Heath Ledger was undeniably an extremely talented actor.  I mean, he IS the reason I was excited to see the next Batman film.  His turn as the Joker looked fascinatingly dark and intriguing in the trailer for the movie, and I’m sure that he was the main reason why so many people were already excited about the next Christopher Nolan film that was coming out, that and the fact that Nolan is an extremely talented director and story teller. 

Heath’s untimely death this week was a tragic loss and shocking event for the public, and no doubt heart wrenching and numbing experience for his loved ones.  I think that his death has really struck a cord with the American public because he is an actor that was taken off this earth in the prime of his life, when it looked as though he had nailed another role and would most likely receive recognition and undying respect from Hollywood, and it seemed he was also at an excellent place in his personal life, with a beautiful young daughter whom he reportedly doted on.

As for the roles I’ve seen Heath in, he has never been anything short of an amazing actor, and I admired the fact that he seemed to keep himself and his family out of the tabloids, instead opting for a low key life in Brooklyn. 

My prayers go out to his family. 

My review on this one is gonna be really short and sweet, unfortunately.  Don’t watch it or rent it.  Although, if you like Jaimie Foxx and Colin Farrell a whole lot, you may want to ignore my advice.  This movie is pure, boring, schlock.  In fact, we only made it through about 15 minutes of the movie before turning it off.  Sure enough, it does capture a bit of the TV show’s steamy, seemy feel of the underbelly of the Miami crime scene, but the guitar music in the background of the beginning is enough to turn you off if you’re not into the fast cars, fast women, cheeseball scene.

Right off, Colin Farrell really stinks up the screen.  I’m not sure what the big deal is that has been made about him being the next up and coming huge talent in Hollywood, but I just don’t see it.  His American accent is horrible and his acting is stiff and predictable.  As far as caring about the characters, we could have cared less whether they lived or died, had girlfriends or families, or whether they were ever going to make a sequel. 

I’m not sure how this movie did commercially, I think it may have done ok, but it’s funny how no one talks about it and it seems to have disappeared extremely quickly from Netflix recommend and new release lists, which is the sign of a dud. 

We just went and saw the new JJ Abrams movie Cloverfield, and all I have to say about is it was the best, most suspenseful, “real” feeling movie I’ve seen in a long time.  It’s a modern day monster movie, only it’s got the realistic touch of a home video look to it, much like the Blair Witch Project, only there’s a much bigger payoff in terms of gratification in seeing the monster as well as seeing the character’s viewpoint.

This movie already had made about $44 million on it’s opening day, and by my projection, with word of mouth being good, I think it may even overtake I Am Legend, the newest Will Smith vehicle, which is kind of a similar topic, but is based on a video game.  Cloverfield was made on a pretty conservative budget, and most of it was probably CG’d to save money, but you don’t get any worse effects than you’d get in a top notch, high budget film, because of the realistic look of the camera quality.

Cloverfield is the first movie I’ve been to where the whole theater was dead quiet during certain scenes, which is a giveaway that everyone in the movie theater is totally fixed on what’s about to happen next.  During one scene where one of the main characters is on the phone with a family member, I think you could have heard a pin drop in the theater, and that tells you that everyone was actually emotionally vested in these characters too.

There was a little comedy thrown in too at appropriate times, which helped lighten the seat-gripper mood of the film, but you were still totally enthralled at what was about to happen to the heros and heroines next.  All in all, this movie is excellent.  The only complaint is that there wasn’t as much realistic swearing that would have gone on in any other place in America if the city was suddenly under attack. 

It’s quite courageous that Abrams had the audacity to make it about New York, since many of the scenes are reminiscent of 9/11, however, this of course is already being criticized by the media, which I highly doubt will have any impact on who goes to see it.  To me, the fact that it echos 9/11 a bit made it all that much more tense and emotionally involving, and only added to the intensity of the experience. 

My advice is to go see Cloverfield, while it’s still in the theater, and early on, so you don’t get too much spoiled for you.  It’s truly an amazing experience.  We went with another person and couldn’t stop talking about it afterwards, so you know that if it generates that much conversation and mulling over, it’s worth it. 

It’s the first time I’ve seen Magnolia, and boy was it a LONG movie.  I would say that is my biggest complaint about the movie, which isn’t really all that bad.  However, when you notice a movie is too long, that’s not a good sign usually.  It was actually too long because we started watching it too late, and I was pretty tired, but other than that, it wasn’t because it was dull or boring. 

This movie, which was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the same guy behind Boogie Nights, which I loved, is a little bit of a departure for him.  It was made with an ensemble cast, including some of his regulars that appear in many of his movies, including Luis Guzman, William H Macy, Julianne Moore and others whom I can’t name because I only know their faces.  Julianne Moore though, I’d have to say, was not my favorite part of the movie. 

While I generally enjoy Moore’s performances, that thing is that her character in this movie is just plain unlikeable, and well, she’s just annoying.  I’m not sure if she could have played it differently given obvious direction to play a tripped out psychotic money grubber. 

The movie is one of those that kind of ties all the story lines together in some odd ways in the end, and it tends to teeter on surrealism, which may be hard for some to swallow who think they are just going to see a standard issue drama.  When I say surrealism, I mean there is one scene where all character, enmeshed in various precarious situations, break out in song - the same song. 

