Movie Review: Monsters vs. Aliens

“This place has been X-filed, wrapped in a cover up, and deep fried in a paranoid conspiracy.”

I laughed pretty hard when I saw the first trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens from Dreamworks so I was expecting an extremely funny movie. While there were quite a few laughs in it, I think that this movie has a lot more heart and story than I was expecting.

The movie begins on Susan Murphy’s (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) wedding day. As she prepares to tie the knot, we quickly see that the groom and his family are not going to be as appealing as she may have thought they would be. Still, she’s convinced that marrying her fiancé Derek Dietl (voiced by Paul Rudd) will make her happy, so she resolves to take the plunge.

Unfortunately, mere moments before her nuptials, she’s hit by a meteor. This puts a damper on her wedding as she begins to glow, and then grow into a 30-foot tall giant.

The military quickly shows up, takes her into custody and locks her away with 4 other monsters they’ve apprehended over the years. First there’s the hilariously brainless, gelatinous mass named B.O.B. (voiced by Seth Rogen), the brainy Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (voiced by Hugh Laurie), the half-man/half-fish The Missing Link (voiced by Will Arnett), and the gigantic Insectosaurus (voiced by what sounds like Godzilla)


Just like most Dreamworks animated movies, there are plenty of pop-culture references in this flick, but I enjoyed all of them as they played homage to many of the B-movies from years back and often included references to Stephen Spielberg’s movies E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

My least favorite parts of this movie involved the military and government characters. It’s easy to see that the filmmakers don’t have a high opinion of the military and poke fun at them a lot. I especially groaned when they introduced the military leader, General W.R. Monger (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland). Giving a character the name “War Monger” immediately gave me the impression that he was going to be a bad guy, but the total opposite was true so I concluded that it was just bad writing that was just trying to put in digs at anything they didn’t like.


The only other aspect of this movie that I didn’t enjoy relates to the animation. With computer graphic technology improving so much over recent years they can make human characters so realistic with their skin and modeling that I thought the human characters in this movie verged on the creepy side.

Fortunately, the President (voiced by Stephen Colbert) and the other humans in the government don’t take up too much of the movie. Contrary to what the trailers show, the story revolves almost entirely around the character Susan Murphy, who is codenamed Ginormica, and her struggle to become a person who takes charge of her own life and destiny. All while battling an alien invasion led by the dastardly Gallaxhar (voiced by Rainn Wilson).


All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. I would recommend it to anyone who’s up for a fun time, although it wasn’t as full of laughs as I thought it would be, what it lacked in constant hilarity, it made up for with heart. Bear in mind, though, that there are parts that might be seen as inappropriate and even scary for little children—an unfortunately common staple for Dreamworks movies—but nothing was terribly over the top and should be enjoyed by most everyone.

American Idol Final 10, Results Show!

Thrills! Chills! Surprise Endings! And Romance! All on tonight’s exciting results show on Fox’s smash hit American Idol!

Ok, so it wasn’t all that exciting, but after a lot of manufactured tension and suspense, and a measly little 36 million votes, here are the results.

The finalists opened tonight’s show with a Medley of Motown songs which was followed up by a performance by American Idol Season 2 winner, Ruben Studdard. It’s been a while since I’d seen Ruben, but I know he’s been busy in “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with disqualified Idol, Frenchie Davis.

The first contestant declared safe was Adam Lambert (no surprise), but right away we learned that Matt Giraud was the first to be placed in the bottom 3. Shortly after that, Kris Allen and Lil Rounds were declared safe, but Michael Sarver wasn’t, he was also in the bottom 3.

Joss Stone and Smokey Robinson sang a duet of the song, “You’re the One For Me” which conveniently showed up on iTunes today.

Allison Iraheta, Danny Gokey and surprisingly Megan Joy Corkrey were declared safe, while Scott MacIntyre was placed in the bottom 3. Shocker! Scott didn’t stick around with the 3 very long, though as he was quickly declared safe… psych!

To serenade us as we patiently waited for the final results, Motown legend Stevie Wonder came out and sang a few of the songs that terrible American Idol hopefuls have massacred over the years.

Ultimately, I wasn’t surprised at all that Matt Giraud was declared safe and Michael Sarver was the one who had to sing for his life. I also wasn’t surprised that the judges chose not to save him this week. There are only a couple of contestants that I think would be worth saving in that manner, and I don’t think Michael Sarver was one of them.


So what thrills and chills await us next week? Hmm... I'll betcha someone sings well, and someone sings bad, and that bad singer may actually go home! But I've been wrong before.

On another note, if you're at all inclined to purchase the contestant's performances from Apple's iTunes Music Store, you'd better do it before the finale, because if this season is anything like the last one, as soon as the final episode airs, the only songs that will be available will be the ones the two finalists sing. Last year all of the other performances were taken down immediately. Just a "head's up."

TV Review: Lost, "He's Our You"

“A 12-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I’m doing?”

Beware of Spoilers!

Tonight’s episode of Lost on ABC started with a flashback that showed Sayid when he was a child doing what his older brother was unwilling to do—kill a chicken. It seems like the message we were to get from this was that he is willing to do what it takes to get things done no matter how cruel it might seem. The next flashback seemed to confirm this because we see an adult Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) hunting down a man and killing him with no more hesitation than he had when he killed the chicken when he was a kid. But in this case he was working for Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson) and we come to learn that Ben sees Sayid as a useful killer, plain and simple. We also learn that Sayid wishes for something different out of life and resents Ben for using him to do his dirty work.

While there were minor brushes with the stories of Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Juliet, most of tonight’s episode, “He’s Our You,” revolved around the interrogation of Sayid by the Dharma Initiative. It’s was funny to see Sayid given a truth serum by the Dharma initiative’s scary interrogator (their version of Sayid—where this episode got it’s name). Funny because, when the true story that the serum brought out was as fantastic as Sayid's was, the only conclusion the interrogator could come to was that he had given Sayid too much of it and it’s making him crazy.


The main dillema presented by this episode was what would Sayid do with young Benjamin Linus once he realized that he was in the past and could possibly have a chance to change the future, and in doing so stop some of the horrible things that he perceives were caused by Ben once he got older.

Would someone who knew what was going on in Germany during World War II, if they were able to go back in time to when Adolf Hitler was a child, would they kill him before he could do the terrible things he did? I believe that the honest answer has to be yes, and I think that it was honest storytelling on the part of the writers to have Sayid, when given the opportunity, pull the trigger and attempt to kill Ben—even though he’s still a young boy. In Sayid’s eyes, this is his “reason” for returning to the island and is an attempt to free himself from the hellish life he’s made for himself.

I said “attempt to kill” because I’m thinking that Ben isn’t really going to be dead and that this event won’t really change anything at all. It’ll be interesting to see what would happen, though, if Ben actually did die. How would that change the circumstances that got them off of the island? Would they have made it back? Will Ben suddenly phase out of existence only to be replaced by Ethan who ends up being the one who does the exact same things?


To answer some of these questions, it’s helpful to look ahead to some of the names of future episodes for clues. Next week’s episode is called, “Whatever Happened, Happened.” This sounds like something Daniel Faraday would say and it makes me think that the creators of the show may be sticking to the premise that, although the characters have traveled back into their own past, they will ultimately be unable to change it.

The following week’s episode, however, is called “Dead is Dead,” which makes me wonder if that’s referring to Ben’s mortal state after Sayid shot him.

3 weeks from now is where looking forward to future episodes stops giving useful clues because that episode is named, “Some Like it Hoth.” Well, we all know that Hoth is the snow planet in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back where the rebellion suffers a terrible defeat at the hands of the Empire. How this refers to the Lost storyline is anyone’s guess. Could it mean another visit to the frozen donkey wheel? Is there going to be an uprising of some kind that will be quickly thwarted? Is this where Jacob, A.K.A. Christian Shepard appears to Jack and says, “I am your father!” Who knows?

For me, all of these questions are why I love this show. So far I’ve been intrigued enough by the questions to keep tuning in and satisfied enough with the answers to be patient and let the show run it’s course naturally. I’m excited to see how all of this plays out!

American Idol Final 10

Another week, another American Idol on Fox. This week’s theme was The Songs of Motown—something that has become a recurring theme in every season of Idol so. In my opinion, the best thing that a contestant can do is change a song into something different enough from the original so they can’t be accused of sounding karaoke. If they sing it too much like the original, the best they can do is qualify for a retro band. Of course, it’s important that they perform something that we like too. So here’s what I thought of tonight’s performances.

One of my favorite contestants, Matt Giraud, started off tonight’s performances by singing Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” I really liked Matt’s reserved introduction with piano and voice only, but once the band kicked in, it was very much like Marvin Gaye’s version and I don’t think I’ll remember much about it in the future.


Kris Allen sang “How Sweet It Is” which I think was a good choice because, although it’s originally a Motown song, it’s also a very popular James Taylor song which lends itself well to Kris’ guitar strumming. Just like the last time he performed with his guitar, I was disappointed that I couldn’t hear his guitar at all. It was fun to see him play, but it would have been nice to be able to hear it better. Ultimately, his performance was like a cross between the original Marvin Gaye version and James Taylor’s. Not bad.


