Speaking of Dollhouse, I had to force myself to keep watching and I’m glad I did, yes it’s cheesy and not it’s not the best thing out there but I liked it, not loved it mind you but liked it. The idea is brilliant and it’s been interesting to see the characters develop and see what new situations they get into. (that wasn’t meant to sound like I was talking about a sit-com) Eliza Dushku isn’t the best actress but she did develop the part and the show with Joss Whedon (yes I am a HUGE Buffy/Angel fan) so I knew the idea would be great, I wish they were given a bigger budget though, I think that would have gone a long way. I loved seeing actors from other shows Joss has worked on, it always feels like a family reunion but the good kind.

Lastly my TV viewing this month is Long Way Round and Long Way Down two documentary type shows about two men taking a motorcycle trip across the world starting in London and ending in New York (Long Way Round) and another trip from The northernmost tip of Scotland and ending in the southern most tip of South Africa. Of course the big draw for me (besides the adventure) was Ewan McGregor. I admit he was the reason i was curious but after watching it for a bit I didn’t care, I was more interested int he experiences they were having and being able to see parts of the world I’d only heard of and not really seen in this way, seeing the stark differences between Ethiopia and Kenya was amazing, starting in Northern Africa which is mostly sand and very modern to parts of the country that are torn apart by wars, and poverty and genocide was amazing. I had no idea africa was so diverse and I’m ashamed of myself for that. Watching the joy and excitement of seeing Elephants and gorillas in the wild made me all that more excited about it.

The funny parts were when Ewan was recognized, much less in Africa and when he was it was much more casual and matter of fact than when he was crossing the world through Russia and the other former Soviet Union countries, where it was almost annoying and might have hurt the experience for him. (the trip across Asia was the first so the Africa trip might have been influenced by that more) I saw the Africa experience first which was filmed in 2007 and the first in 2004, so in the first he had just finished filming the second Star Wars movie and was getting ready to film the third, there is even footage of him in the beginning stages of planning with him in Australia on set. So one of the first stops and my favorite funny moment was a stop in Tanzania to the place they filmed the “first” movie, it’s where Luke grew up, his Uncles house and it’s been kept up beautifully. If you don’t know much about Ewan he’s a huge star wars fan so it wasn’t just an ego thing to be there it was a true fan appreciation! It was funny that no one noticed him even with the posters, there is a shot of him standing against a poster and nothing, I had to giggle at that. The most amazing part of both shows was Libya though. As an American there is little chance that we will be able to see it first hand (and 2 of the support crew were Americans and were not allowed to participate in that leg of the trip) which is sad because it was fantastic. I had no idea how beautiful it was, They have ruins just like i Rome and Athens but untouched because it’s not exactly a tourist destination. The North African coastline is beautiful and it makes me sad and jealous that I’ll never be able to see it. In the first show the amazing part for me was Mongolia, another mostly untouched country, but this by location than politics. They came through a portion of Mongolia that is rarely used and just pristine and beautiful. It reminded me of Eastern Oregon but not at the same time, it’s hard to explain.  I think it’s what parts of America looked like before it was settled and ruined by roads and towns and whatnot. Being able to experience so much of Mongolia and how diverse it is was fascinating, I worked with someone for a short time that was from Mongolia and all I had known were of the nomadic peoples so I would ask him about the country and felt stupid for not knowing that there are indeed large cities and whatnot. Seeing it through so many different ways was great and I’ve definitely put it on my to do list of travels, probably pretty low as it’s not so easy to get to but I’d love to experience it for sure. Seeing Ewan at his most annoying makes me idolize him less and see him much more as a person, but I feel like he’s a friend now and not just a super HOT guy on the movie screen. Oh and I feel like an ass for not mentioning him earlier Charlie Boorman was his companion through out this trip, the are best friends and I enjoyed getting to know him just as much. The other great thing is that the support team was just as much of the experience and I liked that, it was a group of men going on these amazing journeys together and bonding through some of the toughest things I have ever seen and never though about.

