Brilliant TV

Did usual errands on the weekend. Went to Canadian Tire to pick up bookcases for the library. Went to IKEA to pick up DVD cases for the living room. Grocery shopping so we’d have the necessary ingredients for dinners for the week.

Then we settled in on some television watching. I’ve always been a TV snob but for the wrong reasons. Before it was for the production value. I love being Canadian but I hated Canadian TV. Until Flashpoint and The Border. Those were good shows and didn’t look typically Canadian unless there was a shot of the CN Tower. But now I’m a TV snob for good writing. Not just good. Brilliant. British TV is the absolute best. We’ve been watching an old show called Jonathan Creek. Love it. It kind of reminds me of Murder, She Wrote only WAY better. And it’s not so hard to believe he’d be looking into the murders in the episodes. I love a good murder mystery. And these are really good.

We watched more episodes of Merlin. Love that too. I’ve always loved historicals. And King Arthur and Camelot have always intrigued me. Of course this is before Arthur is king. I’m loving it so far and my only complaint is that we don’t get the episodes here at the same time as they air in the UK.

Next up was a new show. Sherlock. All I can say for that one is BRILLIANT! The Sherlock character is great. I love the characterization. I love the dialogue. I love the interaction between Holmes and Dr. Watson. I’m so glad there’s going to be more of that show.

And of course we can’t forget Doctor Who. Amazing show. I can’t wait for that to come back. As with all the other shows my one complaint is we don’t get it here right away. I just hope we don’t end up months behind like we’ve been in the past.

Because of the boyfriend I’ve been watching a lot of British TV. And I have to say most of it is really, really good. The dramas, the comedies. Great television.

I’m off to work now. Can’t wait to see what we’ll be watching tonight.

Until next time…

Cindy

Movie night

Okay so it was more like movie weekend. Four movies in two days. Saturday we took a break and did some more Hell’s Kitchen catching up. I had the house to myself Friday night so I decided to watch Twilight to see what all the fuss is about. And honestly I still don’t know.

After suffering through the whole movie I decided there was nothing remarkable about it. Nothing really new when it came to the vampire mythology except the whole sparkling thing. The story was predictable. It was over acted. The dialogue was horrible. Even though I can’t see what all the fuss is about I can see why teenage girls would like it. The movie (and I’m assuming the book) tapped into all those teenage girl fantasies. But there was so much about the story I just didn’t buy. I won’t be reading the books and I doubt I’ll be seeing any of the other movies. Somehow though I don’t think Stephanie Meyer needs my help. I’m sure she’s laughing all the way to the bank.

Next up on Friday was Paranormal Activity. I wanted to know what all the fuss was there too. And, I still don’t know. I was waiting for something scary to happen. And I kept waiting. It started off slow. They tried to quicken the pace but it never quite worked for me. The whole movie had maybe two actual scary moments. And of course the little message on the screen at the end didn’t have any shock value for me since I’ve seen the trailers for Paranormal Activity 2.

Sunday brought us Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. Loved it! It was well written, funny. I love science fiction. I love time travel. It didn’t feel like a time travel movie I’d seen a million times before. And I would probably watch it again.

Last up for the weekend was The Men Who Stare at Goats. Hmmm. Weird movie. It wasn’t overly bad. But it wasn’t overly good either. It was just okay. I think it could have been a lot better than it was. Of course I feel that way about most movies I watch.

Well, off to work. It’s going to be a crazy, busy week.

Until next time…

Cindy

Late to Hell’s Kitchen

If you read the blog regularly you know I tape a lot of stuff because I don’t have a lot of time to watch TV. With the writing and the day job and the boyfriend something had to give. So I’m behind on a lot of my programs lately. I hope to catch up before my shows start up again in September. But one show that wasn’t my show until just a few months ago is Hell’s Kitchen. My boyfriend watched it from the beginning. I never did though. I usually steered clear of any reality type stuff. I’m a fiction girl.

When I met my boyfriend I wanted to like his shows too. We’d have something else in common and could watch them together. Some of his shows I can’t stand. Some of them I love. Hell’s Kitchen is one of them. We just finished watching Season Two. I love Gordon Ramsay. Through all his bluster you can tell he cares. He’s trying to pull the best out of the chefs. I was thrilled that Heather won. After the second episode I had picked her as my favourite. I would love to have some of those recipes. Some of those dishes look so good. I wonder if I’d be able to find them if I searched the internet. I got really excited at one point when the guys were going over how to make one of the sauces but then the camera cut away to something else.