Next up was Scott MacIntyre playing his piano and singing “You Can’t Hurry Love” originally by Diana Ross and the Supremes. This song is such a signature song for the Supremes so it was interesting to see him slow it down in the beginning and I was wondering if he was totally going to make it into a ballad, but the beat quickly picked up into the style that we’re all very familiar with. While it wasn’t terrible and it was nice to see him do something that’s not one of his inspirational ballads, I didn’t think it was the best choice of song for him to break out of his shell with.


Quirky Megan Joy (sans Corkery) sang “For Once in my Life” by Stevie Wonder. Watching her, it’s plain to see that she probably doesn’t put much time into practicing what she’s going to do with her limbs while she’s singing. Often she looks a little out of sorts. Vocally, I think this was probably the weakest I’ve seen her for a while since her quirky style did not fit with this song. Maybe she needs the flu back?


I think Anoop Desai tried to suck up to tonight’s mentor, Smokey Robinson, when he sang the Miracles’ song, “Ooh, Baby Baby,” I think that after Anoop’s fiasco of singing Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” that he’s hesitant to sing anything other than a ballad. Unfortunately, I was totally bored within 10 seconds and before it was over I was fighting back hitting fast-forward on my Tivo remote. It’s possible that he might be the reason Megan Joy doesn’t get eliminated tomorrow.


The next contestant up was Michael Sarver who sang who I’ve always seen as a more country singer, but he definitely has a soulful sound to his voice too. The song he picked was “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations. I think he did a fairly good job and I like the sound of his voice, but it sounded like he was just slightly behind the music a lot of the time and trying to catch up. He’s someone who was one of my favorites in the audition weeks, but I’m not expecting him to last much longer.


Lil Rounds decided to do Martha Reeves and the Vandella’s “Heatwave,” which was a very good choice of song for her style, but I can’t say that her performance was anything that I’ll remember in an hour. It seemed like she too was having a hard time keeping up with the band in parts. I’m sure she’ll stick around for a while, but I don’t think she’s anywhere near as good as some past American Idol contestants like Fantasia, Latoya London, or Jennifer Hudson.


I have to say I was wondering most of the night what Adam Lambert was going to do with his Motown song tonight. He always does exactly what I think all of them should do, which is take the song and change it up and make it his own. The problem is, I usually hate what he changes it into—but he does get points for not being boring. Tonight he sang Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks of My Tears” looking quite a bit like Elvis. I loved his interpretation the song though. I love acoustic “unplugged” versions of songs, and this one was great! Made it his own in a great way.


Okey dokey Danny Gokey was up next singing “Get Ready” by The Temptations. He definitely didn’t have a problem keeping up with the music like Lil and Michael did, but it was so much like the original that unless you’re a fan of him specifically, there’d be no other reason to listen to his version. I thought he did a good job, but there wasn’t anything memorable about it for me. There are plenty of weaker performers so I think he’ll be around for quite a while, still.


Another one of my favorites, Allison Iraheta, sang “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” by The Temptations. I could tell from the sound of the guitar in the beginning that she was sticking very closely to the original, which was a bit of a disappointment for me because he usually has a nice rock vibe that I like. I’m still a fan and I enjoyed it, but it didn’t stand out as much as I’d hoped.


The best of the night was Adam Lambert. The worst was a toss up between Anoop Desai, Michael Sarver and Megan Joy. I’m sure those will be the bottom 3 tomorrow.

What did you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

Movie Review: Knowing

“What happens when the numbers run out?”

What do you do if you know that a devastating disaster is about to occur and where it will happen? Do you make sure that you are far away from the event so you can be kept safe? Or do you try to warn as many people as you can and even try to be on the scene to aid as many victims as possible? What if there is nothing you can do about it? Does knowing about it make it better because at least then you can prepare? Or would you want to be kept in the dark?

These and many other questions are raised in the latest film starring Nicolas Cage entitled, Knowing, which was made by Alex Proyas, who directed one of my favorite films, I, Robot.

Knowing begins 50 years ago, as a new elementary school is about to bury a time capsule. A classroom assignment has all of the children drawing pictures to put into it depicting what they think the future will look like. One oddity is a little girl, Lucinda Embry (Lara Robinson), who is inexplicably writing what appears to be random numbers on her paper, which also gets placed into the capsule.


Fast forward 50 years, we see the time capsule opened and Lucinda’s strange paper with the numbers on it finds it’s way into the hands of Caleb (Chandler Canterbury), the son of John Koestler (Nicolas Cage). John takes the paper, and in a surprisingly easy turn of events discovers that the numbers are the dates when a disaster occurred, how many people died and where they happened. What’s disturbing, though, is that the last three dates on the list are in the very near future.

Armed with this knowledge, John has the overwhelming dilemma of what to do with it. How hard should he try to convince people of its truth? Should he warn the people where the disasters are about to occur? Is there any way to stop them?

What follows is a movie filled with mystery and tense, edge of your seat suspense. I had my cell phone in my shirt pocked and jumped in my seat at one point when it vibrated with an email during a suspenseful scene. There were times when the feel of the movie goes from disaster film, to horror flick, but all of it is engaging and, for me, very satisfying.

Since the date of 9/11/01 is the catalyst for John’s deciphering of the numbers, I can’t help but think about the impact that tragic day has had on my ability to watch movies like this.

I remember sitting in the theater in 1996 watching the Will Smith blockbuster Independence Day and being in awe as the alien ships destroyed the cities and important landmarks. I remember being rather charged up by the intensity of it all and then the satisfaction of payback that the rest of the movie brought.

But now, I have a hard time watching that movie. Partly because there are many parts that I’ve come to regard as just plain goofy, but mostly because of the reality of what such destruction can bring which was tragically brought to light when terrorists brought down the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001. I remember the devastation caused by such a sudden and real loss of life and I haven’t been able to watch so-called “disaster movies” with the same air of entertainment since. Before 9/11, occurrences like that were pure fantasy, but now we know that things like that can really happen, and we know the heavy cost that events like that have on our psyche and society.


With all of this in mind, let me say that this movie is not for the faint of heart. There are small, personal dangers that our characters have to deal with, but there are also global crises that loom ever more ominously as the last few dates on the list come and go. Much of what we see in the disaster scenes is very realistic and disturbing to see, but I never felt like it was gratuitous—often those events are also realistically accompanied by acts of heroism and selflessness.


Make no mistake, though, Knowing is definitely Science Fiction and is a metaphor that will be colored by your own religious or philosophical beliefs, but I would suggest that everyone see this movie if for no other reason than to start yourself considering some of these dilemmas for yourself. I will not provide any of my own interpretations in this review because I believe that would detract from your own experience with this movie. 

One message that I did get out of this movie that I will share, though, is that no matter how tragic the situation is that we find ourselves in, if we can somehow find hope, that will make the outcome so much easier to bear.

TV Review: ABC's Lost, "Namaste"

To start things off on tonight's episode of ABC's Lost, we see the crash of Flight 316 from the point of view of the pilot, Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey). Through the course of events we see that the Oceanic Survivors that were on the plane all disappeared except for Sun (Yunjin Kim), and went back in time 30 years to be synched up with Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) and the others who are now fully integrated into the Dharma Initiative.


The big question that came out of this opening sequence is why did all of the Oceanic 6 that were on the plane go back in time except for Sun (Yunjin Kim)? Could it be because she wasn’t supposed to return to the island according to John Locke and somehow what Locke wants makes some kind of cosmic difference?


For a while we believe that Sun is going to trust Ben (Michael Emerson) and go with him to the main island until Sun suddenly brains him with an oar from a boat. This is apparently how Ben came to be in the injured state that John Locke found him in at the end of the episode “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham.”


Sun and Lapidus make their way to the main island where they see some rustling in the trees shortly after getting out of their boat. They soon come across Jack’s alive-again father, Christian Shephard (John Terry), who tells Sun that she has quite a journey ahead of her because Jin and the rest of her friends are in 1977—hinting that he’s going to set her on a journey to reunite them. What came to my mind after seeing this scene is that perhaps the smoke monster and Christian Shephard are one and the same. It appeared that they found him very shortly after seeing the movement in the trees, and that it might not have been just a coincidence. Just a thought.


In previous seasons of Lost I was getting a little impatient with all of the flashbacks to the character’s past. Now that the series is progressing, we’re not seeing glimpses into their backstories, but instead we’re jumping back and forth in time within the main storyline. For me, this is much more satisfying because they all serve to move the story of their adventures on the island forward. Tonight the flashback was 30 years ago where Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) must put their trust in Sawyer as he successfully integrates them into the Dharma community.


All of Sawyer’s plans go almost exactly how he hopes except for a small hiccup where Kate is almost revealed as an outsider when her name isn’t on the new arrival manifest. She is supposedly “saved” at the last minute by Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), but I think that it was the first sign of hostility that Juliet is going to have for Kate out of protectiveness of her 3 year-old relationship with Sawyer. It’ll be interesting to see if we can continue to trust Juliet now that they’re all back together again.


Probably the least interesting storyline for me tonight was the capture of Sayid (Naveen Andrews). It was impressive to see Sawyer so on top of things and handling all of the situations so well, but I’m afraid that his incarceration is going to last a while and might get kind of tiring.


