Cell Block 327

Cell Block Movie Awards -- The 40's

2012-02-12T11:48:00.006-05:00

Welcome to the first installment of the Cell Block Movie Awards. This is very simple as only four categories are recognized and instead of nominees and winners, the five best in each category are awarded equally, so the order listed has nothing to do with rank as rank does not figure into it. The exception being the Best Picture category which is derived from the Cell Block Top 15 lists. With all that out of the way let's get on with it.

Achievement in Acting by an Actress...and the 5 winners are:

Ingrid Bergman – Casablanca
Katherine Hepburn – The Philadelphia Story
Rosalind Russell – His Girl Friday
Josephine Hull – Arsenic & Old Lace
Jean Adair – Arsenic & Old Lace

Achievement in Acting by an Actor...and the 5 winners are:

Orson Welles – Citizen Kane
Humphrey Bogart – Casablanca
James Stewart – It's A Wonderful Life
Charles Chaplin – The Great Dictator
Cary Grant – The Philadelphia Story

Achievement in Directing...and the 5 winners are:

Orson Welles – Citizen Kane
Michael Curtiz – Casablanca
Greg Kukor – The Philadelphia Story
Frank Capra – Its A Wonderful Life
Charles Chaplin – The Great Dictator

Best Picture:

Casablanca (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Its A Wonderful Life (1946)

Well, there you have it; the first installment of the Cell Block Movie Awards. There would be more categories, but that would require more effort and I'm fairly lazy...but at least it makes for a quick read.

Revision -- Cell Block Top 15 Movies - The 70's

2012-02-10T22:44:00.004-05:00

Just a little while ago I finished watching an exclusive "Daddy-Daughter Only" showing of The Muppet Movie at the members only club, "Couch in Front of the TV". Its probably been close to 30 years since I've seen The Muppet Movie and I have to say that it is freakin' brilliant. It jumps into the Top 15 at #8. Sadly, My Name is Nobody had to mosey on down the trail to make room for Kermit & Co., but if you haven't seen it and you ever get the chance then give it a try. Its not your traditional western but it's all spaghetti and damn entertaining. Anyhoo, the new Top 15 looks like this:

1. Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. The Godfather Part II (1974)
4. Rocky (1976)
5. Rocky II (1979)
6. Jaws (1975)
7. Alien (1979)
8. The Muppet Movie (1979)
9. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
10. High Plains Drifter (1973)
11. Grease (1978)
12. Smokey & The Bandit (1977)
13. Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
14. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
15. Pumping Iron (1977)

This Week at the Box Office Vol. 5 February 3rd - 5th

2012-02-08T20:21:00.000-05:00

Week 5 welcomes three new entries into the box-office derby. Daniel Radcliffe tries a turn at not being Harry Potter in the horror flick The Woman In Black. More found footage surfaces in Chronicle and the truth inspires yet another flick, and Drew Barrymore, in Big Miracle. Can The Grey hold on for a second straight weekend or will one of the new trio prove triumphant?

1. Chronicle -- $22,004,098
2. The Woman in Black -- $20,874,072
3. The Grey -- $9,300,999
4. Big Miracle -- $7,760,205
5. Underworld: Awakening -- $5,500,744
6. One for the Money -- $5,206,279
7. Red Tails -- $4,735,595
8. The Descendants -- $4,552,943
9. Man on a Ledge -- $4,351,036
10. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close -- $3,802,367

New Releases: Earning really good reviews and the number one spot in this week's Top 10 is Chronicle. Daniel Radcliffe finds himself not playing Harry Potter and not in the number one spot as The Woman in Black takes the runner up spot but still takes in more moolah than the "experts" predicted. Making a small splash is Big Miracle as the trapped whales manage only a fourth place debut but audiences were pleased as it earned an A- Cinemascore.

Falling Out: Gone this week are Contraband, Beauty & The Beast 3D, and Haywire which dropped a whopping 70% from last weeks totals.

Best Hold: Falling only 28.9% is The Descendants. The Descendants is the only flick to cash in from all its awards attention.

Biggest Drop: My girl Kate takes the drop of shame this week as Underworld: Awakening drops 55.5% from last week but still manages to hold on to the Top 5 at number five.

