Tag Archives: Hunks o’ man

The Return of 20 Second Reviews (#14)

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Brothers
7 October 2010

Really top quality drama with three superb performances from Jake Gyllenhall, Natalie Portman and a disturbingly skinny Toby Maguire (yes, I realise that it was for the part). A wife has to deal with the news that her husband and the father to her children is missing in action, presumed dead.  His dysfunctional but dashing brother steps in to help out in her time of need and feelings develop. When the missing soldier returns after a harrowing captivity, his mental frailty is not helped by the suspicion that his brother and his wife have been doing the dirty. Considering the less than cheery subject matter, I will definitely want to see this one again. Tense but excellent.

The Bucket List
20 October 2010

With such respected and well-loved actors as Jack Nicholson (Jack!) and Morgan Freeman (God!), this film has a lot going for it even before a scene has been shot but unfortunately, it just didn’t quite live up to the potential for me.  I did enjoy it – it was fairly predictable stuff but still had entertainment value. But I felt it was slightly indulgent and in fact the thing which attracted me to it – the two lead actors – was the very thing which weakened the story-telling – I just couldn’t get past their ‘real-life’ personas. Still, it was pretty harmless. I won’t be watching it again though, unless I am stuck somewhere in a hotel and it’s the only thing on in English.

Avatar
20 October 2010

I am one of those people who can watch a film without being too influenced by the hype – I don’t judge a film more or less harshly and I often like things that have been universally panned. In other words, I am pretty open-minded and easy-to-please.  So when Avatar came along, I saw the trailer and thought, ‘it looks alright’.  I couldn’t get excited about it.  The hype was there but the reviews went both ways.  Now I must admit I did not watch it in 3-D – I avoid that anti-specs-wearer format where possible – so I admit that I might have missed some of the spectacular effects but to me this film was just ‘alright’, exactly as I thought from the trailer.  I thought it was predictable.  I thought it was pretty.  I thought that Sam Worthington was pretty (when he wasn’t blue). I thought it was a bit stupid.   I thought Sigourney Weaver‘s avatar was freaky.  I thought a lot of it was a bit freaky. I wasn’t even that blown away with the CGI – maybe I just expect CGI to look that good nowadays? Regardless,  I won’t go out of my way to watch it again.

Date Night
2 November 2010

I had high hopes for this one – Steve Carell and Tina Fey are two of my favourite comic actors and thankfully it did not disappoint.  Phil and Claire are an ordinary married couple living an ordinary life which gets turned upside down when they decide to go out to the city (NYC) for a date.  As they are enduring a lengthy wait for their table at a snooty restaurant, Phil decides to be impulsive for once and claims a table as their own, pretending to be a couple who haven’t shown up for their reservation. This seemingly harmless identity theft leads them into a whole world of trouble and hilarity.  Also there is Mark Wahlberg without his shirt.  Just sayin’. I am actually wondering why I don’t own this movie as I am sure it will be one I will want to see again and again.

Step Brothers
26 November 2010

I am a fan of Will Ferrell so again I had more high hopes for Step Brothers but I am afraid this one just didn’t live up to expectations.  It was funny and all but it was just a little Too Much.  It would have made a funny sketch in a TV comedy show but a whole movie of it was overkill and it got a little irritating.  Certainly doesn’t touch Anchorman, Talladega Nights or even Blades of Glory. Shame.

 

My definition of Quality Television

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In my list of Simple Goals, I wrote that I wanted to watch only ‘Quality Television’ but I felt I needed to elaborate as this might not mean exactly what you think it does.  You see, despite wanting to make time for the good things in life and to get things organised, I am not quite ready to give up television entirely, and in fact whilst I am breastfeeding, there really isn’t much else I can do other than read and I still haven’t managed to do that comfortably for any length of time.

However, I did have a long look at my television viewing habits and my Sky Plus planner and realised that I watch a lot of guff. So I want to approach my TV viewing with the notion of Intentional Living in mind.  Sure, I can still watch Deal or No Deal from time to time if I really want to but I want to stop wasting so much time watching said Guff just because I can’t be bothered to find something better to watch or even better, do.

Time to go

Multiple episodes of Ellen and Oprah are recording every day at the moment and frankly, much as I love these two ladies, I really don’t need to watch these episodes especially since they are so old (some aired over a year ago in the US making them rather out of date).

I also spend too much time rewatching snippets of E4 shows that I have already watched like Everwood (I don’t even know what is happening on this show since I only watch it once in a while and yet I can waste half an hour trying to figure it out) and Smallville reruns (Tom Welling is very alluring, what can I say?). Other shows getting the Kate Axe:

  • Location, Location, Location / Relocation, Relocation
  • Homes Under the Hammer
  • Cougar Town (I’m behind with this and just can’t seem to care enough to catch up)
  • One Tree Hill reruns
  • Gilmore Girls (I do not need to see it for the third maybe fourth time)
  • Hellcats – I started to watch this but realised I am too old for this kind of show and it will only make me want to be a cheerleader which as a 34 year-old British woman is most certainly not a possibility.

