3 Multiplex Movies on 6/20

Triple Feature yesterday on my bday.



Kung Fu Panda - Nice voice work from Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman especially..also the voice of the Turtle was good. Impressive animation, and I'm generally not that crazy about animated movies. Charming and well written-enough, even if it did seem to borrow from STAR WARS and THE KARATE KID kinda blatantly. Possibly the best thing Jack Black's done since SCHOOL OF ROCK. 6/10


Indiana Jones 4 - The scenes between Ford and Allen gave it some charm. The story was a bit of a stretch. But it definitely felt like a nostalgia piece for the main people involved. Maybe not as bad as DOOM, but that's not saying too much. THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK ADAPTATION WAS MILES BETTER and I'm certainly glad I went to that opening weekend instead. 4/10


Get Smart - Carrell was obvious to play this role, unfortunately it had to include more than enough of him doing his-own attempts at humor, which ends up being a very low percentage that is actually funny. Anne Hathaway is reasonable eye candy, and Alan Arkin was serviceable as his boss, but ultimately I don't think this lived-up to even half of what it could have been. Even Hiro from HEROES couldn't help it enough. Some of the jokes in the 2nd half helped, but much like many of these desperate cases of Hollywood with no original screenplays so they turn to make an old popular show into a movie, this was not really an exception in mediocrity. 4.5/10

Return To Forever in Minneapolis Tonight!

I've waited many years..many others have waited many more years in fact. FINALLY, arguably the greatest assembly of talent in 1 band is back to grace the stage in Minneapolis this evening. This hopefully will be special and I can die without seeing this collection of talent all at once on stage.

Kevin Garnett has the monkey off his back..

they of course didn't say this, but basically his exuberation and RELIEF after finally winning an NBA Title tonight had as much to do with a huge weight finally being lifted on his career and life.

I've been a fan of his ever since he was drafted by the Wolves out-of-nowhere in June of 1995..a pretty significant month/time for me anyway. And even tho this accomplishment didn't happen for my hometown club, it did feel like part of it was won for my team and town. All those years, games, radio broadcasts, sports talk shows discussions, etc, etc..

When he made the analogy of conquering a bully finally..how it felt, I see it as basically all the people seeing him as the NBA Heir-Apparent to Jordan. KG-NBA, etc..dynamic, happy, energetic, marketable..but he never won, never had Jordan's clutch-abilty, killer-instinct. He wasn't the god that people expected him to be, especially after the league/all-of-sports changing $121 million contract.

But now, he has respect, and he's in history.

Now it's just a matter of how much of a historical statement he'll make the rest of his career and so on.

My Wolves, well, Kevin McHale who drafted him and deserves credit, very well may never find what our fanbase deserves..but then again the biggest team in this town hasn't either so it's not that surprising. But maybe, the monkey will find a way off their backs in my lifetime, given some changes happen. But without the #1 pick in the NBA draft, ever, that could be 1 change that could do that.

Psych TV Show Podcasts Available

Understand, I LOVE this show..can't wait til it returns, and I'll likely have more to write about it soon as to why. But the podcasts actually illustrate a lot of that itself.



a new blog was posted here

or for non-myspace this blogger account also was setup.

They're from last Summer, and not the highest of quality, but my apologies for such a long delay. They really are fun to do/hear at times, at least for myself and friend. I would say, it does help to REMEMBER or know the episodes to understand them better, but regardless, I hope some folks will get a kick out of them.

Men In Trees RIP

Well the Series finale of this show happened tonight. Long after it was announced it was cancelled of course on ABC. At the same time, this episode and the way the show ended pretty clearly was at best a SEASON finale, and I can imagine some of the way they had a lot of the romantic twists the last 5mins happen were written-in on the last day of shooting.

But the things to say about this show, it's funny how I really am not one to get too attached to shows like Desperate Housewives and even Grey's Anatomy. Sex and the City as well. Gilmore Girls being one of the big exceptions, but that show had a lot more to it than all the soapy lovey-dovey crap, so the chic-show romantic-focus of that show was tolerable given the payoff with the writing, characters, and humor.

