ABC Family has a new teen show in the vein of Pretty Little Liars. You know, a show about rich, female teens with lots of secrets and a mystery element? We’re not complaining, because you know we are both PLL fans.
The Lying Game is about twins. One, Sutton, was adopted by a rich family and the other, Emma, was not chosen and got stuck in the foster care system. Sutton found Emma and asked her to take her place while she searched for their real parents. But Sutton didn’t come back when she said she would. And Emma started to find out that Sutton has a lot of secrets and used to play pranks called “Lying Games.” Yeah, Sutton’s a conniving, slightly sociopathic weasel. To what degree we do not yet know. Is she a villain?
The Lying Game is a welcome addition to our Monday summer nights. At first, it seemed like a straightforward switcheroo, but then the second episode let us know that there is more going on in Sutton’s life than we thought. It’s possible that Sutton is pulling a lying game on Emma. It’s possible that she really IS looking for her real parents.
One of the things we like about the show so far is the main actress. She has a real feel for the fact that she is playing two different characters, much like Nina Dobrev on The Vampire Diaries. (You never miss an opportunity to mention TVD, do ya, Leeard?) The strength and tone of the actress' voice, as well as her facial expressions, tell us the difference between these two girls. Emma is vulnerable, brave, and caring. She longs for a family of her own, and the actress really makes you feel for Emma as she borrows Sutton’s loving parents and befriends Sutton’s sister. Sutton is confident, but sketchy.
We were afraid that Emma was too boring, being the good girl, but she has a protective, ballsy streak that makes us love her. While Sutton was the troublemaker, she did it secretly. Emma is more in-your-face, smacking bitches down and standing up for her friends.
We think the show needs stronger male love interests at some point, or at least another one. Sutton’s secret boyfriend is a likeable, if temperamental, guy, but shows like this thrive on triangles and many options. We also don’t like the intro with the girls floating in bikinis in a pool. This actress isn’t really a sex pot. She’s cute, in sort of a funny looking way. And this is a show aimed at teens. It seems unnecessary and tacky.
We are also liking Sutton’s wisecracking sister, Laurel, and her best friends, Mads and Char. We expected Mads and Char to be rich jerks, not real friends, but they seem pretty normal. We don’t have much of any idea of where this show is going, and we like that. There’s no murder to solve (so far - there is in the books, so we'll see if the show goes there, but even if it does, it's not the show's main premise), so the plot has places to go (unlike PLL) without dragging things out. The show can go in any direction it wants, as long as it keeps Emma’s true identity a secret. These twins can switch back and forth and get into any sort of adventure.
This is a fun teen show with lots of potential and a main character that you actually root for and pity.
Episodes 1-2 Grade: B+
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Starter for Ten
Leeard recently got Ern to develop a crush on James McAvoy (which is so weird, because Ern usually likes manlier looking guys who are taller than McAvoy’s 5’7”), so Ern has been going through all of his films that she hasn’t yet seen. That’s not many. He’s in a lot of popular movies. But one little movie that flew under both our radars was Starter for Ten.
What’s it about? In this movie, McAvoy plays a poor student who makes it into a prestigious university based on his hunger for learning and desire to better his own intellect. He starts to lose his mind a little when he enters and the pressure of romance, school, and proving himself to his rich classmates gets to him. He falls for a hot blonde girl who is his fellow contestant on a college trivia show that he has watched since he was a boy. It was his dream to appear on it for several years. Meanwhile, a clever, pretty brunette social activist (played by charismatic Rebecca Hall) develops a crush on him, but he sees her as more of a friend.
This movie is full of laughs, coming-of-age moments, and likeable characters. There’s a truly shocking moment that would have made the movie for us all by itself. As McAvoy’s character matures, we grow to forgive and respect him. This is a romantic comedy, but it’s an especially cute, original, and funny one. Plus, everyone in the movie has a sweet European accent, so it makes the lines twice as fun to listen to. It has a sweet, non-Hollywood-y feel to it. Recommended to people looking for a chick flick that doesn’t suck.
McAvoy’s hair and glasses are extremely unfortunate though. It nearly killed Ern’s fledgling crush.
Movie grade: A-
What’s it about? In this movie, McAvoy plays a poor student who makes it into a prestigious university based on his hunger for learning and desire to better his own intellect. He starts to lose his mind a little when he enters and the pressure of romance, school, and proving himself to his rich classmates gets to him. He falls for a hot blonde girl who is his fellow contestant on a college trivia show that he has watched since he was a boy. It was his dream to appear on it for several years. Meanwhile, a clever, pretty brunette social activist (played by charismatic Rebecca Hall) develops a crush on him, but he sees her as more of a friend.
This movie is full of laughs, coming-of-age moments, and likeable characters. There’s a truly shocking moment that would have made the movie for us all by itself. As McAvoy’s character matures, we grow to forgive and respect him. This is a romantic comedy, but it’s an especially cute, original, and funny one. Plus, everyone in the movie has a sweet European accent, so it makes the lines twice as fun to listen to. It has a sweet, non-Hollywood-y feel to it. Recommended to people looking for a chick flick that doesn’t suck.
McAvoy’s hair and glasses are extremely unfortunate though. It nearly killed Ern’s fledgling crush.
Movie grade: A-
Fright Night
This was a remake of an ‘80s movie, and we thought it brought everything you could ever want in a horror remake. It was aimed at people looking for a good time with movie monsters. Colin Farrell is completing his inevitable comeback after getting into substance abuse and then into rehab. He’s pulling a Robert Downey, Jr., not a Lindsay Lohan. (Wow, we shouldn’t have written that. That girl loves to sue people). Farrell was funny, scary, and sexy.
That geek who played McLovin’ in Superbad was in the movie briefly, but he was well-used during his few scenes. This movie brings the jumps and laughs. It’s self-conscious, not boring, and fun. If you hate scary movies, watching people get bit in the neck, any gore, or F-bombs, it’s not for you. Otherwise, we recommend it. It looks like Disturbia, but it’s not like that movie at all.
We are surprised that it didn’t do better in its first weekend at the box office. Maybe people are getting sick of vampires (especially vampires aimed at teens) or they think this movie looks too familiar. Teens usually flock to the rated-R horror genre, but they stayed away here. They shouldn’t have, because it’s a good time. Perfect for a date, if both people liked the ‘80s and horror. We’ve heard from several different sources that you should steer clear of the 3-D version though.
That geek who played McLovin’ in Superbad was in the movie briefly, but he was well-used during his few scenes. This movie brings the jumps and laughs. It’s self-conscious, not boring, and fun. If you hate scary movies, watching people get bit in the neck, any gore, or F-bombs, it’s not for you. Otherwise, we recommend it. It looks like Disturbia, but it’s not like that movie at all.
We are surprised that it didn’t do better in its first weekend at the box office. Maybe people are getting sick of vampires (especially vampires aimed at teens) or they think this movie looks too familiar. Teens usually flock to the rated-R horror genre, but they stayed away here. They shouldn’t have, because it’s a good time. Perfect for a date, if both people liked the ‘80s and horror. We’ve heard from several different sources that you should steer clear of the 3-D version though.
Movie Grade: B+
The Glee Project Finale Comments
Lots of people haven't seen it yet, so we are posting our thoughts in the comments of this post.
True Blood - This Week and Last Week reviews
Here we have one of the most bad ass, awesome episodes of True Blood, followed immediately by one of the lamest. But we still like the action-packed nature of this season.
The baby and evil doll thing did NOT pan out. It seemed like a side plot that had nothing to do with any of the main action or characters. Lafayette got possessed by a women and if it weren’t for the French accent, we wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between regular Lafayette and Ghost Lafayette. In other news, apparently the actor who plays Lafayette is straight and dating a woman. We’re 100% serious.
The only good thing about the evil doll/ghost/baby plot was that we got to see Brujo Jesus be awesome. When he cast the ghost out of Lafayette, he was a major power player mixed with some sort of loving angel of light. Maybe he can take down Petunia Dursley…We think we're in love.
We didn’t feel bad for Jessica for even a moment during these last two episodes, even though she had her heart broken and Hoyt is being mean and petty, calling her a monster. That’s how lots of people are in breakups though. Show me the person who got dumped and acted with total class, grace, and unselfishness. We don’t believe they exist. We’ve never been dumped ourselves, but we wouldn’t be surprised if we say a few rude things if it ever happens.
Jessica is the cheater and the brainwasher. Hoyt can be as much of a butt as he wants. For a few more episodes, anyway. And Jessica ended this week’s episode by nailing Jason while a Taylor Swift song played in the background, which is one of the best uses of Taylor Swift ever, because it just felt so wrong. We can’t blame Jessica for boning Jason though. He’s more tolerable than ever. As a cop, he now has a purpose on the show and in its action. He’s grown a conscience too.
One of the things we loved about the good episode (Spellbound) was the vampire/witch battle that saw Sookie and Tara on opposite sides, Bill offering peace, and Petunia Dursley casting spells even as she negotiated. It was lame that it all ended with Sookie getting shot (it’s not suspenseful when you know she can’t die), but we enjoyed Eric’s battle-commencing attack. Bill saved Tara from Pam and forbade Pam from killing Tara, ever. Petunia Dursley regained control over Eric.
