I remembered when the movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose came out in theaters initially about 4 years ago.  It was right up my alley because the dark trailers I had seen for it looked like something that would be thought provoking and different, as religiously toned movies, especially ones that are at all even loosely based on true stories, often are.  I thought it was along the lines of another religiously themed thriller/horror movie I had liked a lot with Patricia Arquette called “Stimata”, and it was sort of the same deal.

While I will say one of my complaints about the movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose is that sometimes the writing came off as hokey or cliche, I think the acting was very solid, and included a great cast of actors and actresses, including Emily played by the same woman who plays Dexter’s sister on the series about a serial killer called Dexter on Showtime, and Laura Linney, as always was good as the attorney who is reluctantly assigned the case to defend the catholic priest who is being tried for “negligent homicide” in the death of Emily Rose, because of a series of exorcisms.

Tom Wilkinson does a great job as the priest being tried, Father Moore, and Campbell Scott, whom I hadn’t seen in anything in years, was great as the attorney on the plaintiff side, the people.  What was interesting about this movie was that it was based on a true story, however I came to find out it was VERY loosely based on real events that occurred in Germany back in the seventies, where a woman by the name of Annelise Michel.

The real story was interesting and compelling, but the movie spun it as a supernatural occurrence while it sounds like the real life story was really an unfortunatel  series of mishaps for a seriously mentally ill young woman who was most likely schizophrenic.  The movie definitely took a lot of liberties and while the directors say they wanted to present both sides of the story and let the audience make up their mind, they definitely went for the supernatural, mystical angle. 

It worked - it was compelling and well directed, but the writing and scenarios could have used some work.  A good example of one hokey part (spoiler alert), was when one of the main witnesses is run over right in front of the defense attorney.  Oh, and they must have added scenes later, because there are two scenes where Laura Linney is clearly wearing a really bad wig, so there were some cases of bad editing that took away from the credibility of this otherwise solid movie. 

We just started season two of the acclaimed HBO series “The Wire”, and I must say, although we started off slow on this and questioning whether we really liked it or not, we are now as addicted to the show and the characters as we were to The Sopranos.  In keeping with the tradition of great scripts and even better acting, The Wire is a superb show that focuses on the characters and makes you like all of them - from the killer thugs to the hapless bystanders to the cops that chase them down via elaborate wires and various other methods of secret surveillance.

The Wire is about a group of detectives and cops that are assembled to help bring down a new drug ring - at least one that’s new to them, that’s becoming a little too violent.  The show is set in the slums of Baltimore, and the first season centers around an investigation and subsequent uncovering of a drug ring run by Avon Barksdale.  Barksdale remains an elusive character until one cop who pretty much keeps his mouth shut on works on his miniature pieces of furniture figures out who he is by putting a name to a face from a local boxing club.

We are introduced to so many character this first season that we can barely keep their names and faces straight, but we ultimately end up caring about what happens to each and every one of them, which is a hard thing to do for most television shows, especially where the line between good and bad becomes very thin and unrecognizable in most cases.

Now that we are on the second season of the series, we can barely wait to watch the next one, and it’s not because each episode ends with some huge cliffhanger, it kind of ends on a low key note, like the Sopranos usually did, we just genuinely can’t wait to see our characters in action and what’s going to happen in the next one and how the plot develops.  The plots are original. 

Those that expect a lot of violence like the Sopranos has may be disappointed though, it’s low on violence except few scenes that graphically depict murder scenes, but the disturbing graphic violence of the Sopranos caliber won’t be found here, and it’s actually refreshing and it works because the series still maintains that gritty, slightly reckless tone.  I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who can follow a script for a while without getting impatient and can get the names down before giving up on it - it’s well worth the wait. 

Well, this was an interesting movie, and brought back an old favorite, Marisa Tomei, who noticeably walks around topless for a few scenes in the film, and I must say as a fellow woman, she’s still looking pretty smashing for being in her forties!  Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play brothers in this movie, one seemingly on the borderline of being a sociopath until we see some real emotion come out later, played by Hoffman, and the other a sniveling cry baby who seems to have a good heart, but also blames others for his problems and is not averse to taking the easy way out for any sort of predicament - a coward, if  you will.

The movie is one about what seems like a victimless crime, thought of by Hoffman, the “bad” brother, and is carried out by his cry baby brother played by Hawke who turns in a good performance as well alongside the formidable Hoffman, which is much to say about acting abilities when you can hold your own beside a pro. 