Notables: Chronicle and The Woman in Black both exceed industry expectations with their $20 million+ debuts. Also, the entire Top 20 managed to make at least a million each.

Old Man Movie: 12 weeks and counting, its The Descendants.

This Friday is the weekend I've been waiting for since it was first announced. Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D. I've seen the trailer in 3D and it looked amazing. I'm taking the day off and transitioning into full-on geek mode as for the first time ever I get to see a Star Wars flick in the BIG stadium seating theater with digital projection and state of the art sound. But most important of all I get to see it at the theater with my son and that's the best gift I could ask for.

Hello...Is it me you've been looking for...

2012-02-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

Hello from ant1mat3rie on Vimeo.

"I Still Believe In Heroes." -- Nick Fury

2012-02-05T22:13:00.001-05:00

I highly recommend checking out the extended Super Bowl spot.

You can find it here.

What I Watched In January 2012

2012-02-04T14:26:00.002-05:00

Priest (2011) --3 out of 5-- It has its moments, although not many of them. But, it did enough to get me through it without hitting the FF button.

Source Code (2011) --3.5 out of 5-- A serviceable piece of Sci-Fi with a solid performance from Jake Gyllenhaal.

Firefly Disk 1 --5 out of 5--

Firefly Disk 2 --5 out of 5--

Dexter Season 5 Disk 1 --4 out of 5-- Dexter is picking up the pieces after the startling end to Season 4.

Star Trek The Next Generation Season 3 D3 --4 out of 5-- The series is really starting to hit its stride as is Patrick Stewart as Picard.

Beauty & The Beast 3D --3.5 out of 5-- As noted in a previous post, the 3D was not a good thing for this movie. But it was great to be able to take my little girl to a Disney movie. She does lover her Princesses.

Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Disk 4 --4 out of 5-- This series gets better and better the longer it goes.

Firefly Disk 3 --5 out of 5--

Fright Night (1985) --4 out of 5-- A true 80's horror classic. But how will it hold up compared with the recent remake. Keep reading to find out.

Maniac (Year Unknown) --1 out of 5-- When even IMDB doesn't have any record of your flick, did it ever really happen? When you buy 50 "horror" movies for $10 this is what you sometimes get.

Friends with Benefits (2011) --3.5 out of 5-- A "by the book" rom-com but not without charm. Timberlake and Kunis have good chemistry. Kunis had already established herself as one of the best up and coming actresses around and Timberlake is well on his way.

Fright Night (2011) --3 out of 5-- In answer to the previous question, No, the remake does not hold a candle to the original. Colin Farrell is a great actor, but his Jerry Dandridge just doesn't have the charisma and presence of Sarandon's turn as the vampire. The same with the rest of the cast and the entire production just isn't up to par with its predecessor.

Underworld: Awakening (2011) --4 out of 5-- Kate is back and still kicking ass. Also, the 3D was very good in this movie and enhanced the action.

Firefly Disk 4 --5 out of 5-- I watch Firefly every January and every January I curse FOX over their poor handling of this series. Tune in next January to read the same thing.

Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Disk 5 --4 out of 5-- Sadly, I was spoiled ahead of time about the twist ending, but it was still effective.

The Vampire Bat (1933) --3.5 out of 5-- A hidden gem of a film from the 50 for 10 collection. Featuring Fay Wray and Dwight Frye, The Vampire Bat proved to be an entertaining little murder mystery.

Serenity (2005) --5 out of 5--

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) --1 out of 5-- Really bad, but I do look forward to one day watching the MST3K treatment of it.

Dexter Season 5 Disk 2 --4 out of 5--

Spartacus: Blood & Sand Disk 2 --5 out of 5-- Quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite shows.

Beautiful Boy (2010) --3.5 out of 5-- The two-minute trailer was more emotional than the movie itself turned out to be, but it was still good. Excellent performances from Michael Sheen and Maria Bello. The problem was in the screenplay as it just didn't give the information needed to add the extra emotional punch that the director was obviously trying to acheive.

Millenium Falcon found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea...I knew it was real!!!

