Classic.
I always knew how Morgan Freeman felt about Black History Month, but it’s great to see the transcript. I think it’s safe to say most non-blacks find the idea of Black History Month ridiculous; if only all blacks felt the same way as Freeman on how to end racism, though, I admit that’ll never happen.
BJ
In December, James Cameron was hit with a lawsuit by Eric Ryder, who claimed that Avatar was ripped off from his story called KRZ 2068. Ryder was allegedly told by Lightstorm Entertainment that “no one would be interested in an environmentally themed science fiction feature film” but also told him that Cameron already had a scriptment for the project. Now why would he have a scriptment for a project that no one would be interested in?
It’s always easy to side with the studio, as it’s no surprise that Ryder has no credits to his name and looks like just another guy trying to make a quick buck off a highly-successful movie. But he better hope he wins this thing because he just ended any hopes of a career in Hollywood.
Anyone in the business will tell you they’ve heard the same story a thousand times no matter how unique you think it is. (And it’s so true. In one class, we all submitted loglines for input, and three consecutive loglines the instructor read were about cannibals. I mean what are the chances one out of the hundred students wrote about cannibals, let alone three in a row?) I want to know why it took exactly two years since the release date for the lawsuit to happen. Perhaps, to wait and see how much money the movie makes? Who knows what the real story is?
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Two weeks ago, NBC decided to pull a segment shot last summer for Fear Factor where contestants were forced to drink full glasses of donkey semen and urine as part of a challenge. They had been mulling over the decision ever since they shot it, and they initially approved it but reneged when word got out on TMZ. The worst part is the contestants did it, and a previous episode aired in the time slot entirely.
First of all, how can you even think that that would’ve been okay? I’m surprised that a primetime network even had to mull that decision, let alone initially approve it. And do we have any sympathy for the contestants? An animal’s semen and urine? C’mon, you got to draw the line somewhere, and for some people, there is no line.
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Jamie Oliver came over to the U.S. to attempt to transform the food industry like he did in the U.K., and in April’s season premiere of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, Oliver introduced the audience to pink slime – cow scraps mixed with ammonia to make 70% of all ground beef in the country.
Two weeks ago, pink slime gained national attention when McDonald’s announced it no longer uses it in its burgers. Sadly, Oliver met resistance from U.S. officials, and his show was canceled last summer after two seasons due to low ratings.
Check out the segment below:
BJ
A perfect example of girls being over-analytical.
Replace “death star” with house/bank account/’65 Chevy/life/marriage/etc.
One of the few wise Asian insults. Not to be confused with “chink eyes” or making your eyes small with your fingers.
BJ
| Sat | Sun | |
| PM Showers | Sunny | |
| High: 61° | High: 63° | |
| Low: 38° | Low: 40° | |
BJ
Is it internet picture week? There’s been an explosion of internet pictures the last couple of days so I’ll post my favorites. Thanks to all my Facebook friends.
Of course, a big chick posted this one, and while I have nothing against the right-leaning set, I do have to disagree with the caption for this picture:
“Just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean you’re hot! Bring the curves back!”
Well, let me say this:
Just because it’s the national average doesn’t mean it’s ideal.
While I almost don’t believe our fat country produces an average heavyset girl, I would guess the other two labels hold true.
Nothing like taking a shot against Asian stereotypes. Although it might be a poor choice of picture. He honestly looks like he’s struggling to drive. Doesn’t he?
BJ
I just had a dream Dianna Agron sat down with some dude, and they had dinner in front of me in a conference room. Jealous? Not at all. Dreaming/talking/crushing on her a bit much in the past month? Maybe. In denial about the whole thing? Definitely not.
BJ
After the first solid weekend of releases in the new year–over Super Bowl weekend, no less–let’s take a look at what to expect in 2012 after a somewhat weak 2011. You’ll notice the year of sequels and superheroes will continue and for obvious reason – everyone wants to see them. Time made a top 20 list, but I’ll rank my own with comments below. (Keep in mind my interest in comedy and apathy over superhero movies.)
20. Wrath of the Titans (3/30) – Obligatory watch after having seen the original. Already developing a third installment.
19. The Avengers (5/4) – $220 million budget. Is this the orgy of superhero movies?
18. The Dark Knight Rises (7/20) – $250 million budget. Christopher Nolan can command more money than eight superheroes combined.
17. Les Miserables (12/7) – It’s been a while since a good musical, and Oscar-winning Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) will direct this interesting cast of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway.
16. Lincoln (12/TBA) – $100 million budget. It’s not often you see the most talented method actor alive on the big screen. Daniel Day-Lewis won two Oscars and was nominated for two more in just his last ten roles. Knowing that he hasn’t broken out of his Abraham Lincoln accent since March 2011 means you can count on his fifth nomination out of his last 11.