Men In Trees, sorta seemed this decade's renewal to NORTHERN EXPOSURE on the surface, and while it probably did not get to nearly the level of quality or character development of that show, it certainly grew on me and others. But ABC, not unlike some other networks, never gave it any stability or a chance to really get the viewers attached. Not finishing the 1st season, then making the May Sweeps episodes part of the 2nd Season's beginning (not airing them in the Summer like they could have of course). Not advertising it at all either.

It was put on after GREY'S ANATOMY the Spring of '07 and of course the ratings were very good. But of course when the fall lineups were announced it was moved to FRIDAYS, which of course is often a dooming night for a show.

But still, when it did air, I couldn't help enjoy watching it, even if it was a marathon of catchup from the DVR last March.

Very much reminds me of another similar kind of ABC show the same thing happened to just last year.



not given a chance, this show was addictive, especially the Spring it premiered. JJ Abrams was behind it, etc..for some reason the suits at ABC weren't impressed enough by it to even run ads that Summer/Fall and then it didn't even manage to have a proper Series finale as well, airing the final episode in March. It's really too bad, the writing, drama, subtle comedy, and characters you became attached to. Not to mention they managed to have a handful of eye-candy. I still felt Brian should have got together with Marjorie, but it would have been hard to skate-past the whole conflict with him killing his best-friend's wedding and marriage to her. Thankfully Sarah Lancaster is now on CHUCK, and a regular guest star/looker in Rachel LeFevre is to star finally (she has a good recent list of guest-appearances) in the borrowed British TV--premise of LIFE ON MARS as well. My friend thinks the show started shark-jumping when they killed off Angelo anyway. I need to see the DVDs now as there is an unaired episode included.

So..2 years in a row..SHARK and MOONLIGHT are also gone and I mourn their loss as well. But this does not seem surprising 2 consecutive seasons with an ABC Dramedy. Suppose I'll come to expect it every year from now on. Hey, some of the best tv only have short-runs as Judd Apatow remarked on the FREAKS AND GEEKS DVDs.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with some of the MiT's cast. Anne Heche?..maybe movies again. Nicholas Lea will go back to KYLE XY next Winter. Maybe they could get the actress who played Sara to appear on the KYLE-show. And maybe John Amos will guest appear on PSYCH again, which is only about a month away from coming back!

on deck: Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0 finale, more tv season wrap-ups and fall speculation.

The Rocker

imdb

Caught this (and Iron Man) tonight despite the intermittent storms we had here in Minneapolis. The cast wasn't bad with besides Rain Wilson, Christina Applegate, Teddy Geiger (in a film he plays a musician he wasn't bad), Emma Stone, Jane Lynch, and even a bit part for Howard Hesseman. The other good things I can say about this was it did have some good lines and the story wasn't entirely boring. But, it very much seemed derived from a few things. For one, Wilson basically is channeling Jack Black. The writing and direction seemed almost borrowed from Judd Apatow, which kinda amazes me they managed to get a PG-13 rating. You see more than enough of Wilson's back-side that he could have been related to Jason Segel's character in the SARAH MARSHALL movie. The plot, while kinda different with the story being Wilson was a drummer for an 80's Hair Band who when they get signed have to dump him. And he's never gotten over it due their fame and fortune. He loses his job when his old band releases a new album and is going into the RnR Hall of Fame in his hometown of Cleveland (convenient of course). He then goes to his sister and learns his nephew is in a band and needs a drummer.

Ok for a parody flick, but somewhat mediocre for originality among other factors. But then again, I felt somewhat the same about SUPERBAD and many others loved that, so maybe this will turn out a lot better than my review suggests. I would say the best thing I've ever seen Rain Wilson do is still when he hosted the IFP Awards, so I suspect much like Jack Black, he can be good when given the writing and material to work with. Sadly, this one doesn't quite compare (or the fact he isn't even Jack Black, and this isn't even an Apatow movie anyway).

Also 2 things puzzled me in the credits in that I guess Pete Best makes a cameo as himself, but I must have missed that along with when they used the Mute Math song "Typical" which I noticed listed in the credits.

It hits theaters the 1st weekend of August.

6/10

IRON MAN btw, was pretty good. Action/Superhero flick. Downey had enough clever lines to keep it interesting. Not a film of the year candidate, but maybe a top 5 Multiplex Picture for 2008. Paltrow as a redhead was good eye candy..and a lot different than in "The Good Night."

