Avatar

For the purposes of this review James Cameron will be referred to as: King Of The World (KOTW)

I have been accused in the past (mostly by Robbie and mostly about Beowulf) of making up my mind about a movie before even seeing it and then going just to confirm my preconceived notions, as if I do not give a movie a fair chance. I wanted to avoid that with Avatar, so I waited. I was not excited at all about this movie, but I did not want it to cloud my judgment, so I wanted to wait a few days and let the reviews trickle in. The reviews came out and just about everyone was raving! It was the greatest movie, ever. The effects are game changing, and the 3D technology was flawless. People were giving it 4 stars, or an A+ or a perfect 10. It really became the must see movie. It was a movie that was going to bridge the gap between mainstream and critical success. The 2009 version of The Dark Knight, or something similar. It lept into the top 150 of IMDB. It shot to the top of many top 10 lists. The KOTW himself declared no one could make a best of the decade list until they had seen Avatar. So, perhaps I was wrong. Critics and friends whose opinions matter to me were all saying it was the game changer it was made out to be. Roger Ebert has been gushing over it on Twitter since before it actually got released. So, with all of this in mind, I finally went and not only did I go see it, I went to The IMAX to watch it the way The KOTW intended me to watch it.

In a future where humans are called Sky People, Jake Sully(Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic former marine who is thrust into a new position because his identical twin had the job before him, but died and Jake's genes are the perfect match. His job is to lay down in a pod while his brain and body are connected to these wires and he can control a giant blue creature. These creatures are the indigenous people of the moon called Pandora. The Na'vi are a tribal people who in tune with nature and animals. In fact, their long ponytails can be synched up with the various plants and animals and memories and data can be exchanged and downloaded. The Na'vi take no pleasure in killing anything, but they are warriors. The Sky People are trying to get the Na'vi to move their home base because their home base happens to be on top of the largest supply of something called Unobtainium. The Greedy CEO's want the unobtainium for some purpose that I do not recall. Jake's job is to earn the trust of the people and then politely ask them to leave. However, Jake's military loyalties are used by a mean nasty, stereotypical Colonel (Steven Lang) and Sully starts providing the Colonel information on how to attack them. Due to these weird jellyfish energy things, Sully is not killed by the first Na'vi he meets. The Na'vi tribe decide that because he is a warrior, they will give him time to learn their ways and prove he can be one of them. The more he learns, the closer he gets, he falls in love, realizes he has made a collosel mistake and then tries to rectify that mistake.

The world of Pandora is an imaginative, gorgeously colored and designed planet. The Na'vi look very cool when not moving too much and all of the designs and colors of the animals and plants that reside on Pandora are nearly breathtaking. The attention to detail is exquisite and there is never a moment when you cannot look behind the main action and see something that could be cool. I love the big red orange, dinosaur/dragon thing and the weird dog looking things. The CGI is not cheap and it looks good. The film does not look as photoreal to me as it does to others, but I was not distracted by the entire world being rendered in CG. There is a really cool explosion, and a few cool slow motion moments when Sully is just getting adjusted to having legs again in his Na'vi avatar body. The KOTW obviously has a bright imagination and through a use of brand new CG and motion capture technology, he does an admirable job of creating this world and the first hour of the film goes to pain staking measures trying to immerse us in this world.

Here is the problem: I DID NOT CARE ONE BIT!! When the movie began and we were treated to trite, boring, laughable voice over dialogue, I knew this was going to be a big turkey of a movie. With lines that include a "We're not in Kansas" reference, and the most cliche, god awful dialogue I have heard in a long time, Avatar's good will from the effects gets used up quickly. Then, you have actors who are clearly not comfortable with the dialogue or the effects as all of the performances are awful and wooden, especially Zoe Salanda, as Sully love interest. Every time she delivered a line, I was trying not to cringe. The Colonel gets nothing but stereotypical war dialogue, like The KOTW watched every war movie and took out the most used dialogue and stuck it in this movie. Sigorney Weaver does not fare much better with a terrible performance and a creepy CGI face at the end, a la Patrick Stewart at the end of Wolverine. By the time we got to spend time on the planet, I was so tired of listening to the script that I just wanted a mute button.

Of course, the dialogue is not helped by a big helping of sucky story. Bad dialogue and a horrible story is the exact opposite of two scoops of awesome. It is two scoops of suck. Two giant scoops of suck, served to you by The KOTW himself as he tries to convince you it is amazing. See, it has to be amazing because it is a message film!! You are not allowed to hate a movie that teaches us to love the Earth and wants us to go green. We have to love this movie because it shows us that if Native Americans had giant dinosaur/dragon things, maybe the outcome would have been different! Wait, this is an allegory? You don't say. Oh, in case you are not sure, the movie goes to great lengths to make sure we understand The KOTW is condemning our entire sense of history while at the same time pontificating on some new agey philosophy. The KOTW is a philosophy 1 professor and we have all been forced to take a 3 hour seminar without any questions being able to be asked. We just have to shut up, listen and come out the other side wanting to SAVE THE TREES!! In fact, the trees house memories and if we pray to the tree goddess, she will repay us at the exact time we need it!

The KOTW is never one for being subtle, after all he did proclaim himself The KOTW, so it is no surprise we can see the beats of the story coming a mile away. Only 4 people have ever ridden the giant red orangey dinosaur/dragon thingy, hmmmm, what could that possibly mean? Sully has 30 days to achieve his mission, hmmmm at what point will he fall in love? And so goes Avatar. I am not saying every movie has to be twist heavy, but everything in this movie is so easy. Sully has a good heart, and the jellyfish can tell that, so he gets to stay alive. The chief and his wife quickly decide he can stay, even though they have never liked the Avatar program. These just scratch the surface of how EASY things go in this story.

Notice how all of this is about the movie itself. The movie is terrible because it is a bad movie. The story, dialogue and acting are all terrible. The action sequences are too blurry and unfocused and in 3D there is far too much going on to register anything truly awesome. But, the 3D is not why this movie is bad. The movie is bad because it is 160 minutes of trite dialogue, bad acting, a director with heavy handed douchiness and far too much downtime that could have been cut to make a tighter movie.

Now on to the 3D or tech side of things:

3D is a stupid-dumb way to watch a movie. If you like the gimmick, good for you but stay away from me with that noise. Horror movies can work in 3D because I like to watch jaws fly at me, but Avatar was going to be the cure for all of that nonsense. It was made specifically for 3D and The KOTW created tech to make it seamless. If by seamless he meant EXACTLY THE SAME, well he succeeded. My headaches, the blurry screen every time I tilted my head, the heavy glasses, the labored screen watching, the ghosting, the people with longer fingers and arms than a normal person should have, the blurry people when they moved fast and the slight color definition loss were all present and accounted for. It was as if this movie just followed the checklist from my experience watching every other 3D movie I have seen. I am sorry, but if you want 16 dollars from me, well 1. Don't have the movie be a disaster, and 2. do not give me a headache.

People want to compare this movie to watching Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings and I get it. Those two movies along with Jurassic Park changed the way effects are used in a movie. However, Star Wars has a kick ass story, a cool performance from Harrison Ford and amazing action sequences. Jurassic Park has solid writing, good performances, genuine thrills and a great story. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has these mind blowing effects on top of being a truly spectacular movie. Avatar just has the effects. If I am going to watch a movie just for effects, give me 2012, at least that movie has the good sense to know it is silly and it acts accordingly. Avatar tries so hard to be so serious about everything that it does not want to acknowledge that the story is just Fern Gully or The Last Samurai in 160 minutes instead of 85 minutes.

If Avatar is where movies are headed, I am packing it in. If big budget blockbusters start moving towards 3D and more theaters put in 3D, I am going to seriously hate it. It is a stupid gimmick that is being used just to get extra money from a crowd that does not know any better. I get that event films are meant for mass consumption and usually I like that. I love big ridiculous movies, but I have to draw the line at a movie not even managing to be entertaining for more than a few minutes in its entire bloated running time. I really want to know how people can actually think this is a great movie, even a good movie. Avatar is the kind of movie I wish I could never have to hear about anymore as it just angers me to know I wasted precious hours of life sitting through it, when I had a bad feeling from the beginning.

Final Grade: D

P.S. I was not alone in this, the theater was completely sold out and I would have expected a serious applause when it was over, but only like 5 people clapped and the other people in my group were not impressed either and they were excited for it.

A Decade's worth of movies # 6, 5 and 4

The show At the Movies was once a favorite show of mine. It is of course the show that started as Siskel and Ebert and then became Ebert and Roeper at the movies. When Disney wanted to mess with it and make it more about entertainment, they hired two douchebags and I stopped watching. Realizing their mistake Disney went back to what worked and hired two great film critics and took the show back to really reviewing movies. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and A.O. Scott of The New York Times are two of my favorites to read and they were my two favorite guest hosts with Ricard Roeper, so my excitement level for At the Movies went right back up. Starting this past week, the show is going to feature each man unveiling one movie a week in their top 10 of the decade.

A few months ago Robbie approached me with the idea of coming up with a best of the decade list and it kind of festered in my mind, but a few weeks ago I started to really think about it. I rewatched a bunch of movies and thought long and hard about it. Then I watched At the Movies this weekend and it clinched it for me: I needed a list. So, Saturday night I started a list. It started at 50 movies, then I got it down to 33. Monday the list got whittled down to 25 and finally yesterday afternoon I got the the list all the way down to my definitive top 10.