One interesting revelation from tonight was that Ethan, the Other who worked with Juliet trying to help women give birth on the island, who kidnapped Claire and who was ultimately shot and killed by Charlie Pace was actually the baby that Juliet successfully delivered in the last episode, “LaFleur.”

An interesting new mystery introduced to night is where in the world is Daniel Faraday? During the van ride to the Dharma compound Sawyer reveals that for some reason, Daniel isn’t with them anymore. The only time we saw him in what we think would be this time period is at the beginning of this season where he briefly showed up during the excavation of the “frozen donkey wheel” at the construction of the Orchid Station. Did something happen there that either killed him or removed him from this timeline? I guess only time will tell, eh?

The final scene in tonight’s episode was the inevitable meeting between one of the time-displaced survivors and a young Benjamin Linus (Sterling Beaumon). The lucky survivor who had the joy of his acquaintance is Sayid who ironically was the beneficiary of Ben’s kindness as the 14 (or so) year-old brought him a sandwich. It’ll be interesting to see if this pairing of characters develops into anything in the future.


The episode was named, “Namaste,” which literally means, “I bow to you” in Hindi. It seems like this could inform the future of the relationship between Sawyer and the rest of the Oceanic 815 survivors where it appears that he has found a leadership position for himself where he can make great use of his con artist’s ability to think on his feet.

Lost is a rare show that, at least for me, keeps getting more interesting as they continue to reveal secrets while introducing new mysteries. It has already proven that it’s a very difficult show to predict and I’m looking forward to see what happens next!

American Idol Final 11, Results Show

At the beginning of tonight’s American Idol on Fox, Ryan Seacrest teased us by saying that tonight’s results “may shock you.” The thing is, though, that I think they are all so good, that any of them could go at any time, really.

The contestants began the night performing the song, “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” by Travis Tritt. I was amazed by how in sync they all were with the fast lyrics of the song. Having that many people sing at the same time, it would be easy for it to end up being an unintelligible mush. So either they were amazingly well rehearsed or they weren’t really singing it.

After 31 million votes, here’s how it all went down. After a lot of chitchat, the first contestants declared safe were Danny Gokey, Lil Rounds, and Anoop Desai. The first revealed to be in the bottom three were Allison Iraheta and Michael Sarver. I’m actually surprised that Allison was in the bottom three, but I’m not surprised that Michael was; in my opinion his was the weakest from last night.

Brad Paisley then came out and performed his song, “Then.”

Scott MacIntyre was then declared safe which wasn’t very surprising either. Then Megan Joy (are they dropping her last name, Corkrey?), Matt Giraud, and Kris Allen were all declared safe in short order. Then it came down to the final two contestants, Alexis Grace and Adam Lambert of which, the bottom three position went to Alexis. Bummer.

I have to say that I agree with Simon that Adam’s performance of “Ring of Fire” was ridiculous.

Allison Iraheta was the first of the bottom three finalists revealed to be safe. Then they left us to wonder who was being eliminated while was watched a duet from Randy Travis and Carrie Underwood as they sang, “I Told You So."

So, after Ryan got the judges to admit that they would consider using their save on one of the bottom two contestants, Ryan revealed that the person eliminated tonight is Alexis Grace. This was a big surprise to me! In an act of what I thought was utter cruelty, they made her sing while they deliberated whether or not to use their save on her. Once she was done singing the judges quickly revealed that they would not be saving her tonight. I'm sure they're waiting to use the save for when America comes to their senses and votes Adam out so they can keep him around for a while longer. Ugh.

Actually, referring to Ryan's tease at the beginning of tonight's episode, I am quite shocked. Although her performance last night wasn't one of the better ones, I thought overall she was one of the stronger contestants. I guess it's bound to happen to almost all of them, so I'll get over it.

Now that Country night is out of the way, I'm looking forward to the coming weeks. I think it'll only get better! Next week, because President Obama is speaking, American Idol will be on Wednesday and Thursday. See you then!

American Idol Final 11

The theme for tonight’s show is the music of The Grand Ole Opry as coached by Country Music star, Randy Travis. Anyone who has watched the show over the years will know that Simon Cowell has a particular dislike of Country Music so it was interesting to see how objective he could be or if he would let his musical preferences cloud his judgment. I don’t really care for Country Music either, so I wasn’t optimistic about finding much joy in tonight’s performances.

Michael Sarver started off the night singing Garth Brooks’ “Ain’t Going Down (Til The Sun Comes Up),” which I thought should have been a no-brainer big hit for him. The problem is, I think he had to struggle so hard to focus on the lyrics that he was having a hard time walking and singing at the same time. I remembered back to when Josh Gracin sang this same song a few seasons back and knocked it out of the park. I don’t think Michael’s version had the energy that particular song needs and I’m actually thinking it might have put him in jeopardy.


I don’t think that Country is going to be the style of music Allison Iraheta will perform when she inevitably ends up with a recording contract, but with that said; I think she’d be very successful as a country singer judging by tonight’s performance of “Blame it On Your Heart” by Patti Loveless. I think she secured her position for one more week in the finals, but I know I’ll enjoy her more when she’s back to singing her standard Rock songs.


It was nice to hear Kris Allen sing the very nice country ballad “To Make You Feel My Love” without the country twang that Garth Brooks sang it with. Kris Allen was able to sing it as a nice, easy pop ballad. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of him as well.


In her interview, Lil Rounds said that she wasn’t going to sing Martina McBride’s “Independence Day” in Lil’s regular R&B style but that she was going to “honor the Country genre.” I think this was a mistake. I couldn’t help but think that, instead of making the song her own like Kris just did, she sang something that sounded a little more like karaoke and it didn’t show off her natural skills. A little slow and plodding in the beginning, and hard to get into. I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and show that R&B isn’t the only thing you can do if you don’t do the other stuff very well. I’m assuming that she’s built up enough of a fan base from previous weeks that she’ll be here again next week, but that probably wouldn’t be the case if this was the first performance we were seeing from her.


Adam Lambert’s interpretation of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” definitely lives up to the whole glamour rock feel that he’s been giving off lately as he reached deep into the song to pull out drama that didn’t exist there in the first place. Personally, I really didn’t like it and I can’t imagine that the majority of America is going to like it either. The judges sure seem to love just about everything that he does, but I’d really like to get an idea of how many people in America actually like him, or if it’s all just manufactured hype. I’m hoping that he doesn’t last as long in the competition as they’re setting him up to.


I’m not familiar with “Wild Angels” by Martina McBride so I don’t have any way to compare it to the original. What I can say about it is that I appreciate how Scott MacIntyre performed it in such a way that I can easily see it showing up on an album he would release, which I’m sure I would go out and buy. I love his piano playing and singing and I hope he’ll go far.


For me, Brooke White sang my favorite version of “Jolene” that I’ve ever heard so I found myself comparing Alexis Grace to Brooke more than Dolly Parton. Of all the songs she’s done this season, this was probably the least interesting for me. In my opinion, it’s a more tender song that didn’t really warrant some of the extra drama she tried to add to it. In this case, I’m hoping that her past success will outshine this dud and keep her in for a few weeks more.


I’m going to check my Man Card at the door now and say that Danny Gokey’s version of Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take The Wheel” gave me shivers. I’ve heard the title of the song before, but I’ve never actually listened to the song. I really liked the feeling that he sang the song with and the power that he sang the chorus with. He sure has a special talent for singing earnest ballads; it’ll just be interesting to see if he can ever really pull of a faster pop song.


I’m more familiar with Elvis Presley’s version of “Always on My Mind” than I am Willie Nelson’s or Johnny Cash’s, so that was the version I was thinking of as I was listening to Anoop Desai’s performance. I liked the restraint that he showed in the way he sang it without trying to color it up with a lot of decorating the notes. As I’ve said before, I really like it when the contestants sing the songs in ways that don’t compare to the original, and I think that tonight he really stood out. I just hope that the stinky performance from last week doesn’t spill over into this week and get him booted off.


“Walking After Midnight” Patsy Cline. In a lot of ways Megan Joy Corkrey reminds me of the lead singer from the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Katharine Whalen, and tonight she really cemented that association in my mind when she sang Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight.” I’d like to see what Megan would do with a pure Jazz or Swing song and I hope that we’ll be seeing enough of her to find out.


Matt Giraud’s rendition of Carrie Underwood’s “So Small” was my favorite performance of the night. I love his singer/songwriter piano player style that he has which reminds me of Elton John, Marc Cohn or Joshua Kadison. I also can’t help but compare him with Scott MacIntyre, which I thought Matt’s performance was the better of the two. He had more power and feeling in his vocals than Scott. He’s pretty consistently good and I hope he’ll be around for a long time.


In my opinion, the bottom three should be Michael Sarver, Lil Rounds and Adam Lambert. My votes tonight are for Scott MacIntyre, Allison Iraheta and Matt Giraud. My choice for elimination tomorrow is Michael Sarver, which is weird because you’d think he would have shone with tonight’s Country theme.