Alcide carried an unconscious Sookie home. This is bad, because he told Debbie and his new werewolf pack’s leader that he would stay away from the vampire vs. witches war…and Sookie. Speaking of the pack leader, Marcus: How can he be such a cool, laid-back guy with Alcide and such a dick to everyone else? We thought Marcus was going to be threatened by Alcide’s strength and much-hotterness (shut up, that can be a real term). But the two came to an understanding and Marcus suggested that Alcide might fulfill a leadership role. But then Marcus was revealed to be Luna’s ex-husband, and he has a real problem with Luna moving on.
Then the next episode came and it all went to hell. At least it was just a filler episode and not a finale or something, because it wasn’t good. We had the weird Lafayette stealing the baby plot. The healing of Sookie was as easy as two prayers from Bill and Alcide, plus some vampire blood. There was a boring dream with too much gender-equality commentary where Sookie tried to get Bill and Eric to have a threesome or something.
The battle between the vampires and the witches didn’t seem to end in any deaths. We guess they all just ran away after a skirmish in the mist. That was it? Seriously? There was way too much Arlene in the episode too. It WAS pretty funny when Jesus responded to one of Jason’s homophobic questions with, “I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that” and then just moved onto the action.
The only cute part was when Sam took Luna and her daughter camping and turned into a bunny rabbit so that Luna’s daughter could pet him. Marcus tried to track Sam down and threaten him, but he ended up finding Tommy, who was pretending to be Sam again. Tommy got beat up. We didn’t mind that. We actually feel a little sorry for him, but we don’t really want him on the show.
Also stupid? Petunia Dursley trapped the yellow-bellied witches (the ones who didn’t want to be in the war anymore) in their meeting building. Tara tried a door handle and burned all the skin off her hand. Then, immediately, the witches said, “Try the back door!” Another witch touched the handle of that other door and….burned all the skin off her hand. Idiots. Use a cloth or something. You just SAW someone get burned by magic. It’s not a leap of logic to guess that Petunia would have cursed BOTH doors.
It was revealed that Jessica likes both Twilight and Taylor Swift. This is sort of endearing, because it’s a reminder of how young Jessica actually was when she died, and how some of her girlish human nature remains, even as her life got a hell of a lot less innocent. Both Andy and Debbie are back on V. Yayyy. Bring on crazy Debbie! But then the show made it confusing as to whether Debbie is trying to help Sookie or betray her to the witches. Debbie might not even know.
Petunia Dursley’s master plan was to compel Eric into killing King Bill at a tolerance rally. Sookie ran into the rally and shouted “RUN!” to Bill, even though just about everyone in the building was already running, as it was clear that witches were attacking. This episode was really dumb, especially after the streak of good episodes we have had. We are also sick of Sookie’s sex dreams. We never thought we would be, but this season has done it. Dear Sookie: Stop getting high on V. Your time of blissful sex is over. Get into the fight. You’ve been playing house with Eric for, like, a whole season now.
Spellbound Episode Grade: A
Let’s Get Out of Here Episode Grade: C+
The baby and evil doll thing did NOT pan out. It seemed like a side plot that had nothing to do with any of the main action or characters. Lafayette got possessed by a women and if it weren’t for the French accent, we wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between regular Lafayette and Ghost Lafayette. In other news, apparently the actor who plays Lafayette is straight and dating a woman. We’re 100% serious.
The only good thing about the evil doll/ghost/baby plot was that we got to see Brujo Jesus be awesome. When he cast the ghost out of Lafayette, he was a major power player mixed with some sort of loving angel of light. Maybe he can take down Petunia Dursley…We think we're in love.
We didn’t feel bad for Jessica for even a moment during these last two episodes, even though she had her heart broken and Hoyt is being mean and petty, calling her a monster. That’s how lots of people are in breakups though. Show me the person who got dumped and acted with total class, grace, and unselfishness. We don’t believe they exist. We’ve never been dumped ourselves, but we wouldn’t be surprised if we say a few rude things if it ever happens.
Jessica is the cheater and the brainwasher. Hoyt can be as much of a butt as he wants. For a few more episodes, anyway. And Jessica ended this week’s episode by nailing Jason while a Taylor Swift song played in the background, which is one of the best uses of Taylor Swift ever, because it just felt so wrong. We can’t blame Jessica for boning Jason though. He’s more tolerable than ever. As a cop, he now has a purpose on the show and in its action. He’s grown a conscience too.
One of the things we loved about the good episode (Spellbound) was the vampire/witch battle that saw Sookie and Tara on opposite sides, Bill offering peace, and Petunia Dursley casting spells even as she negotiated. It was lame that it all ended with Sookie getting shot (it’s not suspenseful when you know she can’t die), but we enjoyed Eric’s battle-commencing attack. Bill saved Tara from Pam and forbade Pam from killing Tara, ever. Petunia Dursley regained control over Eric.
Alcide carried an unconscious Sookie home. This is bad, because he told Debbie and his new werewolf pack’s leader that he would stay away from the vampire vs. witches war…and Sookie. Speaking of the pack leader, Marcus: How can he be such a cool, laid-back guy with Alcide and such a dick to everyone else? We thought Marcus was going to be threatened by Alcide’s strength and much-hotterness (shut up, that can be a real term). But the two came to an understanding and Marcus suggested that Alcide might fulfill a leadership role. But then Marcus was revealed to be Luna’s ex-husband, and he has a real problem with Luna moving on.
Then the next episode came and it all went to hell. At least it was just a filler episode and not a finale or something, because it wasn’t good. We had the weird Lafayette stealing the baby plot. The healing of Sookie was as easy as two prayers from Bill and Alcide, plus some vampire blood. There was a boring dream with too much gender-equality commentary where Sookie tried to get Bill and Eric to have a threesome or something.
The battle between the vampires and the witches didn’t seem to end in any deaths. We guess they all just ran away after a skirmish in the mist. That was it? Seriously? There was way too much Arlene in the episode too. It WAS pretty funny when Jesus responded to one of Jason’s homophobic questions with, “I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that” and then just moved onto the action.
The only cute part was when Sam took Luna and her daughter camping and turned into a bunny rabbit so that Luna’s daughter could pet him. Marcus tried to track Sam down and threaten him, but he ended up finding Tommy, who was pretending to be Sam again. Tommy got beat up. We didn’t mind that. We actually feel a little sorry for him, but we don’t really want him on the show.
Also stupid? Petunia Dursley trapped the yellow-bellied witches (the ones who didn’t want to be in the war anymore) in their meeting building. Tara tried a door handle and burned all the skin off her hand. Then, immediately, the witches said, “Try the back door!” Another witch touched the handle of that other door and….burned all the skin off her hand. Idiots. Use a cloth or something. You just SAW someone get burned by magic. It’s not a leap of logic to guess that Petunia would have cursed BOTH doors.
It was revealed that Jessica likes both Twilight and Taylor Swift. This is sort of endearing, because it’s a reminder of how young Jessica actually was when she died, and how some of her girlish human nature remains, even as her life got a hell of a lot less innocent. Both Andy and Debbie are back on V. Yayyy. Bring on crazy Debbie! But then the show made it confusing as to whether Debbie is trying to help Sookie or betray her to the witches. Debbie might not even know.
Petunia Dursley’s master plan was to compel Eric into killing King Bill at a tolerance rally. Sookie ran into the rally and shouted “RUN!” to Bill, even though just about everyone in the building was already running, as it was clear that witches were attacking. This episode was really dumb, especially after the streak of good episodes we have had. We are also sick of Sookie’s sex dreams. We never thought we would be, but this season has done it. Dear Sookie: Stop getting high on V. Your time of blissful sex is over. Get into the fight. You’ve been playing house with Eric for, like, a whole season now.
Spellbound Episode Grade: A
Let’s Get Out of Here Episode Grade: C+
Breaking Bad- This Week And Last Week (Shotgun and Cornered reviews)
We are almost halfway into season four of this show and there has yet to be a moment that knocks our socks off. Granted, most of those moments seem to happen in the final episodes of each season (with the exception of Walt committing his first murder in, like, episode three of the first season). It’s time to pick up the pace, we say. We thought the show was going to do it when Mike drove Jesse into the desert. We though, “Oh no! Is Jesse dead?” Hardly. They just spent most of the episode driving around together and digging up money.
However, even a slow series of Breaking Bad entries are better-made, more insightful, and more interesting than 90% of other shows. At least we know it’s all going somewhere. But a lot of the individual scenes this season have been a little too long. Like three weeks ago when Skyler went over the cover story with Walt. Or when Mike and Jesse made their first stop. That was like five whole minutes of getting out of the car and digging. Yeah, there was tension. But it was just too dang long.
The whole point of having Jesse tag along with Mike was for Gus to set up a fake attack on Mike that Jesse could avert. That way, Jesse would catch the same pride disease that Walt seems to have contracted. Gus hoped to drive a wedge between Jesse and Walt by making Jesse believe that he can do business and roll in this crowd without Walt’s skills and protection.
Walt occasionally goes back to the smart nerd we know, and this was one of those times. He instantly figured out what Gus was trying to do. But then Walt made it worse by explaining it to Jesse in a very non-tactful way. “It’s all about me!” he said. But props to Walt. We didn’t figure out that’s what Gus was aiming at (a rift between Jesse and Walt). If it works, Jesse is too dumb to deserve to live.
Skyler and Walt officially own the car wash now. We were thinking: Walt has done a lot of horrible things, but he has mostly done them to criminals. He hasn’t really been hurting innocents. Skyler, on the other hand, conned an honest businessman into selling her his life’s work. Who’s the real villain here? Skyler and Walt had sex last week, and it was disgusting. We are always show softcore, porny scenes of two young, perfect, lithe bodies wriggling, mostly outside of marriage. You’ve seen Skyler and Walt. Did we really need to see ALL of Skyler and Walt? Bleck. It was jarring.
