All Things Chocolate

Ok so...I LOVE chocolate. So when I was searching our "On Demand" shows for the FoodNetwork channel and saw "Good Eats: Chocolate 1", "Good Eats: Chocolate 2", and "Good Eats: Chocolate 3" I knew I just had to watch. Alton Brown is the guy that does the show "Good Eats" and he is very entertaining. He makes the show scientific, and not just about him cooking. So, back to the chocolate. He gives a brownie recipe that looks great, but I can't get my act together to actually make those brownies from scratch. I know they are much better than the box brownies, but the box is so convenient, not to mention EASY. So when he gave a recipe for hot chocolate I had to write it down because all it takes is mixing dry ingredients in a container. So this morning before work I decided to mix it all up. One of the ingredients is cayenne pepper. Yeah, it may seem strange, but it sort of made sense to me. You know, to give it a little bite. So, I was ok with that as an ingredient. However, there was no exact measurement given for the cayenne pepper. Alton simply said to add some cayenne pepper, and then proceeded to take the shaker and shake it directly on top pf all of the other ingredients and then mix them all together. How hard is that? ha. I put all of the ingredients, sans cayenne pepper, into a large bowl. Then I grabbed the cayenne pepper and shook some on the top of what was already in the bowl. Honestly, there was alot of other stuff in the bowl, so the red powder on top looked like nothing compared everything else. I put the lid on the bowl and shook that sucker up. I was proud of myself. Feeling like I had achieved something before even going to work, I proceeded to make myself a cup of hot chocolate. I then took a sip. Something was not right. I went and woke Travis up and told him he needed to taste it. Upon arriving back into the kitchen, I looked into my mug of tasty goodness and saw many red specks skimming the top of my beverage. Travis took a drink. He winced, uttered an "ughhh", and held the mug far away from his face. A moment later he says, "it tastes good, until it burns the back of your throat." So apparently, I made lethal hot chocolate. When it comes to cayenne pepper, there needs to be an exact measurement, because I guess I cannot eye ball it.

Nothing else is really going on around here. We started playing tennis a couple weeks ago. We look like a couple of freaks flailing about. Every day we looks a little less like a flailing freak though, and it is fun. In other words, we are not good. At all. But who can complain when the ocean is in site as your playing tennis? Not I.

March is a good month for whale watching around here, according to my sources. So we may try to watch some whales this weekend. If we get any good pictures I'll post some.

so good it's....WICKED!!!!

Excuse the poor attempt at a witty title for this blog post. Honestly, it made me giggle when i thought of it...so...most of you will probably think it's corny. :-) But that's ok with me. Saturday night we ventured to Hollywood to see Wicked at the Pantages Theater. It is my new favorite musical. It was so entertaining and the music is AWESOME. I reccomend this musical to everyone.

At 4:00 am Sunday morning (after only being in bed for 2 1/2 hours) I woke up terribly sick. The nasty stomach thing that attacked all my kids at school finally caught me. At least, I assume it was that rather than food poisoning since everything i ate the last week Travis ate too. Either way...at the urging of my sweet husband the sickness resulted in a trip to the Urgent Care center here in Malibu (because there is no way I would have made it to Santa Monica to the ER). One bout of dehydration, an IV, 3 bags of saline, 2 syringes of demoral, and 2 syringes of phenergen later (all in 4 1/2 hours) I was feeling much better. Loopy, but better. Blah. If I never get that again it will be too soon.

In other news, Monday we were walking into CVS here in Malibu and ran into David Arquette. Well, not so much ran into as walked past in the parking lot.

Also, it looks like Travis has a great shot at an entertainment law internship. He has a meeting Friday. If you think about it you might shoot up a prayer on his behalf. Thanks!! Have a good one.

Celeb Sightings - UPDATED!!!

So This week has been a big one in the Celebrity Sightings Arena for Jeri and I, and it's only half way through the week. So far we've seen 6 celebrities, which is about 6 more than we've seen in the past month.
Monday night we went to Burbank to see a screening of Super Bad. After the movie Jeri ran to the restroom and I as I was coming out of the theater I made eye contact with some guy, who I quickly realized was Hank Azaria (The Simpsons, Huff) so I gave him the head nod and walked away very quickly, because I didn't want to seem like I was starring.
Then as I stood waiting for Jeri in the lobby I noticed Seth Rogen (Writer and Star of Super Bad and Judd Apatow (Writer and Director of The 40 Year Old Virgin & Knocked Up) standing around talking to various people. I'm a big fan of both of these guys work. Both worked on one of my favorite TV Shows ever, Freaks & Geeks (Seth was an Actor, Judd was the co-creator) and although both The 40 Year old Virgin & Knocked Up (Seth also acted in these) have a lot of bad language and some questionable content they have really good messages, and an underlying sweetness that I just really loved. So since Jeri wasn't around to discourage me I walked up to Seth Rogen and told him I was a big fan and that they had done a terrific job on Super Bad and that I'd seen a sneak preview of Knocked Up and that he was really good in it. He shook my hand, said thanks, and I went on my way. Then I decided to walk over to Judd Apatow and do the same. So I walked over, said I was sorry to interrupt but that I was a big fan, gave him my name, and shook his hand and said I had seen Knocked Up, which he seemed surprised by, and that I'd loved it, and he said thanks. I told him that Freaks & Geeks was one of my favorite shows and he said "And Undeclared?" and I said "of Course Undeclared I have them both on DVD." He laughed, shook my hand again and said thanks, and I walked away.
Then as I continued to wait for Jeri I kept looking around to see who else was standing around, and that's when I saw one of the coolest celebrities I've seen in the year and a half we've been out here. Edward Norton. Yes Edward Norton was there for the screening of Super Bad and was standing around in the lobby.
Jeri came back to the Lobby, having just missed Hank Azaria, but I pointed out Edward Norton to her so she could look as we passed him, and I told her I had said something to Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow.