2012-02-01T11:30:00.004-05:00

I know, I know...it probably isn't THE Millenium Falcon, possibly just a generic YT-1300 freighter, but you never know.

See the article at ABC news at the following link. (You'll have to copy and paste as Blogger isn't letting me create a link right now.)

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/shipwreck-baltic-sea-ufo-millennium-falcon-disc-shaped/story?id=15471558#.Tyf-iCOkl4s

This Weekend at the Box Office Vol. 4 January 27th - 29th

2012-02-01T08:59:00.007-05:00

Week 4 sees three new releases arrive to challenge Selene for the top spot. We have Liam Neeson taking on wolves in The Grey, Katherine Heigl in something called One for the Money, and Sam Worthington tries to prove that he's a box office draw when he's not starring in a franchise with Man on a Ledge. Both Liam and Kate are fighting wolves this week, let's see who comes out on top.

1. The Grey -- $19,665,101
2. Underworld: Awakening -- $12,352,802
3. One for the Money -- $11,515,790
4. Red Tails -- $10,370,323
5. Man on a Ledge -- $8,001,932
6. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close -- $6,980,448
7. Contraband -- $6,704,360
8. The Descendants -- $6,405,285
9. Beauty & The Beast 3D -- $5,307,807
10. Haywire -- $4,002,760

New Releases: Liam Neeson racks up yet another #1 spot with The Grey. Neeson has now had more #1 hits over the past three years than Robert Downey Jr., Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Matt Damon, and Denzel Washington. Not too shabby. One for the Money debuts in third with mediocre results for the latest from Katherine Heigl. It'll be interesting to see if she can re-invent herself once people tire of seeing her play the same character over and over, which appears to be the case. Looks like Sam Worthington's recent box-office success may not have had the much to do with him after all as Man on a Ledge arrives with a thud in fifth place.

Falling Out: Leaving the Top 10 this week...The Iron Lady drops out after one weekend, Joyful Noise drops out after a two week run, and for the first time in six weeks the Top 10 will not feature Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Best Hold: Posting a 170% increase in ticket sales and entering the Top 10 in its eleventh week is The Descendants. Golden Globe success and Oscar nominations are paying off big for Clooney and Company.

Biggest Fall: Falling 52.5% and holding on for dear life in the Top 10 is Soderbergh's Haywire. Can't say I'm surprised.

Notables: Kate Beckinsale's Undeworld: Awakening only dropping 51% in its second weekend. That is quite an achievement for a genre film that's the fourth in the franchise. That should all but greenlight a fifth entry. Red Tails also falling on 45% is also impressive. As mentioned earlier, The Descendants getting that awards boost into the Top 10. Even though Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol fell out of the Top 10 it did cross the $200 million mark domestically, something Cruise hasn't done in a while. The entire Top 20 all managed to make at least $1.4 million proving that movie-goers are supporting the variety of flicks in release.

Old Man Movie: Its Clooney all the time as The Descendants is in the Top 10 in its eleventh week of release.

This Weekend at the Box Office Vol. 3 January 20 - 22

2012-01-25T21:34:00.004-05:00

The third weekend of the year at the box-office is ushered in with three new releases. Kate's back in Underworld: Awakening facing off against the duo of George Lucas' pet project Red Tails and Soderbergh's Haywire. Also, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock flex their box-office clout as Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close expands nationally. How did it all pan out you ask. Well, let us have a look.

1. Underworld: Awakening -- $25,306,725
2. Red Tails -- $18,782,154
3. Contraband -- $12,039,605
4. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close -- $10,045,332
5. Beauty & the Beast 3D -- $8,779,676
6. Haywire -- $8,425,370
7. Joyful Noise -- $5,917,437
8. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol -- $5,554,254
9. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows -- $4,515,497
10. The Iron Lady -- $3,684,279