Movie Review: Race to Witch Mountain

Disney has a recent tradition of taking their older, more dated, properties and making newer versions with mixed results. For the most part they are commercial successes, but I can’t say that I’ve seen any of them that I prefer to the original. It’s probably because I grew up watching and enjoying the originals and I can’t help but compare them. Also it’s probably because most of them star Lindsay Lohan, and it didn’t take me long at all to get tired of seeing her everywhere. Fortunately, in addition to being completely Lohan-free, Disney’s new version of Escape to Witch Mountain, renamed Race to Witch Mountain, is an extremely entertaining and very fun ride!

As it began, Race to Witch Mountain first grabbed my attention by the intense opening credits, which featured a montage of fuzzy UFO sighting video edited together with audio clips of people describing their encounters. The pace of the credits got me interested in the film and hoping that the rest of the movie would be just as exciting.


The story begins as the U.S. Government tracks a UFO as it crash lands in the desert just outside of Las Vegas. Agents are quickly on the scene, led by Henry Burke (Ciarán Hinds), and they soon realize that there were two beings on the ship who most likely resemble human beings, and the agents begin tracking their movements into the city.

Meanwhile, Jack Bruno (Duane “The Rock” Johnson) is a man with a troubled past who is trying to make a clean living as a taxi driver who shuttles people to and from the airport in “Sin City.” After a few brief examples of what his life is like we swing right into some exciting chase scenes as Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) appear in his taxi offering him $500,000 to take them into the middle of nowhere in the desert. From this moment on there were enough car chases, special effects and humor to keep me interested through to the very end.

Along the way they run into Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino) who is a scientist who has massacred her career by her persistent professing of her belief in extra-terrestrial life. I was entertained by the scenes that introduced her character as she tried to talk serious science to a group of costumed sci-fi fans that were attending the UFO convention where she was presenting. Her coming together with Jack, Sara and Seth at the convention and the antics that facilitated their escape from their pursuers were some of the best parts of the movie for me.


While I really liked this movie, there were a couple moments that struck me as weaknesses. The first was the introduction of the mafia-type thugs who show up and try to bring Jack to see the big boss-man. This is a story thread that I didn’t think went anywhere and only served as a device to make a couple of minor things happen. The whole sub-plot could have easily been jettisoned in my opinion.


Another thing that distracted me was that immediately after Jack and the kids get finished fighting an alien bounty hunter. called a Siphon, and then narrowly escape being pursued by the same bounty hunter who chases them in a space ship, Jack has an bafflingly hard time believing Sara when she tells him that they are from another planet! I thought that the point for him to abandon his disbelief was back when the seemingly indestructible Siphon first fired his Boba Fett-style wrist rockets.

There was another moment that I thought was going to disappoint me, but when it didn’t finish the way I was expecting it to, it only made me enjoy the movie even more. Like I wrote in an article about bad foreshadowing a few years back, whenever a trusted character in a movie tells the protagonists not to trust anyone, we usually see by the end of the movie, that the person they were weren’t supposed to trust is usually that same “trusted character” who says something like, “didn't I tell you not to trust anyone?” Two movies that do this are Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Minority Report (both Steven Spielberg movies, hmm). Well, all I can say is when a particular character in this movie said, “don’t trust anyone,” I actually groaned because I thought for sure this was setting him up to be a traitor in the end. To my surprise it didn’t turn out at all the way I was expecting it to, and I really enjoyed what they ended up doing with the character.

I was happy to see the two grown-up stars from the original Escape to Witch Mountain, Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, in small parts as people who lend them helping hands in a restaurant.

In many ways I don’t think that the marketing for this movie did it justice. I don’t know what I was expecting out of it, but I sure wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The nice thing about this movie is that I never felt like I was patiently sitting through a kids movie waiting for the credits, but I also never thought that I was watching a show that was too mature for my 9 and 11 year old daughters who were sitting with me. The director, Andy Fickman, did an excellent job of making a well-rounded piece of entertainment that all ages will enjoy. Definitely a movie I would recommend and very much worth watching in the theater.

Movie Trailers: Up and Land of the Lost

This might seem like a strange thing to create a new post about, but as I was in the theater getting ready to watch Disney's Race to Witch Mountain, I was thoroughly entertained by two movie trailers and I just had to tell you about them.

The first one for the upcoming Disney/Pixar animated adventure titled Up, which is about a crotchity old retired balloon salesman and an eager young scout as they set off on an adventure around the world. The first time I saw anything about Up, I had no idea what it was really going to be about. it almost seemed like some kind of artsy film of some kind, but every time they release a trailer that reveals more of the plot, I keep getting more and more excited to finally see it.


You can watch the same trailer that I saw tonight in the theater, here:

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/up/

Up opens in theaters May 29th.

The second trailer was for the new Will Ferrell movie which is a very loose remake of the old TV series, Land of the Lost, from Universal Studios. I didn't remember hearing anything about this movie before seeing the trailer tonight, but now that I have seen it, it's one of the year's movies that I'm anticipating most!


You can see the trailer here:

http://www.landofthelost.net/

I was excited to see Anna Friel as one of the co-stars in Land of the Lost. She was a star of one of my favorite shows, ABC's Pushing Daisies, which has unfortunately been cancelled.

Land of the Lost is hitting theaters on June 5th.

It's starting to look like this is going to be a very good year at the cinemas!

Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak, Part 1

In this week’s episode of Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak, part 1, I couldn’t help the feeling of dread from creeping over me. We have essentially 2 episodes left (technically a two hour finale, but I think of it more as part 2 and part 3) and they spend a major chunk of this episode in flashbacks to Caprica before the attack. The current storyline creeps forward very little. Frustrating. I will say however, that since I am expecting to be disappointed in the finale, I am secretly hopeful of being pleasantly surprised.

One of the first images we see is of a pigeon trapped indoors. Trapped inside what we later learn, in the continuation of the scene, is Lee’s (Jamie Bamber) apartment. I just can’t help thinking that this is some sort of metaphor for the human race. They are trapped and can’t escape their past unless they come to take responsibility for their actions. The “stupid frakin’ bird” never does make it out of the apartment when the door is wide open. So where does that leave us?

In his weekly podcast on iTunes, the creator of the Sci Fi channel’s Battlestar Galactica, Ronald D. Moore explains a constant theme of the series, “you don't get to play God and then get to wash your hands of all the things that you've done. It's about having a sense of responsibility and a sense of trying to look at things truthfully. To say, 'How did these things happen? Oh, they didn't just happen. I've participated in them happening. And what's my responsibility in participating in having these things happen?”

Moore also states that “the seeds of their own destruction always seem to be carried within all the characters. The things that will ultimately harm them and harm everyone always seems to come from within.” Food for thought. For example, how will Helo’s (Tahmoh Penikett) desire to rescue his daughter be his downfall? Will Gaius’ (James Callis) self preservation ultimately be his destruction?

Caprica Six (Tricia Helfer) gives us another possible metaphor. “I found your father a new place to live. His things are being moved this very moment by the staff. They’ll be set up in his new room exactly how he had them in his apartment. He loves it. Your father is a very complicated man Gaius, but there’s a few simple things that make him very happy.” Could this mean that she or the Cylons will find the place where humanity will ultimately be happy? Will that be a planet or state of being?

Anders (Michael Trucco) in his “hot tub” flashback, clearly is talking about things how they are in the current storyline, “well, right now I am just focused on getting stronger; helping out the team in any way I can.” The reporter even asks him if he feels that his career is incomplete. As stated on earlier reviews, I think that Anders will take a part in piloting or crewing the Galactica as its hybrid. “Find the perfect world for the end of Kara Thrace.”

So now we are on a mission to rescue Hera. Hurray! But the exact reason she is the key to the survival of both races, I am still not clear on. As Adama (Edward James Olmos) and Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) draw a huge line in the proverbial sand down the Galactica’s deck, they wanted it very clear that each person was choose his destiny. For me, this seemed to be a clear allusion to God on judgment day, separating out the faithful and placing them on his right side.

Although it felt a little sappy to have President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) stagger across the deck to Adama’s side, I was actually very proud of her. That is the kind of valor I wish to see from a president. Although short-lived, it was also nice to see Laura happy for once in her flashback.

I am also very pleased that I get my wish for the Galactica. It seems that we are poised for an epic battle in which the “old girl” will at least go out in a blaze of glory.

American Idol Final 13, Results Show

Tonight on American Idol they introduced a new twist to the competition. Probably in response to the times when contestants like Jennifer Hudson are eliminated, much to the surprise of the judges. Now the judges are given one opportunity this season to save a contestant from elimination. Since they can only do it only once per season, it'll be interesting to see who they decide to save.

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong about my predictions. I didn't think that Megan Joy Corkery or Anoop Desai (two of my personal favorites) had a chance of staying in the competition, but they were both safe from elimination this week. Instead, I was surprised that Jasmine Murray and Jorge Nuñez were sent packing.

I can't say that I'm upset by the results. As I've said before, this is an extremely strong group of contestants. While I have my own personal favorites, there are are only a couple that I can't imagine winning the whole competition.

