Gathering Geeks - Episode 6

Your host, Patrick, has his feet in the water all over. Not only does he co-host the critically acclaimed show "Film Geeks" but he has also been ask to help co-host a show called "Gathering Geeks". Other episodes can be found below. This is this week's installment:

Gathering Geeks - Episode 6 - The Orbiters

In this episode we tackle the FCC, satellite radio, and a few other topics that might make you think..."How geeky are these nerds?" Scared? You will be.......you will beeeeeee......

Episode 5 can be found here

Episode 3 can be found here

Where is episode 4 you ask? Well...Patrick was so controversial that Episode 4 will soon be released as a "Lost Episode". We geeks can get mighty riled up!

Show Notes For Episode 20 Of Film Geeks

EPISODE 20 - can be listen to here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Movie News

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/captain-ameri-1.html
The people behind Captain America must really hate us. Leonardo DiCaprio has been RUMORED to be Captain America.

http://themovingpicture.net/zack-and-miri-vs-the-mpaa
Kevin Smith Vs. the MPAA

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20080621/en_movies_eo/a0ffd43891f4_4f19_a6c0_769744631748
Spidy 4

http://themovingpicture.net/new-two-face-clip-hits
Two Face clip is out. You only see half of it though.

http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=185294&in_page_id=7&in_a_source=
Even Marky Mark thinks he sucks. M Night has even called his new movie a "B movie"

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/16/obit.stan.winston.ap/index.html
Stan Winston died on Monday - Terminator 2, Aliens, Jurassic Park, and many others.

Get Smart Review

39.2 million for the weekend - my predictions for the lines movie critics will use
If they like it - Get Smart is smart or Get Smart outsmarts the competition
If they didn't like it - Get Smart, missed it by that much

- Don't expect a lot out of this movie. It does have some funny parts but it's not the best American comedy
- Steve Carell does a great job of showing a lot of aspects that Don Adams brought
- Anne Hathway is mighty hot in this and she's got a lot more action scenes than I expected
- The Rock....is the Rock
- The story has a few gaps in it, most importantly what the motive of the main bad guy was
- Bill Murray has a nice quick cameo as Agent 13
- Not really a spy parody like Austin Powers is, more like an action comedy
- Alan Arkin really comes over the top and shows some great action bits
- There are some really great action sequences that are quite surprising
- Terence Stamp has that classic bad guy feel to him; he was still best as General Zod and in this movie too he's got a huge hulking underling too
- The script is decent enough with a good amount of really funny stuff, other times it's more miss than hit.
- Overall - B-

Over hyped movies:

These movies can be called over hyped or overrated depending on how you're talking about them. That means you hear a person or a group of people rant and rave over a film and then when you watch it you're like, "So what?" So with this list, it's going to be hard no stepping on anyone's feet or love for a movie since, by definitions, the movies we're going to be covering, for the most part, are loved.

- Talk about he use of trailers and how some trailers lie about what the movie is actually about (ex. Pan's Labyrinth, Proof, A Beautiful Mind, Reign Of Fire, 28 Days Later, Blair Witch, Man Of The Year, Pirates 3)

- Talk about the reliance of CGI in movies to get people to go see it (ex. Battlefield Earth, The Matrix sequels, Shrek 3, Jurassic Park 2 and 3, The Day After Tomrrow, Pirates 3)

- Cloverfield - stands apart. It's a good movie but not worth becoming a frickin detective over it

Over rated movies:
- Citizen Kane - maybe I'm not smart enough or I don't appreciate all that Orson Wells did for cinemtography, but I have to disagree with AFI's list every year that puts this up at number 1
- The DaVinci Code - the book was so hyped up that I don't think as many people read it as claimed to...why? Because it was horribly boring!
- Star Wars - Episode 1 - why George? why?!?!?!?!?!
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - this is just a boring, unintelligent, nothing happening movie
- Apocalypse Now - it's a good movie, but it's waaay to long for a war movie and uses a lot of symbolism
- Scarface - if you're a rapper than you have to own this by law. Really, there's not much here in the way of a coherent movie
- The Shining - some of it freaky, but there is not a lot of explination and a lot doesn't happen in it
- The Seventh Seal - it might have been good when no one knew which way to point a camera, but Ingmar Bergman didn't really write or direct anything special here.
- Fantasia - just horrible, not a good kids movie at all
- Dune
- Blade Runner
- Borat

Right At Your Door - Review

Right At Your Door

Thriller - noun - a work of fiction or drama designed to hold the interest by the use of a high degree of intrigue, adventure, or suspense. See also - this movie.