Last Night for Valentine's day we went to The Arclight Theater in Hollywood. As we entered the courtyard area in front of the Arclight I noticed a guy wearing a leather motorcycle jacket and holding a helmet and very quickly Jeri and I both realized it was Giovanni Ribisi. So that was pretty cool as he's another actor that I really like.

Then after the movie, on our way home Jeri & I had to stop at the Albertson's Grocery Store in Calabasas. On our way out at about 10:00pm on Valentine's Day we saw Howie Mandel walking into the store. It was pretty random, as we've never seen anyone at that grocery store, but there was another guy coming out right behind us, and his reaction was pretty funny. When he saw him he said "Hi, Howie" and I think Howie responded in turn (I couldn't hear him) and the guy just got the biggest smile on his face and it was plan to see that Howie Mandel had made his entire night.

Updated: One new one from today (Friday), we went to the Topanga Canyon Mall in Woodland Hills this afternoon and while we were walking around Jeri recognized this guy, she just wasn't sure from where at first. But then she realized, it was Keith from One Tree Hill, or Craig Sheffer (Into the West) to the rest of the world. He was at the Hair Extension/Wig kiosk with a woman. So that's it for this week.

Calling Out, Around the World....

Just a cool observation. Our blog gets readers from all over the place. South America, Asia, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. But I wonder...Why don't y'all make comments? It's cool that you read, but you should say something every once in a while. Hopefully, we will get something remotely worth reading up here soon.

You Tube Video

So I just found this on You Tube. It is funny, especially if you know, or know of either of the people in the video. Mike Cope is the main guy in the video...preacher at Highland C o C in Abilene, Texas. At the end is a nice cameo by Randy Harris, ACU professor.

Playlist

I was looking at Kelly's blog and her playlist for February. I was thinking about "the perfect playlist." Well, at least, what that would look like for me, personally. Now, there can be millions of playlists. The traveling playlist - and even that can be divided up to plane travel, car travel, etc. The sad playlist, the happy playlist, really it can cater to all your moods. There are so many options here. I guess I've been in a pretty good mood lately....so the upbeat, fun songs are fab right now. Anyway...in case you care, or maybe you don't...here is my ideal playlist as of today.

A quick side note...Saves the Day is my favorite band, so if you see their name more than once there is a good reason for that.

1. Saves the Day - Holly Hox, Forget me Nots
~ great beat, catchy tune...favorite line, "You never know just what you have till
you get it ripped out of your chest" - sounds fun huh? :-)

2. Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push
~ this song is just fun. a little hip hop. makes me want to roller skate. he he

3. Kelly Clarkson - Walk Away
~ I've loved Kelly since the first season of American Idol. This song is your
typical girl power Kelly Clarkson song.

4. Saves the Day - Shoulder to the Wheel
~ Honestly, this could be my favorite Saves the Day song. It makes me feel good.
The music is awesome. Favorite line, "I'm having a bad week, and I miss my mom."

5. Taking Back Sunday - Cute Without the E (Cut from the Team)
~ one of my favorite songs ever. it's one of those songs where you know all the
words and it makes you smile when it comes on cuz you can't help but sing along.
Favorite line, "Hoping for the best, just hoping nothing happens. A thousand
clever lines unread on clever napkins."

6. Frank Sinatra - The way You Look Tonight
~ just a good song. maybe cuz it reminds me of Trav.

7. The Cure - Just Like Heaven
~ another one of my favorite songs of all time. it is just good.

8. Something Corporate - Punk Rock Princess
~ :-) So fun!

9. Saves the Day - Freakish
~ good song. this guy can write some good words.

10. Sheryl Crow - Strong Enough
~ as far as female "rockers" go, Sheryl is probably the best.

11. Erasure - A Little Respect
~ That's right. Come on, you know you love this song!!

12. Dashboard Confessional - Age Six Racer
~ one of my favorite songs by chris carraba. So long sweet summer...

13. Dashboard Confessional - Again I Go Unnoticed
~ another fabulous song. "So quiet, another wasted night, the television steals
the conversation..."

14. Saves the Day - Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
~ YEAH!! wooh, this song is FUN.

Ok...so now that I have bored you with my list of favorites, what are some of your favorites? I realize some of you don't know alot of these songs or bands...but you have a favorite song, right? Come on...post a comment with your favorite song. That means all of you that visit and read this blog but NEVER post...DO IT!!!! Come on, you know you wanna!!