The brothers hatch a plot to make some extra money, which they are both in desperate need of, for different reasons but both through faults of their own, to rob their mother and father’s jewlry store.  When things go horribly wrong, the events are told in a flash forward, flash back sequence, with a sort of weird format that I didn’t like, and you’ll know what I mean when you see the film. 

The problem I have with this movie is that I just didn’t care about these two brothers.  Instead of feeling sorry for Hawke, I didn’t care if he spent the rest of his miserable life in prison, since he seemed the type that would push you out in the middle of traffic if it were between you and him getting hit by a car.  As far as Hoffman goes, it seems the film maker teeters between trying to make you dislike him and feel sorry for him, both of which are unsuccessful, at least for me.

Tomei puts in a good performance, but we’re unsure of what her character’s point is, other than providing what seems like gratuitious sex scenes and topless eye candy.  If I were her, I’d wish the film I’d bared it all for several times grabbed the audience a bit more and stuck with you.  All in all, I can’t say I disliked the movie, but it wasn’t up to snuff for the actors that were in it, including Albert Finney, who did a great job as the father who seems to have some problems of his own. 

The Spanish language horror film called “The Orphanage” was one I put in my Netflix cue just because it was recommended by their automatic recommendations system after it’s tallied all the other genres and types of movies I tend to go for.  Apparently this recommendation feature is pretty good, because most movies it’s recommended so far are pretty high up on my “like” list.

The Orphanage has a very talented cast, headed by a woman who plays a mother to a young boy named Simon, prounounced See-Mone in Spanish, in case you’re wondering and want to prepare for the movie a bit.  We find throughout the movie that the woman has puchased a former orphanage on the beach with her husband, the orphanage that she actually came from as a child before being “rescued” by adoptive parents.

The house is huge and creepy, which adds to the element of the creepy factor for the movie, which runs longer than the average film of this nature, but it flies by with no problems at all.  The fact that it is set on a beach where the sun hardly ever shines adds to the eerie factor.  We find out that her adopted son, Simone has a grave illness throughout the film, and the film goes through most of the story trying to figure out where her son has disappeared to after he claims that he talks to other children that no one can see but himself. 

The poor mother is put through the ringer, but we find her conviction in finding her son to be compelling, and she portrays a concerned mother and strong woman very well, even in the face of her husband leaving the house because he can’t face what’s become of them after they have lost Simone. 

The cool thing about the Orphanage is that it accomplishes the creepy, jumpy factor without relying on obvious scenes that make one squirm, but rather, good old fashioned timing.  Accept for a few scenes that will probably leave an impression on you, and I don’t necessarily mean in a happy, good way, this movie was a superior modern day horror film with a twist that was unexepected.  It is a sad ghost story essentially, but it’s so clever in it’s angles and quiet suspense that you can’t help but think about for days after you’ve seen it. 

After watching Michael Moore’s documentary style movies, Bowling for Columbine, about high school violence, and Farenheit 911 as well as his other one about the car industry, who’s name escapes me at the moment, I thought I’d at least find his latest documentary movie about the terrible state of the American health care system, “Sicko” entertaining, or thought provoking, but what it ended up being was a message laced, agenda driven movie that was anti republican in it’s agenda.

It actually seemed very sensationalistic to me, and I think I stopped watching around the part where Moore takes a boat full of people in dire need of healthcare who can’t afford it for one reason or another and are being turned away by doctors, hospitals and the health care they should have a right to, to Guantanamo Bay prison, where prisoners sadly get better health care than the millions of uninsured Americans who’ve done nothing wrong.

This part seemed particularly sensationalistic and exploitative in nature and it really turned me off from his movie making efforts.  I suddenly saw Michael Moore as an opportunist of sorts, someone to come in and criticize a system and make a public cry for reform, but with no solutions to offer. 

He spends the majority of the documentary demonstrating how much better healthcare is in other parts of the world, such as France, Cuba, and Canada, but also leaves out the factors that make this sort of public free or almost free healthcare possible.  Such as the fact that Canada doesn’t have to have an army and therefore can afford this sort of public healthcare system, or that Britain and France tax the hell out of it’s citizens.  He brings this point up, but only to show how comfortably it’s citizens still live. 

I just thought he could have presented other sides of the story a little better, but he really only presented the points that best supported his agenda for this movie, which was to point out, yet again, more ways in which America sucks.  Sorry Michael, this one really turned me off, and I’m willing to bet you turned a lot of other people off too with this latest self promotional attempt at pointing out the injustices we suffer. 

