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Showing posts from June, 2013

Indie Gems: The Descent

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If you're claustrophobic, you probably shouldn't watch this.   Sarah (Shauna MacDonald) has had a rough year. She lost her husband and daughter in an accident and has been trying to keep moving forward. She decides to go spelunking (which after viewing this, I will never fucking do) with a group of her girlfriends. At one point, they mention that they are two miles BELOW ground. Suddenly, the encounter strange creatures that are going to tear them apart. Now it's a race to get back to the surface.   I actually kept stretching out my arms and legs the first time I saw this because it made me feel so claustrophobic. Just the simple line of them mentioning how deep below the earth they were made me uncomfortable. This movie really excels when it comes to the horror aspect. We don't get a good look at the creatures right away, but when we do, they're creepy as hell. It definitely doesn't lack on the gore either. I wasn't familiar with any of the actor

Review: This Is The End

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We're going to a party at Franco's house!   Some could call This Is The End a vanity project, but when your main cast is this funny, I think you get a free pass.   Jay Burachel comes to Los Angeles to visit his friend, Seth Rogen. Seth suggests they go to his friend, James Franco's house for a party. Burachel is reluctant, he doesn't care too much for this crowd. While at the party, a strange earth quake happens, and suddenly Burachel, Rogen, Franco, Danny McBride, Jonah Hill, and Craig Robinson are all stuck in Franco's house when the apocalypse happens.   All of the main cast just plays more extreme versions of themselves, and it works wonderfully. This Is The End is easily the best comedy I've seen all year. The opening scene at Franco's house party is the strongest because of all the random cameos. Michael Cera's was my favorite, it's the funniest thing I've ever seen him in. Plus we got a Superbad reunion for a few minutes the

Review: The East

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It's easy when it's not you...   Sarah (Brit Marling) is an undercover operator for an elite intelligence firm. She's tasked with infiltrating a group known as The East. They're anarchic environmentalists that are targeting large corporations. Oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, etc. Sarah is mesmerized by the group's unofficial leader, Benji. (Alexander Skarsgard) With fellow group members, Izzy, (Ellen Page) Doc, (Toby Kebbell) and Luca, (Shiloh Fernandez, how the hell this guy keeps getting roles is beyond me) Sarah gets in on their "jams" and starts to question her place in all of this.   Brit Marling not only starred in this, but she wrote the screenplay as well. I'm officially looking forward to seeing more of her, because I thought the whole thing was brilliant. The film felt very tense, as I was always worried that Sarah was going to get caught. I got very attached to her, so I felt like I was having the same dilemmas she was du

Rambling TV: True Blood episode 6.2: The Sun

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I still give zero fucks about these new characters Tonight's episode of True Blood made me scratch my head a bit. Is it wrong to say a show about supernaturals might be stretching it a bit? Here's why: When we check back at Fangtasia, Tara is still writhing in pain, because apparently it didn't occur to Pam to try to pull that bullet out of Tara? Luckily Eric shows up and uses a beer bottle to get the newly made silver bullet that emits UV light out of her body. That's right. There's now silver light up UV bullets AND special contacts that some how prevent humans from being glamoured. You know, I thought mind control had more to do with THE MIND AND NOT THE ACTUAL EYE BALL? Apparently I'm wrong, which happens sometimes. Apparently Eric's plan of action is to seduce the governor's totally not a teenage daughter. We don't know what Nora's plan of action is yet. (Hopefully it's meeting the true death.) Sookie gets called into work. (F

Indie Gems: Adventureland

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We all had that crappy summer job.   In some instances, maybe it lasted even longer than the summer. Either way, that first minimum wage job is gives our lead character his reality check.     James (Jesse Eisenberg) had planned on spending the summer after college in Europe, however he has some financial set backs and is forced to take a job at a local amusement park. It's at this job that he becomes infatuated with Em, (Kristen Stewart) makes new friends and learns a lot of life lessons on the way.   Despite this film having the typical awkward performances of Eisenberg and Stewart, it's actually very enjoyable to watch. They work well in the roles given to them, and the supporting cast (Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig, Ryan Reynolds, etc) are nice additions as well. I found this movie to be a little nostalgic in a way. It reminded me of all of the summers I spent working multiple jobs during school, and how I don't miss that at all.   Grade: B   Memorabl

