40 year old virgin

I'm dating this earlier than I'm actually posting, because I've been busy and haven't had a chance to post. Plus I need to post about last night's Green Day concert as well. Since I saw the movie last Thursday, the date will be Friday to represent when I saw it. Posting actually occured Wednesday, Aug 31 @ 6:50PM.

Anyway, my coworkers and I used this movie as our "sober up after happy hour" movie. And good lordy, it was FUNNY. I mean, okay, just by the title of the movie and the premise, you kinda expect that it's gotta be really funny. And it definitely did not disappoint. There were many points in the movie where you felt pain for Andy, for whom the film is titled. And then you feel worse because it's just SO funny and you can't help but laugh. Seriously, this was an all-out funny movie. So if you need a good laugh, go watch it!!!

Hopefully I haven't over-hyped it. But it's good! Go! Watch!!!

DVD roundup part III

Collateral: I've made my dislike and recently, disrespect, of Tom Cruise clear in the past. I mean, I have liked quite a few of his movies (Top Gun, Mission Impossible, Minority Report) but I've always just been irked by his persona in general, which seems to invariably takes over all the characters he plays. In this movie, though, that tendency was perfect. Vincent, the character he plays, is genuinely scary and a little insane, just like Tom Cruise! And strangely I think that he looks even better as an older man with the silver hair and such. Jamie Foxx was also excellent and I thought the entire movie was really good.

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle: I'd heard from so many people how funny this movie was, so maybe my expectations were just too high. Yeah, parts of it were really funny and it was refreshing to have Korean- and Indian-Americans in the lead roles playing their actual ethnicities, but I guess that in the end, this just isn't my kind of humor. Plus I've always found White Castle to be kind of gross.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason: The first Bridget Jones is one my favorite movies of all time and I'm a HUGE HUGE Colin Firth fan, but I was reluctant to watch the sequel because of bad reviews. But it really wasn't that bad. The second book is definitely much weaker than the original and the movie follows suit. It's a lot sillier and there isn't much of a plot at all, but the characters are just as loveable and well, Mark Darcy just makes me happy. Oh, and you MUST watch the DVD extra that has Bridget Jones interviewing Colin Firth. It's awesome.

Wimbledon: I think it's time for me admit that romantic comedies are probably my favorite genre of movie in general. I will watch pretty much any romantic comedy on the planet, so long as it doesn't star Jessica Biel or Ashton Kutcher or any of the other actors on my hate list. Anyway, I was attracted to this one especially because I actually like watching tennis quite a bit (though I can't play for my life, as with all other sports). I think the producers did a pretty good job at capturing the feel of Wimbledon, and I liked the characters a lot. I hadn't seen Paul Bettany in any other movies besides A Knight's Tale (he was really funny in that though) but I think I'm a fan now. Kirsten Dunst wasn't as annoying as she was in the Spider-Man movies, and both of them were pretty believable as tennis pros. The storyline was really just pure fantasy but it was fun and cute anyway.

sky high

I love kids' movies. Most of the time, at least. And in the case of Sky High, most definitely.

Seriously, what a fun movie! I'm happy because it hasn't been super hyped up like many of the other summer blockbusters, so I didn't go into it with any great expectations or anything. I mean, I did glance at rottentomatoes.com before I went (where I saw it was receiving reviews of 66% fresh), but I just went hoping for it to be a fun movie. And boy, did it deliver!

The plotlines were well developed. I love that he was categorized as a "Sidekick" to begin with and thus, made friends with other Sidekicks. I like the straight out of a comic book way of starting and ending the movie. I liked the creative superpowers that were thought up. Melting, glowing, controlling plants, transforming into a guinea pig... Plus it helps that there was a little eye candy (talking Warren Peace)... even if it's a 19 year old I'm talking about here. *sigh* When did I get older than these teen stars?

But, man, that was really fun!