15. World War Z (12/21) – $125 million budget. I haven’t seen anything for this movie and refuse to try. If this zombie apocalypse looks as good as it sounds in my head, it’ll be bumped up many spots ahead.
14. The Hunger Games (3/23) – After seeing the trailer, this Suzanne Collins adaptation actually went down a few notches.
13. The Great Gatsby (12/28) – $127 million budget. The fifth feature crack at the adaptation of the most famous novel by one of the best 20th century authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Arguably the most critically-hyped movie of the year.
12. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (8/3) – If you haven’t seen the first two, catch up. One of the best live-action family comedy franchises…ever.
11. The Expendables 2 (8/17) – $100 million budget. Sylvester Stallone traded Mickey Rourke and Steve Austin for Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris and Liam Hemsworth. Count me in.
10. Men in Black 3 (5/25) – $215 million budget. See No. 20.
9. Paranormal Activity 4 (10/19)
8. The Five-Year Engagement – Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller team up again (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) for this delightful-looking romcom, which also stars the delectable Emily Blunt (The Adjustment Bureau).
7. The Amazing Spider-Man (7/3) – Surely, Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Emma Stone are better than Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Right? A sequel for 2014 is planned.
6. Project X (3/2) – A crazy house party movie. Done before. Add Todd Phillips as producer and shoot it home video style, and you set a mysterious tone and a must-watch movie over what would normally be a dull and predictable comedy.
5. This is 40 (12/21) – Judd Apatow‘s self-obsessive number. Three years since last making Funny People and five years from what it’s being spin off of, Knocked Up, add Bridesmaids hits Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd and Annie Mumolo as well as Megan Fox, Albert Brooks (Drive) and John Lithgow, and you have a star-studded comedic cast. But you could’ve sold me on Apatow alone, who’s also producing The Five-Year Engagement.
4. Skyfall (11/9) – $150 million budget. Bond 23. Could’ve been higher, but the betrayal theme in action movies is trite now.
3. Untitled Taken Sequel (10/5) – $80 million budget. It’s only fitting that the runaway hit from the 2008 original ($227 million gross) sees Liam Neeson‘s character come back for more. This is one of Neeson’s five high-profile movies for the year, which includes Wrath of the Titans and The Dark Knight Rises.
2. The Bourne Legacy (8/3) – Say what you will about Matt Damon not being in it. I guess when the eponymous character isn’t in the sequel, just add a ‘Legacy’ to it (think TRON). The up-and-coming action star Jeremy Renner should do just fine, who’ll also suit up for his role in The Avengers. Book 4 of 9 from Robert Ludlum‘s series. None of the first three has an IMDb rating below 7.7.
1. Django Unchained (12/25) – A slavery movie with a twist of Quentin Tarantino will equal a wonderful Christmas present to America. Three years after releasing his epic war drama Inglourious Basterds, Q brings back Christoph Waltz to a host of amazing talent, including Leonardo DiCaprio, who will have two of his movies (The Great Gatsby) come out that week. Looking ahead to Q’s next project? Kill Bill: Vol. 3 for 2014.
BJ
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
If you’re a fan of the first two Harold & Kumar movies or into stoner comedies, 
this one’s for you. Everyone’s back for this holiday-themed sequel–yes, I mean everyone–and it’s another ridiculous roller-coaster ride for the two buds.
A little short on laughs (keeping it just shy of a 7.0 rating from me), but the story was solid, making it a good movie, and consequently, a good comedy.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
IMDb rating: 6.7
What it should be: 6.7
Consider
Immortals
Another 300 movie. I never watched its predecessor, but my friend said 
Immortals was just as good, if not better, and I surely don’t understand its negative reviews. It’s visually stunning from fresco-like landscapes to extravagant costumes to graphic kills, and the epic war in the third act is satisfying.
Tarsem Singh–India’s Zack Snyder, if I may–does every bit as good as his American counterpart in just his third directorial feature (The Cell). His next film, Mirror Mirror, starring Julia Roberts is a PG-rehash of the Snow White story, out on 3/30.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
IMDb rating: 6.4
What it should be: 7.9
Recommend
In Time
I raved about this movie’s concept ever since I saw the trailer but was bummed 
to see the mediocre reviews. Sadly, they were right. What I thought had the potential to be a sci-fi classic much like The Matrix franchise or Minority Report turned out to be a somewhat shaky movie with moments of brilliance, which was surprising considering writer-director-producer Andrew Niccol‘s track record. His five previous scripts averaged a 7.4 IMDb, topped by The Truman Show (8.0).
I cried within the first ten minutes…in the theater…by myself. Not since Up do I remember being drawn to a movie so quickly. But it’s like it didn’t know what movie it wanted to be. Here’s what I mean. The following is a list of genres the movie portrayed to be, in order: drama, thriller, romantic comedy, action…You read that right. Romantic comedy in the second act. I didn’t dislike it, it was just weird how the movie changed tones like so. And the ending was kind of silly, but in all, it was a fun watch.
