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Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

Yes, Happy Endings is Very Good, but We Still Need to Tread Carefully

Posted in Articles, Television, tagged , , , on January 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The newest show I’ve recently picked up on is ABC’s Happy Endings.  I’ve been able to catch up since Season 1 and am now currently following it’s season two continuation that started two weeks ago.  And I admit that I’ve loved every moment of it.  The show and its characters are well developed, the writing is fairly solid, and it’s legitimately funny without becoming too cheesy.  And out of the other romantic sitcoms that have tried to find a place in America’s heart [see examples like Perfect Couples], this one seems to be the one standing after all the rubble has settled.  And while the shows is clever and its characters are growing to become more and more likable with each episode, it had a rough start and can even be slapped on the hand for treading far too close to the relationship sitcom champion that coincidentally is about 6 very different ‘Friends’.  Read below about how I’ve reacted to Happy Endings at first and how I’ve seen in grow.

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Mid-Season Television Preview

Posted in Articles, Television, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 17, 2012| 1 Comment »

Television is returning after a long holiday hiatus.  And it’s time to get a plethora of new shows as well as the return of some beloved ones.  And just like the Fall Check Up  and Preview I did last fall, I’m here to share with you guys what I’ll be tuning into this season.  Personally, it feels as though Fall TV is better than Mid-season.  With greats like Dexter, It’s Always Sunny, and a couple of others having only a 12 episode run, I’ve always wondered what filled those time slots in the Spring.  After doing a little research, I’ve seen that there are gems that I haven’t quite uncovered yet such as: Justified, Shameless, and 30 Rock.  So I’m going to be dedicating my time now to play catch up.  And that’s not even counting all the new series coming out.  As usual, it’s a gamble to try to get into new shows, mainly because you don’t know if it will be a waste of time or not, but I’ve got some faith in some in the appeal of some of these new shows.  I’ll update you later in the season to tell you how it’s going.

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My Journey with a Band of Brothers

Posted in Articles, Reviews, Television on November 23, 2011| 4 Comments »

I just recently watched the series Band of Brothers not too long ago and am still recovering from the emotional roller coaster ride it has taken me on.  Over 10 episodes, each lasting about an hour long, I’ve witnessed the true life stories of Easy Company’s journey from the Georgia Mountains to the front line in France to hills of Austria where Hitler lived.  Each story diversely tells the tale of how the platoon survived, battles were fought, and their effects on a soldier’s psyche.  Brilliantly made and full of gut wrenching moments, I highly recommend you watch this HBO series if you haven’t already.

This is not the story of one man, but a company that has dozens of soldiers.  Spanning over 10 episodes, each one takes a different narrative and point of view ranging from a transfer soldier to a medic to a Major.  In the beginning there are almost too many guys to remember anyone’s names, but as you progress, faces become familiar the more and more they interact with each other.  One man in particular to pay attention to was Lieutenant Richard ‘Dick’ Winters who narrates 3 or 4 of the 10 episodes and his journey as a company leader to a battle field officer.  But among him are a crew of interesting and memorable soldiers that carry their own personalities that you slowly come to appreciate and care for as they take on Germany.

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Breaking Bad Season 4 Wrap Up

Posted in Articles, Reviews, Television, tagged , , , , , , on November 21, 2011| 1 Comment »

I’ve finally caught up with breaking bad after season 4 ended at the end of the summer and I have to say that this was probably my favorite season.  I probably understand that not many of my readers are viewers of this show because it’s fairly under the radar.  So to those who haven’t broken bad [a slang term to define those who have turned to making crystal meth to make money], this is a story about a genius high school chemistry teacher who has teamed up with a white trash punk to make methamphetamine to pay off his cancer bills.  As similar to Weeds [a show I tried, but couldn’t finish watching], this tale is far more darker and all around badass.  And as you could imagine after 4 seasons, shit has really hit the fan where our leads get mixed up with the DEA, Mexican Drug Cartel, and the biggest meth dealers in the southern United States.  And as season 4 wrapped up, we’re finally given the closure we’ve been wanting [that is, until Breaking Bad’s fifth and final season comes out next year].  Read below for my take on season 4 as a whole.  Major spoilers beware!

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Humor is Coming: Game of Thrones Inspired Comedy

Posted in Articles, Television, tagged , , , , on November 11, 2011| 5 Comments »

If you’re like me, you’re having Game of Thrones withdrawals and you can’t wait until season 2 come Spring of 2012.  Since it has first aired, Game of Thrones have drawn in a completely new demographic to the series, and like everything that is mainstreamed, parodies and satires have come out.  I’ve tried to compile the internet’s best, so try and let me know if I missed anything.  If you haven’t watched the series, MAJOR spoilers below, so tread lightly.

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My Favorite Comedy and Why: Tropic Thunder

Posted in Articles, Movies, tagged , , , , , , , on November 10, 2011| 3 Comments »

When people ask me what my favorite movie of all time is, I give them a look of stupidity and pretension and then go into an arrogant monologue saying that I’ve seen so many movies that you’d have to divide them up into genres to truly tell you what my favorite from each one. It’s usually at that point where they’re so taken back by my blind arrogance that they default to the only genre they can relate to: comedy.

