So You Think You Can Dance - This week, the top 20 dance in pairs, we discuss

Jordan and Tadd:
Jordan seems a little stupid. Maybe she said smarter things in her interviews, but the show decided not to air them? Tadd is funny, but we don’t like his Mohawk. Is that look over yet? They did a good job on their afro-jazz routine, but we weren’t blown away. They aren’t favorites yet, but they both did fine and proved that they can dance outside of regular genres.

Sasha and Alexander:
Sasha seems really cute, and we've loved her since her audition with her sister, but Alexander seems like that guy in every high school who bobs around the halls like he’s confident, leering at girls. He took Sasha hitting him in the face well though. We thought you had to be graceful to be a dancer. Control your limbs, girl. We liked the concept for their routine (the conscience). They did alright. The skirt Sasha wore distracted us. The dance wasn’t anything we would youtube to watch again.

Clarice and Jess:
Clarice informed us that her eyes change colors. Jess is the dorkiest thing we’ve ever seen, but he’s been on Broadway and he’s from New Jersey, so we can’t hate him. The routine was pretty fun. Clarice’s dancing needs work, but she sure knows how to mug for the camera. Jess had good dancing skills to go with that grating nerd personality.

Ryan and Ricky:
Going for alliteration in that pairing, show? Ryan is kind of a spaz. We love lyrical hip hop, so they had an advantage with us. Ryan had a lot of personality in her dancing, even though her big grin didn’t fit the concept. We weren’t sure that Ricky’s moves were sharp enough. It’s like he didn’t fully commit. But the judges loved him, so what do we know?

Caitlynn and Mitchell:
Why would you spell the name Caitlynn like that? Earth to parents: If you give your kid a generic name, spelling it with extra letters doesn’t make it unique. Mitchell was down for the count due to an injury, so former contestant Robert took his place. We weren’t digging the La Roux song, but we liked how baby 18-year-old Caitlynn suddenly matured and became strong when she started dancing. We were impressed that she could hold her own with the more-experienced Robert.

Miranda and Robert:
We loved Robert’s personality and his quick biography. Very funny. We just hope his personality doesn't get annoying to us. Miranda trying to be sexy was really cute. The routine was kind of a mess, but we liked that Bruno Mars song.

Missy and Wadi:
We liked when Missy said that she enjoyed “long walks to the fridge.” Funny. She’s a funny girl, letting us know that the Pandora’s box demons had to be sexy demons. She seems smart too. They both did a good job. This was Ern’s favorite dance of the night, but both of us still like Melanie best. There had to be a better song for this routine though. Lady Gaga’s "Judas" is a dud.

Melanie and Marko:
Melanie is our favorite. Her audition was fantastic and she (presumably) didn’t even have the genius choreographers to make it for her. This was Leeard’s favorite dance of the night, but it was the best material, so is that really fair? A concept, contemporary dance, lots of leaps, some romance, that choreographer, and painted bodies? Still, Melanie deserves it and Marko is lucky.

Ashley and Chris:
Maybe it was because the last two were such a tough act to follow, but we hardly even remember this dance. It may be our least favorite of the night. It was hip-hop, which is usually good. Better luck next week?

Iveta and Nick:
We love quickstep, and they did a good job. Not much else to say here. We would be the worst SYTYCD judges ever, haha. One of the best dances of the night.

No one went home this week, which is good, because no one really sucks yet.

Quentin Tarantino Movies - The two pending ones and the old ones

For a guy who has directed a piddly 15 titles (some of them TV and some of them shorts and some of them where he guest-directed parts), Quentin Tarantino sure is famous. This probably has something to do with the excellence of the low-budget Reservoir Dogs and the originality of Pulp Fiction. Recently, we’ve heard that he’s doing two new movies, Django Unchained and Kill Bill 3. This info has been out for a while, but we're telling you in case you missed it, so that you can get as excited as we are.