The best part of the episode before this Sunday’s was when Walt went over to Hank and Marie’s for dinner and basically shot himself in the foot due to his ego. Hank was going on about how Gale was a real genius, and Walt couldn’t have a dead nerd that he didn’t like taking credit for his meth masterpiece. So he told Hank that he really thought that Gale was just copying the work of the real Heisenberg, who is probably still out there. We busted out laughing. This was so dumb, but it was so true to the character Walt has become.
The camera panned over to a very unhappy looking Skyler. She was probably going through all seven of George Carlin’s dirty words in her head. So Hank settled down to take another gander at the case and found a link between Gale and Gus’ chicken restaurant. It. Is. So. On. Our wish for this season is for the Hank and Heisenberg confrontation to happen.
So now we get to this week. Another reviewer summed it up this way: “This episode slathers on the reminders that Walt is a petty, egotistical, short-tempered man who is not nearly as smart as he believes himself to be.” Yup, this episode gave Walt nothing kind to do. If someone watched this show for the first time last week, they would probably think the protagonist of this show was Mike. Walt gave Skyler this whole rant about how he is the biggest, baddest drug dealer around. She got upset and left. Rather than placate her, Walt went out and bought his son a sports car, out of spite. We wish our parents would buy us stuff when they are mad…
Then Walt got three Honduran ladies in big trouble by paying them to clean his lab when Jesse bailed (after being offended by Walt). They have to be bused back to their mother country, because they saw the meth lab. That was a pretty good use of fragmented Spanish to get them to do it in the first place though. Walt IS smart; he’s just not wise.
At the end of this week’s episode, Jesse and Mike sat outside of a meth dealer’s house, staking it out. It was your classic Breaking Bad meth shack, complete with idiots with bad teeth, filthy rooms, guns, and suspicion. The cartel rivaling Gus’ stole some of Gus’ blue meth, and the meth shack people had bought some of the meth from that rival cartel. Bored of the stakeout, Jesse got out of the car, got one of the meth dudes to dig a hole in his own back yard (so that he would be occupied), and went inside to talk to the remaining methie.
That guy was totally gross and paranoid though, and Jesse had to knock him out with an adjacent bong and take his shotgun from him. Mike showed up just in time to see Jesse not completely bungle his big move. During this episode, Mike also seemed fatherly toward Jesse. It’s obvious that the show is starting to have the two forge a real bond. Jesse is loveable, in his way. After all, he is the only person that Walt is not a complete douche to/Loyalty to Jesse is Walt’s only remaining redeemable quality.
And that might get taken away as Walt continues to see himself as the bad ass running the show when he so clearly is not. A substantial relationship between Mike (who is not completely heartless. Remember his story about trying to save the abuse victim?) and Jesse could lead to many exciting places in the second half of the season.
However, even a slow series of Breaking Bad entries are better-made, more insightful, and more interesting than 90% of other shows. At least we know it’s all going somewhere. But a lot of the individual scenes this season have been a little too long. Like three weeks ago when Skyler went over the cover story with Walt. Or when Mike and Jesse made their first stop. That was like five whole minutes of getting out of the car and digging. Yeah, there was tension. But it was just too dang long.
The whole point of having Jesse tag along with Mike was for Gus to set up a fake attack on Mike that Jesse could avert. That way, Jesse would catch the same pride disease that Walt seems to have contracted. Gus hoped to drive a wedge between Jesse and Walt by making Jesse believe that he can do business and roll in this crowd without Walt’s skills and protection.
Walt occasionally goes back to the smart nerd we know, and this was one of those times. He instantly figured out what Gus was trying to do. But then Walt made it worse by explaining it to Jesse in a very non-tactful way. “It’s all about me!” he said. But props to Walt. We didn’t figure out that’s what Gus was aiming at (a rift between Jesse and Walt). If it works, Jesse is too dumb to deserve to live.
Skyler and Walt officially own the car wash now. We were thinking: Walt has done a lot of horrible things, but he has mostly done them to criminals. He hasn’t really been hurting innocents. Skyler, on the other hand, conned an honest businessman into selling her his life’s work. Who’s the real villain here? Skyler and Walt had sex last week, and it was disgusting. We are always show softcore, porny scenes of two young, perfect, lithe bodies wriggling, mostly outside of marriage. You’ve seen Skyler and Walt. Did we really need to see ALL of Skyler and Walt? Bleck. It was jarring.
The best part of the episode before this Sunday’s was when Walt went over to Hank and Marie’s for dinner and basically shot himself in the foot due to his ego. Hank was going on about how Gale was a real genius, and Walt couldn’t have a dead nerd that he didn’t like taking credit for his meth masterpiece. So he told Hank that he really thought that Gale was just copying the work of the real Heisenberg, who is probably still out there. We busted out laughing. This was so dumb, but it was so true to the character Walt has become.
The camera panned over to a very unhappy looking Skyler. She was probably going through all seven of George Carlin’s dirty words in her head. So Hank settled down to take another gander at the case and found a link between Gale and Gus’ chicken restaurant. It. Is. So. On. Our wish for this season is for the Hank and Heisenberg confrontation to happen.
So now we get to this week. Another reviewer summed it up this way: “This episode slathers on the reminders that Walt is a petty, egotistical, short-tempered man who is not nearly as smart as he believes himself to be.” Yup, this episode gave Walt nothing kind to do. If someone watched this show for the first time last week, they would probably think the protagonist of this show was Mike. Walt gave Skyler this whole rant about how he is the biggest, baddest drug dealer around. She got upset and left. Rather than placate her, Walt went out and bought his son a sports car, out of spite. We wish our parents would buy us stuff when they are mad…
Then Walt got three Honduran ladies in big trouble by paying them to clean his lab when Jesse bailed (after being offended by Walt). They have to be bused back to their mother country, because they saw the meth lab. That was a pretty good use of fragmented Spanish to get them to do it in the first place though. Walt IS smart; he’s just not wise.
At the end of this week’s episode, Jesse and Mike sat outside of a meth dealer’s house, staking it out. It was your classic Breaking Bad meth shack, complete with idiots with bad teeth, filthy rooms, guns, and suspicion. The cartel rivaling Gus’ stole some of Gus’ blue meth, and the meth shack people had bought some of the meth from that rival cartel. Bored of the stakeout, Jesse got out of the car, got one of the meth dudes to dig a hole in his own back yard (so that he would be occupied), and went inside to talk to the remaining methie.
That guy was totally gross and paranoid though, and Jesse had to knock him out with an adjacent bong and take his shotgun from him. Mike showed up just in time to see Jesse not completely bungle his big move. During this episode, Mike also seemed fatherly toward Jesse. It’s obvious that the show is starting to have the two forge a real bond. Jesse is loveable, in his way. After all, he is the only person that Walt is not a complete douche to/Loyalty to Jesse is Walt’s only remaining redeemable quality.
And that might get taken away as Walt continues to see himself as the bad ass running the show when he so clearly is not. A substantial relationship between Mike (who is not completely heartless. Remember his story about trying to save the abuse victim?) and Jesse could lead to many exciting places in the second half of the season.
Will they take on Walt together? Will they take on Gus together? Will Mike be like, “Just kidding, I don’t really care about you” and shoot Jesse in the face? Only time will tell. We are also looking forward to watching Walt be a poor car wash manager, because you just know he's gonna suck at that. We also think that Skyler should go this season, whether she dies or leaves Walt for good. This show needs better female characters. Jane was likeable and Marie is more interesting than Skyler. There's just too much Skyler, even though she is more capable and smarter than Walt will ever be.
Grade for both episodes: B-
Sunday, August 21, 2011
When the Shows Come Back
Add them to your calendar! If you are wondering about other shows, they are probably premiering midseason (like 30 Rock), or they are summer shows, or they have been cancelled. If you have a question about a specific show, ask us. We may know! No news on Make It or Break It. It hasn't been cancelled yet, but there is no indication of a new season.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Pretty Little Liars - Touched by an A-ngel
That alphabet cereal trick of A’s was pretty nifty, but is Emily really the weakest link? Spencer seemed more paranoid than ever in the first scene. Emily might be physically the weakest, because her stress expresses itself by attacking her body, but we think she’s emotionally one of the strongest. Also, who doesn’t grind their teeth, especially in their sleep? (Ok, fine, we know some people aren’t stressed. Lucky bastards.) Ughhh. We need massages too.
Finally, we were proud of Aria. She went right up to Jason and confronted him about the creepy pictures. The best way to handle any creeper is to just confront them in the safest or most public way possible, especially if their creepiness thrives on secrets. As we suspected (and one of us hoped), Jason had a perfectly good explanation for the photos. He didn’t take them. Ali did. Jenna heard Jason explain.
Aria’s mom, Ella, asked Anne, the girls’ old therapist, about possibly talking to depressed Mike. Anne recommended another therapist, because while siblings should learn to share most things, therapists are an example of something they shouldn’t share (along with toothbrushes and boyfriends/girlfriends).
Ezra showed up at the school with our favorite slutbag, Jackie Molina, and Aria saw her flirting with him. Now, we are going to keep the Ezra hate at a minimum for a while. We don’t know how long one of us can stand to do that, but it should last at least a whole post. After having a tough moment at her locker, because she’s stressed and missed swimming, Emily agreed to meet Anne in her office to talk. We did not get excited about an adult possibly finding out about A. That never happens.