Jenn's TV awards

It seems to be that time of year where all the TV critics and columnists and such are making up their own TV award lists because the Emmys always suck and they want to have their say. So what the heck, I'm going to do it too. I could probably come up with a million categories but I'll try to restrain myself. So without too much planning (or deep thought), here are my picks:

Best Drama: Veronica Mars, runner up 24

Best Comedy: Arrested Development, runner-ups Entourage and Scrubs

Best Actor: Kiefer Sutherland (24), runner-up Hugh Laurie (House)

Best Actress: Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), runner-up Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls)

Best new show: Veronica Mars, runner-up House

Most aggravating: Lost and Alias (tie)

Most inconsistent: the OC

Favorite couple: Luke and Lorelai (Gilmore Girls), runner-ups Veronica and Logan (Veronica Mars) and Tony and Michelle (24)

My TV boyfriends: Logan (Gilmore Girls) and Logan (Veronica Mars)

Worst son ever: Andrew (Desperate Housewives)

Smartest villain ever: Marwan (24)

Funniest moment: Seth and Summer's Spider-man kiss (the OC)

Funniest character: Chloe (24), runner-ups Ari (Entourage), Dr. Cox (Scrubs)

Why does this character now suck?: Rory (Gilmore Girls), runner-up Seth (the OC)

Prettiest setting: Lost, hands down

Scariest setting: Lost, also hands down

Saddest death: Boone (Lost), runner-up Rex (Desperate Housewives)

Stupidest plotline: Marissa's lesbian experiment (the OC), runner-up the entire Alias season

Best character in an otherwise horrible show: Marshall (Alias), runner-up Bree (Desperate Housewives)

Worst character in an otherwise pretty good show: President Keeler (24), runner-up Kate (Lost)

Most conflicted about: Emily (Gilmore Girls) and Jack (Alias)

Mythbusters

So I've never really been a fan of non-fiction educational television programming like the History Channel or Biography or whatever, but off a recommendation from the always trusty TWOP, last night I checked out Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel, and wow, what an awesome show!

Maybe it's the engineering geek inside of me, but I thought this was just incredibly fascinating. In each episode, the teams tackle a few modern myths and try to prove or disprove them using actual science and a poor dummy named Buster (I know, it's cheesy). I watched two episodes yesterday and they included such myths as using a life raft as a parachute, pilots being decapitated during flight because of their hair products, and saving yourself in a free-falling elevator by jumping just before hitting the ground (all busted). The hosts are Adam and Jamie, who have worked in special effects for movies such as Star Wars and the Matrix, and they both make everything really funny. Man, working in fx sounds like it would be super fun. Haha, maybe that should be my new dream job...

Anyway, if you ever find yourself with nothing to do on Wednesday night at 9PM (unlikely once the fall TV schedule begins, since both Lost and Veronica Mars will be in that timeslot) check out Mythbusters!

Beautiful People

Man I have to stop subjecting myself to really bad teen shows like this. I mean, the title, Beautiful People, is just stupid, and the advertising was really confusing. You're led to believe that the mother and two daughters are the beautiful people but the tagline is "looks can be deceiving." Which was supposed to mean what, exactly? That the beautiful women on the ad are hiding something horrible? I made, it all made more sense once you watched the show (the popular clique at Sophie's new prep school is called the BPs, i.e. "beautiful people"), but for weeks I was seeing the ads and going "huh?"

Another bad sign was that this was "from the producers of Dawson's Creek." I'll admit that I kind of look back on DC fondly but I think that had more to do with its creator, Kevin Williamson. When he left the show to these aforementioned producers, things went really really bad (ahem, Joey).

So why did I tune in? Well, I kind of like Daphne Zuniga. She was in this eighties romantic comedy with John Cusack called the Sure Thing that was filmed at Cornell. Plus ABC Family makes really cute original movies, so I thought this might have some hope. And it's the summer and I wanted to watch something new.