First time viewing

I have some decent TV (or DVD boxsets) to watch that I have never seen so I will be watching the following instead:

Mad Men (season 1) – I want to watch this for the goregous outfits and Christina Hendricks alone but I have heard many good things despite it apparently being a little slow to get going.

Community (season 1) – another show that I keep hearing good things about. We watched the first couple of episodes and I whilst I am not sure that ricardo is convinced, I definitely think it will grow on us.  It has Ken Jeong for goodness sake!

Friday Night Lights (season 5) – I keep putting off watching this final season – I think it’s because I don’t want the show to end but it has ended so I should just man-up and get watching.

I also want to carry on with new episodes of One Tree Hill, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Fringe (Joshua Jackson!), Bones, Raising Hope, the superb Modern Family, and at some point. catch up with Chuck. Plus there are some quality shows on Sky Atlantic including Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos, Treme and Bored to Death which I will be watching at some point with ricardo.  This is certainly enough to give me my teevee fill!

Old favourites

I can’t say that I won’t throw on an old favourite which I have on DVD such as Buffy, Angel or my beloved (and for the most part, oh-so-terrible) Dawson’s Creek (more Joshua Jackson!).

What I am watching: Fringe

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So I will be honest – my principal interest in starting to watch Fringe in the first place was Joshua Jackson a.k.a. Pacey Witter (a.k.a. Big Fat Pacey if you are ricardo) but this show has really grown.  Season 1 started with some mystery but a lot of procedural individual episodes.  Season 2 started really developing the whole construct of the parallel universe which has become crucial in the third season. Fringe division of the FBI deal with the weird and paranormal.  As this third season has opened, Olivia is trapped in the alternate universe while her double takes her place in the ‘real’ world, unbeknownst to the people in her life.   The series is slick – well produced with pretty decent effects and a cast which make the characters compelling.  John Noble is superb as both Walters – the befuddled quirky Walter of the real world and ‘Walternate’ who is in charge and slightly sinister.

What I am watching: Chuck

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The first word that springs to mind when I think of Chuck is FUN! This is fun show. It is now meant to be anything else.  It is silly, somewhat predictable, outrageously over the top, unrealistic and yet, FUN.  This is thanks largely to the cast who seem to have a total blast making the show: Chuck is played by the geekilcious Zachary Levi (I dare you to not find him adorable) and his co-stars Aussie bombshell Yvonne Stahovski (who kicks the most ass in a tight dress since Sydney Bristow) and Whedon-alumnus Adam Baldwin who plays the dour but loveable Casey, not forgetting the extremely funny Joshua Gomez who plays Chuck’s best friend Morgan (their bromance is totally believable!).

Seriously, The Goonies? Too cute.

**Spoilers for the UK (though again, I don’t know anyone who watches it!  You totally should – it’s on Virgin1 AKA Channel One… so it’s on Freeview, Sky and VirginMedia**

Now into the fourth season, Chuck has made a promise to his sister, Ellie, to stay out of the spy game but of course, circumstances get in the way of that promise and the first episode ends with Chuck about to come clean just as Ellie reveals that she is pregnant.  The season is shaping up to be a search for his long-lost mother – a woman that he and Ellie always thought had abandoned them but now appears to be, just like their dad, a spy and was possible captured some years ago.  I must admit that when we catch a glimpse of Mama Chuck, I squeed a little when I saw it is being played by Linda Hamilton.

Just hangin'

This is another show I look forward to each week and it helps that ricardo loves it too (we even have a little routine during the theme song: I have a special dance and he lipsyncs to the na-na-na-nas).  What can I say, when you watch a show about a geek, it rubs off…

What I am watching: The Office

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*Spoilers for the UK although I don’t know anyone that watches it over here!*

Now in its seventh season, it really is surprising how long The Office has run, especially since its inspiration, the UK original, was just two short seasons with a couple of Christmas specials.  But as I have always said, whilst the spirit of the show has been maintained, these two programmes could not be more different.  It has most definitely seen it’s most funny and emotional times but they still manage to produce a solid 30 minutes (well, more like 23 minutes after the ads are taken out) every week and it is a show I still get excited about watching so they must be doing something right.

The first episode of season 7 had a really healthy dose of the good stuff, i.e. Jim and Pam pranking Dwight and Michael being a total dill-dole.  I am pretty certain the show will not survive Steve Carell‘s departure at the end of this season – I am not sure I will not want to watch it – he is a comedy genius and has really carried the show for all these years, despite having some really spectacular back-up by way of Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer as well as some big-hitter Hollywood guest stars like Kathy Bates and Amy Ryan.    And if Michael doesn’t end up with Holly before he leaves, heads will roll, mark my words. I don’t even think John Krasinski will be enough to get me to watch, cute and funny as his is.  I could listen to him telling stories all day.