Travis' New Blog

So if you look to the side you'll see a new link, this is my new blog for all of my posts about movies and entertainment. You can get there by clicking on the link or by going to www.thecinemaniac.com.
That's right I also registered my first domain name and now have my first Real Website!!! IT's exciting! And the most suprising part is that no one had registered that name before.
I'll be working on the site to get it all set up, getting a logo designed, and figuring out how to use Word Press, a blogging program. So for now the site will just redirect you to a blog on blogger, but hopefully soon, it will be it's own self contained site.
Also if you have any suggestions on ways to fix things up or topics to discuss feel free to comment on that site and let me know. I want the site to be the best it can be, so that I can get enough people visiting that I can sell ad space and get some extra income.
Travis

Hilarious

This kid is so cute. I laugh so hard at this video everytime I see it.

Strike first, strike hard, no mercy sir!

Here's a little music Video I found the other night, It's all about one line from Karate Kid and stars the original actors who player the members of the Cobra Kai Dojo, Mr. Belding, and a short cameo by the Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio.
So everyone "Sweep the Leg"

The Flu Bites

Yeah, I have the flu. The one year I don't get a flu shot because I can't find one for less than $100, I get the flu. Sad. Even more sad because we were going to go to Universal Studios today. Bummer. Anyway. What a way to end a week.





Another sad note, this week I discovered that I forgot my sweet nephew's birthday!! He turned 5 and I forgot to call. I am very upset with myself over this, and I actually did cry about it. I never forget to call my nephews on their birthday. Anyway, here is a picture of his sweet little 5 year old face:

Here's a little anecdote from this week. One morning Travis and I were at Starbucks and one of my students was there. I stopped to talk to him and his mom while Travis walked over to get our drinks. As soon as Travis left the kid looked at me (he is 3) and pointed at Travis and said, "Hey is that your dad?" HA HA.

More Movies

I've seen a few more movies since my last post and I thought I'd let you know how I felt about them. Also I take a look back at one of the movies I left off of my awards that I shouldn't have.

“Brick” is an independent film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt released in March of last year. Jonathan and I got the chance to go to a free screening of it in Hollywood a few weeks before it came out. “Brick” is a film noir set in High School, it’s got all the trappings of a classic film noir, the Femme Fatale, the unfortunate man pulled in by a woman into a situation which quickly gets out of hand. It has the fast paced dialogue of the movies from golden days of cinema, much of which you won’t understand until subsequent viewings (or by finding the dictionary on the official site online). Overall it’s a great mystery, with a wonderful cast of characters. Gordon-Levitt gives a magnificent performance and proves he’s an actor who can hold his own.

Here's the movies I've seen recently, 3 of which will likely be the best movies I see this next year: Apocalypto, Eragon, Déjà vu, Pan’s Labyrinth, Alpha Dog, Children of Men, and Babel.

(BTW this was written partially before the Oscar nominations and partially after so I don’t mention the awards for that reason)

Apocalypto

What it’s about: Set during the time of the ancient Mayans, the story follows Jaguar Paw as he tries to get back to his pregnant wife and son after being kidnapped by a savage tribe.

What I Thought: The movie is, of course, the newest movie from Mel Gibson, say what you will about the man himself, but he can make a heck of a movie. This movie is basically just a long chase scene, but it’s one of the best chase scenes any recent years. Gibson and co-writer Farhad Safinia do a wonderful job of weaving a realistic tale of family and one man’s fight to get back home to save his family.

Many people have complained about the amount of blood and gore, but honestly it’s no worse than Braveheart.

The Bottom Line: All and all this is one of the best movies I’ve seen in quite sometime. Don’t let the violence or the subtitles turn you off, you won’t regret it.

Eragon

What it’s about: Something about a kid who finds a dragon egg and involves some old tradition of dragon riders.

What I Thought: quite simply the most boring movie I’ve seen in a long time. To be honest I have to admit that I tried listening to the book on tape and got bored with it less than halfway through. So when it came time for the movie I decided that I’d give it a chance and hoped it was better than the book. Unfortunately it wasn’t so.

I checked my watch at least 5 times during the movie, which is not a good sign with me. Usually I might check my watch once during a movie, but with Eragon it seemed to be a constant thing.

Quite simply put the movie was just boring, the only good part was the fighting scenes which were few and far between, and sadly one of the worst things was Rachel Weisz, as the voice of the Dragon.

The Bottom Line: Overall it’s a movie trying to cash in on the Harry Potter, LOTR, Narnia trend, that just isn’t up to par. Unless you have Kids, who might enjoy the film, don’t waste your time.

Déjà Vu

What it’s about: After the corpse of a murdered woman shows up at the site of a terrorist attack, Agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) joins a top secret new government program that has technology which allows them to look 4 days back in time. But in order to save the woman Carlin will have to do more than just watch.

What I Thought: An intriguing mystery, clues that all make since in the end, time travel, and James Caviezel. No, this isn’t a sequel to 2000’s Frequency, but it does have the same basic feel as that wonderful movie. (If you haven’t seen Frequency I beg you to go rent it tonight, you’ll love it or you’re money back, seriously just tell the video store I told them to give it back to you, I promise it will not work)

Maybe it’s because I love time travel movies, but this is the type of popcorn movie I can really get behind. Small things which don’t really seem to mean anything come together in the end in a way that will really make you think.

The Bottom Line: I Loved it!

El Laberinto del Fauno AKA Pan’s Labyrinth

What it’s about: The year is 1944 and the Spanish Civil War has just ended, Ofelia and her mother are going to live with her mother’s new husband, a Captain in the Military whose stationed in a rural area surrounded by rebellious forces. Ofelia escapes to a fantasy world, one that may or may not lie within her own mind, where she is the long missing princess of a long forgotten world. In order for Ofelia to reclaim her place next to her royal family she must complete three tasks given to her by the Faun.