Before I unveil how this is going to work, I need to talk about how I decided on these 10 movies. It is a combination of things and different aspects are weighed differently. I wasn't sure if I should do just the ten best, or most replayable, or maybe 10 movies I felt defined this decade of film making. Should I look at them for what I felt at the time of their release, or movies that hold up over time? Eventually I came to the conclusion that it should be a bit of all of that. So my list will incorporate a lot of those aspects for different movies.

Alright, so the plan is this, for the next ten weeks I will release 1 movie on my list to coincide with At the Movies. I will also list each of those guys' pick and talk about for a brief second. This might turn out to be a colossal disaster and it is very time consuming considering I have like 4 people who actually read this, but I think I want it for me, so here we go!

Number 6

Michael Phillips: Zodiac- I hated, hated, hated this movie. It was incredibly disappointing and by the time it actually got intense, I was just so over it. I do not get the appeal of this movie at all, certainly not to put it in a "Best of" list. No way, no how. Icky!

A.O Scott: The Best of Youth- This is a mini series from British television, so how it made it on this list is beyond me, but I have never seen it and I was not really compelled to see it after listening to Scott discuss it. I guess "movie" is a loose term for the guy.

My Pick: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang- Shane Black wrote and directed this brilliantly hilarious movie that is about as META as a movie can be. When done well, I love 4th wall breaking and this movie has it in spades. It also features an incredible script, interesting story, great acting by Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer and just some really interesting narration techniques. I really can watch this movie over and over again and be perfectly content.

Number 5

Michael Phillips: Y Tu Mama Tambien- I really enjoyed this movie the first few times I watched it, but it does not hold up any longer for me. It is still well acted and the direction is phenomenal, but the story does not keep me engrossed anymore. It does not surprise me to see this movie on this list and I expect it would be on many lists like this. Alfonzo, the director will appear on my list in a little while, but for a different movie.

A.O Scott: Where the Wild Things Are- This came as a total surprise to me, but 2009 is turning out to be an incredible year for movies, so to find a movie from this year on this list is not shocking. Having listened to Scott review the movie, discuss the movie and having read this amazing article he wrote about it, I know how strongly he feels for it. This movie did make my initial list and even made it to the final 30, but eventually I decided that (500) Days of Summer was going to represent 2009 for me.

My Pick: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- The narrative framing alone in this movie is worth it being considered on my list. When you add in the rest of the flawless screenplay, the terrific acting, the very steady directing and how visually gorgeous it all is, how can you not love it? The movie is about memories and love and questions if losing the pain is worth losing the good stuff as well. it takes a break up to the extreme and then messes with their heads and ours at the same time. I love it.

Number 4

Michael Phillips: Once- I still have yet to actually see this movie. I have no excuses for not seeing, I just haven't. I love the soundtrack and think I will probably love the movie, I just got bogged down by the hype of the film that year. I will be making a much stronger effort to see it now.

A.O Scott: The Pianist- This is definitely a Critics movie. I am not the biggest fan, but I get why people love it so much and Scott's passionate reasoning was nice to see. The movie really affected him and that is nice to see. Maybe I need to see it again now that I have some time away from it, so I might have to put it on the list.

My Pick: Memento- Chris Nolan had 3 movies in my top 15 this decade, and one of those is even higher on the list than this one. Nolan's story telling is wonderful and the way they shot it remains spectacular. Guy Pierce shows why he deserves to be a bigger actor than he is with a terrific performance that carries this unusually framed film. I think the the fact that the movie is backwards helps make this amazing, but the movie is just flat out good.

The Blind Side

There is nothing like a good inspirational sports story, in my mind. I love the tears that come with them and I even love most of the cliches that exist within them. Sports have always been my first love and to see movies that show the good parts of sports makes me happy. This particular story first came to me about 3 years ago when I was listening to Jim Rome every day. He interviewed a man named Michael Lewis who had written a book called The Blind Side. I was pretty taken by the story and read the book and loved it and was pretty excited to see a movie made about it. I was unsure of what to make of Sandra Bullock as the star and I did not like how dumb they made Michael look in the trailer, but I was still pretty excited for it. It took me a few weeks to get to the theater because my dad and I had plans to see it together, but I finally got to see it and I finally got the tears that came with it.

Michael Oher(Quinton Aaron), is more commonly known as Big Mike. He is a homeless huge black teenager who has just started at a private christian high school because the coach of the football team sees his size and thinks he would be perfect. However, Big Mike's grades are not good and it seems that no one really believes in him. He has two shirts, and to wash them he has to throw them in someone else's laundry when that person is not looking. He sleeps in the gym because it is warm and he has very limited reading skills.

Leigh Anne Tuohy(Bullock) is a strong willed, sharp tongued woman with a wonderful family, great house and seemingly perfect life. She is a good Christian woman and a card carrying member of the NRA. One night, fate brings these two people together. On the way home from Tuhoy's son's school play, her family crosses paths with Big Mike walking in the cold in just a shirt and shorts on his way to the school gym to sleep. Tuohy thinks about it for about 30 seconds and decides he is going to come with her family, at least for the night. One night turns into the Thanksgiving holiday and eventually into Michael getting his own room in their house.

Michael has a past that he never speaks of, but as we catch glimpses of it, we can see it is not good. As Michael has people who finally believe in him, he gets his grades up enough to play football, but he is too gentle. He does not understand the game until Tuohy figures out how to get through to him. It turns out he is an amazing left tackle, or "Blind Side" tackle. Sure enough, colleges start calling, but Michael does not have the grades for it, so Tuohy hires a tutor and well, we all know how these stories end.

I have a few problems with the movie, but the feeling the movie left me with, kind of negates all of those bad feelings. The movie is earnest in its desire to show how good people can be and how sometimes all people need is someone to believe in them. The movie is unabashed in how it drenches you with warmth and love and kindness and for that I applaud it. Granted the movie kind of paints too broad a stroke in terms of Michael's past and we barely get to see the problems in his life, and there is not a huge conflict, even the major conflict seems almost an afterthought. The movie is just flat out nice.

Sandra Bullock, an actress who operates in a range from pleasant to super annoying, is excellent in this dominant role. She is never too tender, which would go against the character, but she obviously has a great capacity for love and really wants to do the right thing. The rest of the family, played by Tim McGraw and two child actors all do a good job and the kid playing Michael does a well enough job, even though the character does not get nearly enough to do, if you ask me.

The football scenes are pretty fun to watch, you feel the hits pretty well, but the movie has a tendency to gloss over the football a bit. The story is a bit too much on the Bullock character, so it is hard to really feel for Michael because we are really watching the Bullock character's story in how she relates to Michael, not the other way around. The movie makes the mistake of making the young black man look hopeless without the white savior and the final voice-over kind of solidifies that point and that is unfortunate. I wanted just a bit more focus on Michael's struggle and his consequent triumph.

While it is far from a perfect movie, The Blind Side is a nice story brought to the screen for the perfect season. When Leigh Anne took in Michael she had no idea how it would turn out. She wondered if he would steal something and she had to endure questions about white guilt and her kids probably endured some hardship from their friends, but the family knew it was the right thing to do, and in return Michael Oher graduated from high school, got a college education and is in his rookie season in the NFL.

Final Grade: B-

P.S. The movie begins by showing the absolute worst NFL injury ever and it is just as gruesome now as it was when I first saw it. Poor Joe Theisman.

An apology of sorts

So, it has been a few weeks since I have posted anything and for that I apologize. I have a few reasons for it, but mostly, I just have not felt much like doing it. I am not seeing nearly as many movies as I would like due to the lack of money and in some way this blog is a reminder of all of the movies I am missing.

So, For the rest of this year, I am doing away with the television stuff and any lists, probably. I will review new movies I see, catch up with the best of the decade, continue with the best of the decade and then do the end of the year thing, even if it will feel incomplete because I am missing some movies.

After this year, I will probably scale all the way back to just doing new reviews and occasionally doing lists or random things as the mood suits. Or I may just stop altogether. I am just not sure yet.

Thanks for reading!

A Decade's worth of movies #7

The show At the Movies was once a favorite show of mine. It is of course the show that started as Siskel and Ebert and then became Ebert and Roeper at the movies. When Disney wanted to mess with it and make it more about entertainment, they hired two douchebags and I stopped watching. Realizing their mistake Disney went back to what worked and hired two great film critics and took the show back to really reviewing movies. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and A.O. Scott of The New York Times are two of my favorites to read and they were my two favorite guest hosts with Ricard Roeper, so my excitement level for At the Movies went right back up. Starting this past week, the show is going to feature each man unveiling one movie a week in their top 10 of the decade.

A few months ago Robbie approached me with the idea of coming up with a best of the decade list and it kind of festered in my mind, but a few weeks ago I started to really think about it. I rewatched a bunch of movies and thought long and hard about it. Then I watched At the Movies this weekend and it clinched it for me: I needed a list. So, Saturday night I started a list. It started at 50 movies, then I got it down to 33. Monday the list got whittled down to 25 and finally yesterday afternoon I got the the list all the way down to my definitive top 10.

Before I unveil how this is going to work, I need to talk about how I decided on these 10 movies. It is a combination of things and different aspects are weighed differently. I wasn't sure if I should do just the ten best, or most replayable, or maybe 10 movies I felt defined this decade of film making. Should I look at them for what I felt at the time of their release, or movies that hold up over time? Eventually I came to the conclusion that it should be a bit of all of that. So my list will incorporate a lot of those aspects for different movies.

Alright, so the plan is this, for the next ten weeks I will release 1 movie on my list to coincide with At the Movies. I will also list each of those guys' pick and talk about for a brief second. This might turn out to be a colossal disaster and it is very time consuming considering I have like 4 people who actually read this, but I think I want it for me, so here we go!

