and as such I found it really took a lot to get into.  The big problem of Vacancy is that there are so many characters and it's such a negative world that things seem really bleak and dark and ugly.  It wasn't until I was about half way through the novel that I realized I was hooked on it, and even further in that I realized that I was thoroughly attached to some of the characters.  Things had to really start going wrong for them before I realized I cared.  I think a big problem that this novel has is the comparison to Harry Potter, which is unfair to Rowling.  Vacancy may not have the magic of her previous series, nor even the joy of it, but it's still a wonder to read.  The style is different but the writing is still magnificent.  There are weak moments, as their are in Harry Potter, but I enjoyed it overall - once I realized that I was hooked on.

Project Runway (Season 10)

Starring: Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia

Creator: Eli Holzman

Genre: Reality, Competition, Fashion

Rating: B

I really enjoyed the designers on the 10th regular season of Project Runway, even if I also absolutely hated some of them.  If you're not familiar with the show, the series takes a group of aspiring designers (this year 16), puts them through a series of tasks (this year 12), eliminating designers along the way.  At the end of it all, the top designers are given the opportunity to create a collection for Fashion Week with the best collection winning and presumably pushing forward the careers of the winning designer.  Along the way there are a vast number of celebrity guests judges, ranging from people in the fashion industry, to famous business owners, to actors and singers.

This year's guests judges included Lauren Graham, Krysten Ritter, Hayden Panettiere, Debra Messing, Hilary Duff, Zoe Saldana, and Jennifer Hudson.  The thing that I really like about this show is that the guest judges are more than just random celebrities come to promote their newest project; they're usually people who are somehow involved in the fashion industry, if only because they have an interest in clothes, and the tasks that they judge on are often somehow tied to their personal life.  As such, they're not typically sitting there gushing about how awesome the designers are; often they can be as critical and harsh as the regular judges.

The designers this season were not all really good designers, nor would I say they were all necessarily sane.  The first few episodes of this show is always about weeding out the weak, and I was really happy to see that the designers who I thought were the weakest overall were weeded out fairly quickly.  Sure there were a few whose personalities I liked, but you could tell that they weren't as strong as some of the others.  Granted, there were a few designers who carried on whose personalities I didn't like, but I did have to admit that they were skilled.

That's actually exactly how I felt about this season's winner.  I really didn't like the person, I hated their attitude although I didn't mind their aesthetic.  I understood why they won, and when it came down to it I have to admit that they did present the best (and most cohesive) show, even if going into the finale I had listed who I wanted to win most in order, and the person who won was at the bottom of that list.  Actually, my list ended up being the exact opposite of how the results went down, but I admit I know nothing about fashion and had based that list entirely on who I liked as a person most.  While I wasn't a fan, the right person probably won, which doesn't often happen in reality tv shows.

The Living Daylights (1987)

Starring: Timothy Dalton, Joe Don Baker, Maryam d'Abo, Art Malik, John Rhys-Davies, Jeroen Krabbé

Director: John Glen

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: B

The Living Daylights returns us to the USSR and issues with the KGB.  This time, Bond (Dalton) is searching for KGB General Georgi Koskov (Krabbé), who defected to the British only to be abducted and presumably taken back to Moscow.  Being the gentleman that he is, Bond uses cellist Kara Milovy (d'Abo), Koskov's girlfriend, in an attempt to track down Koskov.  He's also been directed to track down General Leonard Pushkin (Rhys-Davies), who has allegedly revived the KGB policy of Smert Spionam, or Death to Spies.  Meanwhile, arms dealer Brad Whitaker (Baker) is in the process of procurring American arms for the Soviets to use in Afghanistan.

Dalton's Bond isn't as slick as his predecessors, both in appearance and technique.  While he's sill got that charm and arrogance he appears to rely more on the gadgets and what not - and while I was willing to forgive the cliches of the earlier movies simply due to their age, I'm less willing to forgive the cliches of these later movies.  Shooting lazer beams out of a car is just lame, regardless of the decade.

Despite the fact that Dalton isn't as slick as Roger Moore was, I think I actually might prefer him.  Yes the movie's cliched, Bond is too dependent on his gadgets, but at least this movie wasn't completely ridiculous and over the top.  You can kind of tell that the filmmakers are trying to shed some of the humour of the earlier Bond films, which given the way the humour's been going in the last few films I don't really see that as being a bad thing.  The Living Daylights isn't nearly as tongue in cheek as it could have been, but it's not as ridiculous either.  It definitely went on a bit long, but I overall enjoyed it.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware."

Time to resume my love affair with J.K. Rowling’s bestselling Harry Potter novels, this time with the second book in the series Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  You may remember that in my review of Harry Potterand the Philosopher’s Stone I stated that I was unable to be unbiased in my review of the book.  That continues on with this review, possibly even more so as Chamber of Secrets is one of my favourite in the series.