Spencer spent time with Toby, packing up Ian’s things. Yay!! Toby!! He doesn’t get enough airtime. They found Ian’s yearbook and saw that he had been a member of the “N.A.T. Club” with Jason and Garrett. Neither of them had any idea what that club was. Rather than suspect it was an innocent inside term between best friends, related to some funny incident, Spencer’s wheels started turning and we immediately saw that she was thinking it was a real club with sinister, secret motivations. Well, on this show, that’s probably a safe assumption to make.
At the high school college fair, Ezra came up to Aria and said, “Have you considered Hollis College?...I think you’ll find the teachers are very hands on.” (*&*^&*%^&%^&%^&%^&) Nope, not gonna say anything. Aria told Ezra about Jason kissing her. Ezra was not pleased. Jackie interrupted his reaction (that we were very much enjoying). When Ezra walked away, Jackie said something that implied that Aria was naïve for being with Ezra. We kind of love her for that.
Emily unwisely went to her massage before seeing Anne, probably giving A lots of time to thwart the Anne situation. Also, a massage is a pretty vulnerable experience that requires just a smidge of security. Emily doesn’t have that now, so she was visibly nervous. We just knew something creepy was going to happen. And yup, her massage therapist was A. (Insert stupid happy ending joke that fosters misconceptions that might put real massage therapists in danger, if you must.)
Back at Nancy Drew Headquarters, Spencer was still looking for clues, and even Toby was worried about how obsessive she was. Then she found a shirt that said Nos Animadverto Totus (NAT). This means “We See All.” BLECK. Spencer deduced that because Ian liked to film the neighborhood’s girls, his friends were in on the pervy film fest. Then she jumped right to, “Maybe Jason killed Alison for the same reason we thought Ian did…to get back those tapes.” We know this can’t be right. It’s only season two and we’ve seen TV before. We believe Jason will turn out to be an ok guy, overall, like Toby.
Jason framed Ali’s picture of Aria sleeping and brought it to Aria as a gift. One of us can't decide if it's creepy or sweet. We know Ali took those pictures, but still. They sat in a café together, talking. Spencer and Toby happened by and saw them. Spencer broke into Ezra’s car and waited in his passenger seat for him. She told Ezra about Jason and Aria in the hopes that Ezra could keep them apart, because Aria isn’t listening. Ella Montgomery saw Spencer and Ezra in the car together. This is amazing and totally ironic. We love it. Good twist, show.
Hanna went riding with Mona and her new, snooty stepsister, Kate (and two of Kate’s friends, Margeaux and Bitsy. Nice names, huh? They say it all). Mona and Hanna lost Kate’s horses, because they are terrible, inexperienced riders. Hanna went back to the stables to complain about “Isa-hell” and Kate ruining her family. Too bad her comments were broadcast on a loudspeaker. And by “too bad,” we mean AH HAHAHAHAHA. Kate called Hanna at home and threatened her, comparing her to a horse that needed to be broken. We love that Kate is a super, upfront, mean girl. Hanna needs a worthy opponent while A bides his/her time.
Jenna stopped by Spencer’s house to threaten her to stop digging. Spencer hit her with a “tell Garrett I said hi.” Jenna met up with Garrett to tell him the unfortunate news that the girls knew about them. She said, “They are looking at yearbooks. It’s only a matter of time before they figure it out, if they haven’t already…It’s time to talk to Jason.”
Jason and Aria went to Jason’s house to get a box of Ali’s stuff. Ezra showed up to get Aria. He made a (*&^%$) love speech that was (&^%^*#%$), saying that he wanted to go public with their relationship, starting with Aria’s parents. Then they kissed and Jason saw it. Aria left with Ezra and Ali’s box. There was nothing interesting in it. At home, Aria and Ella spoke and Ella brought up the Mr. Fitz rumors and Spencer. Ella made it clear that Ezra dating a student would be an abuse of power, and if she found out that it was true, she would feel betrayed. This put a damper on Aria’s plans to come clean…probably ever.
Emily came home and took five showers. Spencer and Hanna comforted her. Reasons why Pretty Little Liars has socially redeeming qualities: We know we’ve covered this before, but the friendships!!! Seriously. That’s such a big part of this show and such a big part of life! We think friendship is really important in growing up. Yes, you might figure that out later (especially if you don’t want to spend life alone), but when you're young? It's so freaking important and the sooner kids learn the lesson, the better.
Aria showed up and told Spencer that she wasn’t mad at her. Cut to Garrett driving up to Jason’s. “I just want to make sure we’re still cool, Jason,” Garrett said. “What does it matter anymore? It’s over, right?” Jason asked. “I’m a cop now. It matters more than ever,” Garrett replied. The episode ended with A paying a visit to therapist Anne. Poor Anne.
Let us pause now, at the end, to remember these marvelous quotes.
“If it needs a tent, it’s a circus.”
“Well, you know the Hastings’ motto. Why enjoy today when you could be worrying about tomorrow?”
“Kate Moss would look like a water buffalo in that.”
Finally, we were proud of Aria. She went right up to Jason and confronted him about the creepy pictures. The best way to handle any creeper is to just confront them in the safest or most public way possible, especially if their creepiness thrives on secrets. As we suspected (and one of us hoped), Jason had a perfectly good explanation for the photos. He didn’t take them. Ali did. Jenna heard Jason explain.
Aria’s mom, Ella, asked Anne, the girls’ old therapist, about possibly talking to depressed Mike. Anne recommended another therapist, because while siblings should learn to share most things, therapists are an example of something they shouldn’t share (along with toothbrushes and boyfriends/girlfriends).
Ezra showed up at the school with our favorite slutbag, Jackie Molina, and Aria saw her flirting with him. Now, we are going to keep the Ezra hate at a minimum for a while. We don’t know how long one of us can stand to do that, but it should last at least a whole post. After having a tough moment at her locker, because she’s stressed and missed swimming, Emily agreed to meet Anne in her office to talk. We did not get excited about an adult possibly finding out about A. That never happens.
Spencer spent time with Toby, packing up Ian’s things. Yay!! Toby!! He doesn’t get enough airtime. They found Ian’s yearbook and saw that he had been a member of the “N.A.T. Club” with Jason and Garrett. Neither of them had any idea what that club was. Rather than suspect it was an innocent inside term between best friends, related to some funny incident, Spencer’s wheels started turning and we immediately saw that she was thinking it was a real club with sinister, secret motivations. Well, on this show, that’s probably a safe assumption to make.
At the high school college fair, Ezra came up to Aria and said, “Have you considered Hollis College?...I think you’ll find the teachers are very hands on.” (*&*^&*%^&%^&%^&%^&) Nope, not gonna say anything. Aria told Ezra about Jason kissing her. Ezra was not pleased. Jackie interrupted his reaction (that we were very much enjoying). When Ezra walked away, Jackie said something that implied that Aria was naïve for being with Ezra. We kind of love her for that.
Emily unwisely went to her massage before seeing Anne, probably giving A lots of time to thwart the Anne situation. Also, a massage is a pretty vulnerable experience that requires just a smidge of security. Emily doesn’t have that now, so she was visibly nervous. We just knew something creepy was going to happen. And yup, her massage therapist was A. (Insert stupid happy ending joke that fosters misconceptions that might put real massage therapists in danger, if you must.)
Back at Nancy Drew Headquarters, Spencer was still looking for clues, and even Toby was worried about how obsessive she was. Then she found a shirt that said Nos Animadverto Totus (NAT). This means “We See All.” BLECK. Spencer deduced that because Ian liked to film the neighborhood’s girls, his friends were in on the pervy film fest. Then she jumped right to, “Maybe Jason killed Alison for the same reason we thought Ian did…to get back those tapes.” We know this can’t be right. It’s only season two and we’ve seen TV before. We believe Jason will turn out to be an ok guy, overall, like Toby.
Jason framed Ali’s picture of Aria sleeping and brought it to Aria as a gift. One of us can't decide if it's creepy or sweet. We know Ali took those pictures, but still. They sat in a café together, talking. Spencer and Toby happened by and saw them. Spencer broke into Ezra’s car and waited in his passenger seat for him. She told Ezra about Jason and Aria in the hopes that Ezra could keep them apart, because Aria isn’t listening. Ella Montgomery saw Spencer and Ezra in the car together. This is amazing and totally ironic. We love it. Good twist, show.
Hanna went riding with Mona and her new, snooty stepsister, Kate (and two of Kate’s friends, Margeaux and Bitsy. Nice names, huh? They say it all). Mona and Hanna lost Kate’s horses, because they are terrible, inexperienced riders. Hanna went back to the stables to complain about “Isa-hell” and Kate ruining her family. Too bad her comments were broadcast on a loudspeaker. And by “too bad,” we mean AH HAHAHAHAHA. Kate called Hanna at home and threatened her, comparing her to a horse that needed to be broken. We love that Kate is a super, upfront, mean girl. Hanna needs a worthy opponent while A bides his/her time.
Jenna stopped by Spencer’s house to threaten her to stop digging. Spencer hit her with a “tell Garrett I said hi.” Jenna met up with Garrett to tell him the unfortunate news that the girls knew about them. She said, “They are looking at yearbooks. It’s only a matter of time before they figure it out, if they haven’t already…It’s time to talk to Jason.”