Rambling TV: What I Want From Game of Thrones Season 4

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With season 3 of Game of Thrones wrapped in an arguably underwhelming fashion to an otherwise fantastic season, we're left wondering what's in store for us in season 4. Here's a few things I would like to see. Minor Storm of Swords/Feast For Crows/Dance With Dragons spoilers ahead. I'll try to be as vague as possible regarding the plot so that non readers can read this too, but I'll mention a few character's names. No deaths, don't worry. 1) Please make Jaime and Brienne being in King's Landing early worth while . -  Right now, this is a glaring mistake in my opinion. I hope that I'm wrong, and that they do something wonderful with this, because I honestly can't see how this is going to work. 2) Trim down the Iron Islanders. - One of the things I hated the most in AFFC was the edition of so many Iron born characters. I honestly would not even bat an eyelash if Asha/Yara was the only one they focus on. I'm still going back and forth

Super Sweet Blogging Award

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  It's been quite some time since I've received one of these. I'd like to thank the lovely Anna from Defiant Success for passing this on to me.     Rules Thank the Super Sweet Blogger that nominated you. Answer 5 Super Sweet questions. Include the Super Sweet Blogging Award in your blog post. Nominate a baker's dozen (13) of other deserving bloggers. Notify your Super Sweet nominees on their blogs. Questions: Cookies or cake?  Cookies. (which coincidently I'm baking at the moment) Chocolate or vanilla?   Chocolate. Favorite sweet treat?  Anything chocolate works for me. When do you crave sweet things the most?  Towards the end of the night. Sweet nickname?  Sugar Plum (a co-worker jokingly changed everyone's name plates at our cubicles with random nick names. I got Sugar Plum.) My 13: (Honestly, I wrote this post on June 7th, and I know a few of you have been tagged since then, but I want to give this to you anyways.) 1) On Page an

Rambling TV: True Blood episode 6.1

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Who Are You, Really? gif via thefilmfatale   After a disastrous season 5, True Blood is starting right where we left off, with Bill turning into Bilith and subsequently confusing/scaring the hell out of everyone.   Sookie, Eric, Pam, Tara, Nora, Jessica, and Jason all escape the Authority's headquarters and try to figure out what they should do about Bill. They know it's no longer him, but they can't agree on how they should handle the situation. Then Nora drops a bombshell. Warlow, the same Warlow that killed Sookie and Jason's parents is actually IN the vampire bible, and he was Lilith's progeny. Jason gets angry at Sookie for protecting her vampire friends and storms off, Pam points out the fact that Nora is annoying as hell, and Eric gets annoyed with her. I'm not a fan of that. Nora is one character I hope meets the true death sooner rather than later. The Pam/Eric dynamic is one of the funniest things about this show, and Pam/Tara ain't cu

Indie Gems: Thank You For Smoking

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Don't hide the truth. Just filter it. Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is a tobacco lobbyist. He's a talented public speaker and serves as the chief spokesperson for Big Tobacco. He takes his young son (Cameron Bright) along with him on what he thinks will be a routine business trip, but it wouldn't be a movie if everything went according to plan, right? This was the first Jason Reitman film I'd ever seen. I guess it appealed to me because even though I don't smoke, I grew up constantly around it. So when I hear people complain about smoke in a bar, I kind of just want to slap them and tell them to get over it. That aside - this was the start of what became Reitman's classic style. It's funny, deadpan, and the cast is fantastic. Even Katie Holmes manages to turn in a performance where she doesn't suck. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the film was the subtitles that appeared at the bottom of the screen occasionally. That was a nice to