Biggest difference? NYILY was crap. 2 decent sections out of the whole things. in Paris it was the opposite maybe 2 were crap but comparably the good two in NY were mediocre and nothing in Paris came close to being as bad as in NY.
In Paris, they shot each short film based on sections of the city, they told you what section it was and that was all, the stories were clean and precise and some worked well others not but it was all subjective. I have a totally different view of Paris now that I’ve seen that movie. I have things I want to see that aren’t the usual touristy locations, but there are those as well. There were nice blends between the sections so it didn’t look like a big clip show and it was smooth and even.
In NY there were no sections, there were no markers as to where they were, the only place you know of for sure is Central Park. Everything had the same feel/look to it save a small few sections. It was impossible to really know what was going on and there were far more goofy/weird than there should have been.
That being said my two favorites were Brett Ratner’s (yeah the guy who did the Rush Hour movies…) cute tale of a High Schoolers (Anton Yelchin) Prom date after being dumped by his super hot girlfriend (played by Blake Lively). James Caan was the pharmacist who offers up his beautiful daughter to be the substitute date. I won’t ruin it for you but I’ll say it was adorable and funny completely different pace then the rest which Paris did well.
The second one I loved was written and directed by Natalie Portman. She acted in one segment earlier on but it fell short, could have been great but it wasn’t all there.
Natalie did an amazing job. It reminded me of my favorite section in Paris. They are both about two people having a conversation and you don’t know the whole truth till the end. The Paris one was much better but considering NY it’ll do.
The best of all starred Shia LaBeouf… Don’t get me wrong I adore him but this is the guy that people are totally blowing off because of Transformers (not his best move but you know who he is now) so forgive me for saying “Dude the best acting was done by Shia Fucking LaBeouf, you know the Transformers kid? the one you keep making fun of? Yeah. Luckily I know he’s talented but it’s pretty fucking sad that he’s the best of all. Granted the story was good, I’m not 100% sure what all was going on in it… But I think that was the point. I’ll give it 3 stars on Netflix because I didn’t hate it but, meh, makes me sad, even if I knew it wasn’t going to be great. Oh the Bradley Cooper/Drea de Matteo interaction was good, not as pulled together as it could have been but it was an in between scene and not a full section like the others.
Anyway, See Paris, Je t’aime and I promise you, Nike Nolte will seem like a totally different person to you… I Promise.

I saw “A Single Man” last night and it was beautiful. Tom Ford (Yes the man who resurrected Gucci) directed it. Of course the clothing was beautiful, everything was perfectly placed. visually it was stunning. Every scene was perfectly placed. I wouldn’t say it’s the best movie i’ve ever seen, but it is beautiful, it’s in the top 5 of the most beautiful for sure.

I also saw “Inglorious Basterds” and wow. I LOVED it. That is definitely in my top five of all time now. I loved everything about it. Of course I love Tarintino movies in general but this was definitely definitely top 5 material.

Over the weekend I went to “Up in the Air” on my own and I really liked it. It was good, the reality of it was impressive and George is always tasty. Not sure what else to say about it really. I should be more “reviewish” but I don’t know if I want to… Just giving my love (or non love) for what I like and a brief glance into why.

and here we have it… the List of movies i’ve seen off netflix since i last blogged about movies. (it’s not good, it’s a lot of friggin movies to write about…) Ok here goes. It’s going to be a bit truncated, i really should be doing somethign else (but I really don’t want to)

28 Weeks Later - I watched maybe an hour of this. It was way gorier than the first and my DVD player was acting up, in fact it’s the last movie i saw in my DVD player, Oh did I mention it DIED? Yeah… That’s another story.

Stardust – First off I LOVE Neil Gaiman, and I remember liking the book. I really really loved this movie. I don’t remember the book being this good , but it’s been at least 10 years since I read it and I read a lot so… It was beautifully done and funny and just wonderful.

Stomp the Yard – Not to bad, it was a bit annoying at times, formulaic but it didn’t put me to sleep!

Ocean’s Thirteen – Can’t get enough of the Ocean team. I mean Come on WHO can resist Elliott Gould? But seriously it was a good movie, esp for a third movie. I wasn’t crazy about the whole thing they were doing (what were they doing?) but I loved everyone’s characters and how they played them. I think that’s what i like more, the individuals and their character development, it just makes me happy, and there are a few hotties to watch…

Lars and the Real Girl - Reviews I read sad this movie was creepy and lame, but I really liked it. It made sense to me in a psycological/analytical way, you work out what you need to work out how you need to work it out yeah? The town coming together made me happy and Ryan Gosling is hot even when he’s a little socially backwards!

Bridge to Terabithia - one of my favorite books as a kid and another movie that was great that I forgot what the book was like but I knew the basic plot points. It was well done and the 20 odd years between the last read and watching the movie made it just perfect.

Superman Returns - Not bad, not great but not bad. Again haven’t watched the Superman movies in a long time so it didn’t seem to off base. of course I “Know” he’s to young to be where the movies left off but I set it aside. He did a great job at being all awkward and what not as Clark Kent, As an adult though it bothers me that Lois CAN’T TELL IT’s THE SAME PERSON… Sigh, it’s ok. again he’s cute you get over it.