New Releases: Underworld has just become "the little franchise that could" as the fourth entry scores a very impressive bow and its damn entertaining as well. Ever since Mrs. Block made me watch Serendipity I have had a massive crush on the lovely Kate Beckinsale. Mrs. Block is aware of this and I do have her permission. Kate is back as Selene and the leather and corset still fit as does her ass-kicking skills. Critics ravaged it but audiences walked away happy according to the Cinemascore of A-. George Lucas has been making the rounds and laying it on a bit thick about how the studios all turned him down and he finally had to finance Red Tails all by himself. Come on George, I'm a fan but playing the poor little rich put-upon filmmaker is a bit of a stretch. Anyway, Red Tails performed much better than most of the analysts predicted and while critics were mixed, stating that the visual effects were great but the acting was wooden...sound familiar. Anyhoo, an A Cinemascore is encouraging, still I'll be waiting for Netflix on this one. Continuing a trend, Steven Soderbergh made a movie and it underwhelmed at the box-office. As I've never seen an entertaining Soderbergh film I'll be passing on this one altogether.

Falling Out: Five flicks dropped out of the Top 10. Leaving us this week are The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, War Horse, Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, We Bought A Zoo, and The Devil Inside.

Best Hold: Falling only 31.9% and clawing its way into the Top 10 fresh off of her Best Actress Golden Globe win is Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

Biggest Fall: Two new action releases and the NFL playoffs took away Tom Cruise's target audience as Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol dropped 52.5%.

Notables: Underworld: Awakening's first place finish as the fourth film in a small franchise is really impressive. Red Tails over-performing and grossing nearly twice what the "experts" predicted but next week's drop will tell the tale. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close jumping into the Top 10 at #4 in its fifth week of release as well as The Iron Lady debuting in 10th in its fourth week of release. Robert Downey, Jr. scores another $175 million blockbuster as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows crosses that mileston.

Old Man Movie: Still clinging to the Top 10 for the sixth straight week are the duo of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

At First Glance...Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows

2012-01-22T11:35:00.004-05:00

"I have really long fingers...don't make me point at you."

Hmmmm...It's only a picture, but there's something about the final look of Depp's Barnabas that's just unsettling and not in a menacing way. In fact, he doesn't look menacing at all. He looks more impish than anything else. But I'm not overly worried at this point. I didn't like the first pictures I saw of Iron Man and Thor either and those two turned out very well. More reason not to worry is that Burton's Planet of the Apes first pics looked great and that didn't turn out very well. The casting in this flick has been dead on (yes, pun intended) and I eagerly await the first trailer.

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2010

2012-01-21T20:36:00.002-05:00

1. Toy Story 3 --5 out of 5--
2. Inception --5 out of 5--
3. Kick-Ass --5 out of 5--
4. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1 --5 out of 5--
5. Paranormal Activity 2 --5 out of 5--
6. Black Swan --5 out of 5--
7. The Fighter --5 out of 5--
8. Iron Man 2 --4 out of 5--
9. True Grit --4 out of 5--
10. Machete --4 out of 5--
11. The King's Speech --4 out of 5--
12. 127 Hours --4 out of 5--
13. The Social Network --4 out of 5--
14. Shutter Island --4 out of 5--
15. Date Night --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2009

2012-01-21T20:32:00.002-05:00

1. Watchmen --5 out of 5--
2. Star Trek --5 out of 5--
3. Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince --5 out of 5--
4. The Hangover --5 out of 5--
5. Paranormal Activity --5 out of 5--
6. Avatar --5 out of 5--
7. Inglourious Basterds --5 out of 5--
8. Sherlock Holmes --4 out of 5--
9. Up --4 out of 5--
10. Halloween II --4 out of 5--
11. Up In The Air --4 out of 5--
12. Angels & Demons --4 out of 5--
13. Crazy Heart --4 out of 5--
14. Taken --4 out of 5--
15. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2008

2012-01-21T20:28:00.002-05:00

1. The Dark Knight --5 out of 5--
2. Iron Man --5 out of 5--
3. Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull --5 out of 5--
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button --5 out of 5--
5. The Incredible Hulk --5 out of 5--
6. In Bruges --5 out of 5--
7. Star Wars: The Clone Wars --5 out of 5--
8. Gran Torino --4 out of 5--
9. Zack & Miri Make A Porno --4 out of 5--
10. The Wrestler --4 out of 5--
11. Wall-E --4 out of 5--
12. The Strangers --4 out of 5--
13. Revolutionary Road --4 out of 5--
14. Role Models --4 out of 5--
15. Leatherheads --4 out of 5--

This Weekend at the Box Office Vol. 2 January 13 - 16

2012-01-18T20:44:00.009-05:00

The second weekend of the year is also the first 4-Day weekend of the box-office season. This weekend saw the debut of three new wide releases. Mark Wahlberg anchors Contraband, Disney offers up a re-release as well as an added dimension of Beauty & The Beast and Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah attempt to turn a Joyful Noise into singing cash registers. How did these newcomers fare against the current crop? Let's see.

