Movies, award shows, whatnot...

So PCG has taken a little sabbatical, but I'm back! Hopefully Sister Itty Bitty will join in!

Lots of Pop Culturey things going on, well always, but esp the holiday season. You know, have to get people to buy this stuff and when will they buy it? JESUS'S BIRTHDAY!

So I bought tickets for the three shows I wanted to see the most and downloaded a few of the tunes I would like to listen to more than once, including a few Christmas tunes, and here are my thoughts.

Sherlock Holmes-this was the top of my holiday viewing list and it most definitely was all it was supposed to be! Mr Downey was incredible as was Jude Law. It was an updated, more spirited version of the classic, there was a little more action. My suggestion? Go see it. In theaters.

Avatar: Now like my friend SIB, I don't really like to buy into THE HYPE surrounding movies, such as AVATAR. (notice all caps, this is how it must be pronounced, just like TITANIC!) And James Cameron's latest spectacle was much like Titanic, not very subtle and pretty predictable. (what, you thought the boat might make it to NY? Wouldn't that be a cool alternate ending?) But, I bit the bullet and went to see it. In 3D no less. It was a pretty good flick. Very political and sort of hits you over the head with it's message, but worth seeing. In 3D. Think part Ferngully, part Pocahontas, part Star Trek. So if you liked any of these movies (Disney's Pocahontas not Brave World with Colin Ferrell and was a TERRIBLE movie), then you will enjoy Avatar. But probably not if blue people freak you out. or you like war. or you don't like nature. just FYI.

Nine: Well, being a music lover, I was excited for another "Musical by the makers of Chicago." I should not have been. It was ok. Not enough big singing and dance numbers for my taste. Perhaps I had too high expectations, but it was not my favorite new musical. The actors & actresses were good, the writing was ok. There was no plot until the last 20 min. Fergie's big dance/sing number was the best part of the flick and Marion C. was quite good, but overall, meh.

New song list will follow soon.

Stay Warm!

Movies to see this summer, in one sentence. (yes some of them are run-on)

Spring Breakdown-funny little flick with two of my favs: Amy Poehler and Racheal Dratch, not to mention small parts with so other SNL peeps & Amy's awesome hubby.
Valkrye-pretty good for a movie with two things wrong with it: Tom Cruise and failure.
Confessions of a Shopaholic-consumer driven yes: funny and cute, most def!
Gran Torino-fav Clint E. movie ever.
Revolutionary Road-Kate Winslet is freaking amazing, that Leo fella ain't too bad either.
He's Just Not That Into You-every guy should see this movie to see how women really are, every girl should see this movie to see how we really are!
Star Trek-SOOOOO not your daddy's enterprise...
Angels and Demons-good movie, Tom Hanks-how can you go wrong?
Paul Bart: Mall Cop-funny, silly flick.
The International-decent but slightly depressing as it totally supports hubby's conspiracy theories (not about aliens).
Taken-high suspense, Liam is awesome.
Bride Wars-adorable and funny, could've been better without the last 5-10 mins.
Role Models-hilarious at times, but not for everyone.
Rachael Getting Married-the opposite of Bride Wars, but still funny and seriously good.
Twilight-don't know if you've heard of this little movie, it's pretty good.
High School Musical: 3-yet another small indy film, good if you like musicals and disney.
Body of Lies-very good, nice conspiracy sort of flick.
Flash of Genius-good, but also sad.

One Missed Call - One Movie I Wish I'd Missed

"One Missed Call" tells the story of Beth Raymond, a college student whose friends begin to mysteriously receive voice mails from the future recording the sounds of their impending deaths. She goes to the police, who think she's crazy, except for Det. Jack Andrews, whose sister has apparently met the same fate. They team up to figure out what the crap is going on. And then, in true horror movie fashion, Beth hears the creepy ringtone on her phone, and guess what? She's got a new voicemail.

