The Oscar nominations were announced today, and so I am going to give out my own movie awards for 2009. I can not claim to have seen every movie, but I think I saw enough of them. So:
Best Movie: TIE- Avatar and Inglourious Basterds
This was a tough call, and so I decided to declare it a tie. Avatar was a truly groundbreaking movie, and as far as a theater experience goes, nothing tops seeing Avatar in IMAX 3-D. However, the movie itself is a bit cliche and is somewhat lacking. Basterds was a great movie, classic Tarantino, and great dialogue. It was also a lot of fun to watch, without the 3D effects of Avatar, Inglourious Basterds would have been the pick.
Best Movie No One Saw: The Road Runner-up: A Serious Man
Honestly, The Road might have been the best movie I saw in 2009. It will take another viewing before I make that decision. But regardless, it was still a great movie that almost no one saw. I found it to be a very exciting film about human survival. The film is all about despair: Make no mistake, this is not a popcorn movie, it is very sad and depressing.
Most Surprisingly Good Movie: District 9 Runner-up: Star Trek
District 9 really surprised everyone. A small budget movie out of South Africa, I was really only expecting an entertaining sci-fi movie, but what I got was a really exhilarating story about a man desperately trying to save himself from a seemingly irreversible transformation. The symbolism for apartheid in South Africa adds even more depth.
Funniest Movie: The Hangover Runner-up: A Serious Man
Not too much to say here, other than that The Hangover was a lot of fun to watch and provided a ton of laughs. Even upon a second viewing, I still found the jokes to be hilarious. The actors are great, and Mike Tyson's cameo is hilarious. The general premise of a tiger inside a Vegas hotel room is also very funny to me.
Most Disappointing Movie: Invictus Runner-up: Funny People
Throw together Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Matt Damon and you would think you have an instant classic. However, I found myself quite bored throughout the entire movie. So much more could have been done in terms of chronicling the life of Nelson Mandela. Additionally, the rugby scenes were both cliche and boring, not helped by the fact that the sport is not very popular in America. I should mention, though, that the acting in the movie is phenomenal and is a nice redeeming quality.
Worst Movie: Bruno Runner-up: Bruno
This movie sucked. So bad. Borat was hilarious but this movie was anything but. The jokes were crude and felt forced. I would like not only my money back after watching this, but also the 90 minutes I spent watching it, and any amount of time I spent watching commercials for it. I would also like the studio to pay for the therapy I am going to need for years to come after suffering through this horrible trauma.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Television
In general, I think television today is horrible. The most popular shows are all reality TV. These shows are all retarded. And when will people realize that there is no such thing as "reality TV" when these people have camera crews in their face. Somehow, I do not think that we are seeing reality. I usually watch TV on DVD or my computer, there are very few shows that I actually watch as they air. With one exception, the only shows that I enjoy are comedies. That being said, here is my Top 5 TV shows of all time:
1.
Arrested Development is probably the most genius show of all time. It lasted just 3 seasons because America was not ready to handle such fantastic writing and characters. However, on DVD, I have watched all 3 seasons over and over again, and I constantly quote the show in everyday life. Most people like Gob the most, but I am a huge Tobias fan. "I just blue myself." The Man Inside Me. Mrs. Featherbottom. Absolutely classic. Really, every single character in the show is brilliant and hilarious, and there is not one bad episode. Please make a movie!
2. From the creator of Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm is classic Jewish humor. I really think you need to be Jewish to appreciate the show fully, but it's still hilarious either way. 90% of the show is improvisation which makes it all the better. The opinions Larry David has, and all the "rules" he breaks (like calling a friend after a certain hour), provide hilarious situations that you can't even imagine how Larry comes up with the idea. It's prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good. And deep down, you know you're him.
3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is still a fairly new show, but it is outstanding. It has really gathered a following over the years and rightly so. The characters are just so evil, and the general trend of the show is that the plot gets eviler and eviler, and just when its at the peak of its evilness, and you think things are about to get better, the episode just ends. There have been 5 seasons, and personally I feel that seasons 3 and 5 were quite weak, but the show is still priceless. Charlie and Frank are my two favorite characters. Charlie has all the best lines, and hopefully this show has a great future.
4. Jack Bauer Power Hour: 24 is the one non-comedy that makes my list. This show is so intense! The cliffhangers are great and while the show might be a little over the top at times, it is quite impressive how much character development goes on over the course of one day. And of course, as many have discovered, you don't mess with Jack. Season 6 was an embarassment to television, so it was good to see in Season 7 that they completely ignored anything that happened in the previous season. The latest season has gotten off to a bit of a slow start in my opinion, but it should pick up. And if it is indeed the last season, then Jack must die at the end, no?