So next week we'll be hearing from Adam Lambert, Alexis Grace, Allison Iraheta, Anoop Desai, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, Megan Joy Corkrey, Michael Sarver, and Scott Macintyre. My favorites are Alexis, Allison and Scott. Who are your favorites? Who do you think will be heading home next week?

iCarly, "iRocked the Vote"

To start off, let me say that Nickelodeon’s iCarly is one of my favorite shows currently on TV. Yes, I’m totally out of the target audience (being a ripe old 27), but my wife and I totally get a kick out of watching this show. When nothing good is on, we bring up the trusty DVR and watch an episode of iCarly, constantly replaying our favorites. For those not hip with the show, here’s the basic rundown; Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) and her best friend Sam (Jennette McCurdy) run a popular web show out of Carly’s apartment in downtown Seattle. The show follows their adventures both on their internet show and during their daily lives. Other characters include their friend Freddie (Nathan Kress), who runs the technical aspects of their show, and Carly’s artistic brother Spencer (Jerry Trainer, of Drake & Josh).

“iRocked the Vote” is all about an American Idol spoof. David Archuleta makes a great cameo, appearing as the 1st place winner of the TV sensation “American Singer”. Obviously some writer is thinking what many other Americans are, that Archuleta should have won. Unfortunately for us viewers Archuleta doesn’t flex his golden pipes during the episode, surely due to record contract obligations, but he does make the episode fun to watch with his happy-go-lucky charm. 

The side story for this episode occurs around Carly’s older brother Spencer. Without a doubt, Spencer is most of the reason I watch this show. He constantly pulls laughs, whether it be through witty dialogue, great physical comedy, or goofy facial expressions. During this episode Spencer receives a letter from the video store, stating his movie rental is 10 years overdue, and he has no idea where the movie is. Spencer, who’s known for always telling the truth, learns the art of lying from Carly’s friend Sam. This story line was great, as I grew up being practically incapable of lying. I love when good television echoes my own life! In the end Spencer confidently approaches the video store clerk, attempts to lie, and in the end completely breaks down, confessing everything. Great comedy. 

If you haven’t seen Nickelodeon’s iCarly, I would highly recommend it. Good acting, cute story lines, and some great comedy make it another Nick classic. Check it out!

American Idol Final 13

At the beginning of tonight’s American Idol on Fox, we learned that two finalists will be eliminated tomorrow. This will get them back on track with the episode count to finish out the season on time.

Tonight they sang the music of Michael Jackson, which gave them some good music to draw from, but I think that with as much of an iconic singer as Jackson is, they really needed to do whatever they could to make the songs their own and remove any resemblance to the original, or else they’d pale by comparison.

There is no doubt that Lil Rounds can sing really well, but her version of “The Way You Make Me Feel” just seemed to me to be the female version of a Michael Jackson song, and I didn’t really hear anything in it that made it different or better than the original. I wasn’t as amazed by it as most of the judges were but I’m sure it’ll be enough to keep her around for a while longer.


I’ve never heard “Keep the Faith” before, but I definitely loved it as sung by Scott MacIntyre. He’s definitely in his element when he can play the piano and sing—it made him so much better than he was in previous weeks. So far I’d say he’s my favorite of the season. I totally disagree with Simon who thought the contestants should pick songs more familiar to the audience. I love it when they sing more obscure songs because then we’re not comparing it so much to the original and we can just enjoy how they’re singing it.


In the beginning I thought Danny Gokey was going to change “PYT” into one of his standard, earnest ballads, but when the music picked up and he went more in tempo with the beat of the original, I was much more interested. It was good to see a more active side of him. Although the song was not as vocally a challenging as one of his ballads, but he did great with the melody that was there and he showed that he’s a very good stage performer.


I think Michael Sarver will appeal to the country fans and that might keep him in the competition longer, but I don’t think his vocals on “You Are Not Alone” were up to par with the first three contestants and I don’t think he’ll make it much longer than maybe a few more weeks at most.


Jasmine Murray sang “I’ll Be There” complete with original Jackson 5 era harpsichord, which was an element that I very much enjoyed. I liked how her version of the song harkened back to the original more than Mariah Carey’s version. Also, I thought this was a very appropriate song for her age as well.


Kris Allen’s vocals were very good, but it sounded like his guitar wasn’t plugged in properly and so there was this odd, out of tune, strumming that seemed to be creeping into his vocal mike that I found a little distracting. I thought that if he was going to play the guitar, I wish he would have done a more acoustic version of the song instead of the R&B version with an acoustic guitar along with it. I hope to see him go far because I like him, but I don’t think he was the best performer of the night.


Allison Iraheta’s version of “Give in to me” sounded absolutely nothing like a Michael Jackson song, which for me was a great thing! I absolutely loved her performance. She definitely made the song her own and in my opinion that was the stand out performance of the night. I hope to see her around for a long time.


My wife’s favorite, Anoop Desai sang a song that I was hoping nobody would attempt, “Beat It.” It’s so iconic that unless you’re totally changing it like David Cook did with “Billy Jean” last year, the best it could be is really good karaoke. It didn’t show his vocals at all. Against such strong competition, I’m afraid that this might be the last night he’s here.


I love the sound of Jorge Nuñez’s voice and the little effects that his accent gives to his pronunciations as he sang “Never Can Say Goodbye.” In my opinion this was definitely one of the strongest vocals of the night. I think he’ll be around for a while.


Probably one of the strangest song choices a contestant could have chosen to sing tonight, apart from “Ben” is “Rockin’ Robin,” but I can’t say that it didn’t fit Megan Joy Corkrey’s personality. The song only has about a 5 note range so it’s not the most vocally challenging song, but she was able to add her own trademark quirks to it. I like her a lot, but I’m afraid her fun personality probably isn’t enough to keep her in the competition.


Adam Lambert is way too glamour rock for me. Oddly enough, I thought that his version of “Black and White” with his high singing voice seemed to be the closest to Michael Jackson that we heard tonight. It was as if Michael Jackson and Axel Rose had a child and his name is Adam Lambert. I don’t know if his style just doesn’t suit me or if I just haven’t connected with him yet, but he’s not my favorite. I’m sure he’s many other people’s favorite, so he’ll be around for a while. And when Paula Abdul stands up and dances during their songs she looks like the lone drunk girl at the party.


Generally I like it when the contestants can perform with instruments. They usually seem a bit more connected to the song. Vocally Matt Giraud seemed to be singing “Human Nature” like Michael Jackson did an awful lot, but I much prefer Matt's voice to Jackson’s. I thought it was a really very good performance, but I don’t know how strong he’ll seem when compared to some of the other powerhouses who performed tonight.


Alexis Grace really took the judge’s advice from the initial tryouts literally when they told her to “dirty it up” a bit by singing “Dirty Diana.” I really like the harder, more rocking, blues version of this song. I really think—and hope—she’ll be around for a while, and I think that when comparing her to the other performers tonight, she’ll definitely be safe for another week.


One thing I just realized about American Idol is that it gives people the opportunity to be discovered who are in situations where the normal path to stardom really wouldn’t be a reasonable option. Normally people with families just trying to get by, like Lil, Megan and Alexis, wouldn’t have a chance in the world of being discovered in their normal lives. It kind of makes me respect the show a little more.

I actually think that the weakest performances of tonight all came from the 4 Wild Cards picked from last week. I think the two contestants in real danger of going home tomorrow are Megan Joy Corkrey and Anoop Desai.

Castle: Flowers for Your Grave

*Caution spoilers Ahead*

"Tell me you saw that!" -Richard Castle

I must admit up front that I am a fan of Nathan Fillion. I have liked him ever since I first saw him in the sitcom “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.” I further came to appreciate his talents in Firefly, a short-lived comedy/drama, which in my opinion, was drowned by the bungling maneuvers of the Fox network. It has since become one of my all-time favorite series.

Castle is not a fortress, but an individual. In a new dramedy from ABC called Castle, Richard Castle is played by Nathan Fillion and is somewhat akin to his character Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly. Castle is a cocky, handsome, novelist who trades quipy lines and flirts with most every girl. Fillion’s character is played almost to the point of being over the top; almost. The series is in the tradition of recent comedic dramas such as Psych and Life that deal with murder and other serious subjects, but on the lighter side. They don’t take themselves too seriously.

The show opens at Richard Castle’s latest book launching party, where his ex-wife/publisher questions his wisdom of killing off the successful main character of his murder/mystery books. Castle answers by saying that he killed off the main character because he got too predictable.

Enter unpredictability. A killer has staged 3 murders that mirror scenes from Castle’s books. Castle is then paired with an attractive, pseudo-hardnosed, female detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) to help solve the crime. Beckett just happens to be a fan of Castle’s books and is the one who first makes the connection. This is where one of my few complaints comes about the series. In my experience, most professionals do not enjoy entertainment that deals with their profession. My brother-in-law doctor, for instance cannot stand to watch shows that deal with medicine. So, I find her interest unlikely, but I guess not impossible.

For that matter, Castle seems a little too perfect to be real. Almost a genius when it comes to his powers of observation and conclusion. It is the old; the cops can’t solve this on their own and need the help of a smarter outsider to solve the crime. But in my opinion, Fillion pulls off the roll successfully and will probably be the make-or-break element of the show. If you enjoy him, you will enjoy the show. Most likely, the show will do well with the female audience, if you know what I mean.