For a horror movie, this one was decent I guess. I was yelling "Don't open that door!", "Get out of there!", and "You stupid hussy, what are you thinking?", so I guess it was a successful scary movie. It reminded me a lot of "The Ring"...creepy little girls, using technology to kill people, and a pretty predictable plot. If you want to be sufficiently creeped out, it's a solid rental. Ed Burns and Shannyn Sossaman are both adequate in their roles.

Rating: Two angel wings!!

The winner of the Best Award Show of 2009 is...

THE OSCAR'S!

Last night's Academy Awards were far superior to the last few years of long, boring, monstrosities.

The red carpet pre-show was the perfect length with only a couple awkward moments brought on by incompetent interviewing. A brunette Ryan Seacrest tripped up with Jack Black & wife, Miley Cyrus forgot to mention the name of the movie she was touting, Marisa Tomei gave Seacrest the death stare-no love lost there! Introducing us to the program's stage producer and music producer was a super bonus that emphasised new details in the evening.

On to the show...
Hugh Jackman was delightful. He began with a fantastic opening, claiming he built it in his garage Saturday night as the Academy couldn't afford an opening with the recession. The pizza boxes, paint rollers, and lamp shades assisted in creating the image of Hugh staying up all night with his hot glue gun making the sets. Anne Hathaway's "impromptu" performance as Nixon made it all the more adorable.

The first award set the stage for the entire show. The Academy had kept the presenters a secret, with good reason. The new format brought out 5 past winners of each award to speak about the individuals nominated. It was much more interesting and fascinating to see the awards presented in this way. See the Best Supporting Actress award presented. Supporting Actor, Best Actress, and Best Actor were all presented in this fashion. It was gorgeous.

One of the lesser developed ideas for the evening was to take the audience through the process of movie making with the awards. This seemed a little half-baked and we lost sight of it a few times. The highlight was by far Tina Fey and Steve Martin's screen play presentation. Some other great presenters were Jack Black/Jennifer Aniston for best animation and Natalie Portman with Ben Stiller who was channeling Joaquin Phoenix for cinematography. Hilarious.

Seth Rogan and James Franco, spoofing their own Pineapple Express, replaced the recent Will Ferrel and Steve Carell comedy duo in a Judd Apatow short film.

Michael Moore moments were provided by Bill Maher (presenting documentaries) and Sean Penn (upon winning the best actor award).

The Musical is BACK! was a huge number staring host Hugh Jackman, Beyonce, Zac Ephron, Vanessa Hudgens (both from High School Musical), Amanda Seigfred, and Dominic Cooper (both from Mamma Mia). Created by none other than Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge & Australia). Definitely the highlight of the evening!

Back to the movies Heath Ledger rightly won the Best Supporting Actor for his work in the Dark Knight as Joker.

The movie montages were fantastic showcasing not only nominated movies but other romances, action movies, and animations that weren't nominated.

The sound track presentations by Alicia Keys (was adorable and awesome) and Zac Ephron were amazing with performances of the songs by the original artists.

Queen Latifa sang over the "In Memory" video montage, lovely. Much better than having only a score.

One of the best impromptu moments was when Kate Winslet, upon winning the Best Actress Award told Meryl Streep (with a record of 15 lifetime nominations) that she would just have to "suck it up" after not winning this one.

Slumdog Millioniare was the big winner of the night, the best speech by it's director Danny Boyle who accepted Best Director in the spirit of Tigger per a request from his kids. The picture also took home Best Picture Award.

A complete list of winners can be seen here.

Secret Life of Bees should remain a secret and New In Town

Perhaps it's because of the hype, but the Secret Life of Bees was a bit disappointing. Queen Latifa and Alicia Keys were fantastic and it was nice to see Dakota Fanning in a more age appropriate role-young teenager. Paul Bettany, who seems to just pop up randomly these days was excellent as the soul-lost father. The supporting cast was fine. The movie is drenched in sadness. The plot is okay, but slow. One Angel Wing.

New In Town was a cute chick flick. Don't expect much substance or many plot twists, if you've seen many "girly" movies it won't be hard follow this one from the beginning. It's good clean fun with some great actors and adorable Minnesota humor. One Angel Wing.