The plot of this movie is pretty simple but what it shows is simply amazing. Out of work musician Brad (Rory Cochrane) is passing the time at home while his wife, Lexi (Mary McComack), goes to work in Los Angeles. This is a day that starts off all too normal. Until....ALL HECK BREAKS LOOSE! Dirty bombs go off in the city, explosions ripple in the background, white powdery substance and ash fall from the sky. Choas insues, panic sets in, the dog eat dog world that we once knew just stepped up to a whole new kind of violence!

So what is this movie about? What does this movie show?

This movie shows one man as he attempts to survive in his home. No big budget shots of buildings in downtown L.A. collapsing, no massive amounts of military vehicles strollings through the streets, no sea of sick and dying masses of humanity in utter choas. What we see is one man, and his attempt to survive. Oh, we are introduced to a few other people here and there but when it comes down to brass tax it's about one man and survival.

Chris Gorak both writes and directs this saga that won him the cinematography award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and nominated for best drama. This guy, with the help of some really decent talent, can spin a tale using nothing more than the set of one house and the talent to shoot it in such a way that you are enthralled with what will happen next.

Grade - B

This really is an amazing tale. The setting kind of reminds me of what "Phone Booth" did in keeping pretty much the entire movie in one set location. While I liked "Phone Booth", I don't think it can even handle the amount of suspence that this movie has. Rory Cochrane does a great job at playing the everyday man who has to choose between self preservation and loving his wife enough to help her survive as best as possible. When someone asks me what movie I most got into and sent your system into shock with anticipation adrenaline, I point to this movie. I barely moved through this one and I know my heart rate wasn't normal resting pace either. The only flaw this movie has is that the pacing gets a bit bogged down at times and it just seems to kind of repeat itself after a while. Another small problem some might have, I know I did, was that the ending didn't make too much sense to me. I don't want to give anything away so I won't explain it further. I understand why the ending is the way it is, it just doesn't seem that logical to me. Still, I would recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for a good suspence thriller movie, without hesitation.

Juno - Review

Juno

I'm always a little leery of mainly two types of movies. The first are so called "great" movies that come from the Oscars and especially those that are "independent". The second kind of movie that I handle with caution are those that are so called "coming of age" stories. It seems like everything today is heralded as a "coming of age" story. "The Incredible Hulk" is that coming of age story of a man dealing with his inner beast. "Independence Day" is that coming of age story of a small planet...called Earth. The only real thing that made me watch was seeing that both Michael Cera and Jason Bateman were starring and most of you might know these wonderfully talented actors from the criminally short run "Arrested Development" TV show.

This coming of age story (ha ha) is the tale of a sixteen year old girl named Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) who finds she is pregnant from a one time sexual encounter with Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). After deciding against an abortion, she hunts the PennySavers to try and find the perfect, loving couple. Surprisingly enough, she finds a couple she likes right away, Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). Now she must deal with the problems that come with being not only pregnant but being a 16 y/o pregnant "unique" girl.

This movie has some really great things about it. Its has a great cast with a lot of young and adult talent, you have a great director who knows how to handle these types of stories that are very escentric, and you have the first work of a very talented writer. I'll cover these in reverse order as stated.

Diablo Cody has come from being a stripper and from working in an ad agency to being ranked number 38th on Entertainment Weekly's list of 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. I can't say much about where she ranks with others on the list but her writing diaolog and style is wonderful. Her characters talk with the adolence of teens but with the sophistication of older people. For example, a lot of slang that Juno and her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) use incorporate a lot more terminology than the "sucks", "whatever", and "as if" terminology we expect teenage girls to use in movies. Her characters have a lot of great warmth to them. From a dad (J.K. Simmons) who seems almost hip, to a snarky but whitty convinces store clerk (Rainn Wilson). However, Juno is really the most well written character out of all of them and you can tell this was written by a female in the sense that most of the dialog revolve around women, and they get the best lines too (other than a few lines the dad gets).