Castle soon becomes enthralled with detective Beckett and uses every excuse to come back and see her. But when the murder mystery was solved, I wondered what could bring the two back together again. After all, the copycat murderer was caught. In a somewhat cliché, but believable turn of events, the series takes a page out of Michael J. Fox’s playbook from the movie The Hard Way. Castle creates a new character for his new detective series, a character based upon, you guessed it, Becket. Pulling a few strings at the mayor’s office and Castle gets himself a ticket to a ride-along partnership for “research.”

The chemistry between Fillion and Katic is not quite effortless or polished yet, but it is there. In the end, it was a fun show that promises to entertain with interesting mysteries and strings of one-liners. I plan to give it a shot and see where it goes.

NBC Heroes: "Shades of Gray"

I’m not usually a fair-weather friend to the shows that I watch. Although I get frustrated with them sometimes, occasionally they start doing things that originally hooked me into watching them, and it renews my interest in them. That’s what happened with last night’s episode of Heroes on NBC. Even though it wasn’t perfect, “Shades of Gray” contained many things that are beginning to pique my interest in the storyline again—something that lately was beginning to wane.

In this episode, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) finally found his father and what I was dreading actually happened—they talked. But the way it happened wasn’t all that bad because Samson Gray (played by John Glover) is dying of cancer, which seemed to take all the fun out of killing him for Sylar. I really like the actor, John Glover, so as the scenes between him and Sylar played out I was hoping that his desire to steal Sylar’s healing ability was actually going to happen and that we’d see either a new, more powerful villain, or we’d see a father/son duo that’s virtually unstoppable. Ultimately, Sylar snapped out of the paralysis his father had put on him and got away as he left his father to wither away and die slowly. I DO hope we see more of Samson Gray in the future, though.


It appears that what Sylar got out of that little exchange is that he needed to be bigger and bolder in his efforts as a villain and in the end of the episode we saw him hiding in the apartment of Building 26 agent, Danko (Zeljko Ivanek). Are we going to see a confrontation between the two of them next week? We’ll see. I suppose with Sylar we’re going to see again how “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and I think we’ll see him teaming up with the fugitive heroes in avoiding capture by Danko.

On other fronts in the Heroes-verse, we saw Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) taking a more active role in protecting fugitive Eric Doyle (David H. Lawrence XVII) who at the end hinted that he had just pulled the wool over her eyes in getting her sympathetic assistance in the first place.


We also saw Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) help save Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) from blowing up in DC and in the process dropped enough obvious clues to Danko that he had abilities, that his plot to remove Danko from Building 26 backfired on him, when Danko forced Nathan to reveal his flying abilities.


An interesting twist is Angela Petrelli’s (Cristine Rose) mention of an incident in Angola in 1997 where she was surprised that Danko survived. That seemed to shut him up in his complaints rather quickly, which makes me wonder if he has secret ability that only Angela knows about.

In an interesting tease for future episodes, Ando (James Kyson Lee) and Hiro (Masi Oka) followed Rebels’ instructions and arrived at Los Angeles where they thought they were going to rescue Matt Parkman, but were confused that all they found was a baby named Matt Parkman. The previews for next week informed us that the baby is Matt’s child with his ex-wife who is about to re-enter the picture.


I think I’m building up a tolerance for the “Heroes Two-step” as I like to call it—where they take a couple steps forward and a few steps back in the progression of these characters. Although I was entertained by tonight’s episode more than some of the other recent airings, I hope they’ll soon commit to what they want many of these characters to be. Also, I really want to see Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) emerge as a strong leader for all of the heroes who are on the run.

The Amazing Race, "It Was Like a Caravan of Idiots"

The Amazing Race, on CBS, is one of the most energetic and exciting shows on television. I don’t usually become very enthusiastic about what you might call “reality” shows. But when The Amazing Race is on, I enjoy every minute of it, and when it’s off, I get nostalgic for it and anticipate its return.

So far, this season hasn’t failed to please. It started off with the standard breakneck pace that typifies every season. It’s common on this show for some competitors who appear to be extremely athletic and able to fall behind because of stupid mistakes. Often they choose one task at a Road Block—which is a choice between two tasks—and after struggling for a while make the error of quitting that task to go and do the other.


This mistake of second-guessing tasks is what happened in tonight’s episode where the diminutive team, Mark and Michael, were in the top 3 teams with a huge lead over the remaining 5. In the middle of their Road Block challenge in Siberia, their stack of wood collapsed, making them have to start over. Instead of bucking-up and fixing it, they abandoned the task and went to do the other challenge, which ended up leaving them even more confused. All of these problems caused them to fall from the first group of 3 teams with a huge lead down to the second. Mark and Michael saved from elimination only because one of the most athletic teams, Kris and Amanda had been given a “U-Turn,” which meant they were forced to go back and complete the other task also in the Road Block.

Among the competitors this season, my favorites are mother and son team Margie and Luke. Luke is a totally deaf young man who communicates solely by American Sign Language and does not read lips. If anyone was under the impression that deaf people are any less capable of performing any task, Luke is definitely one to prove them wrong.

The Amazing Race’s host, Phil Keoghan, who has learned how to use sign language to tell Luke their standing in the race when they reach each pit stop, also particularly impresses me. I’m sure for logistics of the show, it made sense for him to do it that way, but they could have just as easily left it up to Luke’s mom to tell him what place they were in. Phil impresses me as probably one of the nicest hosts on TV. Actually, the first year they were nominated for and won an Emmy, I found his email address on his personal site and sent him an email congratulating him and telling him that I hoped to see more seasons. He actually responded to me, thanking me and saying that he was hoping for more seasons as well. It always impresses me when someone takes time to communicate with a random fan like that.

For me, The Amazing Race is much more than just a reality show—it’s like a sporting event. It isn’t as much about social dynamics as it is about skill, luck, and levels of sportsmanship. It’s the only game/reality show that I’ve seriously considered applying for. Who knows… maybe next season?

Battlestar Galactica: Islanded in a Stream of Stars

I am still willing to trust Ronald D. Moore and the writers of the Sci Fi channel’s Battlestar Galactica, but I am getting worried that they will not be able to wrap up the series with any meaningful satisfaction. Here we are with only 2 episodes left and we still seem to be introducing more twists and questions than answers.

Hera is increasingly becoming the key for both sides of the conflict to obtain salvation. The episode starts off with a projection of Hera perched atop the information management table in the Combat Information Center (CIC), positioning Galactica next to a basestar and several heavy raiders.

I don’t know whose projection it was, but it seems likely that it was Laura’s since we peer into her dreams several times during the episode. The other mystery was whether or not this symbolic foreshadowing gesture was a symbol of union or a symbol of conflict. I tend to think it is the latter, since the scene takes place in the Combat Information Center. And I for one would much rather see Galactica go out in a blaze of glory rather than see her abandoned and parted out to the rest of the fleet’s vulture captains.


I am totally confused as to the role that Baltar will ultimately play. He has been a scientist, a traitor, a politician, a religious zealot, and will he ultimately become a savior? I had forgotten until this episode of the dream shared by Six, Baltar, and Laura. What does it all mean? Will they somehow be the catalysts to bring Cylons and humans together with Hera’s help? I do think however, that Starbuck knew deep down that Baltar would somehow expose her “secret.” Either way, he made her come to terms with it.

In Boomer’s first scenes with Hera, I completely despised her. She was an unfeeling monster as she threatened to inject little Hera on board the raptor. I don’t know how they got the little actress who plays Hera to show such emotion, but I totally fell for for heart wrenching sobs. Boomer must have too as she seemed to soften. Hera further brought out Boomer’s motherly instincts as they shared the projection of Boomer’s dream house. I expect this relationship will come into play later as evidenced by Boomer’s reaction when she drops Hera off at Cavil’s daycare center.


There were some odd moments in the episode as well. The first was with Starbuck and Lee in the hall of death. Both actors just seemed uncomfortable in this scene and a little out of character to me. Perhaps they are setting the stage for a re-coupling of Lee and Starbuck, but I hope not. Although I feel for Lee being essentially alone now, I just like the relationship between Starbuck and Anders so much better.

The next out of character moment was when Helo was pleading with Adama to let him go looking for Hera. I don’t know if Tahmoh Penikett just didn’t convince me in this scene or if it just seemed too far out of Helo’s mindset. I will just have to chalk Helo’s mental state up to losing his daughter and being on the outs with Athena.

The medicinal marijuana scene was also a little unbelievable to me. I just don’t see a hard-nosed military man like Adama sitting around smoking a joint in the middle of sick bay. But hey, Doc Cottle walks around smoking all the time, so what the heck. I guess I just didn’t find it dignified to see the president and the Admiral getting high and sharing secondhand smoke with the rest of the patients.

So Sam has essentially become a hybrid now. I am thinking he could save the Galactica or at least pull her back together for a final fight. The Cylon goop didn’t seem to work, but my bet is that with a higher intelligence directing it, it will do the trick to strengthen and repair the ship. But what did Anders mean when he called Starbuck the harbinger of death? A harbinger is someone or something that foretells or foreshadows the coming of something. What or who is Starbuck foreshadowing death for? Another one of those mysteries that needs to be answered.

