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Showing posts from November, 2020

The Snubby Awards: 2010 Oscars

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It's that time again: The Snubby Awards!  For those of you who don't know, the Snubby Awards take a look at all of the Best Picture nominees from a given year and determine if the best film won or if one was snubbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award! This time we'll be taking a look at the 2010 Oscars, which was an solid field and I thought all of the nominees were at least good.  The nominees were: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air with the winner being The Hurt Locker.   Did The Hurt Locker deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out! #10. A Serious Man The story of a Minnesotan, Jewish man whose life is falling apart, A Serious Man wasn't exactly enjoyable to watch and I found myself frustrated for most of the movie.  That said, I still think this is a good movie and I'm glad I watched it.  It gave me a lot to think about and I s

Lost: Season 3, Episode 11 "Enter 77" Review

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 "Why are we continuing to play this little game...when we all know it has moved to the next stage?" -Mikhail Bakunin "Enter 77" picks up on the beach, where the survivors have found the ping-pong table from the Hatch.  Sawyer (Josh Holloway) challenges the rest of the camp to a game.  If Sawyer wins, he gets everything from his stash back, but if he loses, he can't use any nicknames for a week.  The group puts up Hurley (Jorge Garcia) as their best player, who proceeds to demolish Sawyer and win the game. Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), and Rousseau (Mira Furlan) come across a Dharma station, "The Flame", which is stationed by Mikhail (Andrew Divoff).  Sayid approaches the Flame unarmed, to not appear threatening, but Mikhail shoots him the shoulder.  Locke and Kate hold Mikhail at gunpoint, but they manages to deescalate the situation. Mikhail fixes up Sayid and claims he is the last living member of the Dh

In Bruges (2008) Review

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 "I'm sorry for calling you an inanimate object.  I was upset." -Harry Waters After a job goes drastically wrong, two hitmen, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), flee England to hide out in Bruges, Belgium.  While waiting for orders from their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), on how to proceed, they spend most of their time sightseeing. If you haven't seen In Bruges , please don't read any further.  It's a great movie with a lot of fun and dark twists and turns.  So go watch it for yourself and then come back and read this review.   Spoilers ahead.  You have been warned.  What Works: The performances really carry this movie, especially Colin Farrell.  He's a young and inexperienced hitman and has no interest in sightseeing in Bruges.  He reminds me a lot of that kid we all had in our class in elementary school.  The one who can't shut up or sit still.  Ray is like that this entire movie, but now he's hit the stage where even he knows he has

Freaky (2020) Review

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 "I want my body back!" -Millie Kessler Unpopular high school student Millie (Kathryn Newton) is attacked and nearly killed by the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn).  The next day, she discovers she has switched bodies with the Butcher.  With only a few hours left to switch back, Millie has to convince her friends to help her and stop the Butcher from using her body to continue his murderous rampage. What Works: Vince Vaughn is far and away the best part of the movie.  He starts off the movie by showing us how intimidating a killer he is, but he's also hilariously good at playing a teenager girl once the body switch happens.  It's really funny and frequently creepy.  It's get uncomfortable and weird often, but it's never not entertaining and it feels like he was having a blast in the role. As I mentioned, the beginning of the movie does a great job at setting up the Butcher.  It's better than anything in any of the Friday the 13th movies.  We're introd

Lost: Season 3. Episode 10 "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" Review

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 "Those pants don't make you look fat." -Jin Kwon "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" starts off with a flashback to when Hurley (Jorge Garcia) was a kid, where he and his dad, David (Cheech Marin), are fixing a Camaro together.  Unfortunately, David takes off and leaves the family.  17 years later, after winning the lottery, Hurley buys Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack.  He does a interview with Tricia Tanaka (Sung Hi Lee) before the grand opening, but a meteorite destroys the Shack and kills Tricia and her cameraman. Hurley returns home to find David has returned.  Hurley believes David just showed up for the money, but his mother, Carmen (Lillian Hurst), reveals she called him because of Hurley's insistence that there is a curse on the money and his plan to go to Australia.  David tries to remove the curse by taking him to a fortune teller, but Hurley gets her to admit that David set the whole thing up.  As Hurley prepares to leave for Australia, David admits he showed

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) Review

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 "You have sunk my battleship." -Death Stop right here.  If you haven't seen Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey , fix that mistake right now before reading any further.  You've been warned. An evil terrorist from the future, De Nomolos (Joss Ackland), sends a pair of evil robots back and time to kill Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves), which they accomplish quickly.  Now Bill and Ted have to find a way to cheat Death, stop the robots, save the princesses, and win the Battle of the Bands. What Works: Watching Bogus Journey for the first time is one of my absolute favorite cinematic experiences.  I didn't really know anything about this movie going in and I'm glad that was the case.  It keeps escalating in weirdness to extraordinary levels.  Just when you think it can't get any more bizarre, it does.  My jaw was dropped for nearly the entire film.  It's a joy to watch and a ton of fun. Bill and Ted are such likable characters that I could watch th

Idle Hands (1999) Review

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 "I'm gonna go call 911.  What's the number?" -Mick Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa) is such a lazy stoner that he doesn't even notices his parents have been murdered.  When he does finally figure out, he realizes his hand was the culprit.  With his hand possessed and going rogue, Anton is faced with cutting off his own hand, but even if he does, can he stop it from killing even more people? What Works: This a very weird movie.  It's a stoner comedy, but also a horror movie.  The end result is a stoner/horror/black comedy and I'm here for it.  I love horror movies and I love black comedies.  Plus stoner comedies are a guilty pleasure of mine.  Somehow this movie functions on all three levels and makes for a unique and fun experience. Devon Sawa absolutely kills his performance on a physical level.  He plays himself and his possessed hand.  It's an extremely impressive performance and I have no idea how someone can be coordinated enough to pull off what he is

Lost, Season 3 Episode 9 "Stranger in a Strange Land" Review

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 "You have a sheriff?" -Jack Shephard Season 3, episode 9 kicks off with Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Karl (Blake Bashoff) paddling back to the island, even though Kate wants to go back to help Jack (Matthew Fox).  When Karl breaks down crying, Sawyer tells him to go and fight for his girlfriend, Alex (Tania Raymonde), and lets him go.  Sawyer tells Kate he knows she only slept with him because she thought he was going to die and they head back for camp. On Hydra Island, Jack is moved out to the cages, while Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) is put in his old cell because of her killing Danny Pickett (Michael Bowen).  Juliet is allowed out to treat Ben (Michael Emerson), who develops an infection.  She asks Jack for help, but he refuses.  Later, the stewardess from Oceanic 815, Cindy (Kimberly Joseph), arrives, but only tells Jack she is here to watch something and seems to be a member of the Others. Jack is brought in for questioning by the Others' sher