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September 21st 2009 06:14
Ah, the Emmy's. American Television's night of nights. To tell you the truth, it's the first one I’ve actually watched in its entirety and I picked a good one. First off, bravo and a tipped hat to whoever decided the mighty Doogie Howser himself, the great Neil Patrick Harris to host is a genius. NPH stole the show from his first song and his pre recorded hijacking of the awards when the accountants were explaining how the results were tallied. His little in betweens when announcing were priceless as well. Most of the time he announced them as a bizarre reference like "Simon Baker, who we all remember from his role as Retaux de Villette in 'The Affair of the Necklace'" as he came out to announce the best actress in a drama series nominees. NPH was classic and I expect him to have a long career as an awards show host from now on.
The rest of the show was as expected, except for the awesome segments where the nominees were asked a question. My favourite quote from the drama directors was from ER's director Rod Holcomb who's best advice to young directors was to learn how to tell actors to "go to hell and they actually want to go". Otherwise, Mad Men and 30 Rock both dominated. In both best writing for comedy and drama, 30 Rock and Mad Men had 4 out of the 5 nominations respectively. And going into the ceremony, 30 Rock had 22 nominations ad Mad Men had 16. They were always going to dominate. In the end though, an upset occurred when Australia's own Toni Collette won best Actress in a Comedy Series over Tina Fey for The United States of Tara. She was the only Aussie to win on the night but it was a big scalp to take. Unfortunately, The Mentalist star Simon Baker and Damages supporting actress Rose Byrne fell short. But then again it is always an honour just to be nominated, or however the cliché to make the "non-winners" feel better goes.
Anyway, here are the winners of the main awards of the night:
Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men
Actress, Drama: Glenn Close, Damages
Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Supporting Actress, Drama: Cherry Jones, 24
Supporting Actor, Drama: Michael Emerson, Lost
Outstanding Comedy Series: 30 Rock
Actress, Comedy: Toni Colette, United States of Tara
Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Supporting Actress, Comedy: Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Supporting Actor, Comedy: Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Outstanding Reality Series: Survivor
Outstanding Reality-Competition Series: Amazing Race
Outstanding Variety Series: The Daily Show
September 20th 2009 06:35
When I first heard about 'True Blood', it was in Rolling Stone Magazine a few months ago. It was saying True Blood is Twilight for adults. Now, I get the comparison, but they both have different meanings about them. 'True Blood' is a pretty good show. It has a large amount of blood and guts and gore and sex and supernatural elements and stuff like that, making it an adult show, thus its R18 rating in Australia. It has a great cast. It is very watchable (I ploughed through the first season in about a week and am looking forward to the next season). But some of the time I felt like I was watching the same thing happen over and over again. It just seems to be murder and then searching for the murderer. Not very complex. But then again it is very easy to watch most of the time.
The cast is lead but the very capable Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse. She lives with her grandmother and older brother Jason (Australian actor Ryan Kwanten, who I vaguely remember watching in ‘Home and Away’ when I was really little) in the town of Bon Temps Louisiana. She also works at the local bar, called Merlotte’s after its owner Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell). The relatively quiet community is in uproar when the first vampire comes to live in their town. Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) is the vampire who was turned while on his way home from the civil war and wants to come back and live in his family’s old community. The final main character is Tara Thornton (played by Rutina Wesley) who is Sookie’s best friend, but is very stubborn which frays threatens their friendship. These characters make up most of the main story lines. There are obviously more characters, but if you want to know who they are and what they do, you’ll just have to watch the show.
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September 15th 2009 04:34
“The Cake Eaters” is a small independent film set in rural upstate New York. The directorial debut of “Fried Green Tomatoes” star Mary Stuart Masterton, is about relationships. Relationships such as the one between the parents and children as well as two families intertwined by circumstance. The twist in this story is in Georgia (Kristen Stewart), who is suffering from Friedreich’s Ataxia, which is a disease attacking her central nervous system and causing her heart damage. Along with that, it makes her shakes uncontrollably, slur her speech and she is living an uncomfortable life. She knows she doesn’t have much time to live and, before she goes, wants to have the quintessential human experience of sex.
The story begins when Georgia’s grandmother Marg (Elizabeth Ashley), takes Georgia to her stall at the local bazaar. It is here she meets ‘Beagle’ (Aaron Stanford) and strikes up a conversation with him. She decides he is the guy. What no one else in the story know is that Marg and Beagle’s father, Easy (Bruce Dern), who is the town’s local butcher who is still grieving his wife’s death, are having an affair. Easy is the town’s local butcher who is still grieving his wife’s death. As the story moves on, Easy’s other son Guy (Jayce Bartok), who disappeared to become a musician, finally comes back home for the first time since his mothers death. His story looks at dealing with her death, which, up until now, he had been avoiding. Beagle, a lunch room attendant at Georgia’s school, starts spending time with Georgia. As Georgia tries to lose her virginity before she dies, her overprotective, slightly exploitive mother Violet (Talia Balsam) stands in the way. She doesn’t trust Beagle but Georgia is headstrong and does what she wants.