That being said, I’ve heard reviews that say the movie let Justin Timberlake down. I disagree. In fact, I felt at times it was the other way around. Not a bad performance–don’t get me wrong–he still looks raw and not quite A-list material…yet. Great performances by Cillian Murphy (Inception) and Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men), and Amanda Seyfried looks absolutely ravishing as the rich, rebellious girl a la Kate Winslet‘s character in Titanic.
Seyfried is set to be in five movies this year, including the eponymous character in the porn bio, Lovelace and Tom Hooper‘s (The King’s Speech) musical, Les Miserables with a 12/7 release date. Niccol is next adapting Stephenie Meyer‘s novel, The Host, with a 2013 release date.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
IMDb rating: 6.6
What it should be: 6.6
Recommend
Johnny English Reborn
A poor man’s Mission: Impossible and a James Bond parody with oddball 
comedy. If you like Rowan Atkinson, the man who might be better known as Mr. Bean, or want to see a family action comedy that’s better than Spy Kids, this is your movie. A very fun movie with clean humor, this movie grossed $159 million against $45 million.
I didn’t watch the original Johnny English (2003), but this movie fared better critically and commercially. And let me remind you that Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Rosamund Pike are in the sequel, where the whole time I couldn’t decide which one I would choose to have a one-night stand with. Anderson will be in five movies this year, mainly doing the international arthouse/period scene. Pike can next be seen as the female lead in the highly-anticipated sequel, Wrath of the Titans, out on 3/30.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
IMDb rating: 6.3
What it should be: 6.8
Consider
The Thing
Considered a prequel to the 1982 version of The Thing, which garnered an 8.2 
IMDb and one I didn’t watch, I was only interested in seeing this movie having read and absolutely loved John W. Campbell Jr.‘s novella Who Goes There?, a sci-fi classic. But like the short story, the movie starts off slow with no big names to keep you engaged.
And then the awesomeness hits. The last half of the movie is filled with non-stop action and tension to salvage this as favorable, including a high death count, twists and an open ending. Unfortunately, it tanked at the box office, grossing $17 million against $35 million. But if you like movies where a bunch of strangers are stuck in a cabin together trying to find out who the killer is, you’ll enjoy this movie.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who played the chameleon-haired Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, heads the American dig team and can next be seen in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, out on 6/22. Joel Edgerton of Warrior fame has four movies lined up this year, including The Great Gatsby (12/25) and Kathryn Bigelow‘s untitled thriller about Osama bin Laden (12/19).
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
IMDb rating: 6.3
What it should be: 6.8
Consider
Gym Class Heroes – The Papercut Chronicles II
You didn’t think sequels only pertained to movies, did you? Three albums and 
six years after The Papercut Chronicles, frontman Travie McCoy stated this album was going to go back to the roots of their hip-hop. That couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, they’ve created a compilation of pop ballads that maybe only has two or three songs with standard 16-bar verses.
The thing is it works, as long as you’re not a diehard GCH fan who loved their first couple of albums. While I’ve followed them throughout, I like their poppier stuff, and it’s more universally appealing. They should’ve called it The Quilt II, after their last, most poppy album before this. Great replay value as every song has a catchy, familiar-sounding chorus and with star features as Adam Levine (Maroon 5), Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic) and Neon Hitch.
Favorite tracks: Stereo Hearts, Ass Back Home, Nil-Nil Draw
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Recommend
Jack’s Mannequin – People and Things
I was hesitant to get this album because the singles sounded uninspiring, and 
even after this album, I question how much O.C. frontman Andrew McMahon has left in him. But if you’re a JM or Something Corporate fan, it’s more of the same awesomeness that’s gotten him the fanbase he’s accumulated over the years. Plus, how many piano rock bands are there? A real pleasant listen that grows on you.
Favorite tracks: My Racing Thoughts, Hey Hey Hey (We’re All Gonna Die), Platform Fire
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Consider
Patrick Stump probably held the lengthy title of being on GCH’s most popular song (Cupid’s Chokehold) until now, as the popularity of this song is undeniable.
BJ
She broke up with fellow thespian Sebastian Stan last month because she was “super 
jealous” “he was cheating on her while he was away filming.” That to me makes her even more attractive, but if you’re not sold, please read on.
She has an active blog, a very active Twitter and a website that if that was the only thing she did, I would still be impressed. But no, she’s only on one of the hottest primetime TV shows. And she can sing.
One of the most beautiful girls not just in Hollywood, this isn’t the first and it won’t be the last love letter resume sales pitch introduction about her.
Dianna, I think we would get along because you see, we’re already on the same page about the important stuff. Oh, you don’t know? Let my good friend Rivers Cuomo and his buddies put it in a song for you.
BJ
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