And wow, this was bad. First of all, shows that are set in New York but use fake green screen skylines: not good. And truthfully, this was a little racy to be on ABC Family, where the original romantic comedies usually end with the kissing and nothing else. 10th graders smoking pot, hot tubbing in the nude, drinking with fake IDs...I mean, what the heck?? And the requisite cute guy isn't even cute!

Haha, of course I do still want to watch the next ABC Family original movie though (Campus Confidential). Christy Carlson Romano from Even Stevens is starring in it!

willy wonka

I've always enjoyed the original, but Tim Burton's remake was seriously really, really good. Artistically it was really well done. He did a much better job of portraying the fantasticalness of Willy Wonka's factory.

Johnny Depp was a much younger Willy Wonka, but he did it perfectly. In general he's good at portraying strange characters but he did it with such underlying wit, and of course his usual trademark Depp eccentricities. I loved how he changed the Oompa Loompas and their music this time around.

Oh man, I just enjoyed this in all aspects. It was a fun movie, and definitely so far my favorite summer blockbuster.

Ice Princess

Haha, so even more evidence of my obsession with kids and teens media...I signed up for Netflix and this was the first movie I queued up! Besides the fact that it's a cheesy teen girl movie, it's about figure skating which I love love love. I would have seen it while it was in theaters but I didn't have anyone to go with and I don't think it did too well at the box office because I swear it was only playing in our local theater for less than a month...

Anyway, typically, I really liked it. It has a Princess Diaries sort of feel to it, which makes sense because Meg Cabot contributed to the story. Michelle Trachtenberg as Casey did a good job being relatable and Kim Cattrall was pretty believable as the tough coach. And Trevor Blumas was in it as Teddy, Casey's love interest! (He was in Little Men, this random drama on PAX, of all networks, that I used to watch awhile ago.) Hayden Panettiere (who is apparently the new Neutrogena girl) was also pretty good as the rival-turned-friend. The whole movie was just really cute and happy, but at the same time wasn't entirely brainless. There was a lot of really honest stuff about mother-daughter relationships and going for your own dreams rather than someone elses. Which in itself is cliched, I suppose, but I bought it.

I do kind of have a problem with the whole premise of the movie in general though. For one, I don't care how much raw talent you have or how much physics you know, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to become that good of a skater in that short of a timespan. Plus all the physics Casey was spewing was just basic mechanics stuff. I took two semesters of figure skating in college, and let me tell you, knowing physics doesn't count for crap when you're falling on your ass trying to do a dang toe loop. Also I thought it was kind of sad that Casey chose skating over Harvard. I mean, yeah, skating is probably equally if not more challenging than college, but there aren't enough women in science as it is, and I don't know, it doesn't seem like the movies are helping. I'm going to fanwank that Casey ends up going back to school and becoming a physics professor or something anyway.

Oh, and I wonder how much Brian Boitano and Michelle Kwan were paid to be in this movie. I cracked up laughing when they appeared onscreen as commentators at Casey's competition...especially because in real life they would never really commentate for a random junior event. I also almost died laughing at the cheesiest romantic scene on the planet involving a Zamboni machine.

And one last thing: I hate how whenever there's a figure skating competition in a movie they use spotlights. I think this movie only did that for Casey's last program to provide dramatic effect or whatever, but real competitions are always done under blinding flourescent lighting. Come on, get it right!

wedding crashing

So after all the praises I heard about the movie, I finally saw Wedding Crashers this weekend. And, I don't know. It was funny. The film had some extremely funny moments, but I think I was expecting it to be funnier. I hate listening to rave reviews before I see movies, because more often than not, I end up being slightly disappointed.

But Vince Vaughn is a fantastically hilarious actor. Owen Wilson is equally amusing. Rachel McAdams is really pretty, and so much more likeable in a non-Mean Girls role. All in all, it was a good summer film. Now to make time for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Must Love Dogs, etc. :-)