Jason and Aria went to Jason’s house to get a box of Ali’s stuff. Ezra showed up to get Aria. He made a (*&^%$) love speech that was (&^%^*#%$), saying that he wanted to go public with their relationship, starting with Aria’s parents. Then they kissed and Jason saw it. Aria left with Ezra and Ali’s box. There was nothing interesting in it. At home, Aria and Ella spoke and Ella brought up the Mr. Fitz rumors and Spencer. Ella made it clear that Ezra dating a student would be an abuse of power, and if she found out that it was true, she would feel betrayed. This put a damper on Aria’s plans to come clean…probably ever.
Emily came home and took five showers. Spencer and Hanna comforted her. Reasons why Pretty Little Liars has socially redeeming qualities: We know we’ve covered this before, but the friendships!!! Seriously. That’s such a big part of this show and such a big part of life! We think friendship is really important in growing up. Yes, you might figure that out later (especially if you don’t want to spend life alone), but when you're young? It's so freaking important and the sooner kids learn the lesson, the better.
Aria showed up and told Spencer that she wasn’t mad at her. Cut to Garrett driving up to Jason’s. “I just want to make sure we’re still cool, Jason,” Garrett said. “What does it matter anymore? It’s over, right?” Jason asked. “I’m a cop now. It matters more than ever,” Garrett replied. The episode ended with A paying a visit to therapist Anne. Poor Anne.
Another good one.
Episode grade: A-
Let us pause now, at the end, to remember these marvelous quotes.
“If it needs a tent, it’s a circus.”
“Well, you know the Hastings’ motto. Why enjoy today when you could be worrying about tomorrow?”
“Kate Moss would look like a water buffalo in that.”
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Help
We love critics. We trust critics. We usually agree with them over audiences who will eat up any stupid, loud thing (Transformers, Pirates, Saws, most Katherine Heigl movies). But every once in a while, a movie covers issues that make the critics get all uppity. That’s why we don’t trust critics when it comes to religious or political movies. They have their opinions and audiences have theirs. Even if we agree with the critics’ politics often, we want to judge the controversial movies for ourselves.
We also hesitate to trust them when it comes to tear-jerking, sentimental movies. They’ve seen a lot of movies, they are a bunch of egg heads. They like to be superior, and they can be cynical. Also, they can be wrong when it comes to movies with moral messages and black-and-white characters. They have been taught that morality is simplistic and makes art less interesting.
The Help is one of those movies that is getting heat from a few critics. We are not sure why, because reading the reviews, most of the critics decline to give examples to support their opinions that the movie “glosses over its racist themes” or that it “occasionally flirts with utter irresponsibility.” All of this sounds like a knee-jerk, politically correct reaction to us. You can’t get conflicts like this perfectly, and the movie was true to the book, which plenty of people loved.
The reviews were mostly favorable. The only unfavorable ones with any merit were the ones that said that the movie was emotionally exhausting. We cried multiple times in this one, so bring some tissues. One blogger grew up in a southern family that had a maid. Her father was raised by one. This movie felt very true to that culture, with its manners, Junior League members, southern accents, marriage mania, obsession with how they are being perceived in society, and old-fashioned roles for women. What’s interesting is that a lot of that hasn’t changed. The maids are gone, but that’s about it. It’s cool to see how far we’ve come in some areas, but some things remain the same.
Talking to people who were around in the ‘60s, it’s amazing how many say, “They got that time just right.” My grandma was nice to her maid, but she said that she knew some people who definitely thought they were better. In a lot of ways, it’s a very healing movie, because we’re reminded that the Skeeters and Abileens of the world won and continue to usher in a more honest way of life.
So critics can whine about stereotypes, manipulation, how it was “too Disney,” “simplistic,” and too much of a feel-good movie. Yeah, it’s not subtle. Yeah the fried chicken part was…weird and stereotypical. But the audiences are loving the movie and feeling inspired by the AMAZING performances and the characters’ bravery. You rarely get a feel-good movie that feels this good.
We read the book, and we actually liked the movie better. The performances gave it an extra emotional punch. It’s rare that you feel more deeply in a movie than in the book, which has more time to work on your emotions. It was funny and affecting. Once again, Emma Stone plays the girl that smart girls who don't really fit in can relate to. Is she the new, female Tom Hanks? She's got the "everywoman" quality with none of the dowdiness.
Bottom line: If you are a woman, you will love this movie. If you are a guy, you might. If you are a critic, you might sit in your armchair with your old wine, Tolstoy in hand, and say something like, “It was droll, so very droll.” But no one will hear you over the applause like what we heard in our theater when the credits rolled.
We also hesitate to trust them when it comes to tear-jerking, sentimental movies. They’ve seen a lot of movies, they are a bunch of egg heads. They like to be superior, and they can be cynical. Also, they can be wrong when it comes to movies with moral messages and black-and-white characters. They have been taught that morality is simplistic and makes art less interesting.
The Help is one of those movies that is getting heat from a few critics. We are not sure why, because reading the reviews, most of the critics decline to give examples to support their opinions that the movie “glosses over its racist themes” or that it “occasionally flirts with utter irresponsibility.” All of this sounds like a knee-jerk, politically correct reaction to us. You can’t get conflicts like this perfectly, and the movie was true to the book, which plenty of people loved.
The reviews were mostly favorable. The only unfavorable ones with any merit were the ones that said that the movie was emotionally exhausting. We cried multiple times in this one, so bring some tissues. One blogger grew up in a southern family that had a maid. Her father was raised by one. This movie felt very true to that culture, with its manners, Junior League members, southern accents, marriage mania, obsession with how they are being perceived in society, and old-fashioned roles for women. What’s interesting is that a lot of that hasn’t changed. The maids are gone, but that’s about it. It’s cool to see how far we’ve come in some areas, but some things remain the same.
Talking to people who were around in the ‘60s, it’s amazing how many say, “They got that time just right.” My grandma was nice to her maid, but she said that she knew some people who definitely thought they were better. In a lot of ways, it’s a very healing movie, because we’re reminded that the Skeeters and Abileens of the world won and continue to usher in a more honest way of life.
So critics can whine about stereotypes, manipulation, how it was “too Disney,” “simplistic,” and too much of a feel-good movie. Yeah, it’s not subtle. Yeah the fried chicken part was…weird and stereotypical. But the audiences are loving the movie and feeling inspired by the AMAZING performances and the characters’ bravery. You rarely get a feel-good movie that feels this good.
We read the book, and we actually liked the movie better. The performances gave it an extra emotional punch. It’s rare that you feel more deeply in a movie than in the book, which has more time to work on your emotions. It was funny and affecting. Once again, Emma Stone plays the girl that smart girls who don't really fit in can relate to. Is she the new, female Tom Hanks? She's got the "everywoman" quality with none of the dowdiness.
Bottom line: If you are a woman, you will love this movie. If you are a guy, you might. If you are a critic, you might sit in your armchair with your old wine, Tolstoy in hand, and say something like, “It was droll, so very droll.” But no one will hear you over the applause like what we heard in our theater when the credits rolled.
Movie Grade: A-
Saturday, August 13, 2011
For Sons of Anarchy Fans
Three episodes in, we've just figured out what Sam Crow is (SAMCRO). Haha, we feel dumb. We just kept thinking, "Who is this Sam guy who seems to rule all?"
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Ern and her family deemed this “the perfect chick flick” and kept wanting to see it again. That includes the guys. Ern’s sister couldn’t stop talking about how hot Ryan Gosling was in it. “I couldn’t see it before, but now….” she said. Leeard, on the other hand, found it too predictable and guessed the most important twists. (Keep in mind that she’s a dynamite guesser and none of the friends who went with her had the same experience.)
One thing that we both hated: Most of the scenes with the teenaged babysitter and Steve Carell’s son. A lot of that was just a little ridiculous. We really cared more about the adults, so we felt like the movie got worse whenever it spent time on its youngest generation. We wouldn’t pull out their plot entirely if it were up to us, because it turned out to be important to the other plots and there were a few laughs. But it could have been reduced significantly.
One thing that we both hated: Most of the scenes with the teenaged babysitter and Steve Carell’s son. A lot of that was just a little ridiculous. We really cared more about the adults, so we felt like the movie got worse whenever it spent time on its youngest generation. We wouldn’t pull out their plot entirely if it were up to us, because it turned out to be important to the other plots and there were a few laughs. But it could have been reduced significantly.
We also think it's nice that someone finally made a romantic movie that is realistic to how people date and hook up nowadays. It focuses on the bar scene and the emptiness of the lives of the guys who hound the bars for one-night-stands constantly. Yeah, love does conquer all, but it's no pic-a-nic starting out in this cynical world.
Can we just mention how much we love Emma Stone? She always plays a smart, down-to-earth girl that normal women can relate to or at least want to be. Sure, she doesn’t always get the guys the way the sweet blonde would, but she always gets to keep her sense of humor and self-respect. And the actress pulls that off every time. She’s proof that we never need Lindsay Lohan back.
Of course, Ryan Gosling is always good in everything he’s in. Steve Carell does his usual thing and draws the laughs. The pacing is perfect. One of us teared up at one point. This is a hugely romantic movie totally focused on “true love” being the key to happiness, but we didn’t care, because it was funny and it had a good cast. This is a really sweet romantic comedy, and it’s funny enough that if a guy has to watch a chick flick, it ought to be this one.
Movie Grade: B+
Can we just mention how much we love Emma Stone? She always plays a smart, down-to-earth girl that normal women can relate to or at least want to be. Sure, she doesn’t always get the guys the way the sweet blonde would, but she always gets to keep her sense of humor and self-respect. And the actress pulls that off every time. She’s proof that we never need Lindsay Lohan back.