5. The 5th spot on my list was a tough choice, but South Park barely sneaks its way on. The creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are satiric geniuses. They can create a full episode the night before it airs so that they can parody the most recent events (see: the episode right after the presidential election). However, even when new episodes are airing, I never find myself watching them. I have always watched the show on DVD only, and I have not watched the past 3 or 4 seasons at all. I am not sure if this means I no longer like the show, or if I'm just in a South Park rut; only time will tell.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): 30 Rock, Entourage, Flight of the Conchords, The Office, Extras, The Simpsons, Chapelle's Show, Family Guy
1.
Arrested Development is probably the most genius show of all time. It lasted just 3 seasons because America was not ready to handle such fantastic writing and characters. However, on DVD, I have watched all 3 seasons over and over again, and I constantly quote the show in everyday life. Most people like Gob the most, but I am a huge Tobias fan. "I just blue myself." The Man Inside Me. Mrs. Featherbottom. Absolutely classic. Really, every single character in the show is brilliant and hilarious, and there is not one bad episode. Please make a movie!
2. From the creator of Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm is classic Jewish humor. I really think you need to be Jewish to appreciate the show fully, but it's still hilarious either way. 90% of the show is improvisation which makes it all the better. The opinions Larry David has, and all the "rules" he breaks (like calling a friend after a certain hour), provide hilarious situations that you can't even imagine how Larry comes up with the idea. It's prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good. And deep down, you know you're him.
3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is still a fairly new show, but it is outstanding. It has really gathered a following over the years and rightly so. The characters are just so evil, and the general trend of the show is that the plot gets eviler and eviler, and just when its at the peak of its evilness, and you think things are about to get better, the episode just ends. There have been 5 seasons, and personally I feel that seasons 3 and 5 were quite weak, but the show is still priceless. Charlie and Frank are my two favorite characters. Charlie has all the best lines, and hopefully this show has a great future.
4. Jack Bauer Power Hour: 24 is the one non-comedy that makes my list. This show is so intense! The cliffhangers are great and while the show might be a little over the top at times, it is quite impressive how much character development goes on over the course of one day. And of course, as many have discovered, you don't mess with Jack. Season 6 was an embarassment to television, so it was good to see in Season 7 that they completely ignored anything that happened in the previous season. The latest season has gotten off to a bit of a slow start in my opinion, but it should pick up. And if it is indeed the last season, then Jack must die at the end, no?
5. The 5th spot on my list was a tough choice, but South Park barely sneaks its way on. The creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are satiric geniuses. They can create a full episode the night before it airs so that they can parody the most recent events (see: the episode right after the presidential election). However, even when new episodes are airing, I never find myself watching them. I have always watched the show on DVD only, and I have not watched the past 3 or 4 seasons at all. I am not sure if this means I no longer like the show, or if I'm just in a South Park rut; only time will tell.Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): 30 Rock, Entourage, Flight of the Conchords, The Office, Extras, The Simpsons, Chapelle's Show, Family Guy
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The First Post
Alright here goes, my first post:
As I mention at the top of the page, I do not expect anyone to read this blog. I am just using this as a way to express my opinions on various items, many of which will probably seem trivial to most people. I am not sure how long I will keep up with this, I am just going to see where it takes me.
That being said, I have a few comments about the process of setting up this blog:
1. This system is pretty cool and easy to use, I am quite impressed by it.
2. There is an option to edit the HTML code of the blog. As recently as yesterday, I would have had no idea what that meant. But I am currently enrolled in a course at school called Internet and Society, and today we actually spent the class learning some basic HTML code. However, I am not ever going to edit the HTML code of this blog (to see my experiment website that I did create, click here).
3. There are also options to change the background color and text color. I will always be faithful to black text on white backgrounds for websites. This is the easiest to read. I hate light text on a dark background, and I do not understand why anyone would ever use white text on a black background. I think that anyone who does this should be banned from the Internet forever. At the very least, if I ever meet someone who has committed this offense, I will ask them to leave the Internet forever.
So that is my first post. If anyone ever reads this, and has suggestions for improvements, or would like me to stop wasting Internet space, please let me know.
As I mention at the top of the page, I do not expect anyone to read this blog. I am just using this as a way to express my opinions on various items, many of which will probably seem trivial to most people. I am not sure how long I will keep up with this, I am just going to see where it takes me.
That being said, I have a few comments about the process of setting up this blog:
1. This system is pretty cool and easy to use, I am quite impressed by it.
2. There is an option to edit the HTML code of the blog. As recently as yesterday, I would have had no idea what that meant. But I am currently enrolled in a course at school called Internet and Society, and today we actually spent the class learning some basic HTML code. However, I am not ever going to edit the HTML code of this blog (to see my experiment website that I did create, click here).
3. There are also options to change the background color and text color. I will always be faithful to black text on white backgrounds for websites. This is the easiest to read. I hate light text on a dark background, and I do not understand why anyone would ever use white text on a black background. I think that anyone who does this should be banned from the Internet forever. At the very least, if I ever meet someone who has committed this offense, I will ask them to leave the Internet forever.
So that is my first post. If anyone ever reads this, and has suggestions for improvements, or would like me to stop wasting Internet space, please let me know.
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