What I Thought: I wrote a really beautiful review encompassing how I felt, but my computer shut down and erased it, so here’s my second try.

This is one of the most beautiful movies I have seen in a very long time. Director Guillermo del Toro artfully brings to life two completely separate worlds in completely different ways. Del Toro’s post-civil war era Spain is brought forth with muted colors to make the world seem dreary and isolating, which helps the viewer to sympathize with Ofelia and her own sense of loneliness.

But the real beauty and vision lies in the Fantasy world. Here del Toro uses brighter colors which makes the creatures found in it seem that much more surreal. While much of this world is dark and scary, the colors still seem to bleed through and almost make the fantasy world more welcoming.

Although I loved this movie I must admit that it is very violent and quite scary. Many of the creatures, most notably “The Pale Man” are almost nightmare inducing in their creation. But some of the scariest scenes may be in the “real world” setting. Ofelia’s new father comes across as an evil man who will do anything to cut down the rebel forces he faces. And two of the most gruesome, gut-wrenching scenes I have every seen in a film come not in the fantasy world, but in the Captain’s presence.

The Bottom Line: I truly believe that I have already seen the two best movies I’ll see this year and this was the first one. I can’t wait to see this movie again and hope it’s while it’s still in theaters. In all honesty I don’t have the words to tell you how much I loved this movie. Go see it while it’s in theaters, but know it’s not for the faint of heart.

Alpha Dog

What it’s about: The true story of Jesse James Hollywood(Emile Hirsch)(renamed Johnny Truelove for the movie) a drug dealer who became one of the youngest people to ever be on the FBI’s most wanted list. When rival, Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster) breaks into his home, Johnny kidnaps his brother, Zack in retaliation. What follows is the story of what happened over the next weekend, while Johnny’s boys held Zack hostage.

What I Thought: I went in not knowing what to expect. I knew the basics of the movie, but I didn’t know how the story ended or what would happen in between. But I really did like the movie. Hirsch and Foster do a fantastic job playing to old friends who’ve come to hate one another. And the extended cast of Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Harry Dean Stanton, and others all do a great job. But two actors really blow you away with their talent. The first was Anton Yelchin as Zack Mazursky, Yelchin gives an amazing performance as a sweet vulnerable kid who everyone can’t help but love. But I think the person who blew me away the most with their performance was Justin Timberlake. Here as the wise-cracking, right hand man, Frankie Ballenbacher, Timberlake proves that he’s got what it takes to not only act but as a comedian.

The Bottom Line: An enthralling story that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Children of Men

What it’s about: The year is 2027 and every woman on Earth is infertile. The last person was born in 18 years before. Britain is one of the remaining countries of power and has started deporting everyone who is not a citizen. Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a former activist, is contacted to help smuggle a young woman out of the country, only Theo doesn’t know that the young woman is miraculously pregnant.

What I Thought: Two Words: Breathtakingly Amazing! I have to admit, after seeing the preview I had no interest to see this movie, but luckily my friend Jon told me to go see it, and I am so glad I did. This is another movie where I just don’t have the words to describe it.

The movie is set in a dreary, hopeless world, and Alfonso Cuaron does an amazing job of conveying that despair in the sets and the characters. But Cuaron’s real genius is shown in the filming of two scenes in the movie. Both scenes are seamlessly cut together so that they look like one long cut. I won’t ruin these scenes for anyone who hasn’t scene the movie, but I think you’ll know them when you see them.

The movie also does an amazing job of conveying the hope that one pregnant woman can bring to an infertile world.

My only word of advice is that the movie is fairly violent, so you’ve been warned.

The Bottom Line: The 2^nd of what is likely the two best movies I’ll see this year. It’s another movie with lots of great story and content and is so amazingly shot, you won’t forget the movie any time soon.

Babel

What it’s about: Because I don’t know how to describe it From IMDB.Com:

This is a complex tale of four interlocking stories. A poor Morrocan family acquires a rifle to protect their goats. An American couple's bus tour holiday is shattered when she is accidentally shot. That couple's children, at home in the USA with their nanny/housekeeper, accompany her to Mexico to attend her son's wedding. A Japanese father, whose wife has committed suicide some time ago, is unable to communicate with his teenage daughter. A tragic tale for all concerned.

What I Thought: A film that’s done amazingly well, but something that I can honestly saw had I not heard it was such a great film, I’d never have wanted to see. The entire movie is sad, depressing, and as it says above tragic.

And don’t get me started on the copious amounts of nudity. Had I been warned about the nudity I wouldn’t have seen it.

Truthfully I saw a better “Everyone’s connected in strange ways” movie last year. It was called “Crash” and won the Best Picture Oscar, something it deserved, unlike this film. Also I’ve seen the “Everyone’s Connected in Strange Ways” movie several times in the past few years it’s been called “Magnolia,” “11:14,” and several other titles. It seems to be the new trend in Hollywood, and to tell the truth it’s gotten out of hand.

Everyone isn’t always connected in some way, so stop trying to make them all connected, it’s been done.

The Bottom Line: A good movie, shot well, but nothing I can recommend because it’s so depressing and sad. Honestly, nothing I want to own or watch again.