The director for this is Jason Reitman who is probably best known for "Thank You For Smoking" which has kind of the same feel to this movie. The way I describe it is that this movie (as well as "Smoking") could take place in our real world but the people are either too weird or too smart and witty to actually be in our world. The sad thing is, the characters in these movies are just far too interesting to actually exist in the clusters they seem to do here. I do think that Reitman added a lot to the story with his ability to not bore you with the same shots and he wasn't afraid to leave some characters out of frame or not in focus or concentrate on showing you the emotions to every character all the time in every scene. Reitman also has the knowledge of being not only a director but also a writer (as he was both for "Smoking") and so I think balancing those two things helped him a lot with shooting this movie penned by another person. It also helped that he has kind of the same style characters that "Juno" has and so he knows what to do with unique characters and a normal looking story but really not that normal at all. If you watch this movie that last statement makes a bit more sense than what it probably does.

As you can probably guess, I'm not going to say too many bad things about the actors in this. Ellen Page is the star and she gets the best lines and the most time on screen to see who she really is. Page does a brilliant job of being who her character is suppose to be, a 16 year old high school girl, while also being a well rounded, knowledgable woman. She seems to teetertotter on the brink of maturity and immaturity. J.K. Simmons, who plays her father, probably gets the second best lines and he seems to take a backseat at times in the story but then he also seems to be one of the major characters. He seems to be a "Leave It To Beaver" style dad for the 21st century if I can be so shallow as to say something that sounds like something a professional reviewer would say that'd make you want to gag on shards of broken glass. Michael Cera doesn't really play that big of a role in this film and I can't say it's a bad thing. Not to say that he isn't talented or that I wouldn't have minded seeing more of his character get fleshed out, but he really wasn't a major part of the story. His character is what his other characters have been, that nervous geeky, yet somewhat cool scrawny kid you don't know whether to beat up or hang out with. Jason Bateman is kind of in the same boat here. His character is kind of background material here and while he does play a main part in maybe two scenes you can't really figure him out completely before he's gone. The biggest problems I have are with two of the supporting female roles, Jennifer Garner and Allison Janney (who plays Juno's step mother). They are quirky and they have their strengths and flaws that you see come to light as the story progresses. However, a lot of their motives are either deeply hidden or they aren't brought to light in the movie. For example, you don't really know why Garner's character wants a baby and you can't really get a feel for where Janney's character wants to go. At least Garner has a decent role to work with and she does a much better job of being a supporting actress than she does in the mail roles she has been playing. Still, there is something big missing from her character.

Grade - A+

Alright, Hollywood, you win this round. I watched and adored a movie you picked for an Oscar. I'll call it a fluke this time and hope I never repeat this patern again. In all seriousness, the writing done by Diabol Cody and the wonderful acting done by Ellen Page make this movie. If Juno was the only character in the film, I probably wouldn't change my feelings about it. So with that said, when you have some great characters like Juno's dad, Leah, and Paulie Bleeker added to enhance the character, it can only help the story and character. I can't comment on whether this is a real coming of age story, but I do know that this is a really smart and hilarious comedy that not only tugs at your funny bone but also makes you exercise your movie mind. The characters seem out of place in a real reality but they are smart and at the same time flawed and not quite as mature as their dialog makes them seem. They seem too perfect at times but at other times feel so flawed. This is by far a bad thing to say, because this is what makes the characters so charming and the writing so funny and intelligent. If you like grown up comedies where you can't see an Adam Sandler or a Mike Meyers for miles around, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the show.

Patrick Guest Stars On Another Podcast

There's a really great podcast that I've been going to for a few months now that has been a blast to listen to and participate in it. It's a true friend to the Film Geeks show.