It’s another year at Hogwarts and our favourite magical trio – Harry, Ron, and Hermione – are back for their second year of schooling.  This is possibly the most dangerous time of all at Hogwarts, however, as the legendary Chamber of Secrets has been opened and Slytherin’s monster has been unleashed on the school – and is attacking students.  Can they find the chamber and stop the monster before the school gets shut down or, worse, before someone is killed?

If the biggest flaw in Philosopher's Stoneis that it takes too long to really get to the point, then that is almost immediately solved  in Chamber of Secrets.  While there is still a bit of preamble, the plot itself is foreshadowed in an early at-the-Dursley's chapter with the appearance of the house elf Dobby (who is, in my opinion, one of the best characters introduced in this book), and the attacks begin following the Halloween chapter - which is relatively early on; the books each cover the course of approximately one year, starting typically around Harry's birthday at the end of July and continuing until the end of the school year in June.  Once again the book is very anecdotal, or at least appears so, but the story is a lot more cohesive than its predecessor.  There's far less opportunity for you to question where it's going or to get bored - not that you're likely to get bored with Philosopher's Stone- because there's more visible to the reader in this book. You still have all the questions about what's happening, but they're all relevant to the plot - what is the Chambe of Secrets, who is Slytherin's Heir and what is His monster?  Rather than question it for a few chapters near the end you get to question it for a lot longer.

The other thing that I really liked about this novel is how much it foreshadows for the greater series - more so, in my opinion, than its predecessor and even some of the following books.  Things that come up in Chamber of Secrets end up playing a far greater role in the overall series - some of them being so trivial that you overlook them when first introduced.  I'm not going to point them all out here because that's part of the fun of reading, and re-reading, the series; seeing all the little details that Rowling put in there that you missed before, or could only really notice in hindsight.

Sons of Anarchy (Season 1)

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Mark Boone Junior, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, Ryan Hurst, William Lucking, Theo Rossi, Dayton Callie, Johnny Lewis
Creator: Kurt Sutter 

Genre: Crime, Drama, Action, Comedy
Rating: B

I have to say I was almost instantly hooked on this show.  I was a bit overwhelmed by the many differentdirections that the plot took throughout the course of the season – there are alot of characters and a lot of stuff happens – but I was always able tofollow.  The show could have been simplified, but I think then it would have been something less.  One early criticism of the show says that the early episodes lacked direction, and I can totally see this.  The early episodes are in need of direction,but they figure things out pretty quickly.

The first season of Sons ofAnarchy takes us to Charming, California which is essentially ruled by the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original, or SAMCRO,and its members and affiliates – notably club president Clay Morrow (Perlman), vice-president Jackson “Jax” Teller (Hunnam), Opie Winston (Hurst), Clay’s wife and Jax’s mother Gemma Teller Morrow (Sagal), Jax’s high school sweetheart Tara Knowles (Siff), and Charming Police Chief Wayne Unser (Callie).  The series begins with the torching of SAMCRO’s gun assembling warehouse by a rival club, the Mayans, and the premature birth of Jax’s son, Abel, by his estranged, meth-addicted wife, Wendy (Drea de Matteo).  With the warehouse gone Clay must find a way to restore the club’s activities – made harder by the fact that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is in Charming with the purpose of investigating and eradicating SAMCRO.  Jax, meanwhile, is forced to juggle the club life and a new family life, made somewhat more difficult by the re-emergence of his high school girlfriend and the love of his life, Tara, a doctor working at the local hospital.  Tara has returned to Charming because she was being stalked by ATF agent and ex-boyfriend, Josh Kohn (Jay Karnes), while living in Chicago.  Opie, meanwhile, is struggling with living a straight life.  His father, Piney (Lucking), is a co-founder of the club, and it’s really the only life Opie knows, but his wife Donna (Sprague Grayden) wants a better future for her family. Rounding out the plot is Jax’s discovery of a book written by his father and club co-founder, John Teller (voiced by Nicholas Guest), shortly before his death, lamenting the way that SAMCRO has strayed from its roots and causing Jax to question the leadership and future of the club.  The whole thing has a nice little Shakespearian theme to it, while being about a motorcycle gang there is a Hamlet undertone to it that becomes more obvious as the series progresses.

 While I do think Sons took a bit to take off it managed to capture me almost instantly. There's no dilly dawling or dicking around; it plunges you into things instantly and you just have to go with it.  I had a moment of "what the hell is going on" at first, then let myself be emerged.  The world is so immense in this show and there's so much detail to it.  I spent half the season just wondering what all the different patches on the crews cuts represented, before googling it  because I couldn't figure it out myself.

The aspect of the show that really saves it from being too complicated in this first season is the amazing abilities of the cast.  There wasn't a single performance here that I didn't fully believe - although I also don't think I understood at least half of what Chibs (Flanagan) was saying.  The performances in general are superb, with no one shining more than the rest and no one bringing the overall cast down.  I have to give credit to Sutter and whoever else did the casting; it's really rare that you find a show that's so nicely balanced.  Usually there's at least that one performance that isn't really as good as the rest or the performance that seems to be carrying the rest.  My favourite performance would be Katey Sagal's Gemma Teller-Morrow, but that's mostly just because over the years she's really perfected the role of white trash bitch.  I'm definitely looking forward to watching more of this show.