Mix Tape Movies: Rock Bottom

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Andy over at Fandango Groovers  has yet another fantastic idea for a blogathon. He wants us to throw together a mix tape of sorts. Five movies with a common theme, plus one wild card. I've actually been trying to think of a theme for a mix tape for weeks now. It wasn't until recently that one finally came to mind - Rock Bottom . I had an incident that didn't go my way not too long ago, it was totally out of my control, and no matter what I did, I couldn't fix it at that time. Plus, it happened on my birthday so I felt like my entire day had been ruined. It's pretty inconsequential looking back, but at the time I had joked "Where the fuck is bottom?" which is a line from a wonderful little indie film called Hello I Must Be Going. So that's what inspired my mix. Here's a few films where the characters had to hit rock bottom before they could rise above. Hello, I Must Be Going Amy is going through an unexpected divorce with little to no su

Rambling TV: Game of Thrones episode 3.10

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The "Where the fuck is Ghost?" edition gif via songofwolves   ( Yes, I'm still trying to find a format I like for these posts )     Game of Thrones: "Mhysa" *The Twins - Worst Bannerman ever Roose Bolton watches from above as his men slaughter the Stark men. The Hound has wisely grabbed a Frey banner and is attempting to leave the massacre with a knocked out Arya, only she comes to at possibly the worst moment ever: When the Freys are parading her bother's body with his direwolf's head nailed on top of it with a sword as they shout "Here comes the King in the North!" That little bit almost made me cry, it hurts that Arya actually sees that. A little later as her and The Hound are fleeing, she overhears a small group of Frey men making fun of her mother's last dying scream. Arya walks over to their group and asks to share their fire. She offers her Braavosi coin, which she drops. When the man goes to pick it up, she whip

Indie Gems: The Hottest State

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Did she ever love you?   The Hottest State follows William Harding (Mark Webber), a young actor trying to make it big in New York City. He meets singer/songwriter Sarah (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and instantly falls in love with her. She enjoys his company, but doesn't feel as strongly as he does. Yet, she seems quite manic and soon they're in a whirlwind relationship that we know is going to end. They even pretend to break up with each other as a game. We know that can't be good.   Mark Webber caught my attention in For A Good Time Call... Plus there's the fact that he's a Minnesota Twins fan AND dating one of my favorite up and coming actresses, Teresa Palmer, so that makes him instantly interesting in my book. He's good here. Harding is NOT a perfect character. Sarah refers to him as "intense" at one point in the film, and that's a huge understatement. His parents split up when he was a kid and his mother moved them from Texas to New Y

Review: Mud

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This movie made me realize something.   As the parent of a young boy, I'm horrified to think that one day my son is going to ask his friend "Did she have nice titties?" Oh God...     Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) go to an island in the Mississippi river to see s deserted boat in the trees, and instead encounter Mud. (Matthew McConaughey) He's a fugitive, but he tells the boys he did what he did for love. (How very Jaime Lannister of him) They soon start helping him by retrieving parts to get this boat working, and to reunite him with his one true love, Juniper. (Reese Witherspoon) But there is a mini Boardwalk Empire reunion are people hot on his trail, and the boys soon learn that not everything is as simple as it seems.   First off, the two boys in this film were great. Where the hell were the Iron Man 3 casting directors when they were looking for someone to fill their "token precious child" role? Either of these two

Rambling TV 5/26-6/2 (The "I'm in a glass case of emotion!" edition)

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        Alright, I need a cyber cuddle! Who's going to cyber cuddle with me? In order to accurately describe how I feel about this episode of Game of Thrones I'm going to use gifs of the wonderful Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman. Because how this article gloriously points out, no one cries like Aaron Paul.  *I wanted to cry when I saw The Twins on our opening credits map. *Sam and Gilly finally reach the Wall, and still manage to not do a whole lot. (Though they will actually do something meaningful here soon.) *Jon Snow finally escaped the Wildlings, and managed to kill a few on the way out. I actually really liked this scene, it's sad to know that Bran and Rickon were so close to Jon. ("So close" is apparently the theme of this episode.) *Walder Frey was actually pretty funny, and I hate myself for laughing. Where the hell is Professor McGonagall? Filch needs to be put in his place! *Osha was killing it this episode. Natalia Tena has done wond