Of course, Ryan Gosling is always good in everything he’s in. Steve Carell does his usual thing and draws the laughs. The pacing is perfect. One of us teared up at one point. This is a hugely romantic movie totally focused on “true love” being the key to happiness, but we didn’t care, because it was funny and it had a good cast. This is a really sweet romantic comedy, and it’s funny enough that if a guy has to watch a chick flick, it ought to be this one.
Movie Grade: B+
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
We were surprised to find that the main character of this movie was NOT James Franco’s character. It was the ape. Played by Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings’s Gollum) who had his bodily movements all CGI’d for a realistic effect and performance, the ape stole the show and made you feel for his plight.
This is a great accomplishment for a movie with a premise that many would describe as “stupid.” This movie is anything but boring. No real apes were used in the filming, so the movie isn’t hypocritical either.
So yeah. While this might not be your topic of interest, it shockingly doesn’t suck. It’s a good action movie with good direction and a sympathetic animal main character. And this is coming from someone who hates 9/10 animal movies.
Grade: A-
This is a great accomplishment for a movie with a premise that many would describe as “stupid.” This movie is anything but boring. No real apes were used in the filming, so the movie isn’t hypocritical either.
So yeah. While this might not be your topic of interest, it shockingly doesn’t suck. It’s a good action movie with good direction and a sympathetic animal main character. And this is coming from someone who hates 9/10 animal movies.
Grade: A-
The Glee Project's Christian Dilemma
We are enjoying The Glee Project a lot more than most reality shows. First of all, it's entertaining and the kids are talented underdogs. Also, it doesn’t come across as needy for our approval or too flashy. It isn’t trashy either. It doesn’t have too many commercials, no one votes, it’s not a gross circus, and it has an intimate, safe feel to it. This is good, because it features young people getting a taste of the acting business.
We don’t want to see them hurt or exploited. We want to see them nurtured. Most reality shows gut the contestants and then toss them, ashamed, back into the world. We don’t feel like this one does.
In fact, we are pretty impressed with Ryan Murphy and his inclusiveness. He’s gotten a lot of heat from anti-gay people, including a lot of Christians, for his gay Kurt storylines. Granted, there was too much focus on Kurt in season two. Apparently, Murphy has received multiple death threats due to his gay storylines and messages on Glee.
Now, Christianity is not cool in the entertainment industry right now. Blame Pat Robertson, closed-minded Pharisees, and political Christian crusaders who feel as if God needs the government to save the world and make it more Christian. So it would be easy for Murphy to throw a Christian contestant under the bus when the contestant acted prude-ish. Any other reality show would. For example, look at any season of America’s Next Top Model with Christian girls. Granted, those girls were more obnoxious...but might they have been casted for being obnoxious and having a potential for drama? Murphy cast a Christian that all of the other kids really liked.
Murphy says he is looking for a Christian character for the show. He said that he doesn’t think the show has fairly represented that group of people yet (however, Mercedes represents it pretty well). He wants a character who “holds fast to those beliefs.” Why? Inclusiveness. He wants to have a teen on the show that teen Christians can relate to, rather than just have a legalistic Christian character who is a bully, like Quinn.
So he had this Christian contestant on Glee named Cameron. He was an adorable, innocent little hipster boy with glasses, tight pants, and a guitar. He had a girlfriend and he really feels deeply about “not cheating on her.” Of course, as an actor, you sometimes have to play a character who will do things you will not do. Trouble started when Cameron was kissed by another contestant during the making of a music video. He cried and called his mom, because he felt that he had violated his morals. Ryan Murphy said that he liked that side of him and kept him on the show.
Now, as a Christian, this blogger thinks that Cameron was dead wrong. It’s acting. It’s part of the job. It’s not like he’s showing skin or exploiting women. He needed to know that most acting will involve a kiss at some point. Later, Cameron was pressured to kiss a girl again, and he refused. He started thinking, “Maybe I’m just a singer and not an actor,” because he wasn’t a strong actor. He landed in front of Ryan Murphy.
Some people are just too sensitive for reality TV. In addition to the kissing thing, Cameron was feeling homesick and pressured. We can understand him realizing that environment wasn’t for him. All of the other contestants really liked him as a person, and he had a good voice, but some people just aren’t cut out for the business. Cameron realized that this was him and asked to be let go from the show. We were sad, because he was one of our favorite contenders at the time.
Murphy, rather than painting him as a prude, sat down with him and said (in his John Malkovich-y voice) something like, “I want to keep you. I can write a Christian character for you. I admire you standing up for your beliefs and convictions. It’s very impressive in a kid your age, and I want that on my show.” Cameron turned him down, but we enjoyed that Murphy treated Cameron so gently, understanding that it was a hard, emotional time for him. Rather than make the kid look like a prude, Ryan Murphy protected him, lauded his choices, and let him exit the show. We really liked how Murphy is turning the other cheek rather than hating on religious people because of the ones who have spread some hate his way.
We don’t want to see them hurt or exploited. We want to see them nurtured. Most reality shows gut the contestants and then toss them, ashamed, back into the world. We don’t feel like this one does.
In fact, we are pretty impressed with Ryan Murphy and his inclusiveness. He’s gotten a lot of heat from anti-gay people, including a lot of Christians, for his gay Kurt storylines. Granted, there was too much focus on Kurt in season two. Apparently, Murphy has received multiple death threats due to his gay storylines and messages on Glee.
Now, Christianity is not cool in the entertainment industry right now. Blame Pat Robertson, closed-minded Pharisees, and political Christian crusaders who feel as if God needs the government to save the world and make it more Christian. So it would be easy for Murphy to throw a Christian contestant under the bus when the contestant acted prude-ish. Any other reality show would. For example, look at any season of America’s Next Top Model with Christian girls. Granted, those girls were more obnoxious...but might they have been casted for being obnoxious and having a potential for drama? Murphy cast a Christian that all of the other kids really liked.
Murphy says he is looking for a Christian character for the show. He said that he doesn’t think the show has fairly represented that group of people yet (however, Mercedes represents it pretty well). He wants a character who “holds fast to those beliefs.” Why? Inclusiveness. He wants to have a teen on the show that teen Christians can relate to, rather than just have a legalistic Christian character who is a bully, like Quinn.
So he had this Christian contestant on Glee named Cameron. He was an adorable, innocent little hipster boy with glasses, tight pants, and a guitar. He had a girlfriend and he really feels deeply about “not cheating on her.” Of course, as an actor, you sometimes have to play a character who will do things you will not do. Trouble started when Cameron was kissed by another contestant during the making of a music video. He cried and called his mom, because he felt that he had violated his morals. Ryan Murphy said that he liked that side of him and kept him on the show.
Now, as a Christian, this blogger thinks that Cameron was dead wrong. It’s acting. It’s part of the job. It’s not like he’s showing skin or exploiting women. He needed to know that most acting will involve a kiss at some point. Later, Cameron was pressured to kiss a girl again, and he refused. He started thinking, “Maybe I’m just a singer and not an actor,” because he wasn’t a strong actor. He landed in front of Ryan Murphy.
Some people are just too sensitive for reality TV. In addition to the kissing thing, Cameron was feeling homesick and pressured. We can understand him realizing that environment wasn’t for him. All of the other contestants really liked him as a person, and he had a good voice, but some people just aren’t cut out for the business. Cameron realized that this was him and asked to be let go from the show. We were sad, because he was one of our favorite contenders at the time.
Murphy, rather than painting him as a prude, sat down with him and said (in his John Malkovich-y voice) something like, “I want to keep you. I can write a Christian character for you. I admire you standing up for your beliefs and convictions. It’s very impressive in a kid your age, and I want that on my show.” Cameron turned him down, but we enjoyed that Murphy treated Cameron so gently, understanding that it was a hard, emotional time for him. Rather than make the kid look like a prude, Ryan Murphy protected him, lauded his choices, and let him exit the show. We really liked how Murphy is turning the other cheek rather than hating on religious people because of the ones who have spread some hate his way.
New Show: Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing
ABC. Tuesday nights starting on October 11 at 8 Eastern.
Starring: Tim Allen, Nancy Travis and Hector Elizondo.
Plot: Tim Allen is a real man living in a world where women rule and guys are metrosexuals. He has a bunch of daughters and a smart wife.
Why We Are Excited: The preview looks pretty funny, and we do think that the “real man” is a dying breed. Tim Allen is a sitcom legend, and this should please his fans, as well as fans of things like Everybody Loves Raymond.
Why We Are Not Excited: We are not fans of shows like this, generally. We find them old fashioned. So, while this might be good, it’s just not our taste, and we don’t think the premise is that original. We will watch a few when we catch it on, but it’s not gonna be our next favorite comedy. We think the preview says it all. If you like that kind of show, this will be great for you.
Preview:
Anticipation Score (for us): 3/10
Anticipation Score for grandmas and sitcom lovers: 9/10
Be sure to click on the "##Upcoming Shows## link in the cloud so you can stay apprised. And let us know if you think you will be watching any of them!
ABC. Tuesday nights starting on October 11 at 8 Eastern.
Starring: Tim Allen, Nancy Travis and Hector Elizondo.
Plot: Tim Allen is a real man living in a world where women rule and guys are metrosexuals. He has a bunch of daughters and a smart wife.