Django goes like this (this is a summary Ern's cousin pasted on her Facebook wall): Freed/escaped slave Django (probably Will Smith) who, under the tutelage of a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) becomes a hardcore bounty hunter himself. Then after helping his German mentor, the two team-up to track down Django's slave wife and liberate her from a man named Calvin Candie (probably Leonardo DiCaprio) a charming but ruthless plantation owner whom Django must cross in order to get his wife back. Could that sound any better? Wait for it. Samuel L. Jackson is going to be in it too.

We don’t want to give too much away about Kill Bill 3. Let’s just say Vernita Green’s daughter grew up…and so did B.B. We’re pretty stoked for these.

What we love about Tarantino is what most people who love Tarantino love: He’s fun. He loves movies more than anyone else who walks the face of the earth, and he knows just who to copy and borrow from while still adding his own flavor. Also, he discovers great actors and compiles excellent soundtracks. We are entertained. We like his style of good dialogue taking up most of the movies, with short spurts of action in between. He's not for the faint of heart though. No curse word is off limits and if a Tarantino movie ever didn't have any over-the-top violence, we'd die of shock.

So for all the Tarantino fiends, we are going to discuss each of his movies going back in time.

2009 Inglourious Basterds
The good: Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, and Diane Kruger. Also, Shosanna’s revenge story. We couldn’t have loved the ending more. That’s how we all really wanted it to end, right? We also liked the commentary on violent films/war movies. We admired how ballsy it was to have most of the movie in German and French, rather than English. Even after 2.5 very tense, talky hours, it left us wanting more. We earnestly await the prequel.

The bad: Brad Pitt wasn’t as good as we all thought he was going to be. But he did make an hilarious Italian. It could be argued that the movie was sadistic, morally reprehensible, and self-righteous. Heck, we know it was. But a good revenge fantasy always is.

Movie Grade: A

2007 Grindhouse- Death Proof
The good: If you’re a girl, you need to admit you’ve at least thought about trying to learn that lap dance. That’s the sexiest thing we’ve ever seen, and she didn’t even have to take her clothes off. That’s how it’s done. Then the whole final 20 minutes. This was supposed to be trash (that was the point of the homage), but it was just too clever to qualify. It is still good on its own, but it’s better with Planet Terror and the fake trailers

The bad: It should have been first in the Grindhouse presentation. Rodriguez’s gross, star-studded action movie amped up the violence and pace. Then it slowed to a halt when we got to Tarantino’s talkier, slower movie. Tarantino likes to build up to awesome violence, rather than just slosh it out. Three hours is a long time to sit, and we don’t think many people were ready for a movie with so much girl talk, awesome girl talk though it was, after watching Planet Terror. Tarantino sort of cheated by making a movie with good dialogue and build-up. But we weren’t able to fully appreciate it after being browbeaten by Rodriguez’s gross-outs. The leg gun was pretty cool though.

Movie Grade: B
2003 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2004 Kill Bill: Vol. 2
The good: We think this is one of the times that Tarantino was really out to have fun and indulge all of his fantasies and fetishes. One of his favorite things? Strong women. There is nothing sexier to this guy than a woman tearing through some flesh with a samurai sword. Then he goes with a western motif. We loved these for the “buried alive” portion alone. These are stylish fun, full of foul language and tension. You know you held your breath when she was fighting Gogo. These are purely for the action fan. No one’s really doing any deep thinking. We’re ok with that. Also, we now get "Bang Bang" stuck in our heads at random intervals.

The bad: They are a little silly and the plot is simplistic. Also, wildly unrealistic. The action is great until she gets to Bill and they talk about their romantic history, stalling what should have been a climax.

Movie grades (We’re doing these together): B+

1997 Jackie Brown
The good: Uhhhh, we don’t remember.

The bad: We don’t remember. Most Tarantino movies have several scenes that stick with you forever. We know there was a surprising death…but isn’t there always a surprising death in his movies? We don’t really know what happened with this movie, but we were bored. Critics seemed to like this one. We think it’s by far Tarantino’s worst.