As a girl who has a boyfriend who is an avid comic book reader and endlessly interested in the movies that are based on comic books that have been coming out and slaughtering all other movies at the box office, I was thinking that Iron Man might be just another average comic book based movie.  But I was wrong.  Iron Man, starring the very talented Robert Downey Jr., who brings a fresh breath to the bad ass comic book heroes with a breath of real humanity and humor, was a thoroughly enjoyable flick.

The movie was directed by Jon Favreau, who’s come quite a long way since his first big role in Swingers, the cult classic that launched a bevy of catch phrases years ago.  Favreau clearly knows what he’s doing being the director’s lense, and he had a great vision with who he wanted Tony Stark, Downey’s character to be and how he wanted the other characters around him to interact with and complement his personality.

Jeff Bridges is excellent in his supporting role and barely recognizable with a shaved head and beard, and even Gwyneth Paltrow, whom I’m usually hard to warm up to, played her role as Mr. Stark’s nerdy assistant of years and his only real loyal friend to perfection.  There is so much that Iron Man has to offer, and it’s amazing that it does it with only moments of the movie being about Downey in his super hero outfit that makes him Iron Man the superhero.

There’s a lot fo comedic acting that is done well, including by Terence Howard, who plays another friend of Stark’s, and Downey himself is probably the best comedic actor of the bunch.  I can’t help but root for Downey in this role as well knowing that he’s suffered through some serious pain and addictions throughout his life and has come out of them only to rise above it and create this great new character, and make it totally his own thing. 

The audience loved the film, and we left the movie looking forward to a sequel, which will most definitely happen.  There is also a teaser at the end of the movie with Samuel L Jackson playing a character from the Avengers, hinting at a coming Avengers movie, which will include Downey and Jackson playing their respective roles.  All in all, Iron Man was great, every bit the blockbuster it was reported to be before its release and making up for box office disappointments like Speed Racer and a lack of other good films to go to the theater to see. 

It may be totally campy with a lot of grade school humor and far fetched situational comedy, but the chemistry between actors John Cho and Kal Penn has not changed since the first installment of the pothead comedy Harold and Kumar, and it’s still well worth the watch.  The opening scene starts off to set the tone for the movie, with a certain bathroom incident, blatantly put out their by the producers, a masturbation scene that was so ridiculous that you had to laugh or you weren’t human, and lots and lots of talk about weed.

Harold and Kumar were getting packed for their trip to Amsterdam, where of course we all know, weed is legal.  This is the equivalent of a paradise to a pothead, and Harold and Kumar were ready to go in the opening scenes.  Then it all goes wrong when Harold’s home made smokeless bong is mistaken for a bomb on the plane and Harold and Kumar are thrown into jail by a bunch of stereotypically ignorant “Americans” who are anything but diplomatic in their handling of minorities or anyone that appears “different”.

The political incorrectness in the movie is hilarious, and it’s nice to see a movie make light of subjects that some movies take way too seriously in an attempt to “make a point”.  If you want to just laugh for an hour and a half straight and you can handle bawdy, raw comedy, then this movie is for you.  If you watch it and you don’t laugh, you probably take yourself a little too seriously.  Just relax and suspend all reality for a while, and you may even feel like you’re getting high right along with the heroes of this hysterical romp! 

Breaking Bad, a newer comedy on the AMC network, was something that we had recorded in our DVR for several months before actually taking the time to sit down and watch the first episode.  Finally, we ran out of room on the TV it was recording on, and were forced to watch it.  Being “forced” to watch something never had such a good outcome!  We both really loved this show, which stars the uber talented Bryan Cranston, whom you may recognize as the zany and flawed, but loveable father in “Malcolm in the Middle”. 

Bryan pulls off much of that same loveable yet flawed and zany way in this show, only he’s a man who is dealing with more than too many kids and a screaming wife.  He is a mild mannered high school chemistry teacher who we see in the first episode, also happens to get very little respect from people in life, including sometimes his own wife, her macho brother, and an employer at a car wash where he moonlights to support his son who has cerebral palsy, and his pregnant wife. 

You feel for the buy because he seems kind of like that poor schlep who is really smart but just got stuck working a job that barely pays the bills.  He seems earnest, yet you always sense there is a volcanoe brewing beneath his exterior that is waiting to make both a hilarious and frightening explosion.  He’s the guy who’s had it with people, and to top it off we see him suffering from an awful cough and being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in the first episode. 

