Movies & Other Stuff

Movies and a few TV show comments.

Bad Teacher (Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake) - Er...Yeah. I knew it was R-rated, but I so did not think it was this type of R-rated. This movie is somewhere between chick flick and a "guy" comedy (slap-sticky type). I thought it was more chick-flick and it's really not. It's like this movie was supposed to appeal to chicks and to guys (date movie?) and just doesn't quite work for either gender (in my opinion, at least). Diaz's character is a money-grubber and is engaged to this wealthy guy whose mother convinces him to call off the wedding because the mother knows she only wants his money (and spends $16k in a month). So she ends up back at her teaching job (she was there for a year) and talks trash about the guy to make it so she had an excuse to break-up with him (slept with his sister, dog, etc). She decides she needs breast implants to land a rich, cute guy and so she does all these schemes through the whole movie to make the almost $10k to get them. At any rate, I don't recommend it. Also, Timberlake really wasn't that big in the movie. He's her new conquest because his family is rich, but you don't see him a lot. He's also wimpy, kind of "sappy" and everything she's not. Segel is her "equal." Anyway, don't recommend. Grade: D

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs Evil (Animation - Glenn Close, etc) - I saw Hoodwinked so I wanted to see the second one to see how it lived up to it. Other than the interesting nursery and fairy tale scenarios and characters, it's not that great. Maybe for a younger kid (around 10), but it didn't really appeal to me. I think I liked the first one better and I didn't really like the first one either (guess who the bad guy was in the first 30 minutes). Though, it is fun seeing the nursery and fairy tale references, though. I kind of amazed myself with how many nursery rhymes I remembered and different fairy tale stories. Chris kept going, "Huh?" Like...A girl on a "tuffet" eating something in a bowl gets attacked by a spider (I forget for what reason) and he had no clue what that referenced and, suddenly, I start saying, "Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet eating her bowl of whey..." It was kind of funny because it just popped into my head! Anyway, maybe for younger kids (not too young because the evil witch is a little scary with these red eyes (mask) so 8+), but not adults unless you gotta watch it. :) Grade: C-

Something Borrowed (Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield) - On a role for unsatisfactory movies! This is a chick flick (phew), but wow...Hudson's character drinks herself to being drunk FAR too often and then you find out she's slept around and...Goodwin's character ends up getting into an affair with Hudson's fiance and yeah...No good morals in this movie at all. At least if it's a good story you might be able to get away with some of it (SOME, my goodness there was a lot of drinking), but since it wasn't that great of a story...er. Yeah. Maybe the book is better (by Emily Griffin -- and the reason I wanted to see the movie). At any rate, Hudson makes a great semi-deranged (attention seeking) best friend and Goodwin plays a good "good girl" in comparison. Acting was good, story was just not. In comparison to Bad Teacher, though, I'd watch Something Borrowed in a heartbeat (that's how bad Bad Teacher was). Grade: D

So...Fall TV shows have been interesting. So far, my favorite show that I'm watching (I'm by no means watching all the new fall shows like Pan Am and others) is Prime Suspect. It's an interesting show and good acting. It's pretty episodic right now, but I assume at some point an arch might develop after we've gotten to know the characters. I enjoy Revenge far too much. It's definitely a guilty pleasure as I don't think revenge is the answer to anything, but the acting is so good and there's just something about it that draws you in with all the duplicity and fake smiles. Anyway, I'm enjoying it and it's a close 2nd. Just started watching Once Upon a Time since it aired yesterday. So far it's interesting. Some of the acting I felt was a little cheesy, but it's interesting and an interesting concept. I'll really have to see how it is over the next few episodes, but it was interesting seeing all the different fairy tales and then connecting who they were with who they are in "our" world. Grimm starts on Friday, which is another fairy tale based TV show (think crime-drama, but with fairy tale (-like?) characters -- Grimm is named after the Grimm Brothers). We'll see how that goes, but I'll watch it. Fairy tales, of late, has really come into fad. Hoping it might permeate the books so we can get away from paranormal romances, but we'll see. If the two new Snow White movies do well in 2012 (one with Julia Roberts as the evil queen and the other with Kristen Stewart (Snow White) and Charlize Theron (evil queen)), it might just might be a new wave of fairy tale books. We'll see.

With that...I'm off to do some reading! Apple hiring seminar on Thursday.

Born Pretty Store Giveaway

Just wanted to participate and let you all know that Born Pretty Store (beauty and nail stuff) is having a One Year Anniversary party and is giving away and discounting lots of stuff.

Right now, they're doing a giveaway that ends the 31st for nail stuff (mostly). You can check the link out here (hyperlink) to see how to also participate!