Why We Are Excited: The preview looks pretty funny, and we do think that the “real man” is a dying breed. Tim Allen is a sitcom legend, and this should please his fans, as well as fans of things like Everybody Loves Raymond.
Why We Are Not Excited: We are not fans of shows like this, generally. We find them old fashioned. So, while this might be good, it’s just not our taste, and we don’t think the premise is that original. We will watch a few when we catch it on, but it’s not gonna be our next favorite comedy. We think the preview says it all. If you like that kind of show, this will be great for you.
Preview:
Anticipation Score (for us): 3/10
Anticipation Score for grandmas and sitcom lovers: 9/10
Be sure to click on the "##Upcoming Shows## link in the cloud so you can stay apprised. And let us know if you think you will be watching any of them!
Vampire Diaries Promo
Yeah, it's short, but we see a lot. We're referring specifically to Caroline's doings. So don't watch it if you want to remain spoiler-free. Ern is posting this, but she can already hear the scream of Leeard when Leeard watches it. Not because it's particularly juicy, but because that's how excited Leeard gets about this show.
Enjoy
Friday, August 12, 2011
Grey's Anatomy Spoilers
We know that lots of you guys watch Grey’s Anatomy and are missing it, so we thought we’d bring up the most recent spoilers. Stay away from this post’s comments if you don’t want to know. They aren't really that exciting, but it's better than nothing.
Go to the comments for more.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
True Blood - Cold Grey Light of Dawn discussion
Debbie and Alcide: Joined the local werewolf pack and then went looking for Sookie to make sure she was safe. They got a front-row seat to Sookie and Eric having sex in the woods. They went home to have their own sex, and Debbie started crying because she thought Alcide had feelings for Sookie. Debbie seems to have really turned her life around, but she is probably going to lose Alcide to Sookie, and then she will have glorious, insane, drug-fueled, lycanthrope revenge. We feel bad, but we are looking forward to that.
Jesus and Lafayette: Lafayette is a medium and Jesus’ dead uncle possessed Lafayette temporarily in order to save Jesus from rattlesnake poisoning. But don’t worry, Jesus’ evil grandpa would never actually want to kill Jesus. Jesus is his last witchy hope to leave a legacy, descendant-wise. Lafayette went back to Merlotte’s and saw, through his new skills, that Arlene’s evil baby has an evil ghost lady following him around and causing trouble. You mean that evil baby stuff is actually going to turn into a real plot line? A serious one? Wow, ok. Good.
Pam: Has to get daily injections to promote healing, stop her rotting, and start looking better again. She had to let Tara and Naomi go because a bunch of humans showed up and would have put her killing spree on the internet with their cell phone cameras. Can’t have that.
Tara: Dumped Naomi for Naomi’s own safety and joined Petunia Dursley and the other witches to help take out the vampires, especially since Pam is personally gunning her. We find this surprisingly useful and bad ass for Tara. We still don’t like her though. In fact, we are wondering if there is anything this character can do to redeem herself in the eyes of viewers after her uselessness in previous seasons.
Sam and Luna: Figured out that Tommy is a skinwalker and that Luna never slept with the real Sam, after a funny cell phone conversation where he didn’t know that she thought he was the ultimate jerk. We like that they didn’t drag that reveal out. After all, Sam had all the ingredients to figure out the truth. 1) He knows about skinwalkers and how they are created. 2) He knows Tommy killed family members. 3) He knows Tommy is the freaking worst. Sam went home and kicked Tommy out, after choking him for a little while and saying, “I wish I could forget everything about you.”
Now, we are not Tommy fans, by any means, but we actually felt bad for the kid there. He looked genuinely heartbroken to lose Sam. But we are also worried that Tommy will take Sam’s “kill Sam and take everything he has by pretending to be him” plan into his head. After all, what else does Tommy have to go to or to do? Stupid move, Sam.
Bill: Found out about Petunia Dursley’s possession by powerful, dead necromancer Antonia through Luis shooting him in the chest and saying “resurrection.” Bill healed and sent all of the vampires (except a few) out of town and bunkered down with Jessica. He ordered all remaining vampires to chain themselves down with silver so that Petunia Dursley wouldn’t raise them from the dead and have them walk out into the sun when dawn came. He stopped by Sookie and Eric’s to warn them to do it too, and that was nice. Who knew Bill would make such a good and trustworthy king?
Sookie: Had plenty of sex with Eric and then comforted him during the big incident. The two new lovers have a conversation about whether Sookie will still want Eric if he regains his memory. Her answer was pretty much, “Maybe. I hope so.” That’s promising. That means that her memory of who he is underneath his experiences and her memory of their time together might trump the times he acts like a jerk. And, really, he was adorable when he was a jerk most of the time anyway. So, who cares? We know they are going to be together for a while. We hear that it’s that way in the books. The only person who will be sad about that is Bill. We think he’s handling things well this season and being an honorable guy, but we don’t want Sookie back with him.
Jessica: Had a hard time with the silver, and it was sad. She confessed her doubts about her relationship with Hoyt to Bill and then thanked Bill for turning her and being her vampire daddy. Bill didn’t chain her up securely, so she managed to get up and out the door when the sun came up. We ended on that “cliffhanger.” We put that in quotes, because we are pretty sure that Jason is going to save her.
Jason: Jason is still crushing on Jessica. When Jason heard from Sookie that the vampires would rise, he ran off to save Jessica. Because, yes, the witches wasted no time in getting a circle together and trying to kill of the vampires. There was a really funny moment with Hoyt’s mom where one of her neighbors walked out into the sun with curlers and a bathrobe on. She burst into flames and Hoyt’s mom exclaimed, “I knew it!” Good stuff. Maxine is a great character. There's so much hilarity to be had there, and we feel like almost every episode delivers as far as Maxine goes.
This season has wasted no time getting things to happen, getting characters to realize things, and moving the show along. We approve. This episode left us wanting more. It's safe to say this show is back as far as quality summer entertainment goes.
Jesus and Lafayette: Lafayette is a medium and Jesus’ dead uncle possessed Lafayette temporarily in order to save Jesus from rattlesnake poisoning. But don’t worry, Jesus’ evil grandpa would never actually want to kill Jesus. Jesus is his last witchy hope to leave a legacy, descendant-wise. Lafayette went back to Merlotte’s and saw, through his new skills, that Arlene’s evil baby has an evil ghost lady following him around and causing trouble. You mean that evil baby stuff is actually going to turn into a real plot line? A serious one? Wow, ok. Good.
Pam: Has to get daily injections to promote healing, stop her rotting, and start looking better again. She had to let Tara and Naomi go because a bunch of humans showed up and would have put her killing spree on the internet with their cell phone cameras. Can’t have that.
Tara: Dumped Naomi for Naomi’s own safety and joined Petunia Dursley and the other witches to help take out the vampires, especially since Pam is personally gunning her. We find this surprisingly useful and bad ass for Tara. We still don’t like her though. In fact, we are wondering if there is anything this character can do to redeem herself in the eyes of viewers after her uselessness in previous seasons.
Sam and Luna: Figured out that Tommy is a skinwalker and that Luna never slept with the real Sam, after a funny cell phone conversation where he didn’t know that she thought he was the ultimate jerk. We like that they didn’t drag that reveal out. After all, Sam had all the ingredients to figure out the truth. 1) He knows about skinwalkers and how they are created. 2) He knows Tommy killed family members. 3) He knows Tommy is the freaking worst. Sam went home and kicked Tommy out, after choking him for a little while and saying, “I wish I could forget everything about you.”
Now, we are not Tommy fans, by any means, but we actually felt bad for the kid there. He looked genuinely heartbroken to lose Sam. But we are also worried that Tommy will take Sam’s “kill Sam and take everything he has by pretending to be him” plan into his head. After all, what else does Tommy have to go to or to do? Stupid move, Sam.
Bill: Found out about Petunia Dursley’s possession by powerful, dead necromancer Antonia through Luis shooting him in the chest and saying “resurrection.” Bill healed and sent all of the vampires (except a few) out of town and bunkered down with Jessica. He ordered all remaining vampires to chain themselves down with silver so that Petunia Dursley wouldn’t raise them from the dead and have them walk out into the sun when dawn came. He stopped by Sookie and Eric’s to warn them to do it too, and that was nice. Who knew Bill would make such a good and trustworthy king?
Sookie: Had plenty of sex with Eric and then comforted him during the big incident. The two new lovers have a conversation about whether Sookie will still want Eric if he regains his memory. Her answer was pretty much, “Maybe. I hope so.” That’s promising. That means that her memory of who he is underneath his experiences and her memory of their time together might trump the times he acts like a jerk. And, really, he was adorable when he was a jerk most of the time anyway. So, who cares? We know they are going to be together for a while. We hear that it’s that way in the books. The only person who will be sad about that is Bill. We think he’s handling things well this season and being an honorable guy, but we don’t want Sookie back with him.
Jessica: Had a hard time with the silver, and it was sad. She confessed her doubts about her relationship with Hoyt to Bill and then thanked Bill for turning her and being her vampire daddy. Bill didn’t chain her up securely, so she managed to get up and out the door when the sun came up. We ended on that “cliffhanger.” We put that in quotes, because we are pretty sure that Jason is going to save her.
Jason: Jason is still crushing on Jessica. When Jason heard from Sookie that the vampires would rise, he ran off to save Jessica. Because, yes, the witches wasted no time in getting a circle together and trying to kill of the vampires. There was a really funny moment with Hoyt’s mom where one of her neighbors walked out into the sun with curlers and a bathrobe on. She burst into flames and Hoyt’s mom exclaimed, “I knew it!” Good stuff. Maxine is a great character. There's so much hilarity to be had there, and we feel like almost every episode delivers as far as Maxine goes.