The show is called Sound Check and it's hosted by one of the best on air personalities that'd I've listen to, Chris Kulturides (lovably know as CK). His show is current events, politics, and random topics that are really interesting (for example: what do you do when your new father-in-law invites himself and his wife on your and your new wife honeymoon cruise). The following are from the most recent shows posted and the links provided gets you to more shows. I've been a guest on this show from episode 34 or so. Have a blast listening to this really funny and interesting show. The show airs on Talkshoe, linked below, Thursdays at 9:35 PM.

Sound Check - Episode 45 - Troubled Time

"Episode 45 was filled with live callers and listeners and the jabs were being thrown. The debating was in full effect. We talk about so many topics in this episode that their are to many to tag. We do talk about the election, Iran vs. Iraq, MySpace and Facebook, the Red Cross in Nigeria and how it will effect gas prices, and some funny topics at the end of the show."


Sound Check - Episode 46 - SWAT Attack

"In Episode 46, the jabs keep coming and it was a great show. I went off on a hosting rant, a Talkshoe.com email from tech support, and many other topics."

Talkshoe link - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/45577

Sound Check webpage (WITH FORUMS!!!) - http://check12check12.com/

Show Notes For Episode 19 Of Film Geeks

EPISODE 19 - can be listen to here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Movie News

http://io9.com/5014765/iron-man-2-will-have-more-armored-heroes-but-no-drunken-armor-

mastery
Iron Man 2 - War Machine/Terrance Howard, Demon In A Bottle storyline

http://www.hecklerspray.com/the-smurfs-movie-it-isnt-a-cartoon-any-more-be-afraid/20081

4663.php
Live Action Smurf movie

http://themovingpicture.net/robocop-remake-teases
Robocop Remake - Cylon?

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/12/punisher-war-zone-movie-trailer/
New Punisher Trailer

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/14/the-truth-about-edward-norton-vs-marvel/
Edward Norton Vs. Marvel - Fact Or Fiction

WARNING "THE INCREDIBLE HULK" NOTES MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

Hulk notes:

- no origin - greatness, only credits telling the backstory
- great man vs. monster/anger/inner self
- Hulk actually hits a bunch of stuff
- Great scene is when Hulk stabs Abomination with his own elbow bone
- Hulk is not emo at all
- So much action and great CGI; Hulk look/character is fluid and realistic and not plasticy

- Norton is a great actor; Liz Tylor is pretty decent for the most part
- General Ross is straight out of the comics; William Hurt is looking old
- Tim Roth, Emil Blonsky/Abomination, is decent enough
- Betty's b/f really has no real purpose or role

- Hulk doesn't show a lot of his strength that he does in the newer comics
- It rains A LOT, at the campus fight scene it suddenly starts raining after the battle even

though it was nice out before
- A lot of green stuff in the film - drinks, signs, etc.
- When the Hulk is first show, he's not shown completely all at first
- Transporter 1 & 2 director - Louis Leterrier
- Zak Penn wrote script and he's had some bad ones in the past with Behind Enemy Lines,

X-Men 3, Elektra, and Fantastic 4. After this he's set to write Captain American and the

Avengers Movie
- Inside jokes - purple pants, Hulk slow walk theme song, "Wouldn't like me when I'm

hungry", Captain America/Super Solider Serum, Stanleys' Resturant", and Stan Lee and Lou

Ferigno cameos (Ferrigno is the voice of the Hulk)
- great cameo by Stark and Avengers program

Two Green Thumbs Up - A for Patrick
B grade for Briney

Patrick Guest Stars On New Podcast

Gathering Geeks is a new show hosted by One Geek And A Microphone masta' Chaz and Sound Check ruler Chris K. Oh, and it also stars me...but they are the real talent. It's a great show from the geeks' perspective. Check it out below.