Upcoming movie reviews will be Something Borrowed and Bad Teacher (watching Bad Teacher tonight). Watching Hood Winked Too later this week.

In the life of me, applied to random retail jobs recently (Costco, Kohls, and Apple). We'll see how it goes -- that and my aquarium jobs still pending. *sigh* Job hunting...

USA Network Shows

Of late, I have decided I wanted to watch every original show that USA Network airs.  It came after the realization that I watched 4 of their original shows on a regular basis and really liked them (Psych, White Collar, In Plain Sight, and Burn Notice).  If a network has good shows and not too many of them, why not try the others?

Let’s not discuss the amount of hours it takes to watch all these series.  It’d just be embarrassing for both you and me to know how many it took, especially since 5 of the 9 shows I only started watching in the last few months.  Yes, I have put in a great many TV watching hours, but most of the 5 are relatively new and, therefore, low on seasons (and episodes).

I must admit, I wasn’t wrong about USA Network.  USA really does have a stellar group of original shows (excluding Law & Order: CI, WWE Raw, and WWE Tough Enough – I am not interested in watching those and L&O isn’t that original given all the spin-offs).  They’re all enjoyable in their own way and seem to all appeal to me (more-or-less) as a type of show I’d like to watch. I can’t say, originally, I’d watch some of them (e.g., Necessary Roughness), but I found I did enjoy them regardless.

For the sake of comparing all the shows, though, I’m going to write about each one (in no particularly order) and then rank them in some order of preference at the bottom. 

Fairly Legal – A legal drama based on a legal mediator.  I’ve always known what a mediator does, but I don’t think a show has ever been about a mediator before.  The shows are fairly episodic and her personal issues are what carries from episode-to-episode.  My main complaint about this show is that Kate’s life is basically in complete shambles: Her husband is estranged and they’re close to filing for divorce, but keep sleeping with each other; her step-mother and her do not get along at all and she’s the managing partner of the firm, she’s trying to get over the loss of her father, and it goes on. She is very much one of those personally flawed people where they tend to hurt, push, and drag the people they love through the mud while treating everyone she mediates for in a heartfelt and justice seeking manner. So, in ways, she’s just annoying, and the episodicness of the show gets a little boring too. However, I look forward to season 2 because season 1 left it in an interesting place for her personally. Grade: C+

Psych – This is a fantastic show that I have been watching for a while now. I even met the two main actors and the producer/creator. It’s a fun show that is kind of like a comedy crime drama. The main guy, Shawn, is a “psychic” (hence the name psych – which is a plain on words too), but, in truth, he is just hyperaware and quite nosey. So with his hyperawareness, he and Gus (his best friend and co-Psycher) go out to solve crimes for the Santa Barbara police as consultants. It really is a show that is sillier than it is serious, but it still has that police drama system of solving crimes. It just adds a humorous twist to it all. There are a few more “serious” episodes, which are quite good. I do enjoy this show and it doesn’t seem to get old for me. Grade: A

Suits – This is a new USA show and it’s fantastic. It’s interesting from a legal perspective, but the cast has a great chemistry and the characters are fantastically portrayed and acted. It just works. I cannot praise this show enough and look forward to the next season and hope for its continued enjoyment. This one takes place in a big law firm where, Harvey, has been promoted to senior partner and needs to find a junior associate. Mike, through a series of bad events, ends up interviewing and spilling the beans to Harvey and, at the same time, proves he’d be a good candidate. Harvey hires him, but under the knowledge that Mike does NOT have a law degree. And, there’s your “will they find out?” for the show. They solve interesting legal cases and it’s kind of fun learning about some things along with Mike. He’s got the legal knowledge (he remembers everything he reads), but he missed how to do certain things (like filing for a patent). It’s an interesting show and good. Grade: A+

White Collar – This one is a similar situation to Suits, except it deals with white-collar crimes division (hence the name) of the FBI.  I really like the relationship between Peter and Neal. Peter has a lovely and supportive wife and is a good FBI cop who is tenacious and ends up catching Neal twice (three times?). Neal is very personable, charming, and handsome for your thief and conartist. On top of it, Mozzie, Neal’s old time friend and mentor, is a great quirky character. He’s likable in that geeky kind of way and you can’t have Neal without Mozzie, pretty much. The actors work well together and make a great cast. The shows are interesting too as each one basically involves a white collar crime and they have to infiltrate (usually) to get to the bottom of the crime. There is an overarching story too that builds upon each other, but also changes (so one thing gets solved and it brings up a new and different issue). It’s nice having the arches build on each other, but you also (more-or-less) complete an arch too. Grade: A