Number 8

Michael Phillips: United 93- I actually thought long and hard about this movie and where it would go on my list, but ultimately I could not place it anywhere. I still strongly feel everyone should see the movie and I still feel like it is one of the most emotionally affecting movies I have ever seen, but I am not sure if that qualifies it on merit. I look at this as something totally different than I view any other movie. It is truly a snapshot of one specific moment in a larger moments and am not sure how to classify it. I may regret not putting it on my list when it is all said and done, because I find the film to be quite moving.

A.O Scott: 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days- I have not seen this movie nor have I had much desire to see it and I am not sure Scott did enough to sway me really.

My pick: Brokeback Mountain- I really do not care what anyone else says, this is an amazing movie. I know there is some residual backlash and some people who think it was a hype machine, but every time I watch it, I am filled with tears and every time I watch it I come away thinking it is a gorgeously tragic love story with 2 incredible performances, great directing, a perfectly understated script and some amazing scenery. The movie deserves a place in pop culture, sure, but it is more than just a "Gay cowboy" movie. It means so much more. It is a wonderful love story and it really allowed Heath ledger to shine and strip himself of the pretty boy status he was so desperately trying to shed. I still think Gyllenhall deserved a nomination as well and the movie being beaten by Crash is kind of stupid, but this holds up in a way Crash never can.

2012

I was not sure how to attack this review. I feel like it deserves something different than my standard review, but those are typically reserved for movies I hate and that does not seem fair because how does one hate such a masterpiece? Does anyone hate The Godfather? Am I speaking in hyperbole? Do I make any sense? I shall get back to The Godfather connection later. Anyway, I guess what I am saying is, I wish I knew how to review this bad boy in a way that really spoke to how I feel about it. I wanted to think of something grandiose, ridiculous and terrifying. I wanted to write something that made the readers feel the chases, the fireballs and the tsunamis. But, words do not exist for such thing, so I shall just soldier through.

In 2009 a scientist,Adrian Helmsley(Chiwetel Ejiofor) goes to India to meet with another scientist and they have science-y conversations about the world heating up and things called neutrinos or something. All I know is shit is bad. It is so bad, Helmsley hops back on a plane and goes straight to Washington D.C to talk to the chief of staff for the President. He bogarts a tuxedo jacket to get into the black tie event and is quietly ushered from the party and taken to the President. More official science-y stuff is said and the timeline speeds up. We are now in 2010 and the President(Danny Glover) addresses the leaders of the world in a summit. From there we see a bunch of things going on in China and eventually we end up in the year 2012. It jumps off with a mass suicide. Then we meet Jackson Curtis(John Cusack). He is a writer, which means he must be divorced because he was always working on his book (it is a movie rule that writers are divorced, I swear). He wants to take his kids camping in Yellowstone, even though his son calls him by his first name and his daughter wets the bed at 7 years old. The kids do not enjoy themselves, but Curtis meets Mr. Exposition (Woody Harrelson). Mr. Exposition tells Curtis about how the world is going to end, soon. Curtis thinks he is crazy until weird shit starts happening. Curtis leaps into disaster movie action by scooping up his family and tirelessly outrunning natural disasters as they attempt to survive by getting on these ships the Governments of the world set up. Oh and there are Russians we meet because we need to cheer when someone dies?

Disaster flicks are a dime a dozen, but never has one movie featured so much destruction. Roland Emmerich has never shied away from destroying cities with aliens, Godzilla or extreme cold, but 2012 brings the notches up a bit. First, we get this phenomenal sequence with Cusack and his family in a limo dodging buildings, cars and other things in Los Angeles as massive Earthquakes attempt to break California in half and sink it into the Earth. The effects are disgustingly amazing and destruction has never looked that cool. From there, we get to watch Cusack, now in a camper, dodge fire balls erupting from Yellowstone as it has become an active volcano. It is spectacular and thrilling and absolutely ridiculous every step of the way, especially as Cusack has the first fake hero death of the movie. Directly after the fire balls, the family jumps in a plane and dodges more insanity, and later they are in a plane again dodging the city of Las Vegas falling apart.

There is something incredibly trivial about rooting for this family while the rest of the world dies. There is something inhumane about getting joy out of watching a giant Aircraft carrier topple over The White House, but Roland Emmerich is so committed to his cause and so sure of every move that it is impossible to ignore. There is some deeply earnest material in the movie, too. A moving, somewhat cheesy speech is given by Helmsley in the climax about what makes us human and how people are good. It is inspiring for sure and one hopes that in moments of crisis that people exist who are willing to do everything they can to save as many as they can. Cusack's character wrote a book that was panned by critics because he was idealistic that man would be good in times of infinite crisis. Helmsley read the book and he was affected by it. There is some talk about how art and culture were preserved because they speak to who we are as a people. Sure, I am looking a little too deeply into the movie, but the material is there.

Okay, back to The Godfather. Every single mafia movie I see is somehow compared to The Godfather. It is the epitome of the mafia movement in cinema. If you want to make the case for Goodfellas, I will listen, but The Godfather and in a round about way, the Godfather 2, is where the idea of the mafia family resides. 2012 is The Godfather. I will go back and watch The Core, or Armageddon and compare them to this movie. 2012 is a master class in how to wreck shit. It is a technological wonder of flawless execution in blowing things up, sinking things, and watching the world separate. It gives you everything a disaster flick could possibly have. We get, not 1, but 2 phone calls from family members in teary goodbyes. We have these fringe characters we sort of care about and are loosely connected to the leads. We get the evil Government guy, the broken family man trying to show he loves his family. It is all there. The hero even gets two fake deaths!

No one will ever confuse Roland Emmerich to be a director who understands story, complex characters or interesting dialogue, but sometimes, just sometimes, movies are meant to be spectacles. They are meant to fill the whole screen with big bright colors, loud soaring music, giant sweeping crane shots and explosions that shake the seats. There is nothing wrong with just having a good time watching a hack director end the world in the most interesting ways possible. Once in a while it is good to turn off the brain and just enjoy whatever is going on in the absolute most ridiculous set of circumstances ever.

Final Grade: B

P.S. The shout out to Jaws was lost on almost everyone in the theater, but I got a Big Kyle Laugh out of it.

Television recap (Nov. 8-14)

Modern Family did not have an episode this week and I found myself very sad about that. It really has become appointment viewing for me. It is right up there with my favorite shows.

10. The Office- I really only want to talk about a specific moment in this episode. The show is actually annoying the crap out of me, but Creed is amazing. Creed shows up late for work and does not know everyone is playing a game and when Michael tells Creed a murder has been committed, he just leaves the office and gets back in his car, like someone found out where he hid a body. Creed is one of my all time favorite throw away characters. He gets these amazing throw away jokes and bits and he makes them memorable. He almost never figures into the stories of the show, but he makes the show worth watching so often for me.

9. The Big Bang Theory- Penny and Leonard had their first big fight and it leads to Sheldon freaking out and everyone who watches this show knows that a Sheldon freak out is always the best thing. I like how the show dealt with the fight between the hottie and the nerd. It seemed believable and I like that Leonard did not back down just because she is way hotter than he would normally get. It was clever writing and I think it stayed true to the characters. However, the key moment was the end with Sheldon huddled in a corner of the comic book shop with comics and action figures. I loved it!

8. So you think you can Dance- I was trying to think about what my favorite dance was this week, or my favorite couple, or something, but for whatever reason the thing I kept coming back to on this show this week, was the whole group number at the beginning of the results show. I loved the caveman theme, the song and how each member of the group was used to create the story. I loved the aggressive dancing and how it showcased some awesome hip-hop, especially Legacy. Honestly, I have not seen someone break dance the way he does in such a long time. I know I keep going back to that, but it consistently amazes me.

7. How I met your Mother- I am not going to lie, fat suits almost never work for me. I thought maybe putting NPH in one would make it work for me somehow, but it really didn't. This would not even be on the list this week except the end of the episode ended the storyline and Alen Thicke was involved. There were some really great callbacks, including the song from James Van Der Beek's character's band from last season. However, the big reveal that somewhere there is a video of a failed variety style show starring Robin Sparkles and Alen Thicke is already making me weak in anticipation. All of this saved the fact that the show used the obnoxious fat suit gimmick.

6. The Vampire Diaries- I feel like this episode was meant for a season finale or something leading up to a season finale. We had a way too short story arch of a witch's ghost, Damon revealing he wanted to save Katherine, Damon and Stefan are now going to leave Fall Rivers and we may have a new vampire in town in the body of the new history teacher, who may also have a ring that allows him to be in the light and then the reporter came back from the dead, meaning he is probably also a vampire. If all of this happened only 9 episodes into the season I can only imagine what the hell else is going to happen. It is exactly what I expect from Kevin Williamson, the guy who killed Drew Barrymore in the first 10 minutes of a movie.

5. Grey's Anatomy- Izzie came back for an episode that had all kinds of good stuff, which was good because I was worried when Izzie and Meredeth came back I would go back to hating the show, but I didn't. I loved it. Of course, I loved it mostly for Owen, Christina and the pretty boy new doctor. I was disappointed in the lack of sexy short haired new doctor, but I loved the episode for Bailey and the chief and the idea of the work-husband/wife. Mostly though, it was to see how all of these cuts and budget problems finally took its toll on the chief. I am very excited to see where this new revelation take us and I hope it brings us some great Derek the hero moments. I could always use more Arizona, too.

4. Californication- Hank Moody decides he needs to not have sex with the three women anymore so he can be prepared for Karen when he goes back to NY. He does alright in breaking up with the unbelievably sexy stripper and then he plays gay to help out the sexy teacher's assistant, but is not so sly on breaking up with her, but then it comes to the sexy head of the English department and he just cannot bring himself to stay away when he realizes she is about to sleep with a douche bag just because she wants to cheat on her husband. None of this is nearly as important as the big finish with Moody's daughter going crazy on him and making Hank realize his years of being a bad influence are starting to work against him. I found it to be a powerful moment, and wonder what is in store for the final few episodes.