Gathering Geeks - Episode 5

Show Notes For Episode 18 Of Film Geeks

Episode 18 - DocuGeeks - can be listen to here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Movie News

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/M-Night-Shyamalan--What.4121061.jp
No advance media for "The Happening"

http://www.variety.com/VR1117986790.html
Bruce Willis will play Kane Marcus in "Kane and Lynch" movie, based on the video game.

http://www.nj.com/hudsoncountynow/index.ssf/2008/06/audience_walks_during_postal_p.html
This just in...150 people watched a Uwe Boll movie! Of course, they walked out of it as well.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20080530/en_movies_eo/4b83fcaa_d3d74861_973a_1cbfd7fa2730;_ylt=AgMD71XcynVJUGhWuovPNvcwFxkF
Donnie Darko 2 news

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20080602/en_movies_eo/27df529d76da_495f_b0a6_0db2adf1c943;_ylt=AiKqISJxYDaodGxthmR0WnEwFxkF
Terminator 4 news

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080606/film_nm/dune_dc;_ylt=AtX9m6LOdg4HlkX4ccwd.ZQwFxkF
Another Dune take

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/iron-mans-repul.html
Iron Man Sequel

http://www.guesswhichmovie.com/news/390
Tony Stark WILL be in Iron Man - go to the blog to get the link to the new trailer!

From the people who did Planet Earth...When We Left Earth - Premiers tonight at 9 on Discovery.

Documentaries

* Talked About In Full

- Planet Earth*
- Ken Burns Civil War*
- Ken Burns Baseball
- Ken Burns The War
- In The Shadow Of The Moon*
- Born Into Brothels*
- Christianity - The First Two Thousand Years
- Freedom Downtime
- Global Warming Or Global Governance
- Who Killed The Electric Car?*
- Hacking Democracy
- Super Size Me*
- This Film Is Not Yet Rated
- Why We Fight*
- Waco - The Rules Of Engagement
- America - Freedom To Fascism
- The King Of Kong*
- An Evening With Kevin Smith 1 And 2
- Enron - The Smartest Guys In The Room
- How William Shatner Changed The World
- More Than Dreams
- Trekkies
- Steal This Film 1 And 2

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints - Review

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

How come whenever I see a movie about 1980s New York I always get the feeling that people were always sweaty, loud, and full of hate and angst? You have movies like "Summer Of Sam" or "Do The Right Thing" or the other several dozen films about that time and place the portray these same type of people. I would have been more apt to believe in global warming if they said in the 1980s, global warming happened in New York City.

This movie has some of the same themes that "Do The Right Thing" had, but instead of racial issues this is a "coming of age" story. Written and directed by Dito Montiel, it is his own biographical story. He basically got to live the dream we all have of choosing who gets to play us in the movie about our life. He even gets to pick two! Robert Downey Jr. plays the older Dito while Shia LaBeouf plays the younger Dito. Other actors of note are Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri, and Dianne West just to name a few.

The story is pretty simple. Dito keeps watching his friends get killed or acting bad and he's afraid he's going to stay in the same place all his life. He struggles to live long enough to travel to California (where supposedly there is no crime and all your dreams come true there). Being so young, however, makes it a struggle for him to cut ties and leave. This part of the story is told in flashbacks when the the older Dito comes back to his old homestead to take his bullheaded father to the hospital.

So ya, that's my take of the story. There is, unfortunately, not much of a plot here and there are certain things that don't make sense. Let me just tell you the best part of the movie first. All the actors used in the movie, both the young ones and their older counter parts are really good. I was very impressed with Shia LaBeouf's early acting ability as well as Melonie Diaz and Channing Tatum were good too. I also love seeing Robert Downey Jr. in pretty much anything and Rosario Dawson is not hard on the eyes at all.

The sad part of this movie is that I was waiting for the plot to emerge for so long that my brain got numb looking so hard for one. I don't really see how this story got made into a movie, considering that it's nothing out of the ordinary for the thousands of other people who left NYC for a place and time that wasn't sticky with sweat and in the 80s. The only thing that really carries this movie are the characters but without knowing what you want the final outcome to be or where it's going you kind of end up caring for them less.

The main plot point that made no sense to me was Dito questioning if his father ever loved him. In the flashback parts of the movie, you never EVER get a sense that his father doesn't love him. You see the father showing some affection to young Antonio, but that's clearly because Antonio's father beats him. Other than that, I thought it was quite clear that Dito's father loved him.