Lol, jk, that actually doesn’t happen as much as I let on, but what I mean to aim at is when people ask me what my favorite comedy is and more than often I’ll always say Tropic Thunder. Tropic Thunder delivers itself as a comedy in two different ways, based on its audience. To the eyes of a culturally ignorant, Tropic Thunder is decent comedy with its most memorable moment is Jack Black saying he’ll suck Brandon T. Jackson’s dic* if he cuts him down from the tree. Hardee-f*cking-Har. To the eyes of those who have a decent understanding of the Hollywood industry, Tropic Thunder is a pinata full of scathing satire, irreplaceable performances, and deep, well-thoughtout jokes. After the jump lies a breakdown of how this movie literally splits my sides every time I watch it and how moments that might have seemed confusing and irrelevant are actually this movie’s brightest gems.

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American Horror Story Replaces Terra Nova

Posted in Articles, Television, tagged , , , , , , , on November 7, 2011| 3 Comments »

As many of you know, I’ve recently taken Terra Nova off of my TV queue this fall.  So to fill its shoes, I’ve been heavily recommended that FX’s American Horror Story is a juicy and horrifying tale of a family in a cursed house.  The final push to start this series is when the latest Entertainment Weekly arrived when its two major characters and a man in a rubber suit were on the cover.  So after watching the first episode, I literally had my hand over my face the entire fifty minutes and nearly successfully shat my pants .  The show is graphic, tense, and even highly sexual, something that my TV queue is lacking [Dexter can only have so much blood, gore, and sex].  And I haven’t regretted starting it ever since.

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Terra Nova Loses My Interest

Posted in Articles, Television, tagged , , , on October 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It is difficult to write this because Terra Nova showed so much promise.  And by so much promise, I meant there’s f*cking dinosaurs in it.  So I’ve finally caught up with Terra Nova this week, and instead of doing another Fall TV check up, I decided to write a warning obituary for a specific series.  In a season where TV can easily take over your life if you’re ambitious enough, you have to filter what you watch or instead you’ll also be watching your grades plummet.  So after giving Terra Nova a chance, I’ve become bored with it’s clunky dialogue, uninteresting side plots, and its general lack of DINOSAURS.

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Prepping for David Fincher’s ‘Dragon Tattoo’

Posted in Articles, Books, Movies, tagged , , , , , , , on October 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

David Fincher remains today to be one of the most consistently good directors and has been recognized by his peers and critiques as a excellently stylish filmmaker with excellent taste.  So when I heard his next project after The Social Network was based on some book, I was curious.  By the time the first trailer came out, I didn’t really understand what was going on, but recognized the stylish editing he had done and realized that maybe I should jump on this bandwagon.  So hit the jump to get the rest of the story of how Stieg Larsson encaputred me in his universe and how I fell in love with Lisbeth Salander. (more…)

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Awesome Oscar Moments

Posted in Articles, Movies, tagged , , , , on October 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Of all the film award ceremonies, it is well known that the Academy Awards [Oscars] are the most prestigious.  It’s great seeing everyone dressing up, everyone acting all excited, and all that award show jazz.  As wound up as everyone might seem on film’s most important night, every once in a while, a very cool and memorable moment happens, whether it be an opening monologue or an acceptance speech. A while back I did an MTV Movie Award compilation of awesome moments.   Below, I’ve compiled a list of videos of awesome Oscar moments [at least awesome moments when I was alive, I’m sure there’s a lot of awesome moments that spanned from the 30s to now, but I’m just not that dedicated enough to dig deep at the award speech of 1952 that shook the entire industry].  Let me know if I missed any and hit the jump to see the rest.

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My Favorite Promos so Far for Fall TV

Posted in Articles, Television, tagged , , , , , , , on September 12, 2011| 1 Comment »

Fall TV is the most exciting thing to happen to me this year.  It was only early this year I discovered the wonders of Television.  I’d hate to say it, but TV just might be getting an edge on film in the heated debate within my head.  We’re not going to get into that right now, maybe on a rainy day and I want to write a 3,000 word essay.  Anyways, back to the excitement of Fall TV.  Everyone is expecting new shows and old shows to return and the marketing team’s best way to attract new and old fanbases is of course the promos.  Below, I’ve compiled a list of videos of instances where the marketing team has succeeded and I will watch the season opening.  Let me know if I missed anything you’re going to watch.

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How to Fix the Oscars

Posted in Articles, Lists, Movies, tagged , , , , on August 17, 2011| 2 Comments »

Watching the Oscars this year was an unfortunate waste of time.  Everything was predictable, I was not entertained, and the hosts were lame.  It’s easy to say that to improve the Oscars you should make it unpredictable, entertaining, and pick fantastic hosts.  But it goes deeper than that.  And with Rush Hour director Brett Ratner producing it, the Oscars has a chance to be entertaining again.  Just remembering how forgettable the last Oscars was, I’ve looked into the past and looked at some o the most entertaining moments at the Oscars [see my video compilation here] and determined how the Oscars can be the best ceremony once again.  Hit the jump for the list

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What My Problem is with People and Rotten Tomatoes

Posted in Articles, tagged , , , , , on August 15, 2011| 1 Comment »

Rotten Tomatoes is a website that compiles the reviews of critics for temporary and historical movies.  A simple way of demonstrating whether a movie is good or bad is evident of a movie’s ‘Tomatometer’.  On the outside this Tomatometer determines whether a movie is ‘fresh’ or ‘rotten’, and the website’s frequent visitors can use this as a means of creating an opinion of the film without even watching the movie itself.  Movies with a 60% and above are considered ‘fresh’ and below 60% are considered ‘rotten’.  People sometimes throw this percentage and rating around as if they know how to develop an opinion on a movie.  The small misunderstanding in how the percentage works marks an ignorance of how one should review a movie and in this article, I’ll try to defog the misunderstanding so that you can use Rotten Tomatoes in an effective way to help filter what movies you should watch.

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