3. Glee- This was, hands down, my favorite episode of this show. Not musically, because it did not do too much musically that excited me, but in terms of the show and the story. I think what makes this show popular among young people and maybe people in general is that it gives voice to the voiceless. It takes the idea of the people in high school that no one liked and gives them personality and spark and humor. Sure, we have football players and cheerleaders, but the heart of the show resides in the people like Kurt, who is playing his confident, but sensitive gay youth with such gusto and heart that it really lends something deeper to a show that is too often all style. I did not like how the too brief romance between the wheelchair kid and the shy Asian girl ended, but I guess tragedy is so much more interesting than happiness.

2. Dexter- Taylor, this is getting tough to keep it inside! I hope you appreciate this! Dexter is defying his dead father more and more and I have been wondering when it would hurt Dexter. We get a flash of that this week. Mostly though we get some amazing stuff between Dexter and Trinity. John Lithgow is incredible every week and this week he even took it a step further with the whole hitting a deer thing. This week was kind of a set up episode, but rarely are set up episodes this intense and amazing. I know that the next episode is where shit really starts to get going, but this was an episode we needed to get us prepared for the shit storm!

1. Supernatural- Last season there was a character introduced who had been writing a series of books called Supernatural. It turns out he is writing the gospel of Sam and Dean, but the show took this moment to have some fun with the fandom of Supernatural. The show;s wicked sense of humor was evident here at a Supernatural convention, which included a bunch of people dressing up and pretending to be Sam and Dean, a fake ghost hunt, that turned real and a bunch of jokes at the expense of the fans. They also included "Jumping the shark" jokes and a whole bunch of jokes poking fun at people who write fanfiction where the brothers have sex with each other. The ghost stuff was actually pretty cool too, but as a one off, stand alone episode, it provided levity. I think, because they are battling the devil in this season, they need these lighter episodes more than ever and this was a wonderful break in the peril and death of the end of the world.

A decade's worth of movies: #8

The show At the Movies was once a favorite show of mine. It is of course the show that started as Siskel and Ebert and then became Ebert and Roeper at the movies. When Disney wanted to mess with it and make it more about entertainment, they hired two douchebags and I stopped watching. Realizing their mistake Disney went back to what worked and hired two great film critics and took the show back to really reviewing movies. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and A.O. Scott of The New York Times are two of my favorites to read and they were my two favorite guest hosts with Ricard Roeper, so my excitement level for At the Movies went right back up. Starting this past week, the show is going to feature each man unveiling one movie a week in their top 10 of the decade.

A few months ago Robbie approached me with the idea of coming up with a best of the decade list and it kind of festered in my mind, but a few weeks ago I started to really think about it. I rewatched a bunch of movies and thought long and hard about it. Then I watched At the Movies this weekend and it clinched it for me: I needed a list. So, Saturday night I started a list. It started at 50 movies, then I got it down to 33. Monday the list got whittled down to 25 and finally yesterday afternoon I got the the list all the way down to my definitive top 10.

Before I unveil how this is going to work, I need to talk about how I decided on these 10 movies. It is a combination of things and different aspects are weighed differently. I wasn't sure if I should do just the ten best, or most replayable, or maybe 10 movies I felt defined this decade of film making. Should I look at them for what I felt at the time of their release, or movies that hold up over time? Eventually I came to the conclusion that it should be a bit of all of that. So my list will incorporate a lot of those aspects for different movies.

Alright, so the plan is this, for the next ten weeks I will release 1 movie on my list to coincide with At the Movies. I will also list each of those guys' pick and talk about for a brief second. This might turn out to be a colossal disaster and it is very time consuming considering I have like 4 people who actually read this, but I think I want it for me, so here we go!

Number 8


Michael Phillips: Mulholland Drive- This movie was in my initial batch of 50 movies, but last month when I put it in to watch it for the first time in a few years, I found that I was not as pulled into the film as I remember being. There are still some visually stunning moments and Phillips makes a pretty good case for the movie, but it just does not do anything for me any longer. I respect Lynch's vision and I like movies that do not always make any sense, but I guess this one just goes too out there for me now. I do think Noami Watts gives a wonderful performance, but I think Lynch gets in his own way a little bit, by trying to just do too much maybe. I think, in the end, the movie is too ambitious for its own good.

A.O Scott: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- I do not want to say too much here because, well you will see this on my list in a few weeks.

My Pick: Wall-E- If you want to view this pick as the entire Pixar catalogue, that is fine with me. It would be foolish to not include a Pixar movie in this decade because they really came into their own in this decade. I settled on Wall-E, as opposed to UP, because Wall-E as a character mesmerized me to the point where I forgot he could not talk. He was so expressive and so loving and the story is basically a love story set within a message film. I know some people think the message is heavy handed, but I think it is funny and biting and all of the SCI-FI elements in the film are magical. I am incredibly certain that this movie will stand the test of time for me, because the story is universal. Everyone is looking for their place in the world and everyone just wants someone to hold his or her hand and let them know everything is going to be fine when you have love and passion.

The Men who Stare at Goats

Yes, it might be one of the dumbest titled movies, ever, but it actually fits the movie perfectly. With a cast like George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, is it possible to lose? Of course, that is a silly question because great casts are wasted on movies all of the time, but there was something about how this looked, that made it seem like a can't miss. The actors seems tailor made for these roles. They played to the strengths of the individuals, well except McGregor's American Accent, but in a way, it is charming for a movie like this. I feel like the last part of 200 belongs to Clooney with this, Up in the Air and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. He has a nice trifecta, and this was the first of the 3 to see release. I was pretty stoked.

Bob Wilton(McGregor) is a low level reporter for a little paper in Michigan and he gets sent to interview a man who believes he has super powers. Wilton does not really believe the story this man tells, which is that The Military, in the 1980s, trained a whole force of psychic soldiers to get rid of the need for weapons and killing. Wilton kind of files it away, but when he gets a divorce, he decides he needs adventure and goes off to Iraq to cover the war for his paper. he is attempting to show his ex-wife that he is important. Things do not exactly go his way at first, but soon he meets Lyn Cassady(Clooney), who the man in Michigan told Bob about. Quickly, Cassady lays out the whole thing for Wilton. it turns out, yes The Military did spend the 1980s creating psychic soldiers. They could see things as they were happening. They could see the future, they were in touch with the spiritual. Cassady tells Wilton he is on a mission and that Wilton is to go with him because of a drawing Wilton made, that looked like Cassady's tattoo. It must be fate.

The movie operates in two time periods. We get the current stuff with Wilton and Cassady, but Cassady is also relaying the story of the psychic soldiers' beginnings, so the movie takes detours to the late 1970s and the 1980s. Founded by Bill Djanjo(Bridges), the psychic unit does not operate like anyone else. They dance (one of the funniest scenes), and they are completely separate from the rest of the Military. Everything was going well until Larry Hooper(Spacey) comes along and tries to change things. he usurps Djanjo's authority and believes that these psychic soldiers can use their powers to kill. To prove this, Hooper orders Cassady to kill a goat with his mind. Cassady does it and that is where he felt things started to go all wrong. He used "The Force" for evil and went to the dark side. yes, there are numerous Star Trek references throughout.

Balancing the pure silly with a message is tough and The Men who Stare at Goats does not always hit the mark. Oh it is hilarious. Clooney with long hair dancing around, or staring at goats, or any number of goofy 1980s stuff is classic and Jeff Bridges is in total "The Dude" mode with his line delivery and his entire body. Those two play really well off of each other. Other jokes involve Clooney's character cooking dinner on a solar panel, but it gets dark before he finishes and Ewan has all kinds of funny Jedi lines that only work because, well he was Obi-Won. Kevin Spacey is perfectly snarky throughout and then he gets the big laughs towards the end of the film. Clooney and McGregor have a lot of fun playing off of each other and in the "road trip" style section of the film, they get a lot of laughs, especially after they have been captured and Clooney is trying to explain how being a psychic soldier works he has McGregor attack him.

The problem with The Men who Stare at Goats, is that it runs out of gas. I feel like the movie began without a climax or ending in mind and they kind of made it up as they went along. The big finale takes place with all of the main characters meeting back up for the first time in 20 years or so and Clooney's character feels like he is dying from cancer, Bridges' is a drunk and Spacey is Bridges' boss. The climax involves a massive helping of L.S.D. and has a Timothy Leery joke (seriously?!?!). I think there are people who probably found it to be pretty hilarious, but other than Spacey's L.S.D inspired trip, I did not find any of it particularly funny. I think I was just kind of over the whole thing at this point in the movie.

The Men who Stare at Goats provided me with plenty of laughs for the first hour, but as it kept going, I just got over it all. The performances are all good and everyone is clearly having a grand ole time in this liberal minded war movie and that is always fun to see, but I think I was hoping for something a little more. I like the silly humor, but I guess I was hoping for something more biting, or something that fully embraced the silly without try for some sort of anti-violence message. I guess the movie just tried too hard to be two things at one time and because of it, they both suffered a bit too much in the end.

Final Grade: C+

The Fourth Kind

When I first saw this trailer, I was so geeked out for it. It looked crazy scary and had such a good gimmick! Sometimes a good gimmick can get you far and I was sold on this bad for, for sure. Then Paranormal Activity happened. Paranormal Activity had such a strong gimmick, amazing buzz and when it came down to it, it delivered. All of a sudden horror movies were going to have to work a little bit harder to win me over because one actually creeped me out. In that regard, The Fourth Kind just stopped looking like something I needed to see and became something I might see. However, on opening night a friend wanted to go and this friend is someone who gets into horror movies, which always makes them so much more fun, so it was on.