Movie Grade: C

1994 Pulp Fiction
The good: Every movie tried to be this movie after Pulp Fiction came out. There were no good guys (we’ve heard it pointed out that there are never any good guys in a Tarantino movie), yet there were plenty of memorable characters who we cared about. Jules is one of our favorite movie characters of all time. It had dark humor, the plot was good, it was extremely quotable, and there were just so many memorable moments, from the wallet to the dancing scene. This movie really has no bad scenes. Once, in college, Ern got the honor of acting out the entire first scene as Honey Bunny for a class. Best class ever. So much fun.

The bad: The movie is a little cold and long, and some people were disturbed by the gimp scene. We say those people have no business watching a Tarantino movie. You have to be a real movie lover to love this movie, not just someone looking for the latest feel-good chick flick to take your grandma to. Unless your grandma is awesome.

Movie Grade: A+

1992 Reservoir Dogs
The good: The script and cast. This movie shows that those two things are all you need to make an A+ movie. This is about as low-budget as it gets, but it always feels like a serious movie. That’s serious talent.

The bad: Too bleak for some.

Movie Grade: A

If you enjoyed most of these titles, allow us to recommend In Bruges while you wait for more Tarantino offerings.

Pretty Little Liars - It's Alive Review (plus a few sentences about other summer shows)

Ok, thank God Pretty Little Liars is back. We’ve been sampling summer fare for weeks, and none of it has really started our engines. We watched Teen Wolf, and it isn’t bad, but the lead actor is, and that’s very distracting. We watched The Nine Lives of Chloe King, and the first episode was pretty good, and we hear that it gets better in the second episode. Still, it's no Vampire Diaries. We’ve been watching Switched at Birth, and while the deaf thing is interesting, the show is not what we would call “quality.”One of us is really enjoying it though.

We’ve been watching The Bachelorette, and it’s stupid, but fun. We have no desire to watch Happily Divorced, even though one of us loved The Nanny. Game of Thrones and The United States of Tara are almost over. The Glee Project is weird so far and we are having trouble getting invested. We’ve been watching So You Think You Can Dance, and it’s amazing, as usual. We need to start writing about that....

But we really need a good drama again, and Pretty Little Liars fits the bill. We loved how it just picked up right where it left off, letting us see the full aftermath of the finale, rather than having the characters verbally recap it. Jenna is still the creepiest mofo ever.

In this episode, the girls toyed with the idea of actually telling an adult, their new shrink, about A. Emily was the biggest proponent of just letting all the secrets out and facing the consequences. She even just suggested telling their parents and the cops. This would be a good idea, but it would ruin the drama of the show, and it would get Ezra Fitz in a whole load of trouble (which might actually be worth ruining the drama for one of us). We loved that it was Emily who thought they should be honest, because it makes sense with all that she has been through.

We are not digging Toby’s haircut, but we have missed him. Ditto to Noel Kahn, who Ern thinks is hotter than Ezra. Leeard disagrees and thinks Ezra is hotter than ever. Ern thinks he’s scrawny, fish-faced, and he has creepy old man hair. And he’s a gaywad. Nice abs though. We need Noel with Aria immediately, because her character needs to be saved. She spent most of the premiere whining to Ezra about Jackie. And yet, we have missed the wackiness of Aria’s clothes.

We roll our eyes at the “Emily is going to Texas” storyline. We bet she is going to get all packed, goodbyes will be said, and then it’s going to fall through. “A” needs his/her victims right in town. And we were reminded at how all-powerful “A” is in this episode. “A” infiltrated the shrink’s office, which is what stopped the girls from blabbing. Leeard thinks the shrink will be the next murder victim. Ern hopes not, because she would enjoy watching the liars go through individual grief counseling. But this isn’t In Treatment…

Caleb is back for Hanna, and he got to say his “I love you.” We understand why Hanna didn’t forgive him right away, but we were still sad. We liked that she got to confront Mona about the letter, because that didn’t need to be dragged out. We were loving the re-ignition of the Emily/Toby friendship. So sweet.