Good grades

Travis won't brag on himself, so I wanted to for a second. He finally got all of his grades back from last semester...he did AWESOME. He was really worried about a couple classes but even those grades were great! Anyway...Law School is hard, but Travis is working hard. He is so smart. I am proud!

Snow? In Malibu??

SO...apparently it snowed today in Malibu?? Um...where??? I was outside ALL DAY and did not see one single snow flake. We are SO SO confused. It was stinking cold today, but how did we miss the snow that is all over the news? Seriously, what the heck?

Happy 2007!!

Well folks, we hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year. Before we headed out to Amarillo Christmas day we had our own Christmas on Christmas Eve. I got the best present ever from Travis: a baseball bat SIGNED by Russell Martin!!! It has a picture of him signing it and a certificate of authenticity. It is GREAT!!! I LOVE it. Christmas morning on our way to the airport there was the prettiest sunrise we could see over the ocean.

We had fun in Amarillo seeing family and friends. We had so much luggage it was ridiculous. Tomorrow we are going to the Getty Villa museum. If we take any fun pictures I will post them tomorrow. We start back to school and work next week, then I am off to Vegas with the girls on Thursday night!!

Hope everyone has a great first week of January!!

Pet Peeves!

Someone posted a comment in response to the "Tiddies" basically saying why they disagree with my choice of "Little Miss Sunshine" as the funniest movie of the year. While I have no problem with someone posting a comment about how their perspective differs, I did have two problems with this post:
1)They ruined the ending of a movie, which may be one of my biggest pet peeves, just because you didn't enjoy the movie, doesn't give you the right to ruin it for others, and;
2)they left the post anonymously.

Please if you wish to comment, either positively or negatively, leave your name. If you can't sign in, just put your name at the end.

Thanks,
The West Coast Tidmores!

Rachel/Rachael

Ok girls...signing your comments "Rach" isn't going to help me. :-) There are TWO of you. I assume the comments on the last post were from rachEL? We always take that many pictures. He He.

Tis the Season...

To be Jolly!!! Went to Salado last weekend with the fam (well, the female half of the fam) and it was a blast as usual. At the end of the post I will put a few pics of the FAB weekend!

We have been listening to alot of Christmas music lately. Some of our favorites have been: "Baby It's Cold Outside" (the Zooey Dechanel version), "All I Want for Christmas is You" (we like the version from Love Actually), and a new song we found this season!! It is "Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!" by Sufjan Stevans!! It is SOOOO fun!! I even played it in my classroom. You should all find it and listen to it, it has really given us the holiday giggles.

Tonight on the way home from a little shopping we jammed out to an old favorite!! It's not a Christmas song, but we always get that Night at the Roxbury head bob going on when we hear it. "A Little Respect" by Erasure!!! Seriously!! So fun. We like music in general, but today was a fun music day, since we spent a while in the car heading to and from the outlet mall in Camarillo.

In other news...I snagged myself a Dodger Mr. Potato Head!!! HA HA HA. For REAL!! I am going to go play with it now!

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!! :-)

The corn bread sticks at Stagecoach are GRRREAT!!

Me, my mom and my sister

Again.

Rachel, Me, Rachael

Again.

The Best Movies of 2006!

Well I promised these would come soon so here they are, my best of 2006. I couldn't rank them numerically so I decided to hand out awards, which I have dubbed "The Tiddies" (Pronounced Tid - dee's) So without further ado, the award goes to....


Best Romance of the Year
The Holiday
This movie is the Best Romance for one reason and surprisingly it's not the beautiful Kate Winslet or Cameron Diaz, heck it's not even Jack Black, who shows he really can act, or Jude Law. No the best part of this movie is a 91 year old man named Eli Wallach. I'm not saying the rest of the movie isn't good, because it is, but Mr. Wallach pushes it over the top.

Best B Movie of the Year
Slither
I saw this movie twice this year in the theater and once on DVD. Slither is a throw back to the b horror movies on the 80s, its funny, with a good amount of jolts and gallons of over-the-top gore. James Gunn's directorial debut is more fun than it has any right to be, and Nathan Fillion is a big part of that. I met both Fillion and Gunn at the screening I went to in October and they were two very nice guys which makes watching this movie all the better.

Best Guilty Pleasure
Snakes on a Plane
What more can I saw about this movie that the Title doesn't say for me? There's Snakes and they are on a Plane.

Wildest Ride of the Year (Tie)
Crank & Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
This one is a tie, one is a 90 min non-stop thrill a minute ride the other a 2.5 hour Pirate Sequel with thrills on the high seas. Crank is on this list because it knows exactly what it is and doesn't try to be anything else, Crank is one impossible stunt after another, which is no surprise because the directors are to former stunt men, but there are some very cool things they do with various shots and effects. Pirates on the other hand, while not as good as the first movie, is a lot of fun, yes the villains are weird and not nearly as good as the cursed pirates of the first film, but the fights and action sequences made for a bloody good time, especially the Water Wheel fight sequence.

Best Animated Movie of the Year
Monster House
I can't say I saw every animated movie that came out this year, but of the ones I did see this was my favorite. Monster House was by animating actors who had worn motion capture suits. Then end result is a great, if slightly scary (especially for the younger crowd) movie which is both thrilling and funny.