We’ve just started watching Season Three. Can’t wait to see how that one turns out. I don’t have a favourite yet. We’ve only seen the first episode. We’ll be watching more episodes this week, hopefully getting to the end of the season by the end of the week.

Before I can do that I have to get to work. If anyone knows where to find any of the recipes from the show send me an email or comment!

Until next time…

Cindy

Cheesy movies

There are a lot of them out there. I love a good cheesy movie once in a while. The chessier the better. Now usually I watch cheesy horror movies. Those are my favourites. But this weekend the boyfriend and I watched some cheesy science fiction. And man were they cheesy.

First up was Zardoz. I watched the whole movie and I’m still not sure what it was about. I’d like to know what kind of acid the writers were on when they wrote that movie. The first thing I thought of when I saw the giant flying head and booming voice was The Wizard of Oz. At least I “got” that part of the movie. I have to say it wasn’t Sean Connery at his best. He looked horrible with long hair too. It made him look much older. Okay, so I got that Connery’s character, Zed was a savage trained to kill. I get that the immortals were bored and just wanted death now. It could have been done in a much better way that didn’t make me feel like I was on an acid trip.

Next up was Barbarella. Okay, very cheesy but at least I could follow the story. An evil scientist has disappeared and Barbarella is tasked with finding him and bringing him back. Of course along the way she has sex with just about anyone. Barbarella is a highly sexual astronaut. During her mission she encounters a number of colourful, odd people. Her good heart and innocent nature save her in the end. I have to say, Jane Fonda was seriously HOT back then. I know it’s listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in a book by Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson. But this is a must see movie.

I’ve watched a number of movies from the late 60′s lately and they all have a huge focus on sex. Looks like things don’t change a whole lot over time.

Well, off to work. Lots of catching up to do because of last week’s teeth problems.

Until next time…

Cindy

Salt – no spoilers

We’re back to actually going out to watch movies again! I’m glad I’m seeing them when they come out and not months later on pay per view. Saturday’s movie was Salt with Angelina Jolie. The IMDB plot synopsis: As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy.

First let me say how happy I am that Tom Cruise did not portray this role and they rewrote it for a woman. Second, it was a good movie but not great. I love a good spy movie. I love CIA characters. I love action. It had all that but I didn’t love it.

Salt was non stop action. Blowing things up. Shooting people. Lots of running through the streets, cars chasing cars through the streets. But the chase scenes were too long. They could have been shortened and more story added. I won’t go into the plot holes.

I think it could have been better written. It’s not a script I would study for story. The bad guy was obvious from very early on. At least to me. The end was no surprise to me. I might study the script to see why it was so obvious so I don’t do that in my scripts.

All that said, I would recommend the movie to anyone who likes a good action movie. I did like the movie. I like almost any movie Angelina does. I liked the character of Salt very much. I will see the sequel when it comes out as long as Jolie plays the role again.

Now, I must leave for work. And think about car chases I can add to my script while I’m driving on the highway.

Until next time…

Cindy

Inception – no spoilers

The plot synopsis from IMDB: In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a single idea within one’s mind can be the most dangerous weapon or the most valuable asset.

That grabbed me right away. The trailers for the movie made it look incredibly cool. Because of the trailers I was wary about seeing the movie though. Hollywood always puts the best parts in the trailer, sometimes even giving away the ending. I worried that might be the case here. I was so wrong.

This movie was so good on so many levels. At a basic level the movie is about corporate espionage. Cobb is an expert at invading your dreams and extracting secrets you don’t want to get out. At its heart it’s about family and forgiveness.

The story was great. The writing was incredible. This is one script I want to study just to see how Christopher Nolan did it. The layers were amazing. He was subtle with his setups and hit us right between the eyes with the pay offs. And the end is one of those endings that make you wonder. The question I had at the end of the movie is one I had in my mind the whole time the movie was running. It will make you think. I’ll probably watch the movie a number of times to see if I missed anything. If anything in the movie makes the answer to the ending question obvious. I don’t think there is. But we’ll see.

The shooting script for the movie will be for sale in September. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I want to read it and just study every page. Now if any of you Hollywood types out there want to send me a copy before then, I wouldn’t say no.

I heard on the radio this morning that this was DiCaprio’s best opening weekend yet. That’s good news for people who love this kind of movie. Go out and see this movie so Hollywood will keep giving us movies like this. It’s one of those movies I wish I’d written.

Anyone else see it? What did you think? If you’re going to comment, please no spoilers.

I’m off to work to see if anyone there saw Inception over the weekend. I feel the need to discuss without worrying about spoilers.

Until next time…

Cindy