His character, Walter White, decides to live life a bit more on the edge after his diagnosis, and forgos telling his wife or son that he is dying of lung cancer and possibly only have months to a few years to live.  We see him lash out at strangers who are making fun of his son in a store, tell his boss to f off at his second job, and attack his wife in bed like he never has before, if you know what I mean. 

The pilot alone shows one of the most interesting character evolutions I’ve ever seen, especially in just one hour, and the pilot I would say is probably one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen, because it made me want to immediately watch the next episode.  If you’re looking for a feel good show, this probably isn’t it, as it is laced with satyrical, dark comedy the whole way through, and yet you find yourself rooting for this gu who’s never gotten a break from anyone, and well, he’s just not gonna take it any more! 

It gives new meaning to the Tim Mcgraw song that you should “live like you were dying”. 

Natalie was finally given the big old boot from the Big Brother 9 house this week, and I think a lot of viewers were sighing a big sigh of relief.  I was wondering if it was just me that she annoyed, but even my boyfriend can’t stand her.  There is something about a religious hypocrite that really drives people wild, and she’s is that, to a T, either that or the BB producers are very good editors and make her appear that way. 

I’m not sure if a woman of God would be wearing outfits that look like something a hooker would wear on a street corner or be doing favors for Mattie under the covers if you know what I mean (wink, wink).  It’s true if you haven’t seen the footage - there’s footage of Natalie mysteriously disappearing under the covers in Mattie’s nether regions and emerging later only for him to thank her and call her a good girl.  Umm, ok, that’s not very Christian!

Natalie seemed like she was almost gonna pull off winning the POV, or so the editors would have you believe since they led us to believe she had the lowest puzzle-solving time on the screen the last they showed it.  Natalie is really good at puzzles, so that really put a kink in Sheila’s plan when they all found it was going to be a puzzle challenge.  However, Adam aka “A Baller” pulled it off, and consequently pulled himself off the block. 

Sheila couldn’t convince both of the guys, a gutless Adam and Ryan to both vote Natalie out of the house, so Adam ended up giving her a sympathy vote while Ryan voted her out, making Sheila cast the deciding vote.  Nice way to try to garner another jury house vote Adam, but not very smooth move for you game play.  I understand you’re a “nice guy”, but if you couldn’t see that Natalie is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and all her Jesus talk wasn’t a thin disguise for her true reason to be in the game - pure greed for the 500k prize, then you are easily fooled and don’t deserve the 500k. 

Ugh, this is another BB season where the most deserving contestant isn’t going to win the money, and that is James.  I guess that’s part of the frustration when you watch a reality show though, you really can’t control the outcome, especially in a house full of clueless people. 

Oh boy, where to begin with this interesting and thought provoking film by Sean Penn, who’s become quite the film maker lately.  The movie Into the Wild is a film that is based on a true story about a restless free spirit named Christopher McCandless, who decides that he’s going to leave the world behind and live as a vagabond and off the land for a while (two years to be specific), and anyone who happens to come along the way. 

The role is played ably by newcomer Emil Hirsche, who does a good job of playing the character, albeit not as great a job as I think another actor such as Leonardo DiCaprio could have, but that’s my opinion because he looks more the part and probably could have had the acting chops to pull it off just subtly better.  The movie starts off with Christopher on the road, somewhere in the middle of his travels, and takes us back in time to see what the path of events were that lead him to decide to take on the wilds of Alaska with nothing more than a gun, some matches, clothes, and some books.

It shows us, somewhat ineptly at times, what led him to pursue his adventure by himself and leave his family behind, not even contacting them for a few years while he was on his “journey” to find himself.  At times, he is unsympathetic as a character, because we can’t help but think how selfish the damn kid is for just leaving what seemed like a loving and concerned family behind in the dust.  However, we may also not know that whole story, and I think that even the best of us have fantasized at one point or another about “getting away from it all”, including our own families who can admittedly drive us crazy from time to time. 

The cinematography is absolutely stunning, and we get to see a lot of beautiful countryside scenery, which makes the movie almost worth seeing just in it’s own right.  The movie ultimately ends being somewhat of an inspiration and making you think about what life is really about, and why it is so worth living.  It also leads us to the conclusion that life, and happiness, as Christopher ultimately concludes, is not worth it if you can’t share it. Now, this may have been a creative liberty the director/producer took, but it sums up the movie nicely. 

All in all, Into the Wild gets a good review from me, because it’s just different.  It’s not like all those other crappy movies out there right now with little meaning and poor performances. Some of the better performances in “Wild” are by the supporting cast, including Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, and Hal Holbrook, who I believe was nominated for an Oscar for his short but impactful appearance.