One thing we thought was weird? They showed Spencer’s naked back while she was changing. First of all, it’s ABC Family. That’s a little too much skin for a family channel. Second, it didn’t add to the episode or the story. Third, who was it FOR? This is a teen girl’s show. Is it just to remind the teen girls that their backs have too much meat on them? (Spencer is tiny.) Is it to fool people into thinking that they are watching a mature show rather than quality teen stuff? We’re confused. Teen lesbians probably rejoiced though.

So, it looks like Ian is alive (not a surprise), and that’s awesome. Melissa asked Spencer for her side of the story about the whole Ian episode in the finale, and seemed genuinely open to hearing the truth. There’s not a lot of sisterhood on this show, and we kind of think it would be nice to see these girls as friends rather than enemies. They are both smart women, and they are family. We’re getting sick of the rivalry. The girls aren’t allowed to hang out for a while and Spencer is not allowed to date Toby. Like either of those things are going to stick.

There weren’t too many “wow” moments or great scenes in this episode, but we are so glad it’s back that we are giving it an A.

Episode grade: A

Big Game of Thrones Twist (Spoiler-free post, spoilers welcome in the comments)

Last night, it finally happened. The thing that made one of us stop reading the books for about a year. Shocking, eh? We've been waiting to see if viewers of TV show would react similarly, and they have. They are devastated.

Rest assured though, the series got much better after the twist. This is one of many in the season. This show will go anywhere and do anything. It can really surprise you. And the boring parts are over.

For those of you who haven't seen it, there are only going to be ten episodes in the first season, and the season finale is next week. It would be easy to catch up before season two. Book three is incredible, so we really want this to get renewed one more time.

If any of you watched last night, what was your reaction? We liked it. But we have the benefit of book hindsight. Episode Grade: A

Bad Language: When We Liked It and When We Didn't

We mostly DON'T like it,unless it is used extremely well. It needs to be necessary/realistic or humorous. When foul language is thrown around for no reason other than to include foul language, we feel drained during the movie. Foul language should punctuate something that is already there, rather than just exist for its own sake. It’s like some makers want to prove that their movie is hip, modern, and edgy, so they just throw in some curse words. Is it the worst thing in the world for a modern, adult movie to lack characters that curse like sailors? Most people really don’t speak like that.

Also, we remember being underage movie buffs. There’s nothing more frustrating than having your parents say no to you seeing a movie that looks really good, just because they added an unnecessary word that you ALREADY KNOW.

We think that every detail of a movie should serve a purpose, down to the shoes a character wears. Because to throw it around aimlessly just makes it so that people who are bothered by bad language can’t enjoy the movie and fewer people can go see it. If you cut out some audience members, it needs to be worth it. Why not imply dirtiness, like in Shrek? It takes more cleverness and it’s more enjoyable for dirty minds to feel like they are in on a secret joke. However, there are times when the movie or TV show calls for a bad word or two. Example time.

BEST USE OF CURSING IN MOVIES AND TV

X-Men First Class: There is one F-bomb in this movie, and it’s probably the funniest part in the whole thing. We won’t ruin it by describing the context, but if you’ve seen it, we know you will agree.

Die Hard: What would this movie be without John McClane’s catchphrase, “Yippee Ki Yay Mother****er?”

Anything like Goodfellas (there were 300 f-bombs in this gem), The Departed, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, American History X, Casino, The Usual Suspects, Inglorious Basterds, and Scarface. Why? Because these are movies that deal largely with criminals or military people. They are popping guys off right and left. Of course they are going to be the kind of guys who cuss up a storm. It’s realistic. Also, Fight Club. Fight Club can say whatever it wants. Unless it is this kind of movie, the cursing should not be constant. It should be carefully placed. We’re looking at you, Judd Apatow. Less is more.

The F-Word rant by Rocco in The Boondock Saints: It illustrated the diversity of the word, duh.