It is hard to fully explain what is going on here, but essentially, we are meant to believe this movie is based in fact. The director and screenwriter have gone out of their way to recreate "real" footage first, and then give us actors "acting" out those scenes and often the two kinds of footage are put side by side for effect. The movie is about alien abductions in Nome, Alaska. People go missing all of the time, and a Shrink, Abby Tyler, is carrying on her dead husband's practice, trying to help the people of Nome who are having trouble sleeping. She puts these people under hypnosis and while they are under, these people re-experience these horrifying nightmares. What starts as them seeing an owl, turns into something coming into their room and scaring them so bad that when they go home after the hypnosis, they get violent and one even kills himself and his family. Abby is trying to figure out what is going on and she eventually decides that maybe, just maybe, these people are being abducted. Then, some weird shit starts happening to her and her little girl goes missing. Everyone thinks Abby is crazy because after her husband was killed, she kind of lost her marbles, but she strongly believes what is happening in alien.

As far as gimmicks go, The Fourth Kind is a mixed bag. Often times the "real" footage enhances the action, but there are moments when it takes away from the action as well. using the "real" voices in the "fake" action gets far too annoying and the acting from the "real" footage is just not terribly convincing. I understand the idea is to scare you with something that actually happened because it is perceived to be scarier, but I think the makers go a bit overboard. The "interview" with the "real" Abby is interesting in moments, but I feel like everyone is working far too hard to convince me it was real. Reality should not take that much effort to create. It is a tricky line to walk because there are moments when it really does help create this sense of reality, so maybe they just needed someone better to edit the footage or put the footage together.

Of course, a horror movie is mostly about one thing: scaring you. And, The Fourth Kind does accomplish a fair amount of scares. There are three just wonderful scenes of horror that get the blood flowing. The first begins with just a voice, a deep, African demonic sounding voice and then from there, the scene goes into full blown horror, with Abby in her room trying to piece together what happened after she fell asleep one night. It is a frightening scene with great camera work, wonderful lights and some great scary sounds. The movie is a firm believer that the things we do not see are scarier than the things we can see, so we never get a glimpse at the aliens. It makes it scarier, honestly. The next great scene involves an almost possession of a body by an alien. It again shows us nearly nothing, but provides some great jumps, a super creepy voice and more great camera work, lighting and sounds. However, it all pales in comparison to the big climax. Abby decides she needs to go back under hypnosis, so her Shrink friends puts her under and she tries to find her daughter and tries to remember what happens and shit hits the fan. The movie goes scary, with the whole screen shaking, the demon voice proclaiming it is God and then bam, we see Abby in a ship getting something about to be drilled into the back of her head and it raises the hair on your neck.

The Fourth Kind is not going to fool anyone, I don't think. Nothing about it really seems real, and any sort of investigating on the Internet will show that it is not based in fact at all. It is a slow moving movie with some bad acting and writing, but in those three scenes, it does provide enough scares to consider it a semi success. I love that we never really see what is going on. In fact, there are entire sequences where we see nothing but white noise and it is mostly effective every time it happens. I think the problem is the movie too heavily relies on the same tricks over and over again, without altering the results. The movie has this massive jump 5 minutes in with something piercing the chest of a guy who is sleeping and from there, there is no slow build. It is just this constant barrage of sounds and "jump" moments. If Paranormal Activity taught me anything it is that a slow burn is the best way to get people in the mood to jump for real.

Final Grade: C

A Christmas Carol

This movie came at me in a pretty confusing way. I think A Christmas Carol is one of the most amazing stories I have ever read or heard. The story is timeless. I also love Jim Carrey. He always seemed perfect for animation. So here comes the problem. Robert Zemeckis' new style of movie making sucks. I am absolutely turned off by this motion capture nonsense. Dead eyed characters lead to soulless characters. Why not just use the actual actors, especially if you create the images in their likeness. Beowulf was an unmitigated disaster in pretty much very way (I don't care what you say Robbie). I had my hopes that maybe, just maybe, the dead eyes would be fixed for A Christmas Carol and that the story would carry the picture.

I am not going to spend any real time discussing the plot. If you do not know what A Christmas Carol is, do yourself a favor and go die, because you obviously have no soul, much like Zemeckis' characters. A rich, nasty man gets visited by 3 ghosts near Christmas in hopes that he will change his life. Ghost 1 shows him the past, ghost 2 shows him the present and ghost 3 shows him the future. There it is in a nutshell.

There is very little more frustrating than watching Jim Carrey being contained. That frustration reaches new heights when you realize that Carrey is playing 3 or 4 characters, all of them animated and he is still being contained. Zemeckis, you bastard, let Jim Carrey be Jim Carrey! Carrey's Scrooge is not human looking, but I do not mean that in such a bad way, he is too tall and too thin and too pointy, but that is kind of how you expect him to be. However, Carrey always feels like he is holding something back. His energy is lower than you want. His line delivery never gets as nasty as it should and therefore his transitional pay off is not as sweet. It confuses me because it is obvious Zemeckis is not afraid of making the movie dark, he just won't let Carrey go dark. Carrey also voices The Ghost of Christmas past and I understand what they were going for, but his voice is too quiet as this character. Carrey's Ghost of Christmas Present is more boisterous and shows a sliver of what Carrey is capable of as a voice actor, but it is such a small role.

As for the motion capture process, well I am still not sold. Gary Oldman's Bob Cratchett, while voiced perfectly, looks super duper mega creepy. Cratchett should have a soul, but there is no soul when your eyes are dead! Tiny Tim does not even have a soul in this movie. You know shit is off when Tiny Tim does not have a soul! He is the soul of this story! Zemeckis, please for the love of God, STOP DOING THIS!!! Colin Firth provides the voice and the face for Scrooge's nephew and it is also creepy and annoying. In fact, here is just a blanket statement, none of the human characters look anything other than creepy, dead eyed, soulless beings whose soul purpose appears to be annoying the ever living crap out of me.

That being said, about 45 minutes into the movie, it gets pretty good. I love the design of the Ghost of Christmas past, as a candle going to enlighten Scrooge. It is a little on the nose, but Carrey and the design team have some fun with the head motion of the Ghost. It gets real laughs and lightens an otherwise very down tone of the whole picture. Then, the Ghost of Christmas present comes on and the movie really starts moving. There is this amazing effects sequence, where Scrooge's room take flight and the floors become clear and it is like a crystal ball and Scrooge can see everything going on. Maybe this is where all that motion capture nonsense actually works. However, I submit that doing it in animation where the eyes are not dead would be preferable.

There are some nice slick action scenes with Scrooge being flown through the city, or when he accidentally ice skates, or the best is when the Grim Reaper is chasing him through the empty streets and Scrooge shrinks for some unexplained reason. It is a thrilling, daring action sequence that rumbles with loud effects, gorgeous scenery and genuine heart racing action. When you factor in a wonderful score that plays on traditional Christmas themes, but revs them up to turn them into chase sequence music, it really set the movie's tempo on fire. There is also some really dark and creepy moments that are typically not shown in the versions of the story, at least to my recollection. It gets downright scary when The Ghost of Christmas Future shows up and brings his two little children with him. Those two children, representing want and ignorance are about the creepiest little things a children's movie can feature. It is funny that Where the Wild Things Are was talked about endlessly for not being for kids, but I assure you, nothing in that movie is quite as scary or dark as some of the images found within this movie.

A Christmas Carol remains a timeless story, which of course, is redundant, but Robert Zemeckis adds some nice little visual touches to the story. He has revved up the action, which beautifully shows off his animation technique, but I still contend that this motion capture nonsense needs to stop. Someone needs to show Zemeckis his old movies and remind him that characters who have souls are better than those without souls. I tried to approach this movie with an open mind, but in the 6 years since the final Lord of the Rings movie no one has been able to fully recreate what Peter Jackson did with Gollum. Motion Capture has its place, but I like it reserved for fantasy films and Gollum remains the absolute best created character through this technology. It takes a while to get going, but the final half is a pretty thrilling movie, with only short moments of quiet reflection for Scrooge. The emphasis is certainly on getting things moving!

Final Grade: C+

Television recap (Nov. 1-7)

November sweeps is upon us, which means a lot of stunts, special episodes and probably a few guest stars. And then after that we will probably get the usual December reruns and such. November is one of my favorite months of television and this week kind of showed why, in a few different ways.

10. Melrose Place- I guess I should just admit to myself that I am liking this show. It is such a terrible thing to admit, but I cannot help it! Riley and Jonah are the supposed sweet perfect couple, but since they became engaged, they have both kissed other people. Oh Soap Operas! Plus, the hot girl doctor is still moonlighting as a hooker and Ashlee Simpson is still crazy and the murder mystery is getting closer to being solved. This week had a whole lot going on, but mostly I just love Ella. Katie Cassidy is so much fun to watch as the bad girl/good girl and it is the best character on the new version. She is similar to the Heather Locklear character and I am excited to see when they cross paths. The show could still be a bit sexier, in my opinion, but this is the third week David has been hooking up with some random chick to begin the episode, so that is good. Also, there was a really nice twist at the end that should set up the culmination of the first "arc" of the season.