There is also a scene involving frogs that I don’t want to spoil for you if you haven’t seen it, but you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when and if you see the movie.  This movie came out a while ago, at least eight years ago I’d say, and it still holds up and pretty inovative.  It’s a mesh of stories all put together about strangers, or people we think are strangers, and the turns their lives are taking for dramatic changes all around the same time. 

We see through the movie that our first impressions of the characters aren’t correct, and that there is evil in who we thought was good, and good in what we thought was evil.  Tom Cruise, by the way, does some of his best acting work in Magnolia.  He plays a self involved, grand delusional guru who tells men they can conquer women sexually in any way they want to, and in not such nice terms either. 

We see that he’s a really dangerous type of guy, the type that can preach, and seems to have no real soul.  Then we find out why he’s become like this, and the rest is history.  It’s actually quite chilling to see him act in this role, as it foreshadows some of his personal life faux pas today, and gives us a glimpse into his passion for his religion that he speaks about so openly now.  You’ll see what I mean when and if you see this. 

All in all, make sure you watch Magnolia when you are awake and not even close to bedtime, because there are some parts that drag, however it’s a totally unique movie that has some excellent acting and unique camera angles that make it worth the three hours.   

Well, I sure am!  Addicted to HGTV that is.  Yep, it’s true.  I must have reached some magical age or point in my life where watching HGTV seems to be the most enthralling thing I can get my hands on when I’m flipping through stations.  Forget tv shows, movies and documentaries, as long as I’m watching a home get redone start to finish, or someone gutting their bathroom, I find it scintillating to anticipate the way the rooms are going to look when they’re done. 

I’ve even gotten my boyfriend hooked on a few of their shows, like What’s My House Worth and House Hunters.  Yes, the bug will get you when you buy a home, especially if you’ve never owned a home before, I promise!  HGTV has really hit its prime in the last few years too, as people are becoming more and more stressed out from jobs and other stressors, and want their home to be somewhat of an “oasis” away from it all. 

You see on HGTV by looking at all these homes that a lot of people go really overboard and seem to spend a life savings on fixing up homes, but some people do it just right, and see high returns on their investments of sweat equity and money (yes, sweat equity is a new term I learned from HGTV, that and “curb appeal”). 

The TV station has definitely cornered the market on home improvement, with other stations like the DIY station and Bravo trying to get a piece of the action by adding their own do it yourself home programs and designing programs showing homeowners how to do things themselves, or simply how to coordinate colors.  It can be dangerous though - you’ll find you’re wanting to go out and spend thousands of dollars to get “the look”, so just be careful! 

Well, we rented the  movie Eastern Promises, a film by a very talented director who isn’t afraid of certain subject matter that other directors may shy away from, David Cronenberg.  The movie is essentially about the Russian mafia, and one man’s rise in the ranks as he struggles with some obvious moral dilemmas.  Enter Naomi Watts, who I think is a very talented actress, who plays a midwife that comes into the story and crosses paths with the Russian mob when she delivers a baby to a woman who apparently is a heroine addict and doesn’t have any family or identification. 

Naomi takes a liking to the baby, whom she names Christine because she was born around Christmas, and starts doing a bit of digging to find out who the extended family of the poor baby might be so that the child can have a safe home.  When she does a little investigating, it leads her to a restaurant, owned by a friendly blue eyed old Russian man, whom we later find out is actually the unscrupulous mob boss of the Russian mafia in the area. 

The mystery unwinds itself amidst an intriguing story of prostitution, mafia killings and dealings, and the sick and twisted father-son duo who are seemingly friendly family guys, but alternately turn into the most evil and sick minds, torturing young girls and forcing them into prositution, and not having a care for anyone but themselves.  The son is brilliantly played by Vincent Cassel, whom I’m amazed hasn’t won more main stream movie roles with his loads of original talent and convincing acting abilities.

The movie, without giving it away, treads on liking and not liking Viggo Mortensen’s character, Nikolai, whom we’re not really sure if he’s a good or bad guy for a while as we see him in some very morally questionable situations that couldn’t possibly mean he’s “one of the good guys”.  However, Viggo, as always, is absolutely awesome in this role and captures the brutality of the mob life well. 

You’ll get to see all of him, literally, in a bathhouse scene where he is confronted with a life and death situation and fights for his life in the nude.  Viggo’s definitely got some courage - not many actors would be able to pull off such  a brutally nude scene and capture the rawness of it as he has.  This is another guy whom I’m amazed doesn’t get as much credit as he should while the likes of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise get more attention for acting in excellent roles.  In my opinion, he’s one of the best actors of our time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he got an Oscar nod in the near future. 

All in all, Eastern Promises was a great film.  It was original, as I’ve never seen a story quite like it, and I loved the interesting way it was filmed, almost in a filtered sort of camera so that it looked a bit grittier.  There was not one actor that called it in for this movie - they all deserve recognition for a job well done, and I’d recommend the movie to anyone.  Oh, and if you liked David Cronenberg’s other Viggo vehicle “A History of Violence”, you’ll like this one too.