Sex and the City: Especially everything Samantha says. These curse words fit right into blunt, true, and hilarious statements. Curse away, ladies.

Samuel L. Jackson cursing in anything: The Snakes on a Plane. Sam having to emphasize that room 1408 was “an evil ****ing room.” And let’s not forget “Does He Look Like a b*tch?” Whether these things work for a movie or jar us out of them by making us laugh at Samuel L., these examples are at least memorable. Even his cursing wallet is legendary.

Gone With The Wind: One of us has a grandpa who refuses to curse and always quotes the famous Rhett Butler line as “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a hoot.” Sorry, grandpa. It’s just not as good without the curse.

In Bruges: This one tossed around the C-word a lot, and it was perfect. It fit the characters/movie AND it was really funny. There was a whole conversation where someone insulted someone else’s kids with the word and then had to retract it.

Deadwood: If you enjoyed this HBO show, whether you enjoy cursing or not, you have to admit that the cursing in this series was at least especially creative.

South Park: Duh. One of us will only watch this show on DVD or southparkstudios.com in order to get the uncensored version.

Firefly and Serenity: When you can’t curse, you should. make up your own fantasy curse words that sound a lot like our curse words and can be said with the gusto, emotion, and humor of actual curse words. All of the effect and none of the consequences. We’ve been known to throw a “Gorram” around from time-to-time. Fantastic Mr. Fox did this well too.

Risky Business: Sometimes you just gotta say “What the ***” Indeed you do, sir.

Full Metal Jacket: We could have put this in the same paragraph where we talked about the military, but we think it should get its own special mention.

WORST USE OF CURSING IN MOVIES AND TV
Super 8: There was an F-Word in this PG-13 movie. It wasn’t funny, it didn’t serve the story, and there was enough foul language in this movie from the little kids from the 60s anyway. We know middle-schoolers talk that way now, but did they then? Either way, it was too much for a movie that's sure to attract a young crowd. When the stoner said the f-word, we rolled our eyes, because it was just unnecessary.

Titanic: The fat bearded guy was talking to the old lady in the submarine and he said the f-word. Why? Once again, not funny, and we already knew that the fat guy was crass from his attitude. It added nothing to the movie. In fact, this might be our number-one most useless cursing instance of all time.

Good Will Hunting: You can make the argument that it’s realistic for these Boston down-and-outers to cuss a lot. But 154 times is more than enough for the audience to get the point. And it's such a feel-gooder that it's a shame our grandparents can't completely enjoy it. You can't make this edgy, people. It's saccharine. Very good saccharine, but still.

The King’s Speech: Apparently they WANTED a rating of “R” slapped on this movie. The cursing montage was funny and served a purpose in the movie, but the king didn’t need to say some of the worst curse words, and the movie could easily have gotten a PG or PG-13 rating, along with a wider audience. Because other than a few f-words, this movie is clean as a whistle. Were the makers desperate for street cred or something? What’s wrong with making a legitimately good movie that’s also clean? Maybe it will be compared to made for TV specials, but if you're rolling in the dough because a bunch of people got to see it and bring their kids, who cares?

Failure to Launch: Matthew McConawhatsit got mad at his fake girlfriend and shouted at her in the car, using a strong curse. Not only did it break the tone of the movie, but it was awkward and way too harsh. By the time they got back together, we couldn’t even be happy for them. If a guy yelled at us like that….

Cursing Anachronisms: Every time the word is said in a movie that is set in a time period where that word would not yet exist or be a curse. Examples: Braveheart, Shakespeare in Love, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves

Any movie that is a PG-13 where they snuck in one random F-word that wasn’t necessary, just because they could get away with it. It’s like if they CAN, they feel like they have to. Examples: Big, My Best Friend’s Wedding, plenty of light romantic comedies, What Lies Beneath, Catch Me If You Can

Agree? Disagree? Always love cursing? Always think it's unnecessary? Any favorite or least-favorite cursing in your TV and movies?