9. The Vampire Diaries- To be honest, I expected this to be higher this week because I love shows that introduce characters from the past and when that character is a sexy 300 yr old vampire, well, it should have been better. However, the show once again killed someone I did not expect to be killed. It is actually pretty exciting, if you think about it. Kevin Williamson may not be writing the scripts anymore, but you can certainly see his fingerprints all over the pacing and the beats of the script in this show. There are Bon Jovi references, articulate arguments and the kind of hipster attitude that Williamson has relished in. Plus, Ian Somerholder is really having a blast as the bad vampire and he delivers the line "Duh, I'm a vampire" with such glee that it is hard not to get wrapped up in it. Like Melrose I think the show should be a bit sexier, but I think it will come with time. Also, I love the witch stuff almost more than the vampire stuff.

8. So you Think you Can Dance- From the very first audition, Legacy was my favorite dancer because his break dancing is effing insane. It had nothing to do with his personality or anything else, just his break dancing. As the Las Vegas week went on, I was worried that he was not strong enough in other areas. But his personality started to show through and I started to like him even more. He is genuinely touched by great dancing and seemed moved by Mia Michaels choreography. So this week, when he just nailed a gorgeous routine, I was so damn happy I could barely stand it. The routine was gorgeously choreographed and brilliantly danced by the couple that has quickly become my favorite underdogs. Every week I watch this show, I cannot believe it took me so long to find it.

7. How I met your Mother- Okay, I have to be honest, my patience is starting to be tested with this show. This show has fallen into the trap that befalls too many shows, they started listening to the most vocal fans. There was such a giant faction of fans who wanted Robin and Barney together and so the creators gave them to us, and now they are overloading us with them. That being said, the episode was still funny, because I love these characters so much and the show is so good at staying true to these characters. Marshall is easily swayed by Barney's words, Marshall and Lilly are supposed to be the perfect couple, Ted is the rational one and Robin and Barney want to live in a fantasy land where problems do not exist. All of that existed in this episode, but the highlight, as it often is in HIMYM, is the HIMYM-isms. A few seasons ago, "eating a sandwich" was code for smoking weed. This week "Playing the bagpipes" became code for having sex. I am still waiting for the show to get back on track, but at least it is staying true to these characters I love.

6. Modern Family- So this was without question my least favorite episode of this show, that was saved by Cameron's video taping and then the cutesy ice skating routine we got to witness. The Manny fencing storyline was funny until they just went too overboard with the girl he was fighting against. I mean making her an orphan and all that nonsense just pushed the limits that I am willing to go with any show, but every time it cut away from that, it was pretty good. I love the Cameron and Mitchel interview scenes, always and then this week we were treated to more Julie Bowen sexiness than we have been allowed to see on this show. The woman is so damn pretty and they have her playing a sometimes too stuffy mother, but this week she let loose and we got a hilarious ice skating routine, without the skates. But the clincher, was the tag at the end with Cameron and Mitchell. If I sound like I am repeating myself, well, too bad. I love those two guys!

5. Californication- I feel like this is my favorite season even though there is not nearly as much sex as I would like. Hank Moody's life is unraveling, but finally he is slowly coming to terms with it. His daughter and love of his life are at constant odds and Hank has other women in his life who want a part of him. Having the mother of his child visit the show this week reminded me why I am glad Karen is gone. I love the actress and the character, but there is something about it that just does not work any longer. I liked that Rick Springfield appeared as himself in the episode and then what I really loved was the final few moments of Moody and the obnoxious daughter. It was the sad reality that I think Hank needed to hear and maybe, just maybe, the daughter will stop being so freaking obnoxious for a little while. The show, i think, works better when she and Hank have a good working relationship, but maybe this conflict was needed.

4. Grey's Anatomy- Again, this show is at its best when the romantic stuff is caused by the doctor stuff. I get so tired of the bickering, but when it comes from the medical stuff, it works for me and this week had all kinds of it. Yes, this episode was setting everyone up for tears by having the entire episode involve young patients, but it also meant sooo much Arizona Robbins, my definite favorite character and to watch her tell off the chief and maybe help the chief to see how much of an asshole he has been. The Owen and Christina stuff was not as interesting to me, but I know the fans love it, but for me, Arizona is becoming the heart of this show in my eyes. She has such warmth and strength and is so graceful and beautiful and so in love. I like the new girl with the short hair falling for Alex and the Alex stuff has become really interesting, as we see him broken down, but fighting and fighting hard. It is awesome to see.

3. FlashForward- The Famous Jett Jackson gets his day in the sun and I should have known this was not going to end well for him. The pacing this week was phenomenal, switching between the stories effortlessly and giving us some more insight into all the lives of the characters. Demitri and his fiance are finally on the same page, but no one else really seems to be. I liked the idea of the Ghosts in this episode and how people who saw no future are just doing whatever they want because they really believe they will not be alive in 6 months. I hope we get a little more of that stuff and I think we will because it filled another spot on Joseph Fiennes big board of crap. I keep expecting to get frustrated by the show, but I am not. Every week we get a sliver of the puzzle, which keeps me coming back for more each week. I was really impressed by Jett Jackson's very subtle acting choices and I really feel the show might suffer for a little while without him.

2. Dexter- John Lithgow and Michael C. Hall spent most of this episode together. Honestly, that is pretty freaking brilliant. In fact, if nothing else had existed inside this episode, it would have been just fine with me. I could watch these two go at it for 57 minutes no problem. Again, I choose not to say too much about the stuff that actually happens in the episode, but I just want to say that this show finds a way to get better and better every week. Rita is kind of annoying, but she toned it down this week and we got a whole new little set out of it. I am so interested to see where this season is going, because I think it is going to be one hell of a final few episodes.

1. Supernatural- In the opening I discussed Sweeps stunts, well Supernatural fully embraced that this week, by parodying television. A character that pops up every so often is The Trickster, who is a demi-God, and this Trickster can create anything he wants and this week he stuck Sam and Dean in television shows. So we saw Supernatural as a sitcom, complete with hilarious title sequence and song and we saw a wonderful Grey's Anatomy parody complete with a girl who just said "seriously" all the time and we got a Japanese game show, a herpes commercial, Knight Rider and my favorite, CSI: Miami parody. The guys had the shades, the cheesy lines and everything else that goes along with all of the parodies, really. It was a perfectly executed episode that started off full of the comic flare this show has when the time is right and then getting deadly serious, as it always does. Finding the perfect balance between goofy comedy and serious monologues has always been one of the Strong suits of this show and this week proves that. It was hilarious, but it helped move the season along and also showed why Sam and Dean are pretty much the most heroic dudes ever.

Top ten Sports movies

This list was seemingly impossible for me because I tried to remove the movies I just loved as a kid from movies I really love. For example, Rookie of the Year is certainly not in the top 10 sports movies, but I loved it so much as a kid, it was tough to take it off my list. Also, you not find Hoosiers or Caddyshack on my list, like you will on every other sports movie list. There is nothing wrong with Hoosiers, it just does not resonate with me for some reason and Caddyshack, well with the exception of Bill Murray, I just don't think it is very funny. Oh, I also left Jerry MaGuire off the list specifically because I felt sports were kind of secondary in that movie, otherwise it would near the top of this list because it is a phenomenal movie. Yes, these are in a specific order. Sorry if the top of my list does not surprise anyone.

10. Hoop Dreams- 1993 is the year I like to say I became a fan of film. It is the year that opened my eyes, well 1994 was the year that opened my eyes to the world of the documentary because of this movie. This movie is also the first movie I remember feeling mad that it was robbed of an Oscar. For any kid growing up playing sports, Hoop Dreams kind of gives our story life, but to an insane degree. The movie follows William Gates and Arthur Agee, two prep school basketball players maneuvering life as high school basketball stars, and poor inner city youths. The movie is heart breaking, stunning and intimate. It gets behind these two boys and their lives and at the time I remember thinking it was all so vivid and I was amazing at the story telling that could be made out of just people's lives. I strongly recommend this movie to everyone, but especially basketball fans.

9. Major League- I maintain that is the funniest sports movie ever. I know you can put other movies into the mix, but for me, this is tops. Every character works and every joke hits. You get a piece of the front-running fans, the egotistical players, frustrated coaches and everything in between. It is non-stop hilarity and Charlie Sheen is right in the middle of it being a hard throwing bad ass. The movie might not be funny to non baseball fans, but maybe that is why I love it so much. The people who created it obviously love baseball and the baseball stuff is excellent. It is not difficult to believe Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes as baseball players. The movie is still funny and while they tried to ruin it with needless sequels, this movie still sits tall as a purely funny sports film.

8. Remember the Titans- I know a lot of people who have issues with this movie, but, well screw them. It is a good flick. Based on the true story of the first high school football team in the south to mix races, the movie is powerful, funny, sad and courageous. Denzel Washington makes an excellent leader and the young cast rises to the occasion. I love to see the stories that show our history and show the people who had the nerve to stand up to the norm and change the course of history and make no mistake, this is a story about that. This is a story about people who were bred to loathe each other realizing that they were not so different and that sports bring people together for one common goal. It is a moving story with the kind of tragedy and inspiration one would expect from such a story. I know people think it is hokey, but it gets to me every time and that is all that matters.

7. The Sandlot- So one movie from my youth made it through, but for good reason, I think. First of all, I can watch it today and still think it is a wonderful movie and that counts for something. Secondly, baseball has the ability to make me feel like a kid again. It fills me with childlike wonder and anytime I am in a baseball park, I get wide eyed and giddy. I grew up on baseball and my entire family loves it. There is no movie out there that captures that youthful innocence of baseball like The Sandlot. It is a movie that loves baseball. It lives inside the joy of rounding up some friends, grabbing the gear and heading out to the diamond. It understands how important those summer days are and how important friends are and they are all wrapped up in the world of baseball. The movie is so perfect in how it captures all of it and even thinking about it makes me feel like a kid again.