Best “disappointment” of the Year
Lady in the Water
This movie was critically panned (I'm sure the fact that one character is both a movie critic and a jerk didn't help) and didn't seem to get much love from the movie going public either, but I loved it. I have to think that this is another case of bad marketing. Once again a studio chose to market a Shyamalan movie as a horror flick and once again it disappointed that target audience. I believe if they had chosen to market it as the weird Fairy Tale that it was it would have had a more positive reaction and as such the better word of mouth might have helped the boxoffice.

Most Painful to Watch
Borat
Borat was painful to watch in several different ways. First it was painful to see how unintelligent people in America can be, and I'm sure Baron Cohen encountered quite a few people that didn't make fools of themselves, but that doesn't make for a good movie. As a social commentary it is amazing, making you feel in turns ashamed and angry at how ignorant people can be. This movie was also painful to watch because there are several cringe inducing scenes that you want to turn away from, but just can't force yourself to do so. But the main reason this movie was painful was because it literally hurt to watch. I laughed so hard in several scenes that I ha a hard time breathing, and one scene had me laughing so hard I was literally choking. Simple put it was awful, disgusting, and hilarious.

Funniest Movie of the Year
Little Miss Sunshine
This one is a gem. The only thing bad I can say about this movie is the language. But if you can get past that you'll find a Hilariously heartwarming film. One minute it will have you crying with laughter the next it will have you crying because it's touched you. Everyone in this cast is phenomenal, but the two best are probably Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin, whose chemistry as grandchild and grandfather is amazing.

Best Movie Going Experience of the Year
Superman Returns at Grauman’s Theater Opening Night
Alright, everyone knows I loved this movie, it was Superman for cry out loud, but the experience of standing in line for several hours on opening night at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood with thousands of other Superman fans, talking about comics, movies, televisions shows and any number of other topics is enough to put this experience at the top, but the simple fact that the director Bryan Singer was there and that, although I didn't get the chance to talk to him, he was inches away from me made this an amazing moment in my movie going history, and that's all before the movie even started! Hearing the cheers for the Spiderman 3 trailer, listening to the fans reactions to everything from the opening music to the standing ovation at the end of the movie made this movie more than just a movie, but as the name of this award suggests, an EXPERIENCE, and one that I'm proud to have been a part of.

Best Action Movie of the Year
Casino Royale
Daniel Craig is the new Bond and this is the way a Bond movie should be done, forget the naysayers that complain that, this being a prequel, there shouldn't be any cell phones, etc, because this isn't a prequel, it's a new beginning and a relaunch of the Bond franchise. And really is that a bad thing, there's not a lot of franchises that last 22 movie and span over 4 decades, so I welcome this "relaunch" and pray that they keep on this course. But Seriously in a year full of Action movies this one pulled ahead of the pack and lead with such ferocity that the others didn't stand a chance.

Best Movie of the Year: Runner-Up (Tie)
The Departed & Hollywoodland
Looking back I have to say that my favorite movies of the year are not what I though they'd be. I'm usually more of a Action or Comedy type guy but I'd classify all of the top 3 as Dramas. Although they couldn't be any different.
The Departed is a movie that I honestly had no desire in seeing. It was a Scorsese flick, and he does a good job, but I've never been a huge fan that had to run out and see his new movie, and honestly the preview looked to me like it gave away the entire movie, through in Leonardo and you've got a nice combination for a movie I didn't care about at all. But I kept hearing good things about it, so one day while Jeri was studying I went to see it, and a funny thing happened, I Loved It. Not only was it an enthralling plot, but the acting was magnificent. I didn't want it to end, and once again Leo proved why he's constantly employed, even if he was played out after Titanic, he truly is a gifted young man. But he's not the only one, everyone does a fantastic job in this movie, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson, every one of them is fantastic. All in all a great movie, but even better it was a great Film.
Hollywoodland is quite possibly the best performance of Ben Affleck's career, no I take that back it is no doubt the best of his carrier. Ben does a fantastic job of playing George Reeves, a man whose death is still considered a mystery and is the basis for this film. There's really nothing bad to say about this film, it has an amazing cast that includes big names like Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, and Bob Hoskins, but it also has some of my favorite smaller names such as Caroline Dhavernas and Kathleen Robertson. The story is wonderful and doesn't try to shove one theory down your throat. Unfortunately I fear it won't get the recognition it deserves come award season.

Best Movie Of The Year

The Prestige

This is my favorite movie of the year. I have been waiting on this one since before last Christmas. Back then all I knew was that it was directed by Christopher Nolan (he of Batman Begins and Memento Fame) and starred Batman (Christian Bale) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as dueling magicians. Then I got the novel for Christmas and read it in 3 days. The book was fantastic, but I was unsure how'd they take so much material and fit it onto the screen. But Nolan along with his brother Jonathan adapted the book in a fantastic way, changing a lot of the details and dropping one major subplot and making the material their own. The book and the film are completely different entities and I have to say I think I may have loved the movie even more than the book. Jackman and Bale do fantastic jobs bringing the characters to life and filling the screen with their presence. Scarlet Johansson is wonderful as the girl torn between the two men, but David Bowie steals the show as Nikola Tesla, the master of lightning whose own feud with Thomas Edison parallels the main story, but enough to distract us. The mystery of what has happened and the very creative way in which the Nolans have twisted the timeline so that we only see what they want us to see is until it's time for the final reveal is astonishing. In fact, as I said I'd read the book and it took my over halfway through the film to figure out what was going to happen (apparently I had forgotten) All in all my favorite of the year, and one that should win many awards come Oscar Season, but probably won't since some will see it as a "genre" film, which is to bad, because if more movies were as delightful as this one, there might be more people going to the movies these days.

