Film and TV reviews

Incredibly fun French film about an intrepid female journalist at the turn of 20th century.  She gets into all sorts of adventures not to get or impress a man, instead she does it all to heal her sister who she injured in a tennis game.  It's wildly fun and super entertaining.

The first three series of this Irish import about criminals in Dublin is terrific.  The machinations behind all the drug running, the thefts, and cold blooded murders are incredibly interesting if you like this sort of thing, which I very much do.  This show features stand out performances by Tom Vaughn-Lawlor as the sociopath gangster Nidge, Charlie Murphy as the girlfriend of a gangster who suffers catastrophic collateral personal damage, and Susan Loughnane as the top gangster's girlfriend who becomes a junkie hooker.  This one is available through Netflix and HuluPLUS.

Very well done adaption of Douglas Adams creation.  The producers opted to use Adams novels as a template rather than to slavishly follow his original stories and it all works.  It's wildly funny and Stephen Mangan and Darren Boyd are perfect foils.  This show is airing on Acorn TV.

Hilariously twisted 'retelling' of the controversy surrounding the Monty Python film 'The Life of Brian.'  This movie skewers everyone involved, the hysterical Christians who were so easily offended even though the film didn't mock their religion, the BBC, and most importantly of all the guys in Monty Python.  Once again Darren Boyd, as John Cleese, stands out.  This one is airing on Acorn TV.

Good but wildly over acted adaption of the Shakespeare play by the same name.  Feinnes makes the same mistake most British actor/directors make when adapting these type of films for modern audiences and that mistake is going so far over the top in his portrayal of his character that it detracts from the story.  He's all bluster and spit, which would have been fine if this had been a stage adaption, but on film, a much more intimate medium, he needed to tone down his performance.  All in all, this film isn't bad, it's just not that good, although, a usual Vanessa Redgrave is magnificent.

I love it! I hate it!

This meme has been making the rounds, here's my take on the love:
1. Most loved foods: Chicken in garlic sauce from the hole in the wall Chinese restaurant next to Blockbuster, German Chocolate cake, fresh tomato slices drizzled with balsamic vinegar and topped with fresh torn basil
2. Most loved persons: Sparky, my friends, my friends kids
3. Most loved job: Stock room manager at Kirkland's
4. Most loved cities: Knoxville, Johnson City, Roanoke, VA
5. Most loved band: They Might Be Giants
6. Most loved web site: Monkey Muck of course!
7. Most loved TV program: Lost, The Daily Show
8. Most loved movie: Airplane!
9. Most loved artist: Robert Rauschenberg
10. Most loved book: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins.
11. Most loved shop: Little Shop of Horrors
12. Most loved organization: UNICEF
13. Most loved historical event: When Grant accepted the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, thus saving our country and preserving our union.
14. Most loved sport: Disc Golf
15. Most loved piece of technology: The internets
16. Most loved annual event: Christmas holidays
17. Most loved daily task: Writing my blog and reading yours.
18. Most loved comedian(s): Bill Murray, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders, Peter Serafinowicz, the guys from Monty Python, Dawn French, Wanda Sykes, Margaret Cho, Jonathon Winters, Steve Martin, Ricky Gervais, Graham Norton

Here's what I'm hatin' on:
1. Most hated food: Beets and any vegetable that ends with 'ip'
2. Most hated person: The Bush crime family, Dick Cheney
3. Most hated job: Working in my crazy aunt's long ago bankrupt restaraunt
4. Most hated city: Howell, Michigan
5. Most hated band: Any band that Lita Ford likes and any band that Lita Ford has ever played in.
6. Most hated web site: White power websites and any web sites that promotes or hypes any FOX Noise personality.
7. Most hated TV program: American Idol
8. Most hated British politician: Margaret Thatcher and Tony Bush Blair Thatcher
9. Most hated artist: Mark Kostabi, Julian Schnabel
10. Most hated book: Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer
11. Most hated shop: Hospital gift shops
12. Most hated organization: KKK
13. Most hated historical event: The current wars of terror on Iraq and Afghanistan.
14. Most hated sport: It's not really a sport but they show it on some of the sports channels so I'm going with poker. Holy Jesus on a cracker, I hate fucking poker on TV.
15. Most hated piece of technology: Hummers, leaf blowers, car alarms
16. Most hated annual event: Now that I refuse to be around members of my family who I do not like and who stress me out, none.
17. Most hated daily task: Doing the dinner dishes
18. Most hated comedian(s): Stephanie Weir, Billy Crystal, Adam Sandler, Robin Williams, Seth Meyers, Emo Phillips, Gilbert Gottfried, the ass clowns on FOX Noise, Ralphie May and all other fat comics who just do 'Hey look at me, I'm funny because I'm so fat!' jokes