Catch and Release - Meh, I didn’t hate it but I wouldn’t be hurt if I never watched it again. it was entertaining just had to many “What?” moments in it.

August Rush - Probably the biggest disappointment. To many WTF’s and not enough happily ever after (before the movie ends)

Into the Wild – Yet another book I’ve read ages ago and now seeing the movie. Well done. I didn’t remember how it ended exactly so while i knew what to expect just not how. It was sad and beautiful and well done. It’s even moer exciting now that I’ve met the author’s sister and know that he’s and Oregonian!

28 Days Later – was trying to rent 28 weeks later so i didn’t watch it again. still 100% times better than the second. bleh.

Across the Universe – WOW. I was afraid when the opening credits started that it would be campy and annoying but it was WOW. I had the soundtrack for months and months so it was a little boring to listen to but after watching the movie it made it SO much better. The commentary was great too. It made it even better. Actually I watched every extra it had and I think it’s something i need to own.

Oh and I bought Stranger Than Fiction because it’s beautiful. i also bought the CD on iTunes, I will not go off on my iTunes tirade today i’ll leave that for another day

So yeah life has been crazy, just when you think you are back in a grove you get shoved back off. It’s been interesting and hopefully soon I’ll be able to really get into it. There is just to much to do before I can get to it!

Love you all! oh and a Photo from my weekend (Girls weekend at the Coast with my family, it was fantastic)

Blood Diamond – I was at my grandparents last weekend and they have Satellite TV and I was flipping through trying to find a good movie. I settled on Blood Diamond and my grandma watched it with me. I’m sure it was more violence than she likes and it was for me as well but it was so good. It’s not an unfamiliar topic to me. I stopped wanting anything to do with diamonds (conflict free or not) in like 1998 or so. It’s so nice to see something else about it. My grandma and I talked about it during the movie and a little after. She kept saying “I had no idea” so it felt good to be able to share something like that with her.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – I’ve seen this one ages ago but it was on so I watched it again. Anything with Mos Def in it is good! Plus Hi I’m a geek! I read the book at 13 and was delighted to find out that my favorite number is THE number! It was really fun to watch the movie again and the scene where they are all knitted is my favorite. I really should get a copy for my library. It’s fantastic.

Once my netflix starts up again (new CC # kind of messed me up and then I over spent so it’ll be tomorrow before I get it paid and on to more movies.) you can look forward to my reviews of Dexter and other movies that I can’t remember at the moment.

Have a great day!!!

The Queen – Good, well acted but a tad boring. I woke up drooling. It was an interesting take on Diana’s death though. It brought back a lot of memories and what not.

Ratatoullie – SO cute! I got this from my mom for Xmas and it was delightful. Pixar always does such a great job on their movies. It pleased my inner child and my outer adult and there wasn’t any over their heads comments aimed at adults.

Constantine – Saw this with my roommate and she was a bit scared at first. I saw it when it came out in the theaters and bought it when i was at my mom’s last weekend. It was just as fantastic this time around and I woke up this morning to my roommate reviewing it and taking notes. There is nothing better than showing a friend a movie and having them love it as much or more than you do.

Once – I really wanted my roommate to watch this movie since i loved it so much. We watched it today and she loved it too. It’s so hard to explain it “is it a love story”? “Well kind of but not really”… The best is when you tell someone it’s a musical. They give you that one eyebrow up look and are completely skeptical.

We also watched a marathon of Samantha Who? I LOVE that show. it’s on the same time as Heroes though and sorry NOTHING is taking me away from that!

Ok it’s late and I have to work in the AM (Only 4 hours though, I mean it IS New Years Eve!)

So if I don’t update in the next 23 hours. Have a happy new year and may all your wishes come true!

Week of December 24, 2008
Superbad - My lovely Roommate watched this as we were knitting Sunday (?) night and couldn’t stop laughing. Totally dirty and super funny. I haven’t sent it back yet and I think I’m going to watch it again before I do.

Once - I watched this last night and I’m completely in love with it. A friend at work sent me the link to the website (http://www.foxsearchlight.com/once/) and I got a chance to listen to a few of the tracks and fell in love before I’d even watched the movie, now that I’ve seen it I can’t

It’s definitely one of those movies you should see if you like good music and a good almost love story.

That’s all for this week. Or at least for now. I have one more movie here and I got two for Xmas from my mom and I bought two I’ve seen already but I’d love to talk about.