This film benefits from the great acting performances from the whole cast. Kristen Stewart shows how good she is following through with all the attributes of a girl who is dealing with a degenerative neurological disease. Her thinness and frailty and even the look on her face gives the feeling of a very sick person. If I didn’t know who she was or had seen her in anything else, I would’ve thought she was a sick girl. Everyone else is good without being outstanding but that is what they were supposed to do. Stewart is the star while everyone else had to support her. Beagle is the right character for a relationship with Georgia and is played well by Aaron Stanford. His withdrawn introspective performance hits to the essence of the character.
Where this movie struggles is the plot. In short, it is the story of a sick girl wanting to lose her virginity. It’s fairly bland and seems to follow the old story line in movies like ‘A Walk to Remember’. And shoved into 94 minutes, it seems like Georgia and Beagle’s relationship is a tad rushed, although the shortness of the film is refreshing. The only thing that separates this movie from those before it is the level of acting, which is very good. Another let down was the ending. The movie is set over three days and at the end of the third, the movie just stops. It’s a strange way to end the movie as nothing is really resolved. There is no conclusion. It leaves quite a lot up in the air and some relationships strained or on the verge of straining. Despite this it is a very watchable movie.
“The Cake Eaters” is a good debut movie for Mary Stuart Masterton. It looks great and she really drew the best out of all her actors. With so much domestic unrest, “The Cake Eaters” looks at all the subplots well. And if you don’t analyse it too hard, it has quite a good message. Everyone has their problems to work out. It can be as complex as a relationship or saying goodbye to a person you don’t want to say goodbye to or as simple as just wanting to feel normal like everyone else. I’d give this film 3.5 out of 5, although it is a very watchable movie and its short length is also a plus.
September 14th 2009 01:56
If you are a fan of live comedy, get this movie. Do whatever you can to see it. It is hilarious. For those who don’t know, and if you haven’t seen it already, there is a big chance of this being the case, the Blue Collar Comedy Tour was a tour undertaken by Southern American comics and friends Ron White, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Jeff Foxworthy. What they deliver is 100-odd minutes of laughs. While they have skits in between the live show to break the movie up, the live stuff is just priceless.
All of them have their specific types of comedy. Ron White is the alcoholic bar rat, who is quite a good observer. Larry the Cable guy is more of a Southern hick or hillbilly character. He’s a funny, funny man though and much smarter than his act shows. Bill Engvall, now popular in America via the Bill Engvall Show, is a family man comic. Also his ‘Here’s your sign’ segment is hilarious. And Jeff Foxworthy, the most well known comedian, is a redneck. And proud of it
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“Speak” is a teen drama on the serious issue of date-rape. The victim, Melinda Sordino (very well played by a young Kristen Stewart), has to deal with an incredibly difficult year in which she is ostracised by her friends, picked on by teachers and, of course, deals with the fact that she was raped and doesn’t want to tell anyone. This movie seems to have the aim of bringing those who have had to deal with a similar story out of the woodwork to speak to anyone about what happened, rather than letting it crush them.
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“V for Vendetta” is a film, looking at a very Orwellian view of the near future. It could be a warning like “1984” was from Orwell. Either way it is a fine movie. It mixes political intrigue, a detective story, a maverick revolutionary who lives underground and some mighty fine fighting scenes and explosions. It was created by the same team that created the “Matrix”, which is why the action is actually clear and you can tell what is going on in the fight scenes, which is the downside of so many other action movies. The story, which comes from a limited edition comic series of the 1980’s, follows V, a masked inciter of the people to overthrow the government.
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I haven’t blogged in a while but I felt the finale of Scrubs (which is my favourite TV show) deserved one. When you are with a TV show from the beginning, you always feel a little empty when it’s all over. You expect so much from the end, that you will always remember the episode, that sometimes it is a bit disappointing. The departure of John Dorian from Sacred Heart for the final time was not. It was quintessentially Scrubs. It tells it as it is. In reality there is not the big ending. When you leave a workplace, it is not met with great fanfare. You just leave. But what you take with you is the shared experiences you have had with the people you’ve met and touched, and all you have to look forward to is the future.
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* Please don’t take this to heart if you are religious. I am not against religion and do not want to create a hostile backlash. These were just the issues and reflections that I took from this movie.
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Finally, a movie that tells you exactly what it’s about. No fart arsing about with confusing abstract names to movies. This tells you exactly what is going to happen. Zach (Seth Rogen) and Miriam (Elizabeth Banks) make a porno to get themselves out of their financial problems. It could not be easier. While you might see the name and expect smut, it is actually about two life long friends realising they have more than just platonic feelings for each other. It’s also mixed with some smut, but overall, it is a sweet,
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The 81st instalment of the Academy Awards have come and gone. In a wonderful extravaganza, hosted by Hugh Jackman, the Academy recognised who they saw as the best of the best in film over the past year. The show was theatrical, with Hugh Jackman giving a polished performance, singing and dancing and telling jokes, sometimes being cheeky. The big winner of the night was, without a doubt “Slumdog Millionaire”, winning 8 of its 10 nominations. Other multiple winners were “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” with three and “Milk” and “The Dark Knight” with two each.
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