There you go the Tiddies! If you or someone you know worked on one of these Award Winning films and would like to pick up the statue for the cast and crew please contact me so we can get it out to you. I hope everyone enjoyed the Awards show this year, even if we ran a little long and we look forward to seeing you next year.*

*The Tiddies are not real awards and no statue will actually be given out, because one doesn't exist, but you should feel honored anyway because I said so.

Movies I saw in 2006!!!

Yes I realize the year is not yet over, but I decided to take a gander at the release date calendar and figure out every movie I saw in 2006 (that was released this year). The number was a bit under my estimate, but quite a bit none the less. I have four lists
1) Movies Released in 2006 that I saw Theatrically
2) Movies Not Released in 2006 that I saw Theatrically (read free screenings)
3) Movies I plan to see before the year is over (Hopefully!!!)
4) Movies released in 2006 that I saw on DVD.


Movies Released in 2006 that I saw Theatrically
1. Underworld: Evolution
2. Failure to Launch (Free Screening)
3. V for Vendetta
4. Inside Man
5. Brick (Free Screening)
6. Slither (Twice, 2nd time was a free Screening in October)
7. American Dreamz
8. Art School Confidential
9. Mission Impossible 3
10. The Da Vinci Code
11. X-Men: The Last Stand
12. The Break Up
13. The Omen
14. The Lake House
15. Nacho Libre (Free Screening)
16. Click
17. Superman Returns
18. Superman Returns in IMAX 3-D
19. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (twice)
20. A Scanner Darkly
21. You, Me and Dupree
22. Clerks II
23. Lady in the Water
24. Monster House
25. Little Miss Sunshine
26. John Tucker Must Die
27. Scoop
28. The Night Listener
29. Talladega Nights
30. Pulse
31. Step Up
32. Accepted (free screening)
33. The Illusionist
34. Snakes on a Plane (twice)
35. Beerfest
36. Crank
37. Hollywoodland
38. The Last Kiss (free Screening)
39. Feast
40. The Departed
41. The Prestige (free Screening)
42. Borat
43. Casino Royale
44. Happy Feet
45. The Holiday
46. Night at the Museum (Free Screening Not Yet Released but coming in the next few weeks)

Movies Not Released in 2006 that I saw Theatrically
47. Knocked Up (Free Screening Not Yet Out - Summer 2007)
48. In the Land of Women (Free Screening Not yet out - sometimes in 2007)
49. Skinwalkers (free Screening Not Yet Out - sometime in 2007)

Movies I plan to see before the year is over
50. Apocalypto (Tentative - hopefully this weekend)
51. Eragon (Tenative - hopefully this weekend)
52. Dreamgirls (Tenative)
53. The Pursuit of Happiness (Tenative)
54. Rocky Balboa (Tenative)
55. We Are Marshall (Tenative - hopefully a free screening this Thursday Night)
56. Pan’s Labyrinth (Tenative)

Movies released in 2006 that I saw on DVD.
57. Casanova
58. Brokeback Mountain*
59. Tristan & Isolde
60. When a Stranger Calls
61. Date Movie
62. 16 Blocks
63. She’s The Man
64. Thank You For Smoking
65. Stay Alive
66. Lucky Number Slevin
67. Just My Luck
68. Over The Hedge

So hopefully after my last final tomorrow (Open note!!!!) I will be able to sit down and try to make some sort of Top Ten List of 2006. But knowing me it will turn into a top 20 or something, but I'll try.

*Yes, I saw Brokeback Mountain, and yes it was technically released in 2005, but only in a limited capacity and it didn't open wide until early January, so it's on the list. And I have to admit, it was actually a good movie, although in my own opinion, and maybe this is because I'm a Christian, but the movie didn't have the pro-homosexual message that Hollywood and everyone seemed to claim it did. In fact it was quite depressing, and to me it showed the downward spiral of two men who fall into temptation and how it devours and ruins their lives.

Hello All!

So It's been almost a month since my last post, but I promise, there's a reason for that, several in fact. Since my last post I've been very busy, whether it's getting up at 4:15 (in the morning) to get in line to get my Wii on the first day (Yes, I got one!!!) or flying back to Texas for Thanksgiving, Seeing a couple of movies, one a Political Propaganda Film disguised as a Kids movie, the other the best action movie not only of the year, but possibly of the decade. or celebrating Jeri's Birthday, or studying for finals, as I've been doing, for what seems like every waking moment for the past 2 weeks.
But finally I'm back, (I'm taking a break from studying for a few minutes, since I've just finished my outline for tomorrow's test and need a few minutes before I start committing 12 pages of legal material to memory), and this one might be a bit long.