Trouble with the Curve (2012)

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, Matthew Lillard

Director: Robert Lorenz

Genre: Drama

Rating: B-

I seem to be watching a lot of movies that I'm not overly sold on lately.  They've got great casts and great concepts, but they just seem to fail to fully deliver.  Trouble with the Curve is another such movie.  It's got a stellar cast - even Justin Timberlake has been in some good movies - and the plot was interesting, even if a bit overused.  Somehow, though, it just fell a bit short and even though I enjoyed it overall I found myself a bit disappointed.

Gus Lobel (Eastwood) is a baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves who is facing opposition in his work because of his dislike of technology - his inability to adapt has lead to the higher ups to give him one last chance to prove his worth.  What Gus hasn't told his bosses is that he's been having trouble with his eyes; something that he rather firmly refuses to deal with.  Co-worker and good friend Pete (Goodman) intervenes in Gus' life by voicing his concerns to Gus' lawyer daughter Mickey (Adams).  Once Amy's concern gets up she decides to go to North Carolina where her father's scouting a new prospect - despite the fact that she's been assigned a big case at work in order to prove herself as worthy of being a partner.  Also in North Carolina is new scout Johnny Flanagan (Timberlake) who used to be a pitcher, until his arm blew out and is now hoping to become an announcer.

For the most part, I loved Eastwood and Adams in their roles.  There were a few points when I felt that they overacted a bit and many points when I wanted to yell at one or both of them, but the chemistry between the two of them was beautiful.  I really bought them as a father/daughter duo, and I love how strained their relationship was throughout.  Timberlake was also really good in this role, although a bit one dimensional.  I found I didn't care as much as I was supposed to about his problems and past.  It really wasn't necessary and just felt kind of like it was an attempt to add a bit of melodrama.

What I really didn't buy was Goodman; at least not about half the time.  His performance really felt acted and stale.  He had no chemistry with Eastwood and I didn't buy for a moment that he really cared about Gus - it was just like he was reading lines.  His performance did get better as the movie went on, and I did like the chemistry that he had with Adams, but overall it was stale.  I also wasn't sold by pretty much any of the more minor characters.  Trouble seemed to operate under the idea that good guys are good, bad guys are bad, and if you're not supposed to root for them they need to be assholes.  There are a lot of extra dimensions added to this plot that I think are kind of unnecessary.  Mickey being up for promotion, Gus' boss' being out to get him... It could have been really nicely done if they had simplified things a bit and just stuck to the plot of this older scout who hasn't changed with the times and is forced to reconnect with his daughter who he kind of neglected as a child (for reasons that she doesn't know) and is also going blind... that's enough.  Everything else is just kind of unnecessary filler.  Trouble would have been better off if it had just focused on Mickey and Gus (and sure, the love story with Johnny as well, because a good love story doesn't hurt) and done away with the rest.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Starring: Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curd Jürgens, Richard Kiel, Geoffrey Keen, Walter Gotell, Bernard Lee

Director: Lewis Gilbert

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: B

Where to start... Okay, well, credit where credit is due.  Once I stopped taking the series seriously I did in fact start enjoying them more.  I somehow doubt that I'll ever be a big Bond fan, but I'm not hating the movies so that's something.  I'm also really starting to enjoy Moore's Bond, possibly even more than Connery's (as I type this I can practically hear my brother shaking his head with disappointment).

Bond (Moore) is at it again, this time pairing up with his Soviet, female counterpart. When British and Soviet subs start mysteriously disappearing Bond is summoned by MI6 and Major Anya Amasova (Bach) is summoned by the KGB in order to investigate.   The two team up and eventually discover that scientist and anarchist Karl Stromberg (Jürgens) is behind it all.  It's up to the two of them to stop Stromberg and have hot sexy times, although not necessarily at the same time.

So, as it has become impossible for me to broach a Bond movie without mentioning the sexy times, let's start with a discussion of the Major, also known as Triple X.  This was probably the first Bond film where I felt that the relationship with the woman was neither demeaning to her nor out of context with the series.  So far, Barbara Bach just might be my favourite Bond girl.  She was a strong, independent woman who just happened to screw around with Bond during their mission.  He didn't demean her by doing things like hide her in a closet while he sleeps with another woman, and she also serves as more than just a damsel in distress for Bond to save.  In this movie I really felt like Bond found someone equal to him.

What else... the action was fun, although I would appreciate it if Bond movies stopped having underwater lairs.  These movies tend to be a bit repetitive, or at least the villains are.  Either they're really ridiculous and have me going "are you fucking serious" or it's the same thing over and over.  Plus the whole concept of an underwater lair makes for lame action sequences.  It's a pain to determine who's fighting who and the like when everyone's underwater wearing scuba gear.  Just saying.  While we were saved from this in Spy it wasn't from lack of trying.