My prediction however is that not everyone will be satisfied with the wrapping up scenes. There is no way to satisfy everyone. So, prepare yourself to be thrilled and disappointed. Hopefully the void created by Galactica’s absence can be filled by upcoming Galactica movie “The Plan” and the spin-off series Caprica.

TV Review: The Office, “Blood Drive”

DWIGHT: "Michael, why do you keep looking at the front door?"
MICHAEL: "No reason."
DWIGHT: "Is somebody after you?"
OSCAR: "Why do you always go to that? Has anyone ever been after anyone in this office?"
DWIGHT: "Hey, it just takes one!"

NBC’s The Office is at it’s best when they’re portraying things that really occur in actual offices in the documentary, “reality show,” format. That’s why I thought tonight’s episode, “Blood Drive,” worked so well—I have participated in quite a few blood drives in my own workplace experiences.

I have to admit I was a little confused by the Valentine’s theme so far after the actual Valentines’ Day—maybe it was bumped for some reason. It was fun to see love trying to blossom for Michael as he flirted and joked with the mystery woman on the blood drive bus so I thought this worked into the Valentines’ Day theme of the show very well.

Sometimes The Office strays into more cartoony storylines and it doesn’t work as well as it does when there are a lot of subtle moments worked into the mundane lives of these people at work. Seeing things like Creed and Meredith’s computers forever stuck on Solitaire are things that ring very true in the modern office environment. In fact, many years ago a company that I was a temp employee for removed Solitaire off of all the computers in our little pool of workers in order to increase productivity. Of course, I wasn’t one of the violators. Really.

It was fun to watch Jim and Pam’s lunch outing with Phyllis and Bob because I could identify the initial awkwardness of a meal with someone you don’t interact with much socially. Of course, any comfort they were able to gain in the pleasant conversation was thrown out the window when the Vances had their little detour in the middle of their lunch hour in the janitor closet. Yikes.


After having a Lonely Hearts support group, Michael decides to have an office park mixer in hopes that he’ll find the mystery girl that got away from him after he passed out on the blood drive bus. During the mixer Michael does his best to match people up in his own strange ways, and it looks like there might have even been a love connection for Kevin. Unfortunately, the blood drive bus girl didn’t show up.

What I liked most about tonight is how all of the Dunder Mifflin gang who stayed for the Lonely Hearts mixer rallied around Michael in his latest infatuation. At least this time around she is a living breathing person and not a deceased chair model or an Asian waitress that he can’t distinguish from her friend. It was also nice that Michael’s crush didn’t show up at the end. It would have ruined the supposed “reality” of this show for her to show up, because in real life stuff like this happens all the time where you meet someone who leaves a strong impression, but then you never see them again.

This is one of the best episodes of this season because of the understated tone of it. There weren’t any larger than life antics, but most of it was made up of the quirky conversations and office place antics that I’ve come to love from The Office.

American Idol Results Show, The Wild Cards

Surprise Ending!

Tonight’s American Idol was an unusual event. Unusual because the judges, and not America, decided who went through to the top 12 out of this Wild Card group. I’m glad that they decided who would go through to the finals tonight instead of dragging this stage of the competition into another week. My only hope for tonight was that Megan and Matt made it through to the top 12, and that Tatiana didn’t.

“Tell Me Something Good,” by Chaka Khan, seemed like an awkward song for Jesse Langseth. It has a very funky beat and I don’t think she sang it enough in sync with the beat to make it sound good. She has a lot of potential but just didn’t show it these two performances.

This time I think Matt Giraud picked a good song, in singing “Who’s Lovin You?” by the Jackson 5, because in showed his bluesy side that I’ve grown to like. My only complaint is that it’s an older song that I don’t think would be on the radio nowadays, so it didn’t really give me an idea of what he’d actually perform today—but I liked it.

I think that “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” by KT Tunstall, was a good choice for Megan Joy Corkrey. I keep trying to think of a singer from the 40s that she reminds me of, but no one comes to mind, so I suppose she just reminds me of her and I should just look forward to what I hear from Megan in the future.

I didn’t remember Von Smith much from the audition weeks, but I liked his song that he sang when he was on last Tuesday. Tonight I wish he hadn’t sung “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” by Elton John. It’s such a slow emotional song that I don’t think it showed him in a very interesting vocal light, and actually revealed some pitch flaws—in my unmusically-trained opinion.

Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection” was definitely an appropriate song for someone Jasmine Murray’s age and I think she did a very good job, I just think that she needs more experience to refine her singing a little more.

Ricky Braddy did a really good job singing Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious.” Although he’s good, I just worry that he might just not stand out from the others as much as he should. They’re all very good tonight.

Why did Tatiana Del Toro suddenly have an accent in her little bio movie? And why would she sing “Saving All My Love for You” when she already sang it a couple of weeks ago? It’s interesting that everyone seems to see how unstable Tatiana is because they all babied her so much, no doubt fearing she would crack. It was odd to watch.


Anoop Desai sang Bobby Brown’s “My Perogotive” in a very good and energetic performance. My wife loves him because he’s like a lovable computer nerd who can sing really well, so who am I to argue?

So the next three into the top twelve are: Jasmine Murray, which was a surprise to me. I thought there were more who were ready for the big show. Megan Joy Corkrey, yay! Matt Giraud, whom I’m really looking forward to see how well he does with his piano. And, surprise, surprise! Anoop Desai also made it through at the last minute to become the 13th contestant! Yes that’s right, there are a final 13 this year, not a final 12. My wife is very happy.

Thank you Randy, Kara, Paula and Simon for letting us be done with Tatiana. Thank you!

TV Review: Lost, "LaFleur"

“The record is spinning again, we’re just not on the song we want to be on.”

How a show can keep changing up the circumstances so much and yet remain the most engaging storyline on TV I’ll never know, but such is the case with ABC's Lost. I really like the fact that they are now in a different era on the island and we’re just picking up the story from here and running with it. The quote above from Daniel Faraday definitely does not reflect my sentiments. This is definitely the song I want to be on!



When tonight’s episode of Lost started and we caught a glimpse of the giant statue which we presume has 4 toes, all I could say was, “holy crap!” Unfortunately John Jocke’s fixing of the frozen donkey wheel shot the castaways forward to a different time so we aren’t going to learn any more about the statue, for now. Where that flash did place them was into a period when the Dharma Initiative was in full thrust in the mid 1970s. Skip 3 years later and we see that our little group of Oceanic survivors has integrated quite well into the organization and Sawyer is in a position of authority and is know by the name LaFleur.

Through a series of flashes back and forth in time, we learn that Sawyer and Juliet develop a love for each other. The guy that Locke saw in the woods building the cabin that he would later find Jacob in, was the leader of the Dharma initiative, and that something must have happened on the island to make it impossible for women to survive childbirth.

I’m starting to feel bad for Juliet who seems doomed to play the part of “The Other Woman”—which, incidentally, was actually the title of an episode about her from last season—especially because at the end of tonight’s episode, we see the reunion of Jack, Hurley and Kate with Sawyer and Jin and it appears that Sawyer still has eyes for Kate.

Lost has once again established itself as my favorite drama on television. No other show is brave enough to introduce as many twists and turns as this one, or smart enough to pull them off and not make it look like they’re loosing focus or grasping at straws. This is truly a one of a kind show.

American Idol Results Show, Group 3

Tonight’s results show began with the group doing a peppy job singing Katy Perry’s “Hot and Cold.” It looked like the created choreography for it that would accommodate Scott MacIntyre’s sight impairment that allowed him to remain sitting throughout the number. It seems like a sensible solution.

Lil Rounds was the first contestant reviewed and the first one through to the top 12. She was very good last night so it’s no surprise that she’s through. There were so many other good performers that it was to be hard to predict the rest.

I wasn’t shocked, though, when Arianna Afsar, Taylor Vaifanua, Alex Wagner-Trugman, and Kendall Beard were eliminated in short order. Neither was I surprised when Scott MacIntyre was the second one through to the top 12. He deserves it and I’m sure we’ll see him around for quite a while.

Next up were Nathaniel Marshall and Kristen McNamara and they were both the next ones down. No surprises there.

The Felicia Barton and Von Smith were both up and both of these guys were singers that I really enjoyed last night. So I was disappointed that neither of them were chosen, but that left Ju’not Joyner and Jorge Nuñez, so this was a hard two to decide between as well. I was happy that Jorge Nuñez made it through.

That leaves the Wild Card show tomorrow (Thursday) where only 8 will be performing for the final 3 spots on the final 12. There are a few that I really like so I’m looking forward to this coming show. The Wild Cards are:

• Von Smith
  
• Jasmine Murray
  
• Ricky Braddy
  
• Megan Joy Corkrey
  
• Tatiana Del Toro (oh, brother.)
  
• Matt Giraud
  
• Jesse Langseth
  
• Anoop Desai
  

Well, dang. There are a few that I was hoping would be on this show that aren’t there. Oh well, hopefully those who were picked will make better choices.

American Idol Top 36, Group 3

This was a really good night for the contestants. So many good vocals that I think a majority of the Wild Card show will be filled with people from this group. Here are my thoughts with my predictions.

