What a SHOW! Was it ROCKY? Or a HORROR?

Click HERE for a really interesting discussion about last night's Rocky Horror themed episode of Glee. Dave Itzkoff and Reecca Milzoff both make coherent and pointed observations about the show, and share some opinions about the season/program overall.

....a post of my own to follow soon....

(picture courtesy of nytimes.com)

Halloween Spirit

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday (my most favorite of all, no less) I spent my morning trolling the internet for new horror releases and specially featured screenings of classic Halloween favorites. In my search, I stumbled upon what looks to be a promising gem.

The Loved Ones, an Australian import, is a story about a crush gone very wrong. Lola, a quiet and awkward girl becomes taken with Brent, a troubled young man who is haunted by his father's death and mother's subsequent breakdown. Despite his rebellious behavior and psychological burdens, he finds solace in his normal, caring, beautiful girlfriend. But Lola's jealousy becomes unmanageable after Brent rejects her invitation to the school dance, and she takes a dark road towards getting what she wants.

After watching only the trailer, I'm already convinced of this film's potential. Featuring Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, and John Brumpton, the preview of The Loved Ones portrays the film as campy, engaging, excessive, and down right disturbing. It looks fantastic!

In the vein of High Tension, with clear inspiration from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 'Ain't It Cool News' seems to have gotten it right with their description of the film as "a truly demented masterpiece."

Obviously it's difficult to really say anything about a film I haven't seen. But The Loved Ones has been featured at 12 different film festivals, and highly lauded at each. As a horror junky, I'm pretty excited about seeing this (hopefully on the big screen), and can't wait to really get into it's content and style.

The Loved Ones - HD Trailer C.O. IMDB.com

Summer's Lingerings

I try to shy away from indulging in blogging about myself, but this time I just can't help it.

Fall and winter are two of my least favorite seasons. Not because of the weather or the temperature - to be honest I actually really love the whole aura of autumn. Fall fashion is up there in my favorites list. I love wearing boots, and probably have more pairs than I do heels. Nothing is more satisfying than going out in a pair of jeans, boots, a t-shirt, and a light weight jacket.

What I dislike about this time of year is how it wreaks havoc on my hair. I'm not quite wavy, but I'm not a curly girl either. To make matters worse, my hair is baby-light, so it's incredibly difficult to control and style naturally. If I use too little product, my flies around with a mind of its own, and bares a striking resemblance to wispy airy cotton candy. If I put too much in my hair it gets weighed down, becoming almost straight at my crown but curly at the bottom.

There's very little room for compromise with my hair - it tends to do whatever it wants, particularly now. The back and forth of dry and humid air mixed with cooler temperatures makes for quite the interesting look, and leaves me reaching for a hair tie. As winter approaches, it gets drier and drier, and I often feel little shocks around my neck and ears when my down jacket creates static cling...

So, I'm often at a loss... What's a girl to do!?

I think I may have figured out the answer - reinstate summer products!

Summer is my season. I swim almost every weekend in the ocean, and something about that salt transforms my limp strands and makes me feel like a bombshell. My hair does exactly what I want it to! I have body, texture, and - more often than not - control. It's brilliant... But, now I'm stuck with what I've got, and what I've got isn't great.

This morning when I woke up I found myself staring in the mirror at the remnants of yesterday's satisfactory style. My hair was pressed flat on top, curly elsewhere and awkwardly wavy most everywhere else. In short, my style was inconsistent and unpleasant. And, having slept in longer than I expected, I didn't have time to shower this morning. I felt despondent. I had a full day of work ahead of me, dinner plans tonight, and refused to concede myself to a ponytail or bun.

It was at that moment that I remembered the best investment I had made in some time - Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray.

It is magical. Used on wet or dry hair, this product provides you with a windswept beachy look. Honestly, even the consistency of your locks has that soft but salty feel, as if you've been swimming all morning and let your hair dry in the sun. After flipping my head over and spraying around like a maniac, I scrunched and crunched until my hair felt dry again. I flipped back up and looked in the mirror... and my hair looked better than it has in weeks.

I love this little product!

pure love

More More More!

JUNE 20th, 2009

YEAR ONE

In the same vein as Superbad (as well as containing a majority of the same film’s cast), Year One is able to pull the laughs, scoffs, “ewwws,” and cult fans.

The film boasts a stellar cast of comedic giants like Hank Azaria, Oliver Platt and David Cross. But aside from the many hilarious cameos, the primary cast is perfect in each of their roles. They offer just the right amount of true acting talent, even if it is buried underneath disgusting scenes where characters piss all over their own faces, shit in their beds, and repeat many of the same jokes, over and over again.

Aside from the “toilet humor” throughout, the film is actually pretty good for this genre, and I think this can be attributed to its direction. What makes Harold Ramis such a fantastic director is his ability to understand both sides of filmmaking - what it takes behind the scenes to make a film great, and what the actors in front of the camera must project in order to give the performance demanded of them. Ramis is able to relate to his actors, and can therefore draw out the comedy necessary to get just the right amount of laughs. His hands on approach is what has made Year One an effective film. This is a Harold Ramis film, through and through.