Burn Notice – Good show, but I started getting tired of it recently because it’s always he’s almost figured out who burned him or getting unburned and then it’s back to square one again or something. It’s the same thing all the time, until…this last season. Whoa! All those people I kind of wrote off before are coming back and now I’m starting to have to try and remember who people are and what happened from before because they just brought it all back to the first season! Crazy! And I kind of love it. It makes it more interesting now. I’ve always loved the episodic scenarios of helping people who are in trouble, but I’d like the big arch moving too and I feel like it’s going new places now. The cast is likable and I enjoy their chemistry too. Grade: B+

In Plain Sight – Show about the Witness Protection program of the US Marshals. It’s an interesting show and I like Mary who is a no-nonsense tough gal with a father who is a wanted man (disappears on the family) and her mother and sister are not quite stable all the time (i.e., Mary ends up picking up after them). I do like their dynamic too and they just aren’t ALWAYS falling apart. Marshall, her partner, is a great stable guy who is understanding, a little soft, but loyal. You can’t not like Marshall. The show will have a short (10 episodes?) last (5^th) season coming up and then it’s going bye-bye, which is a little sad. I do enjoy the show and its ratings aren’t so bad, but USA tends to rotate shows a lot (Psych is the longest running original show for USA and it just started its 6th season). Grade:  B+

Covert Affairs – Covert Affairs is about a CIA operative that goes undercover all over the world for various missions. For some reason, compared to the other shows, this one feels the most like a “fluff” show and hence has some weird appeal to it. I’m not sure why, but it does. It’s not bad and I enjoy the cast (go Auggie!!). I will say that this show has the BEST locations as she ends up somewhere in the world and they tend to shoot there. The scenery is pretty amazing and it’s one of the only shows that gets you outside of a building on a pretty regularly basis. The main character, Annie, basically has to dodge around her older sister who she lives in their guesthouse and there’s an interesting story there. Annie’s supervisor, Joan, is a female head of department and her husband is the CIA Director of the National Clandestine Service, which also makes for an interesting storyline. Grade: B

Necessary Roughness – Interesting new show from USA. Dani is a psychotherapist (finds the true root of the problem and can do hypnotizing) and finds out her husband is cheating so she files for divorce. She’s got two teenage kids and ends up being the therapist for a football team called the New York Hawkes. She’s one of those tough love types of people and the show is about the various “famous” people that come to her for therapy help to solve their problems. Her primary client is a Hawkes player named TK and, of course, the football team’s employees she interacts a lot with. The show is interesting as it touches upon her trying to juggle her two teenagers as well as her work. The show is pretty episodic, but had an interesting end so we’ll see where it goes for its 2^nd season. I enjoyed it, even though I’m not a big football fan and most of it really isn’t about football. It’s more the scene than the story. The show is based off a true story/person, Dr. Donna Dannerfelser, who was a therapist for the New York Jets. I’m not 100% won over, yet, but I’ll watch season 2. Grade: B/B-

Royal Pains – Hank is a concierge doctor for the residents of the Hamptons. He used to be a great doctor in New York, but a high profile guy died after he attended to him and left someone else finish up a “routine” procedure because he went to go keep a young kid from dying. So he basically gets shunned and ends up in the Hamptons with his brother, Evan, to get him out and about (he’d been in his house moping mostly). Long story short, they end up setting up a concierge’s practice so they meet people wherever to attend to them and keep things quiet. The medical stories are kind of interesting because they’re not always “obvious,” but they’re not WAYYY out there into left field like House does too. Sometimes the issue is clear, but he has to be like McGyver to save the person. So it’s interesting. The personal dramas there are a lot of, but they’re not too bad. Grade: B

So, if you were keeping track my grades…They go in this order:

A+: Suits
A: White Collar - Psych
B+: In Plain Sight - Burn Notice
B: Royal Pains - Covert Affairs
B/B-: Necessary Roughness
C+: Fairly Legal

My personal preference is just slightly different, though…

• Suits
• White Collar
• In Plain Sight
• Psych (just the barest of margins splits In Plain Sight and Psych, they’re almost equal)
• Royal Pains
• Burn Notice (just slightly underneath Royal Pains because I got tired of the never ending burn notice thing, but now that’s it’s interesting, could swap with Royal Pains)
• Covert Affairs
• Necessary Roughness
• Fairly Legal

And...there you have it. :) I will watch all next seasons of the shows, though, and none of them are (just yet) canceled. Fairly Legal will have to change a little, though. She's just too irritating and annoying the way she stood in the first season.