Tonight’s festivities began with 22-year-old Von Smith’s rendition of “The Better Part of Me” by Marvin Gaye. He definitely has a good voice and marketable looks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes it through to the next round—he’s really very good and this was a breakout moment for him. If this were one of the earlier weeks I’d have said he’d be one of the three to go to the finals, but I’m hoping he’ll at least be a Wild Card.

Taylor Vaifanua neither looks nor sounds like she’s 17 years old. I found her walking around while she sang “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keyes a little distracting. It was like she had to punctuate every word with a step. I thought her vocals were ok, but I don’t think the song was a good choice because it wasn’t anything that could show any personality. I don’t think she’ll be going any farther.

Wow, Alex Wagner-Trugman really tried to liven up a slow swing song “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues,” by Elton John, in all the wrong ways. It was kind of fun to see and I think his personality showed through, but I didn't like the grunting and growling. I’d like to see him go farther because he’s funny but I think that this group of capable contestants probably just killed any chance of him progressing.

In choosing “The Winner Takes It All” by Abba, I think Arianna Afsar took a song that was too mature for her and then added too many vocal improvisations to try to liven it up. In doing so it looked more like she was singing it in a school play than in a national professional singer competition. I don’t think she’s ready to go any farther.

Ju'Not Joyner’s sensitive rendition of “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s really impressed me. I like how he slowed it down into a very nice and soulful ballad. I like how he personalized it in his own style the way the David Cook would take songs in the rocker direction. I really liked it and I hope that we’ll see him in either the top 12 or having another chance as a Wild Card.

Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” is one of my favorite songs so I was interested to see what Kristen McNamara would do with this slower blues. To me, this song is mostly about feeling a vibe as it starts out slow and then gradually builds more power before the song ends. On a show like American Idol, I don’t think the 2 minute song length limit gives a performer enough time to make an impact with a song like this. The melody itself isn’t all that difficult so she had to liven it up quite a bit to make it impressive enough for the show. I’m not sure if the things she did to it were enough to make it all that memorable. I liked her in the audition weeks, but I’m thinking if she doesn’t make it to the Wild Card round, this is probably the end of the line for her.

The problem with Nathaniel Marshall’s presentation of “I Would Do Anything For Love” was that it was so much like Meatloaf’s version that I couldn’t help but compare his vocals to the original and I don’t think he was anywhere near as good. He’s also one of those contestants like Tatiana Del Toro… memorable for all the wrong reasons. I suppose that there may be some weird 80s throwback niche that really digs him and tries to vote him through, but I’m guessing that this is the end of the road for him.

At the end of Hollywood week, Joanna Pacitti was told that she had made it through to the finals, but the day after that episode aired, Fox announced that Joanna wasn’t eligible to continue in the competitions, presumably because of her record deals. So they brought back eliminated Felicia Barton in to take her place. I really like Felicia’s comeback story, but “No One,” by Alicia Keyes, really didn’t do anything for me. She had very good vocals, but the song seemed to be ramping up the whole time and never really got interesting. Wild Card is probably the most we can hope for her right now which if she ended up making it past that and then far into the final 12, then THAT would be an incredible underdog story.

I expected Scott MacIntyre to be saved to be the last performer tonight because of his inspirational story. His performance of “Mandolin Rain” by Bruce Hornsby really seemed to fit in with the style of music that I’d expect from him—although he sounded a little more pitchy and awkward than I expected him to. I wish that he could have had a keyboard in front of him because I’m sure he would have been indisputably the best of the night. Either way, I expect him to be one of the 3 that goes right into the top 12 tomorrow.

Kendall Beard’s version of “This One’s For The Girls” by Martina McBride was too much like the original song. I know that if I wanted to hear it again, I could just go buy the single. I’d have no reason to buy her music. I’m thinking that unless all the country folk vote her in just because she’s country, this will be the end of the road for her too.

It’s probably Jorge Nuñez’s Latin heritage that makes me think this, but I often think of Jon Secada when I hear him sing. Which isn’t a bad thing because I really like Jon Secada. He did a really good job singing “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down” by Elton John—accent and all. I expect him to make it through to the next round.

I have to admit something here, contemporary R&B really isn’t my kind of music, but it has populated so many of the previous seasons of American Idol so I’m sure Lil Rounds singing “Be Without You” by Mary J. Blige will be plenty to get her through to the top 12. She is very likable and talented, so don’t think I’m saying she wouldn’t deserve it, but If I was basing my pick for the winner on whose albums I’d buy, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be voting for her.

So my three picks to move through to the final 12 are Von Smith, Scott MacIntyre and Lil Rounds with Ju'Not Joyner, Felicia Barton and Jorge Nuñez as the Wild Cards for next week.

Movie Review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua

When Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua came out in the theaters a few months ago I wasn’t very excited to see it, but my 10-year-old daughter loves dogs and nearly fainted with ecstasy when she saw the trailers—so off we went.

The movie was a bit different from what I was expecting from the trailers, which amused me with their “Dog Revolution” themes. Instead the story is about a pampered Beverly Hill’s Chihuahua, Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore) whose owner, Aunt Viv (Jamie Lee Curtis) has to go away on business and leaves her prized pet in the care of her irresponsible niece, Rachel (Piper Perabo). Rachel’s friends soon coerce her into a road trip down to Mexico and in the process of it all, Chloe ends up getting lost south of the border.

What follows is a frequently funny mismatched buddy movie as she teams up with the reluctant Delgado (voiced by Andy Garcia), who is a washed-up police dog without a home. Meanwhile, Papi (voiced by George Lopez), a hunky Chihuahua who belongs to Aunt Viv’s gardener and is madly in love with Chloe accompanies his owner to Mexico in an effort to rescue his love.

One technical issue that probably annoyed only me, is that I'm not a fan of the animation of animal mouths that started in the 1990s with the movie Babe. I was just as entertained by the dogs and cat in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey even though we never saw their mouths move once. It was the writing and the editing that made that movie as touching as it was and it's also what makes Beverly Hills Chihuahua so endearing. It would be just as good without the animated speech of the animals.

With all of the unmanliness of watching a movie about tiny, fancy, talking dogs aside, I found this movie very entertaining. In many ways it reminded me of the wholesome movies that Disney made years back, like The Shaggy Dog, That Darn Cat!, or even The Apple Dumpling Gangor Pete's Dragon. There were, of course, all of the standard formulaic elements that get tiring in some movies, but I always feel I have to remind myself when watching movies like this that are made primarily for kids, that they are are playing to an audience that hasn't already been jaded by seeing the same formulas play out again and again.

I'd recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys comedies about animals. It's nowhere near as annoying as the movie from a few years ago, Cats & Dogs, but it actually has quite a lot of charm.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua is available today on DVD and Blu-ray and is also available for download on iTunes. Don't forget to download the catchy theme song, "Chihuahua," while you're at it.

TV Review: NBC Heroes, "Exposed"

Tonight on NBC’s Heroes:

• Sandra Bennett (Ashley Crow) stops playing the gullible, only concerned about her dog, doormat and helps her Claire’s (Hayden Panettiere) fugitive friend, Alex (Justin Baldoni) get away from the government agents parked outside. 

• Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) and Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) follow their noses through Building 26 and find out where Daphne “The Speedster” Millbrook (Brea Grant) is only to have Matt captured in the process. 

• Sylar (Zachary Quinto) wanders down memory lane in an abandoned diner to learn that his father apparently sold him to someone there and then killed his mom for objecting. 

• Peter almost gets himself killed for believing that the government will, in fact, negotiate with terrorists, and afterwards gets shot shortly before being rescued by his flying brother, Nathan. 

• And Matt becomes the fulfillment of his own painted prophecy as the man standing on the National Mall with a bunch of explosives strapped to his body.
  

What I really liked about tonight's Heroes is that everyone became active again instead of just sitting around bickering about this and that. Heroes is the most exciting when the heroes are out doing something and not just trying to deal with their inner angst.

I really like that we’re seeing in Claire’s mom more of what we saw earlier in the series when she was actually out taking risks with Claire. It was frustrating for me to see her at the beginning of this volume looking as if she’d had her mind wiped once again by the Haitian. I hope to see more of her taking charge of this modern day “Underground Railroad.”

I think it’s funny that they picked an actor to portray Claire’s fugitive, Alex, who can breath underwater, someone who looks a lot like Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps. Oh, that’s right… the 2008 Summer Olympics were on NBC this year. Maybe NBC is still trying to ride his wave.

I’m happy that it looks like we’re finally going to ditch the annoying kid, Luke (Dan Byrd), who’s been tagging along with Sylar. One problem is, I didn’t see anything that happened in their little meeting in the diner that made me think that Sylar had any better idea where to find his dad. If anything, I think he’d want to hang on to the little creep a little longer since he still seems to be the only one who knows how to find Sylar’s evil Daddy. I just hope that when Sylar finally tracks down his dad, that it won’t culminate in an epic talk-off.

Finally, who is this mysterious “Rebel” who keeps offering insider tips to the heroes on the run and who facilitated the happy reunion between Claire and Eric “The Puppetmaster” Doyle (David H. Lawrence XVII). My guess, and hope, is that “Rebel” is Claude (Christopher Eccleston), the character from season one who can make himself invisible and tutored Peter initially on how to control his powers. He was a cool character and it would be great to see him return.