Thank you for smoking

I recommend this movie 100%. It's witty, satiric, moral and immoral at the same time. I love it. The Lexington Green theatre went independent/artsy, and is the only theatre showing it, I think. GO SEE IT! You will be glad you did.

Netflix TV shows

I've been recieving Netflix DVD's for a few months now, and I've discovered some awesome TV shows I wanted to share with everyone.

Fawlty Towers is my current favorite. John Cleese, when he was skinny and had more energy, makes a complete and delightful fool of himself being the manager of a three-star hotel. Other characters include Basil Fawlty's (Cleese's) prude of a wife, Polly the maid and waitress, and Manuel the Spanish waiter and bellhop. Put it this way: Manuel walks through the foyer to take breakfast biscuits and butter upstairs to the guests when Basil stops him saying, "Manuel, there's too much butter on those trays," pointing to each of the plates of butter in turn with "on," "those," and "trays." Manuel looks confused and says, "Que?" Basil repeats, "There is too much butter on, those, trays." Manuel responds, "No no no, sir. Uno, dos, tres." Basil promptly points at the butter with one hand and slaps Manuel upside the head with the other.

My second favorite television show is the A-Team. "I ain't gettin' on no airplane, sucka!" - BA (Mr. T).
Enough said.

Oscars

In case any of you watch these, here are Ruff's picks:
Best Pic Crash
Best Director Paul Haggis Crash
Best actor Philip Seymour Hoffman
Best Supporting Actor Matt Dillon Crash should but Jake Gyllenhaal will
Best Actress Reese Witherspoon Walk the Line
Best Supporting Actress Amy Adams Junebug (This is a definite "should win" though most think Rachel Weisz)
Best Adapted screenplay Brokeback
Your pics?

Stuart Little

When Stuart Little came out, I thought it was a very cute movie, and I enjoyed the live action + computer animation. But what about this new Stuart Little movie? The animation is very strange, and I don't like the looks of it. What are your thoughts, everyone?

Is Kong King?

I'm seeing it Saturday, but I'd love to hear some reactions without spoilers, although I realize there won't be a suprise parachute when he falls from the Empire State Building. I just hope it's better than the trailers.

Narnia

Aslan, the believable and loveable Jim Henson puppet, escorted me through the realms of Narnia as a child, but now some computer animated lion is supposed to take over? Ick. I am off to see the new film tomorrow afternoon with my family posse. From the previews, it seems wonderful with great special effects and good battle scenes and great camerawork and such, but the thought of a computer animated Aslan just knocks me sideways, like Yoda from the original Star Wars films to the new ones. I suppose I follow the puppet reign out of childhood's blind loyalty, but we shall see. I'll write a postview review tomorrow evening as a comment.

Harry Potter

Alright, I know some of you have seen it. What are you thoughts. Me, I don't waste me time with such drivel.

Kingdom of Heaven

Starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, and Brendan Gleeson, Kingdom of Heaven is a brilliant movie idea. The story of a nowhere man (Bloom) in a nowhere land of poverty (who just lost his wife to suicide when the baby died in childbirth), who finds out his father is a baron and joins him in the crusades in Jerusalem with King Baldwin (Edward Norton), the leper. Mostly he wants to go to Jerusalem to have his wife's sins forgiven and be reconnected to God. He can't seem to find that peace, but while he's there, he becomes a great friend to the king. Our hero falls in love with the kings sister (Eva Green), who is married to the film's bad guy, and yadda yadda yadda. The king dies and the kingdom is left to the war maniac, the sister's husband. Yay, Knights Templar war where there's no water. They lose, but Bloom is safely back in Jerusalem and helps defend the city against Saladin and his armies. Big battle. See the movie and find out how it ends.
Kingdom of Heaven is a great idea. Unfortunately, to make this film a decent length, the editors had to cut a lot of plot. They didn't think it was worth pulling a Lord of the Rings-length video. So there's a bunch of fantastic ideas that would be perfectly strung together if there were also an intact plot. Since it's a war movie, the makers of this film did a very good job with the boom-clank (aka. Fighting).
I liked the movie a lot, but would have been far more pleased if there were more plot. (tee hee. Rhyme). Good fun, though. 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

I also understood Firefly

Dragging my cousins Alex and Katie, Jay Mackay, and two unexpected guests (Seth Thompson and Andrew Baker) along with me, the gang set off to see Serenity. Andrew was a devotee of Firefly, so he knew everything. I don't remember whether Seth understood or not. My cousin Alex and I had seen all the episodes of Firefly on DVD, which my mother bought for $18 on a whim, so we understood everything that happened. Jay had seen one or two episodes at my house, so he knew a little, but just a little. Katie was oblivious. Every two seconds she turned to us and asked, "What? Who are they? What's going on?" We eventually stopped answering.
I agree with Mr. Ruff about considering Serenity a continuation of the series, but Jay noticed a fluctuation in the plot from what I'd told him about Simon and River's adventures and what the movie showed. He observed that when the alliance agent who never gets mad watched the security camera re-runs from the lab where River was being experimented on, Simon had personally retrieved River by the use of disguise and a stunning device. In the TV show, it is implied that Simon paid out his entire fortune to have River rescued by hospital insiders. Jay also couldn't understand if the movie occurred just after Simon got River out of the hospital, or as a continuation of the episodes. I'm slightly torn on the issue. Oh nevermind. This is getting too nitty-gritty and technical.
Overall, I believed the film to be a terrific piece of work, and all those with me whole-heartedly agreed. Even Katie enjoyed it after she gave up on understanding the characters' backgrounds. Everyone present wished that the series and/or films would continue, but seeing how the box office is doing at present, I don't have much faith in that happening. ::tear:: The population of the whole world must buy the Firefly series and go watch the movie a hundred million times!

Serenity Now

My sister and brother-in-law first turned me on to Firefly over last Christmas break. A few days before Christmas, my wife and I found ourselves watching episode after episode in their upstate New York home. Because we had to actually visit with our in-laws a bit, we ordered the series on Netflex when we got home – and I recommend this if you like the film. I still can’t figure out why the show never made it through a complete season. Thankfully, we’re getting at least one more look at Firefly, this time as a potential Hollywood blockbuster.

Joss Whedon, the writer and director of the series, also known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, took the helm for the new film and his clever writing permeates it. Though some critics have claimed the series didn’t transfer well to the big screen, I must disagree. We were riveted from the opening scenes. This was even one of those rare movies where I found myself yelling at the screen “No!!!” when I witnessed the hero being defeated in a fistfight.

Almost every review I’ve read, suggests that Firefly fans will love the new film Serenity, but most of the rest of the crowd will wonder what all the fuss it about. Since I was already familiar with all the characters, it was a little like watching a continuing series. I had no catching up to do. I’m curious how those of you who haven’t seen the series reacted to the film. Did you feel a bit lost? Were the characters a bit too sketchy to get into? Or did you like it as much as I did?