Another problem was that I didn't see why Dito wanted so badly to leave where he was. Either the movie didn't flesh that out enough or we're just suppose to guess. Either way, it really failed at that plot point.

I also have a couple of nit picks with this film. I don't understand the one scene where young Dito (LaBeouf) breaks the fourth wall to tell us he's the main character. I also don't understand why we read text of what is being spoken at certain points in the film. Finally, I don't understand what this movie is called "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints". I'm sure if I read the book this movie was based on, I would; yet, that doesn't help me when I only watch the movie.

Grade - C-

This isn't a horrible movie. However, without a clear plot and some plot points that are not explained or flushed out enough I was pretty lethargic about the whole movie. I loved the actors and the character they played, but without knowing where they were suppose to be going and the bits of random story elements thrown in, it really detracted from the whole story. I still don't know why anyone would want to live in the 1980's in NYC. Every movie that takes place there and in that time makes me feel like taking a bath afterwards because everyone is just dirty and soaked with sweat. If I could compare this movie to any other I'd say take one part "Angela's Ashes", one part "Kids", and one part "Do The Right Thing". Then take out all things related to a plot or social commentary and you have this movie right here.

Brick - Review

Brick

Of all the movies, in all the world, why did this one have to walk into mine. There are hardly any detective movies made anymore. Sure there are your action heroes who use outrageous amounts of violence to get from plot point to plot point leaving a trail of explosions and dead bodies in their wake, bu the detective movie is a little past its time. From time to time a movie comes along that has elements of this lost genre. For example, "The Usual Suspects" and "LA Confidential" had elements of a detective story, but they weren't truly in the genre. This movie however, has all the basic criteria for detective story, just with an unusual hero and and unusual setting.

Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is contacted by his ex-girlfriend, Emily Kostich (Emilie de Ravin), who is in a bit of trouble. She gets him involved in what she's mixed up with. When Brendan finds Emily dead at the entrance of a tunnel, he pulls out all the stops to find out who did this and why...and also how to get them back for doing it. Centering around a high school where the population of students have a far more dramatic life than any real high school did. There are some who are big time drug dealers, others drug users, and others who can be tapped for information. Brendan puts his life and body on the line in order to bring justice and revenge on Emily's killers...nothing can stop him.

Grade - A-

This story is amazingly good. It has a feeling of a classic "film noir" detective story. You have "a dame" ask the "Private Dick" for help and he'll do anything to find out what he needs to. You even have some nice soft jazz accompaniment at times. The movie starts out really quick and gets you right into the story. There's no back story or too much explanation right off the bat, which adds to the charm of the whole. These people are suppose to be in high school, but they live a far more complicated and drama centered life that I had in high school. This high school story plays out like a microcosm of a classic tale of mystery. You have a lot of characters in this film that you'd find in an old detective story (the informant, the dame, the PI, the pusher, etc.) and you have the a lot of the same plot elements as well (the play, the double cross, the secret meetings, pumping people for information, etc.). It really is an amazing story to get sucked into. It's sad that director and writer Rian Johnson hasn't done another one of these types of movies or really anything else. There are some great camera shots and angles that add a lot to the beauty of this film and the atmosphere to the whole movie seems charismatically out of place, which is not a bad thing either. The actors do a great job of playing much older characters than their characters are actually suppose to be. The movie has a little nod as well by having Richard Roundtree (Shaft!) make a short cameo. The ending of the movie is perfect as well, a lot of wide angels and a good sum up of what happened just in case you didn't figure it all out, or didn't understand it all. The movie can be a little heady at times and a bit confusing; so if you don't like to think during your movies, this one isn't for you. Yet, this movie is a perfect modern tale of a classic detective story that was a joy to watch and thought provoking to the end. Here's looking at you kid.