6.5/10

TV Thoughts: In Plain Sight

Just watched the pilot episode..long story short, USA Network promoted the fuck out of this show last Winter like it was to air within a few weeks. The ads looked decent, but not amazing.

Last year the network totally won me over with the new insider-FBI plot show Burn Notice. The show was clever, it had a good cast, and more or less it lacked much if any dull moments. In other words, it was a winner and probably at times a show I enjoyed even more than Psych last Summer.

This show sort of seemed to take a similar slant, aim towards a similar audience. Mary McCormack plays a US Marshall working for the Witness Protection Program. Her partner seemed worth watching, including the back-and-forth.

The result of the pilot I hate to say is maybe a bit too many misses in the writing, ACTING, and plot. I can't help but wonder a bit if the Writer's Strike had something to do with the results, even just in the casting. However, the fact it's been like 3 months since those ads were being aired every 2mins on USA may make that point moot.

I'm not gonna give up on this of course as it was just the 1st episode and the fact is, it is Summer tv; thus not too much (new and original tv) else is on anyway over the Summer. And the fact Kyle XY is n/a due to being pushed back to the Winter. And there were a few scenes that worked I felt; the interrogation and the banter with her partner namely. But I question if Mary McCormack can be half as clever as Jeffrey Donovan..maybe she can try and get to a Kristen Bell/Sarah Michelle-Gellar level, but sadly that is gonna require some better writing among other factors. Also beyond McCormack and Fred Weller and the boss Paul Ben-Victor, I mean some of the acting just seemed half-assed. You know the point where you watch an actor and start to wonder if it's them rather than the character they are playing. I can't take too much of that before saying goodbye. On the positive side, like some other shows, they did have some fun pop-culture references to TV and movies.= more of that and I'm gonna want to tune-in.

And on that note, not now, but soon..a whole slew of blogs or BLOG about my love of current television hopefully will happen..especially given the reduced schedule. The fall lineups of course. But just for now, I have to make note of a few cool tv-related things.

2 more weeks of Battlestar Galactica and Men In Trees. Dr.Who I imagine will go on til mid

edit: no..June 14..geez..soh..and I did just learn I believe Scifi Channel never aired the Season (Series) 4 premiere episode "Time Crash"..that sucks..I will have to seek that one out.

edit 2: so the "Time Crash" is on youtube and was an 8min special with Peter Davison reprising his role as the 5th Doctor. I don't follow why they didn't tack that on the Christmas Invasion episode other than maybe for rights from the BBC.

Ok so basically, if Scifi does the Stargate Atlantis/Eureka/Flash Gordon thing this Summer. Than at the end of next week, basically all the regular TV Season shows will be done. I.e...a good time for a review, ranking, etc, etc. And a fall preview.

But, wow, now learning that, the Summer tv schedule looks to be pretty thin unless one of the new shows like "Masters of Horror" comes through.


Switching tv topics, I am just about to finish watching a show I have wanted to watch for many years but never got around to in FREAKS AND GEEKS. Great show, I very much have grown attached to it, the characters and the pop-culture circa-1980 from it. And Samm Levine is GOLD in this show. My gawd, the guy is a laugh-a-minute. Priceless at times are his lines. Martin Starr actually as well is more than worth watching each scene. They had lightning in a bottle in 1999..less-is-more or shorter-run is greater suppose. Now And Again, Dark Skies, Brimstone, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me..there are a lot of them. Chalk up F&G's up there.


Another one perhaps as well in Firefly I have also finally gotten around to watching. I question if I'll fathom how big a cult-following it has/had/still has, but I'll admit, I enjoyed the series a fair amount now having seen it. I need to watch "Serenity" now of course too.

The DVDs I'm seeking out:
MissMatch
Ed
Undeclared (naturally after getting so into F&G's)
My So-Called Life (also supposedly worth seeing for fans of F&G's)

revisiting:
Babylon 5
Dead Like Me

some others.

So expect some tv writings soon..a bunch of new shows next fall to look forward to. Some to say goodbye to of course too.

And some other movies should be reviewed around the corner.