Fireproof: the beginning of Christian Hollywood?

As part of NPR's ramping up to yesterday's Oscars, they aired a segment today on the movie Fireproof and Christian movies. As a Christian and movie buff, I payed close attention. (You can read the transcript here.) I applaud the creators of Fireproof for glorifying God through their gift. It is a step above the usual "christian" media.


To me "Christian" movies have always been on a level with Lifeway (a HUGE Baptist corporation that has it's conservative fingers in just about everything), overly trite "inspirational" music, and salvation tracts that turn people off more than they teach. They have their place and do many good things for many good people, but generally don't spread the love of Jesus to the already unreached or skeptical.


Yes, Fireproof was made to entertain, preach, and affirm Christians, but can you expect a movie to build up a relationship with your unreached neighbor? Christian movies can be reminisent of church-goers who only use christian phone companies, christian, plumbers, and only have Christian friends.


The entertainment industry can be a greedy, worldly, and selfish entity. Even out of the most evil things can produce beauty and knowledge. There are many movies, songs, and stories that are not "christian" but have spoken to my heart in a way only possible through a Higher Power. If I only watched Christian movies, I would miss such amazing films as: Slumdog Millionaire, Hotel Rwanda, The Green Mile, Stand By Me, Glory, Rent, Pride and Prejudice, to name a few. If I only listened to Christian music, I wouldn't hear God's voice through U2, Kanye West, or Billy Bragg.


Sure, we should guard ourselves and our minds, but as Christians, we should live in the world, but not be "of" the world. After all, Jesus hung out with prostitues and tax collectors.

Slumdog Millionaire, The Women, Speed Racer-this wasn't your momma's weekend.

This weekend was monumental on many levels. Saturday night we ventured out to see the much lauded "Slumdog Millionaire" This thought-provoking flick has critics and audiences raving from the UK, India, and across the US. The acting was suberb, the story amazing, the music electrifying. Highly recommended for anyone, but be warned. There are disturbing, truthful images and storylines throughout the movie. It may have a "feel good" ending, but it's a rocky road to get there.

The Women-a remake of a 1939 movie, the star-studded cast presented a true "chick flick." Not a single male in this film from start to finish. (though apparently, the original had some truly different plot!) A darling Meg Ryan is back with a touch of "Kathleen Kelly" from You've Got Mail. Annette Benning, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Debra Messing round out the main characters with Bette Midler, Carrie Fisher, Candace Bergen, and Cloris Leachman supporting. Eva Mendes plays the femme fatale. A great movie to see with your girlfriends or if you have some really girly guy friends...

Your guy friends WILL enjoy Speed Racer! Like a green screen cross between Talladaga Nights and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this family oriented movie is sure to please. Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, & John Goodman create a movie that looks like fun. I never followed the original cartoons, so I can't vouch for how true the film is, but for a light-hearted, good-guys-win flick, Go Speed Racer!

Movies to Rent (or not) This Week...

As a typical winter past time, four movies made it home from Blockbuster this past week. Number one would have to be:

The Duchess Kiera Knightly as the lead role brings the Duchess of Devonshire to life. With rich fashion and clever dialoge, it's a movie that won't leave you wanting more, except maybe a different life for the D of D. The costume's create a vision that even the yoga-pant-wearing-couch-potatos won't be able to get enough of. Ralph Fiennes is wonderfully hateful and the enticing Dominic Cooper also stars in...

Mamma Mia While never having seen the stage version, I've heard great things. The film was hopelessly not great. As a musician and musical buff, it pains me to say that the fast forward button was used multiple times during the 108 min. Sadly, it occured during ALL of Pierce Brosnan's numbers. Most the cast members were worth consideration. Pierce, Colin Firth, & Christine Baranski should stick to acting, they do it much better than singing.

In a word: The Duchess-wish I had seen it in Theaters. Mamma Mia-please never again...

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