Waitress - Review

Waitress

I'm a sucker for certain chick flicks. Maybe when I was developing as a fetus I did not get that extra gene quick enough to kick me from being a boy to a girl. Either that or I can really appreciate a well written romantic story without apologizing for it. Either way, when you have a good chick flick there are two things that are essential. The first is a great script. You can't move forward without a well written script. I think the perfect chick flick script blends the romantic and charming aspect we tend to see in these types of movies but use a little comedy to add some nice spice to it. The second need for a good chick flick movie is having great characters. If you don't feel for the characters, you don't care about any of the funny, charming, and/or romantic things they say (although this might not always be true seeing as I did like "City Of Angels" and Meg Ryan and Nick Cage weren't written that great and one of them is a really horrible actor). I heard a lot of good things about this movie using the criteria I stated above and was a bit excited to see it.


Going in order of my list I'll start with the story (script) and then move to the characters and the actors.

Jenna (Keri Russell) is married to a horrible person, Earl (Jeremy Sisto). He is selfish, acts like a big baby, doesn't let his wife do anything other than work, and he's really jealous. Jenna is unhappy but she has been hiding away money to compete in a pie contest with the hopes of a win that would help her get a divorce and move far and away from Earl and her current life. Jenna works in a shop that makes nothing but unique pies, and she has the perfect knack for using her life struggles as inspiration to make delicious pies. Her life and her escape plans take a drastic turn when she not only finds herself pregnant with Earl's child but also madly infatuated with her new doctor, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) who just moved into town. Dr. Pomatter and Jenna begin a hot and heavy love affair that drives Jenna from the rut she has made for herself in life and inspires her to become more self confident and happy. However, not everything goes according to plan. Earl not only finds the money Jenna has been saving up to leave him, but he also finds out she is pregnant with her child. Earl is scared of the child and is afraid that Jenna will love the child more than him. Jenna doesn't even want the child and through her whole pregnancy she keeps trying to put any and every emotional barricade in the way of feeling anything for her unborn child. Jenna also gets some advice from the old, charming and crotchety owner of the pie restaurant, Joe (Andy Griffith). With no way now to leave her husband, go to or win her pie contest, and to have a new life free from anything in her old life (because of her unborn child) she tries to figure out what to do.

There's nothing bad I can say about this cast. From the main stars to the supporting cast, everyone is cast perfectly. You love the characters you're suppose to and hate and revile the characters you're suppose to as well. Adrienne Shelly both wrote and directed this movie and while it was not her first movie, I haven't seen anything else she's done. I do hope she writes more scripts like these!

Keri Russell gets a lot of the credit here. She's the main person you need to love and feel for, and you do. You feel sorry for her and you almost feel like you're entwined with her fate as well. It's amazing how well and beautifully written her part and story was written and flushed out.

While there is no doubt that Jenna is the most important character, I think Jeremy Sisto should get a lot of credit here. The way his character is written and the way he portrays Earl, I absolutely hate him and I found myself yelling at him in frustration. I feel sorry for Sisto if he gets typecast for this role but he's such a good jerk!

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Nathan Fillion. His doctor role isn't as big as I would have liked to see him in and he seems to be almost a secondary character here. Captain Malcolm Reynolds should NEVER be a secondary character! Sorry about that...let's get back on track. Fillion is incredibly charming and he's got a few lines and the sex appeal to make a good majority of the women swoon.

The most off the wall character, and the one with most of the funny lines, is Andy Griffith. He has some off the wall lines and it was definitely weird to hear Sheriff Andy curse and say some really outrageous lines. At times, I was cracking up laughing at what he said, and other times take a lot of what he says to heart. It's a great role and a really fun choice of actor for the role.

Grade - A+

This movie worked on so many levels, I loved it. As a romantic movie this is definitely new territory. Not to give anything away, but the ending was a bit weird to see happen in a movie like this. I felt a lot for the main character and absolutely hated her husband, which is a testament to both the actors and the writer. The nice quirk about having the different pies was a fun staple for this movie as well. Some of them looked really good, and others I thought "that doesn't seem like that'd go with pie". The actors are amazing at their roles, their roles are intelligently written and with a lot of feeling and obstacles each one needs to overcome, and the pacing of the film was beautifully done. I would suggest anyone to watch this movie. It might not be a good romantic date movie, but it was an almost perfect movie. Have a slice of pie with this decedent cinema.