And the multitude of Jewish jokes… oy! Don’t get my started. Hilarious… if not, again, over done…

In all honesty, this is my kind of genre. I’m a Jack Black junkie and I love Michael Cera’s dry delivery. These men are characters in their own right, which makes them relatable and believable. When one imagines meeting them in person, it’s almost expected that hey will behave as their characters always do. Well done casting team, well done.

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WEEDS - SEASON 5

Only 3 episodes in, and Season 5 is already proving to be much more entertaining than the train wreck that was Season 4 of Weeds.

Shane is still incredibly troubled, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from him. At this point it’s no longer annoying. His quirky and disturbing interest in his own family’s sexual exploits is now nothing more than a strange and almost acceptably character trait.

Nancy’s formerly irritating ignorance is FINALLY getting her into trouble. She’s not simply a pair of big brown eyes anymore. She knows what’s going down, and it’s starting to break her. While last season I was simply annoyed with her story, I now look forward to what comes next.

Celia is still a bit excessive… but now that she’s finally admitted she has no friends and nobody to turn to, she is actually becoming somewhat relatable.

The episodes are better written and, as usual, incredibly well directed and shot. Season 5 is looking promising kiddies… Lets see what happens…

Catching Up...

Realized I have some left over posts from my Tumbler that never made the journey here to blogger...

JUNE 5th, 2009

WEEDS

Finally making my way through the fourth season of Weeds (trying to catch up before the new season begins this week), and I’m thoroughly disappointed with the quality of the show these days.

Season Three started to go downhill towards the end, but I never expected it to get this bad. The writing and dialogue are still up to par, and the acting is always fantastic, but it seems the writers are reaching for plot points and story lines. Everything is over the top and exaggerated, and the characters are becoming caricatures of their former selves. Nancy’s wide eyed play at innocence is getting old, but her attempts at dominance are growing more pathetic. And poor, poor Silas, always failing with the women in his life, getting stuck in reckless and uncomfortable situations. Shane’s smart/eccentric little boy phase is also becoming overwhelming. Taking control of security in the house… awesome. The whole talking to his dead father thing… weird. Masturbating to old pictures of Nancy… awwwwwkwarrrrdddd. And don’t even get me started on Celia.

As far as this viewer is concerned, the only ray of light in the show anymore is Guillermo. I’m a huge fan of Diaz’s work (particularly in the masterpiece “Half Baked”), and I’m really glad that they’ve kept him around… I was hoping that he’d become a more regular character after his first appearance.

I’m desperately hoping that Season Five has more to offer.

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STAR TRECK

Monday evening I went to see STAR TRECK with my uncle - a fan since childood - and I actually thoroughly enjoyed the film! I was really shocked, though, to find that my uncle loved it too. I was convinced he would take issue with inaccuracies, or simply with the fact that it was a remake of one of his childhood favorites... But no. He had just as much fun as I did.

The special effects are surprisingly well done. Nothing is over the top, and the film’s visual style is able to stand on its own, while remaining somewhat reminiscent of George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” trilogy. There is no reason to question the blending of environments - Vulcan cities, schools, and topography are equally as realistic as Earths dry Iowa. The futuristic elements do not overshadow the realistic settings, nor do they take away from the very human interactions throughout the film. In terms of effects and style, the only problem I encountered while watching the film was Kirk’s green love interest - she brought up images of Idina Menzel in “Wicked” on Broadway.

One confusing element of the film is the time travel and existence of a present and future Spock. Obviously this is one circumstance where reason and believability is overcome by story (We are talking about a science fiction film, after all!). However, as I left the theater I felt as if there were some significant plot holes. I simply might not have been paying close enough attention to the explanation of this anomaly… But as such a significant portion of the film revolved around time travel, especially changes in the course of history, I was left feeling that the overall issue was unresolved.

Finally, the acting is impeccable. Zachary Quinto’s performance as Spock has been surprisingly praised by old-school Treckies and new fans alike (even by Leonard Nimoy himself!). He is able to master his character’s emotionlessness, providing a dramatic and serious performance, while also adding hints of coy and knowing sarcasm that only Quinto can deliver. Performances aside though, the real beauty of the film lies in the casting choices made by the filmmakers. Unexpected but fitting picks such as John Cho, Simon Pegg and even the young Jimmy Bennett bring the characters to life, turing them into dynamic and relatable individuals - not caricatures of the original cast. One unusual choice, though, is the casting of Winona Ryder as Spock’s human mother. Not believable. Not good. Simply… odd.

Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It was exciting, entertaining, but also well made. All the elements (cinematography, direction, writing, etc) came together cohesively and effectively to produce a great summer blockbuster.