Well first off let me just say that the Wii is a blast, although I haven't been able to play it much recently with finals, I did get some great play time in the week before finals started and I love Wii Sports, Bowling and Tennis are my favorites, which is funny because I have Tennis in real life. Also I downloaded the original Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog, Nintendo 64's Mario 64, and Super Bomberman for the Turbographix 16 and they are a blast, all of them are at least a decade old, and still fun to play, I'm looking forward to when Nintendo releases the original Super Mario Brothers and Super Mario 3 for NES, because those were two of my favorite games ever. Thursday after finals are over I'm going to rent a few games one's a racing game the other's the only fighting game out so far (Tony Hawk and Dragonball Z, respectively) and spend the weekend trying out some new genres on the Wii!

Just before Thanksgiving Jeri and I went to see Happy Feet and loved the first hour or so of the movie, and then we were completely pulled out of the movie, to talk about it I'm reposting a comment I made to a guy who was complaining about all the "conservative" media bashing the movie because it's really an environmentalist propaganda film disguised as a kids movie, he said that the environmentalist angle was only "An undercurrent" of the film and this was my response:

"Happy Feet only has "Undercurrent" of Environmentalism????
I must have seen a different cut of the film, because the instant that it cut to the "Humans arguing about commercial fishing montage" I was pulled, no, YANKED right out of the film. When a movie is supposed to be about finding yourself and being an individual about Penguins and then suddenly has a series of scenes one of which features a guy in a UN type forum saying "WE'RE STEALING THEIR FOOD SUPPLY!!!" it doesn't go with the rest of the film, it doesn't make since in the movie and it's there solely to shove a political agenda down the throats of everyone who went to see the movie.
I have no problems with movies that carry a political agenda as long as they say so upfront, or are aimed at adults. But when you make a Film for CHILDREN, aim the entire marketing campaign at CHILDREN, and make the movie appear to be a simple CHILDREN'S Movie, and then 3/4th of the way through the movie you suddenly switch gears and beat people over the head with your message it's disgusting.

This movie was made in one of two ways. Either someone said "How can we force our environmental message onto unsuspecting kids and parents?" and they built an entire movie around the idea that we need to save the food supply of the penguins in the arctic, OR the writers wrote a movie that was to short and they had to find something to fill it out, and they forced this "arc" that in no way fits into the movie to make it longer.

Either way this movie infuriated me and was a waste of my time and money, which is sad because I enjoyed the first hour or so so much. But to say that the message is an undertone to the film, is an out and out lie and anyone who saw this movie should recognize it as such.

The Next night I went to see Casino Royale, the newest Bond film, and was pleasantly surprised. Now I like the Bond films, I don't love them and normally I don't care if I see them opening weekend or not. I used to really love them, I can remember being very young and trying to stay up to watch Goldfinger one night when it started at like 11 and falling asleep, but I just wanted to see another Bond movie. But I think my love of Bond was stifled because of a serious of ridiculous movie starring Pierce Brosnan. Now don't get me wrong, I like Pierce, and I think he was a good Bond, but after Goldeneye, each movie got more and more ridiculous and the gadgets got more and more over the top, until an invisible car just angered me (I mean how dumb can you get)
But Casino Royale looked like a better movie, and it promised to reboot the franchise and get rid of the over the top gadgets and villains. And Boy did it ever. Not only was this the best Bond movie in Decades (I'd say it's as good as some of the Connery Films), but it's also the best Action Movie I've seen this year, if not in the last Decade. This movie has it all, action, suspense, drama, even a love story! And Daniel Craig is James Bond. Craig, who is known only for an independent movie and a small role in Munich, does a fantastic job capturing a young, rough Bond whose only just earned his License to Kill.
If you are looking for an action movie this is the one you have to go see, Casino Royale is one of the Best Movie I've seen all year, and since I've seen somewhere over the 60 range so far this year that saying something (to put that in perspective I read yesterday the average number of movies for a white male in 2005 was around the 7.5 mark)

When then flew to Texas and spent Thanksgiving with Jeri's family, which is our yearly tradition. T-Giving is THE BIG HOLIDAY in Jeri's family so we do that every year and spend X-Mas with my Fam. We had a good time, flew there on Monday and came back on Friday. It was a much needed break, and then when we got back we had another 2 days to relax before having to go back to school and work.

Then we celebrated Jeri's birthday. We had a dinner party and our friend Allison's house, which is a beautiful, amazing house with a view that overlooks the ocean. We had about 13 people come over and celebrate with a few Drinks, Strawberry Margaritas and Mai Tais (which were AMAZING!), made by a fabulous Bar Tender (me). When sat around a talked for a while and then had a Mexican Fiesta featuring Tacos, Burritos, and Fajitas. Then the ones of us that could stay went outside and sat around the Fire Pit. All in all it was a great time.

And other than that I've been studying my butt off trying to memorize 10 to 15 pages of material for every test. Tomorrow is test number 4 (of 5) and the last one is open note, so I can relax a bit tomorrow at about 4:30.
This weekend Jeri leaves to go on her family's annual Ladies Weekend, so I'm gonna try to make a time of it, seeing a few movies (with Apacalypto and Eragon at the top of my list), playing as much Wii as humanly possible, and matching some DVDs too (I'm going to try to finish the Back to the Future Trilogy and watch the Indiana Jones Trilogy, I have the scores to both of those trilogies and listen to them as I study so I've been really wanting to watch them, last week after my first test I watched BTTF and later in the week watched about half of part 2, so I've got about half of that one left to watch)

Hope everyone else has had a good month and hopefully during my month off from school I can keep you guys updated a bit more regularly. Have a Great Week!