6. Rocky- It is impossible not to have this movie on any sports list. It is the ultimate underdog tale. It has iconic lines, iconic shots and an iconic song. The boxing feels brutally real and it does not bow to the mainstream by giving us the perfect ending, which the subsequent Rocky movies did give us. Stallone wrote, directed and stars in this movie and shows a real flare for the behind the scenes stuff. Setting up boxing shots cannot be an easy task and it all looks so effortless. Rocky is that ultimate guy movie. It hits hard in the ring and outside of the ring. It makes us believe we can do something everyone told us we couldn't do. it is a wonderful David vs. Goliath story and I am pretty sure I would get my Dude Card revoked if I did not include it. It is not a movie I go back to often, but when I do watch it again, I am always glad I did.

5. Any Given Sunday- This movie is hardcore! There is an eye falling out on the field, blood everywhere, people puking their guts up, all kinds of swearing and the kind of hard hitting football action that look and sounds like a war movie. It is a brutal look at a sports team in the middle of all kinds of shit. It has great actors all over the place and it has this brilliant contrast of young, cocky actors (Bill Belleamy, Aaron Eckhart, Jaime Foxx) and grizzled veterans (James Woods, Dennis Quaid and Al Pacino). It also has Cameron Diaz in the nastiest role of her life and sprinkles in a real life NFL player who gives this amazing monologue about being beaten down and broken. It is a pessimistic gnarly movie that does not flinch in believing that athletes are corrupt, but that the system is even more corrupt. It is a tough movie to watch at times, but it is so slick and so forceful, ou cannot help but be mesmerized. I do not think it is for everyone, but football movies never get nearly as nasty as this one does and I think they should!

4. Raging Bull- Ali was able to get the boxing scenes as intimate as humanly possible, but no movie has ever made me feel punches through a television like Raging Bull. There is something primal, nasty and villainous about everything in this movie. Scorsese never captured anything the way he captured Jake Lamotta's violence inside the ring and outside. There is something about the combination of Scorsese's camera and De Niro's raw emotionally gutted performance that is so violently beautiful and gorgeous in the destruction of lives. Now, De Niro is also helped by two amazing supporting performances by Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty, but make no doubt about it, De Niro and Scorsese are this movie. Never have I seen an actor and director be so in sync in every single way. And the boxing, oh man, how nasty! I really think that no one can really appreciate cinema until they have seen this movie. It is a sports movie without question, but it is also a mastery of cinema.

3. Bull Durham- If you played baseball, watch baseball, listen to baseball or read about baseball, you know that baseball players are strange and they are slaves to superstitions. No movie captures the strangeness of baseball players quite like this gem. Tim Robbins is stupidly amazing and Kevin Costner's Crash Davis is the ultimate "never was." He plays someone every guy sees in themselves. Crash Davis is a man who has got to do what he loves forever, but was never as good as he should have been. You add in Susan Surandon's sexy character who knows exactly how to help a guy in a slump and you got one hell of a movie. It is funny, interesting and realistic and it gives a really good look at what life on the road looks like. It asks worthy questions about the difference between youthful energy, and a kind of veteran knowledge. It shows how conflict on a team is not good for anyone and how sports require everyone to be on the same page to reach the ultimate goal. It is the baseball movie for pure baseball fans.

2. Rudy- The quickest way to reduce me to tears is to show me the final 15 minutes of this movie. It does the trick every damn time. If this movie is on television, I have to watch it. It is that movie. It is a wonderful story about a guy with a dream and everyone in the world telling him he would never reach it. he wasn't smart enough, fast enough, big enough, athletic enough and he defied every single one of them. He eventually got into Notre Dame, then he made the back up football squad, then he made the made team, but never got to play and then as soon as he got a promise from the coach he would get to play, the coach left and the promise died, but Rudy was no longer alone. His heart, dedication and pure joy for football was noticed by the rest of the team and he became the definition of what Notre Dame football was and in the end, he got on that field and realized that dreams are entirely possible and that if you continue driving yourself forward, you can be who you believe you are meant to be. And by the time the entire crowd is chanting "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!" I am completely drowning in my own tears. I love it.

1. Field of Dreams- If you have not seen this movie but plan on it and do not want it ruined for you, stop reading! Kevin Costner stars a guy who grows through all kinds of crazy trials and problems because he hears a voice. The voice belongs to the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Costner is supposed to build a giant baseball stadium for ghosts to play baseball. No one understands why, but he believes it is his purpose so he does it. In the end, it turns out he did it, just so he could play catch with his dead father. What every young boy wants in life is to play catch with his dad. I know I cherished those moments as a young boy and to be honest, I think I would still love to do it. Field of Dreams captures that idea. It believes baseball to be a pure game and it is how I like to think of the game. I hate that the video is not with it, but this is the speech that reminds me every time why I love this movie:

A decade's worth of movies: #9

The show At the Movies was once a favorite show of mine. It is of course the show that started as Siskel and Ebert and then became Ebert and Roeper at the movies. When Disney wanted to mess with it and make it more about entertainment, they hired two douchebags and I stopped watching. Realizing their mistake Disney went back to what worked and hired two great film critics and took the show back to really reviewing movies. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and A.O. Scott of The New York Times are two of my favorites to read and they were my two favorite guest hosts with Ricard Roeper, so my excitement level for At the Movies went right back up. Starting this past week, the show is going to feature each man unveiling one movie a week in their top 10 of the decade.

A few months ago Robbie approached me with the idea of coming up with a best of the decade list and it kind of festered in my mind, but a few weeks ago I started to really think about it. I rewatched a bunch of movies and thought long and hard about it. Then I watched At the Movies this weekend and it clinched it for me: I needed a list. So, Saturday night I started a list. It started at 50 movies, then I got it down to 33. Monday the list got whittled down to 25 and finally yesterday afternoon I got the the list all the way down to my definitive top 10.

Before I unveil how this is going to work, I need to talk about how I decided on these 10 movies. It is a combination of things and different aspects are weighed differently. I wasn't sure if I should do just the ten best, or most replayable, or maybe 10 movies I felt defined this decade of film making. Should I look at them for what I felt at the time of their release, or movies that hold up over time? Eventually I came to the conclusion that it should be a bit of all of that. So my list will incorporate a lot of those aspects for different movies.

Alright, so the plan is this, for the next ten weeks I will release 1 movie on my list to coincide with At the Movies. I will also list each of those guys' pick and talk about for a brief second. This might turn out to be a colossal disaster and it is very time consuming considering I have like 4 people who actually read this, but I think I want it for me, so here we go!

Number 9


Michael Phillips: Gosford Park- I have not seen this movie so I cannot judge it. I would not really think about seeing it either, except it is on this list. I wanted to watch it this week to prepare it for this list, but with my Netflix suspended and no money to rent it, I was screwed. I apologize.

A.O. Scott: 25th Hour- I really really like this movie and I like it more each time I watch it. It made it to my final 30, but that was it. There is strong writing in this movie and some amazing performances. One of the downsides to the story is that some of the pure post 9-11 stuff feels forced into the movie. Edward Norton, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper do some seriously excellent work and the script is peppered with these long gorgeously foul mouthed monologues about life, race, love and hatred, but at times the visual palette is too muddled with colors that bleed in and out of the picture. I think this movie should be studied in film classes, especially classes looking at a post 9-11 America, but it just does not cut it into my own personal top 10. I do strongly recommend it, though.

My pick: Superbad- The comedy landscape shifted in the later half of the decade and I really felt compelled to put one of those movies on this list because it helps define a big voice of this decade. Judd Apatow and his cast of characters really owned comedy and the reason I went with this one is it has the most staying power, in my opinion. The jokes do not get less funny and I think it is a movie generations of young people will admire and love. The "Bromance" was made popular by this group of people and I think Superbad speaks best to the idea of two male friends really needing and loving each other. It has an iconic character in McLovin and set Michael Cera up to be a sort of new generation John Cusack. I know I can put this movie and laugh my ass off, but at the same time wish my high school experience was shared with such a close friend. I really think this movie will stand the test of comedy time.

Michael Jackson's This is It

I could go on and on and about who MJ was to me. I really could, but I will not do it. I just want to say that MJ is the man behind the music that brings my entire family together. Musically the 6 of us do not agree on anything fully except MJ. That is who he is to me.

Gearing up for a 50 show extravaganza in London, the final few months of Michael Jackson's life were spent in Los Angeles rehearsing and luckily a bunch of cameras were there to capture the events. Make no mistake, though, this is essentially a concert film. It is not a hard hitting behind the scenes documentary or a study on the man behind the music, it is a concert film first and foremost. There are behind the scene moments and a few glimpses into who MJ was, but mostly this is about the music. Each song has an accompanying story, or process, whether it is work on the green scene, or MJ trying to figure out tempos, or just dances, but each number takes up a good chunk of time and then we are rewarded with a rehearsal performance of each number, except Thriller which actually looks kind of finished because it was able to be done in Post Production with the would be 3D effects. The cameras are not very invasive, but that may be because MJ was aware they were there and he does not give anything away.

The movie shows MJ to be in good shape, with swift moving feet, flexible limbs and having a deep sense of passion that music and that his show can fuel the fire to change the world. He is just as soft spoken on stage as we see off stage, which is disarming because the best always have a swagger. Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez, Tiger Woods. These guys all have swagger and they all carry themselves with it. Jackson does not, at least not until the music hits. He is a man who was born to perform and he is phenomenal even at 75%. Of course, that is what makes someone the best, when their 75% is better than most people's 100%. Jackson is surrounded by dancers who are all in their 20s, all shirtless and with ripped bodies and sick dance moves, but it is still Jackson we watch and it is still Jackson they wish they were. Actually some of my favorite stuff in the film is watching the dancers. The movie opens on the dancers talking about the chance to be on stage with Michael and then in many moments we get reactions from these dancers as they just stand and watch Michael move or sing and it is obvious this is a dream come true.