This season has wasted no time getting things to happen, getting characters to realize things, and moving the show along. We approve. This episode left us wanting more. It's safe to say this show is back as far as quality summer entertainment goes.
Episode grade: A-
Breaking Bad- Bullet Points discussion (better three days late than never)
Skyler is quickly becoming our second-favorite character. If she keeps being such an asset, this show is going to go from “cautionary tale” to “good ideas, as long as you have a great wife/assistant to consider every detail of your cover story”. She made Walt learn how to count cards and join a 12-step program to help with his gambling addiction. She wrote out two scripts to perfectly lay out their car wash cover story to Hank.
She rehearsed pertinent things with her husband in a scene that might have been too long. But it's only episode four of this season, and they have to drag things out a little, right? Apparently, Skyler thinks that Walt is just going to finish his cooking contract and they are going to be quietly left with the money he made off of that, and that he can just walk away from the business. She's brilliant, but wishful thinking can trick anybody.
Hank bought the story and he and Walt bonded over the Gale evidence. Hank's spirits have been rejuvenated by the case. We got to see a truly sad karaoke video made by Gale in the process too. Even though Hank thinks that Gale was Heisenberg, Walt still freaked out to Saul Goodman about the general direction of his life. Saul told him that he knew a “disappearer” who could hook Walt and his family up with new identities and hide them if things got too bad.
Walt went to find Jesse to ask him about what happened at Gale’s house, step by step, so that Walt could ascertain whether Jesse left incriminating evidence before or after he shot Gale. Of course, this triggered irritation and sad PTSD in Jesse, and Jesse paid some of his homeless druggies to throw Walt out. Yes, homeless druggies.
Then Jesse got a visit from Mike, who recently had the top of one ear shot off, because Gus has been dealing with cartel retaliation. Mike tied up one of the druggies who had been living in Jesse’s house and stealing money from Jesse. Mike implied that he was going to kill the druggie. He got no reaction out of Jesse, and this worried him. Also, Jesse has cut his hair very short, which is hardly ever a good sign. Mike went to Gus and reiterated that Jesse is a liability.
The episode ended with Walt going to look for Jesse and realizing that Jesse is gone. At this point, in her chat with Leeard, Ern started typing, “No no no nononononono nooooooo.” But thank God, Jesse is still alive. Except he is in a car with Mike, headed for the desert. And Mike is driving. And it’s Mike. And it doesn’t look like Jesse cares if he lives or dies at all.
We will say it again: Do not kill off the only truly sympathetic character left on the show. Sure, Marie can elicit sympathy sometimes, but we don’t care about her nearly as much as we do about Jesse. And Aaron Paul is too good of an actor to die! We are actually worried at this point. There is a huge part of us that thinks that Jesse can’t die, but there’s another part of us that thinks the show will go there if it wants to.
Hank bought the story and he and Walt bonded over the Gale evidence. Hank's spirits have been rejuvenated by the case. We got to see a truly sad karaoke video made by Gale in the process too. Even though Hank thinks that Gale was Heisenberg, Walt still freaked out to Saul Goodman about the general direction of his life. Saul told him that he knew a “disappearer” who could hook Walt and his family up with new identities and hide them if things got too bad.
Walt went to find Jesse to ask him about what happened at Gale’s house, step by step, so that Walt could ascertain whether Jesse left incriminating evidence before or after he shot Gale. Of course, this triggered irritation and sad PTSD in Jesse, and Jesse paid some of his homeless druggies to throw Walt out. Yes, homeless druggies.
Then Jesse got a visit from Mike, who recently had the top of one ear shot off, because Gus has been dealing with cartel retaliation. Mike tied up one of the druggies who had been living in Jesse’s house and stealing money from Jesse. Mike implied that he was going to kill the druggie. He got no reaction out of Jesse, and this worried him. Also, Jesse has cut his hair very short, which is hardly ever a good sign. Mike went to Gus and reiterated that Jesse is a liability.
The episode ended with Walt going to look for Jesse and realizing that Jesse is gone. At this point, in her chat with Leeard, Ern started typing, “No no no nononononono nooooooo.” But thank God, Jesse is still alive. Except he is in a car with Mike, headed for the desert. And Mike is driving. And it’s Mike. And it doesn’t look like Jesse cares if he lives or dies at all.
We will say it again: Do not kill off the only truly sympathetic character left on the show. Sure, Marie can elicit sympathy sometimes, but we don’t care about her nearly as much as we do about Jesse. And Aaron Paul is too good of an actor to die! We are actually worried at this point. There is a huge part of us that thinks that Jesse can’t die, but there’s another part of us that thinks the show will go there if it wants to.
We think Jesse is on his last leg with the show. Where can he really go from here? And how long can they drag it out? He can either be redeemed and get out of the drug life or go to the police or contact Saul's "disappearer," or he can die horribly. It's starting to look like this could be his last season, either way. We know this is a dark show, and we like that, but we are really rooting for the redemption possibility over the death possibility.
Jesse has come so far and his face just before he shot Gale really let us know how human he still is. The real possibility that Breaking Bad will kill him makes things all the more intense. But he still might live, because we don't have an ensemble cast here. We have two main characters and some mostly annoying ones causing trouble for them. The show just can't afford to lose this guy, especially when taking care of Jesse is the only unselfish thing Walt ever does anymore.
What do you think? Do you think Jesse will survive season four?
Episode grade: B+
Skyler is quickly becoming our second-favorite character. If she keeps being such an asset, this show is going to go from “cautionary tale” to “good ideas, as long as you have a great wife/assistant to consider every detail of your cover story”. She made Walt learn how to count cards and join a 12-step program to help with his gambling addiction. She wrote out two scripts to perfectly lay out their car wash cover story to Hank.
Hank bought the story and he and Walt bonded over the Gale evidence. We got to see a truly sad karaoke video made by Gale in the process too. Even though Hank thinks that Gale was Heisenberg, Walt still freaked out to Saul Goodman about the general direction of his life. Saul told him that he knew a “disappearer” who could hook Walt and his family up with new identities and hide them if things got too bad.
Walt went to find Jesse to ask him about what happened at Gale’s house, step by step, so that Walt could ascertain whether Jesse left incriminating evidence before or after he shot Gale. Of course, this triggered irritation and sad PTSD in Jesse, and Jesse paid some of his homeless druggies to throw Walt out. Yes, homeless druggies.
Then Jesse got a visit from Mike, who recently had the top of one ear shot off, because Gus has been dealing with cartel retaliation. Mike tied up one of the druggies who had been living in Jesse’s house and stealing money from Jesse. Mike implied that he was going to kill the druggie. He got no reaction out of Jesse, and this worried him. Also, Jesse has cut his hair very short, which is hardly ever a good sign. Mike went to Gus and reiterated that Jesse is a liability.
The episode ended with Walt going to look for Jesse and realizing that Jesse is gone. At this point, in her chat with Leeard, Ern started typing, “No no no nononononono nooooooo.” But thank God, Jesse is still alive. Except he is in a car with Mike, headed for the desert. And Mike is driving. And it’s Mike. And it doesn’t look like Jesse cares if he lives or dies at all.
We will say it again: Do not kill off the only truly sympathetic character left on the show. Sure, Marie can elicit sympathy sometimes, but we don’t care about her nearly as much as we do about Jesse. And Aaron Paul is too good of an actor to die! We are actually worried at this point. There is a huge part of us that thinks that Jesse can’t die, but there’s another part of us that thinks the show will go there if it wants to.
Hank bought the story and he and Walt bonded over the Gale evidence. We got to see a truly sad karaoke video made by Gale in the process too. Even though Hank thinks that Gale was Heisenberg, Walt still freaked out to Saul Goodman about the general direction of his life. Saul told him that he knew a “disappearer” who could hook Walt and his family up with new identities and hide them if things got too bad.
Walt went to find Jesse to ask him about what happened at Gale’s house, step by step, so that Walt could ascertain whether Jesse left incriminating evidence before or after he shot Gale. Of course, this triggered irritation and sad PTSD in Jesse, and Jesse paid some of his homeless druggies to throw Walt out. Yes, homeless druggies.
Then Jesse got a visit from Mike, who recently had the top of one ear shot off, because Gus has been dealing with cartel retaliation. Mike tied up one of the druggies who had been living in Jesse’s house and stealing money from Jesse. Mike implied that he was going to kill the druggie. He got no reaction out of Jesse, and this worried him. Also, Jesse has cut his hair very short, which is hardly ever a good sign. Mike went to Gus and reiterated that Jesse is a liability.
The episode ended with Walt going to look for Jesse and realizing that Jesse is gone. At this point, in her chat with Leeard, Ern started typing, “No no no nononononono nooooooo.” But thank God, Jesse is still alive. Except he is in a car with Mike, headed for the desert. And Mike is driving. And it’s Mike. And it doesn’t look like Jesse cares if he lives or dies at all.
We will say it again: Do not kill off the only truly sympathetic character left on the show. Sure, Marie can elicit sympathy sometimes, but we don’t care about her nearly as much as we do about Jesse. And Aaron Paul is too good of an actor to die! We are actually worried at this point. There is a huge part of us that thinks that Jesse can’t die, but there’s another part of us that thinks the show will go there if it wants to.
Episode grade: A-
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