Crap Shoot - The Documentary - Review

Crap Shoot - The Documentary

If you listen to our podcast (http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391), you'll know how much we rag on Hollywood for the utter drivel they put out each year. They expect us to buy tickets to see their rehashed sequels or remakes that they try to pass off as something new and exciting. Yet, when it comes down to it, crap is still crap by any other name and no matter how bright the box is - you're still left with a big pile of something smelly you really don't want.

This movie was written, directed, and stars Ken Close and also stars his narrator James Horton. The movie is not strictly a documentary as the movie title implies. This movie tries to be a non-serious approach at looking at how "crap" scripts get made into movies and what certain Hollywood people think about this. This movie has a lot of attempts at humor and some of the interviews are trying to be "The Daily Show" type interviews.

There really isn't much more to say about the synopsis than that.

Grade - D-

This movie doesn't really work well for me. The comedy is not funny at all, the script that's there is horribly written. The ironic thing is that this movie proves the point that Hollywood's downfall is the lack of good scripts, and I just hope Hollywood didn't finance this movie. The main point that this movie gets across, which should have been the main focus, is that Hollywood doesn't want to take chances on scripts that have risks attached to it because they want assurance that they will make their money back. The rest of the "skits" are just filler used to waste my time. If Close would have confined his movie to a true documentary about the pitfalls of Hollywood then this could have been a really good movie and very insightful. It's really too bad that the only fun thing in this movie was a nice cameo done by Steven Spielberg. However, it's sad to say that he was the best actor in the film...and he wasn't all that good at his simple line read either. "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" this film is not, but you could compare it to a failed "The Daily Show" interview done by a high schooler. Listen to "Film Geeks" radio show on the Talkshoe website and you'll get a better take on Hollywood's suckfest than this movie did.

Show Notes For Episode 17 - 06-01-2008

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/26/film.indyeffects.ap/index.html
Why Indy went digital - ""He (Spielberg) thought maybe we should just go back to the way we did things before, like matte paintings on glass and things like that," said visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. "We entertained that idea for a little bit, but we realized we could serve the story better by using our digital tools.""

http://www.abcactionnews.com/entertainment/story.aspx?content_id=c8dbb9c9-ee98-493c-9dbe-8699f4fad707
Ford might come back as Jack Ryan

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/01/studio.fire/index.html
Universal Studios fire. 40K to 50K videos and reels were damaged and Back to the Future and King Kong sets were destroyed. This is why Hollywood needs to back up their media quicker. Not only to make a profit but some of these items are the only ones in existence and should be shared with the masses

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/05/28/exclusive-rainn-wilson-joins-transformers-2-cast-as-university-professor/
Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight from The Office) has confirmed he will be a professor in a Transformers sequal

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/swayze%20denies%20point%20break%20comeback_1069915
Patrick Swayze won't come back for Point Break 2. Still doesn't mean their won't be one. However, this would mean his character in the film really died.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117986558.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Eddie Murphy is going to reprise his role as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop 4 - the only good thing that this means is he'll only be playing 1 character and it won't be in a fat suit!

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1068572,00.html
How "Manos - The Hands Of Fate" got made.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i3f3a21456cba6a51badc071100982f15
Michael Bay will bring a board game to life. No not Life, or a Clue remake, not even another rip off of Jumanji. It will be Ouija!

http://www.bspcn.com/2008/06/01/30-upcoming-movie-sequels-you-didnt-know-about/
A fan submitted story about 30 upcoming movie sequels that are in the works. I wish we could write movie producers like we can our Congressmen to get them to stop these things before they even start.

Parody/Spoof Movies

Good:
- Airplane 1 and 2
- Hot Shots 1 and 2
- Naked Gun 1-3
- Wrongfully Accused
- Mafia!
- Austin Powers 1-3

Bad:
- Shriek If You Know What You Did Last Friday The 13th
- Scary Movie series
- Date Movie
- Meet The Spartans
- Epic Movie
- Spy Hard
- Super Hero Movie

Hollywood doesn't have to take a big of a risk because they know the movie elements spoofed already work.