The concert footage is fun, yes. It is wonderful to watch Michal pop, lock, glide, and smoothly hit every move and it is fun to listen to him softly croon the songs as he converses his voice, but I was much more interested in the other stuff. I loved listening to Michael talk about holding notes, or waiting an extra beat for the audience. MJ seems to know exactly how to work a crowd into a frenzy and he is the master of his own show. My absolute favorite moment in this movie is watching MJ try and tell his conductor about the pacing for "The Way you make me feel." MJ is meticulous about what he wants and it shows MJ for being kind of mean and a bit of a perfectionist, but also as someone who understands what he wants. He says he wants it to start like "you are just getting out of bed." Then he takes the conductor through a series of tempos and vocalizing about what it is all supposed to sound like and how certain key changes need to hit at this exact moment. Then, when we see that song performed, we get it. We understand why MJ is the best and why he sold out 50 shows in London as quickly as he did.

People older than me had Elvis and the Beatles. I had MJ. MJ was a cultural icon, whose music videos were premiered on prime time because they were events. This concert would have been an event, with MJ CGIed in classic black and white movies and having a shoot out with Bogart, or how Thriller transformed into 3D or all the fireworks, and lights and sounds ans guitars. MJ perfected the idea of "Go Big or Go Home." This concert film has its hits and misses and maybe it was quickly put together to make some money off of the man, but don't the fans deserve to see what it could have been like? Watching the Thriller dance on a stage does not get old and watching MJ run, leap and fly across the stage is an absolute joy because you know that is the only place where he felt in control and had any idea of who he was. I do not want to romanticize the man because I did not know him, but I know, as a fan, I loved being able to see this.

My guess is that if MJ had lived, we would have got a concert film and a behind the scenes documentary, but instead we get this hybrid thing that does not really delve deep enough into either side. Michael never performs full out vocally and he marks much of the dancing, but his attitude is right. We see the twinkle in his eye when he sees something he likes and we see a little bit of the personality and sense of humor behind the most curious person in pop culture. The interviews with musicians, dancers and collaborators never tell me enough, but they provide some nice moments and the movie shows that MJ was not afraid to let someone else shine as his absolutely sexy 24 yr old guitarist owns the stage with her confidence and axe grinding during "Black or White."

This is It is a contrived bit of sentimentality towards Michael Jackson created by Kenny Ortega who obviously loved his time with MJ. However contrived it may be though, it is also a whole hell of a lot of fun. I wanted to sing and dance my way through the whole experience. My feet and hands were tapping constantly and I had a smile on my face throughout the movie because of the music and dancing and the pure joy MJ got from doing both of them. He was a man completely unknowable which in this day and age feels so strange and this movie will not give us much of a better idea of who he was, but at least we get to see what made him happy and we get to witness a passion for performing and that is always fun for me.

Final Grade: B+

television recap (Oct.25-31)

I am coming at this a day late, I apologize. My Halloween weekend was much busier than my weekends usually are. A few of the shows I watch were on hiatus this week, this might look a tad bit different than normal in some aspects.

10. So you think you can dance- Putting Russell in the bottom totally shocked me, but I get it. He is going to be a fan favorite, I think, so it was good he did not go home, but it was worth it to watch him dance his solo. I tend to fall on the side of liking really aggressive looking dancing, especially hip-hop and it does not get much more aggressive than Russell's brand of crumping. He straight up killed it. I also loved Monday's show because all 3 hip-hop dancers were in a dance together. Legacy's breaking is ridiculous and I hope I get to see some more kick ass hip-hop this season!

9. The Vampire Diaries- The show gets points for putting the sexy female lead in a sexy nurse costume, but loses points for putting a witch in a witch costume and a vampire in a vampire costume. However, the episode was pretty well done aside from that. They killed off a character and it was kind of gruesome. I am used to seeing vampires disappearing after being staked, but this one just shriveled up and died. It was cool, but it also means the girl could return in some way or other. I also liked that the show is giving away a little bit of mythology with the witch, the necklace and the compass. It is moving a little slowly for my tastes, but the slow build could lead to a big sexy pay off. At least that is my hope.

8. Community- The Halloween episode this week is the funniest episode of this show since the pilot. Chevy Chase on a drug trip while dressed as the Beastmaster was priceless. Then you have Abed as batman and thinking he might actually be batman, complete with voice over narration at the end and of course you have Jeff giving up sex to help his friends. Oh and Ken Jeong was in the episode so it is hard to not enjoy that. It feels a little one note at times, but I think this episode made it work for me. However, the best part of the show is often the tag at the very end of every episode, usually between the same two characters every week. it is almost always some kind of nonsense and this week it was the two guys talking in their batman voices worrying that if they were made of doughnuts they would just eat themselves.

7. The Office- The episode was pretty funny, with Michael falling in the water and all of the jokes, but honestly the opening was my favorite. Michael wanted to put on a haunted house for a group of children and Craig Robinson is pushing the kids through and failing miserably to guess what any of the workers are dressed as, but the kicker in the bad haunted house is when Michael appears to have hanged himself and actually freaks the kids out. It was not quite as good as last year's everyone was dressed as The Joker opening, but The Office is not exactly the great show it used to be. This was a really funny open and it was also had really knowing character moments, especially for Michael.

6. Californication- Hank Moody sends his daughter to New York for a weekend and in comes Moody's BFF from his high school days. I enjoy episodes where a character from the past visits because it gives us insight into who our favorite characters were before we met them. Moody was also more emotionally open to this friend than he is to anyone, which was interesting to see. There was a lot of strong writing in the episode and then it had the BIG kicker at the end of the episode which is really going to make the rest of the season a whole bunch of fun. I am curiously drawn to this Hank Moody character because his life is a lot like mine except he actually has sex with all of the girls, I just admire them from afar, but we both find beauty in all women. It makes me think that if I looked like David Ducovney I would get sex all of the time. I like that!

5. Grey's Anatomy- I don't know why, but I am really liking the episodes with less Meredith and Izzie. Christina and Owen are always a joy to watch and Lexie has kind of become a favorite, well after Arizona. Arizona going off a bit on the chief was kind of a high point and I want to be a lesbian just so I can be with her. But this episode was all Derek and his sad eyes, which this week became all sexy intense eyes. He was going to save that man's life someway some how and it was all in his eyes. SIGH. I liked seeing an episode from Derek's perspective and I thought his voice overs were interesting, not to say Meredith's aren't, but Derek's are more confident, assured and mature. I could always use more Dr. Bailey and less Chief at this moment, but maybe it is how it needs to be. Here is to hoping for more McDreamy episodes.

4. Modern Family- Every week after this show is over I wish I lived next to a wonderful gay couple with a little Vietnamese baby. Mitchell and Cameron are far and away my new favorite couple on television. They are totally adorable and this week when they locked the baby in the car and Cameron was going to throw a trash can through the car window, I nearly died from laughing so hard. The rest of the characters are funny too and the first week of school theme was nice and it was great to see an episode that did not end with the entire family together. But no matter what happens, Cameron and Mitchell continue to make this show for me. I love how prissy they are and how in love they seem. They have the funniest lines and this week was no different. This show really has the most laughs of any show I have watched in quite some time.

3. FlashForward- The Blue Hand episode was AWESOME! Using Halloween was a nice idea and how intense did the show get in so many areas this week. First the little autistic boy ended up in a house he doesn't know until the future which really ramped up the drama in the house of our favorite Alcoholic F.B.I agent. Then, Harold and The Famous Jett Jackson go on a tour of Baltimore Street, which looks as ghetto as the actual Baltimore and come up on a creepy house, with dead bodies that have blue on their hands, which is equally creepy. I loved all of the confrontations, but the winner of the week is Joseph Fiennes chasing a group of masked kids into a creepy cemetery, on Halloween to a kick ass Halloween style song. The show is doing a good job of keeping up the pacing while slowly letting the story unravel. I stopped worrying about how this show lasts more than a year and am just enjoying the ride!

2. Supernatural- Oh Poker, how I love you in television and movies. For some reason it just always works for me. It has so much intensity when done properly. It was done properly this week because the stakes were much higher than money. The chips represented years of life! Awesome premise, right? We got a sexy witch, Dean aging 40 years and being played by an awesome older actor with Dean's perfect attitude and Sam getting to be the hero, which is always a nice change of pace for the show. We also got some great serious conversational moments and finally got more than a tiny glimpse into who Bobby is now that he is wheelchair bound. It was a bit heart breaking in all honesty, but this show balances the scary and the serious better than most before it, then when you add in the humor, you have the perfect Kyle television cocktail.

1. Dexter- HOLY CRAP!!!! I cannot say too much for fear of spoiling it all for Taylor, who is my most faithful reader/only commenter, but I just want to say the final two minutes of this episode were shocking, subtle and AMAZING!! The rest of the episode was not slouchy in any way either. We got brutal violence, a nice intense semi-chase, great Dexter quips and Dexter's ghost dad getting in some serious work. There really is not a slow moment in this season as far as the main story is concerned. The Rita stuff is getting a bit tiresome, which was my worry about the season, but the John Lithgow stuff is so damn good, I am willing to forgive the Rita stuff. Oh and a hot topless girl writhing around in orgasm does not hurt in any way shape or form. Keep on being awesome Dexter. I need you in my life!