1. Contraband -- $28,515,480
2. Beauty & The Beast 3D -- $22,213,922
3. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol -- $14,201,823
4. Joyful Noise -- $13,802,308
5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows -- $10,444,071
6. The Devil Inside -- $9,034,861
7. The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo -- $8,032,763
8. Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked -- $8,002,573
9. We Bought A Zoo -- $7,369,231
10. War Horse -- $7,350,537

New Releases: Mark Wahlberg proves once again that he's a box office draw as Contraband debuts in the top spot. While Beauty & The Beast debuts in second. Not bad for a re-release, even with the 3D surcharges inflating the total. Joyful Noise debuts the lowest of the new releases at fourth.

Falling Out: Three debuted into the Top 10 so that means that three fell out and the casualties this week are The Adventures of Tintin; Tinker,Tailor,Soldier,Spy; & The Darkest Hour

Best Hold: Holds always look better on a 4-Day weekend because you're comparing it to the previous 3-Day weekend. But its the same for all the flicks, so be it. Anyway, the best hold this week belongs to We Bought A Zoo with only an 11.3% drop off of last weekends totals.

Biggest Drop: Even my dumb dog saw this coming. Falling so large that its actually admirable is The Devil Inside at 73.2% less than last week. This drop is laughable to be sure, but as the saying goes, the studio is laughing all the way to the bank.

Notables: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol continues to impress with its durability. I've not been a fan of the M:I franchise, but I must admit that this last installment has me intrigued. Ghost Protocol continues a trend where old, tired franchises have had new life breathed into them by well-received new entries.

Old Man Movie: With Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy falling out of the Top 10, the old man award is shared among 3 films. M:I - Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked have each had the longest current stay in the Top 10 at 5 weeks each.

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2007

2012-01-17T21:33:00.001-05:00

1. Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix --5 out of 5--
2. 300 --5 out of 5--
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End --5 out of 5--
4. The Orphanage --5 out of 5--
5. Black Snake Moan --5 out of 5--
6. No Country For Old Men --5 out of 5--
7. There Will Be Blood --5 out of 5--
8. Zodiac --4 out of 5--
9. Halloween --4 out of 5--
10. Gone Baby Gone --4 out of 5--
11. Juno --4 out of 5--
12. 3:10 To Yuma --4 out of 5--
13. The Bourne Ultimatum --4 out of 5--
14. Transformers --4 out of 5--
15. Waitress --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2006

2012-01-17T21:29:00.002-05:00

1. The Prestige --5 out of 5--
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest --5 out of 5--
3. Clerks II --5 out of 5--
4. V For Vendetta --5 out of 5--
5. Perfume: The Story of A Murderer --5 out of 5--
6. Rocky Balboa --5 out of 5--
7. Casino Royale --4 out of 5--
8. Lucky Number Slevin --4 out of 5--
9. X-Men: The Last Stand --4 out of 5--
10. The Lake House --4 out of 5--
11. The Queen --4 out of 5--
12. The Departed --4 out of 5--
13. The Fountain --4 out of 5--
14. Hollywoodland --4 out of 5--
15. The Pursuit of Happyness --4 out of 5--

Revision to Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1991 - 92

2012-01-17T19:58:00.003-05:00

A couple of days ago all the residents of the Cell Block went and saw Beauty & The Beast 3D. I hadn't seen this flick in nearly six years and after seeing it this weekend I realized that it was not worthy of the Cell Block 4 out of 5 rating. So, it has been demoted to 3.5 out of 5 and has dropped from 13th place to completely out of the Top 15 for '91 - '92. As one Beast drops out another Beast takes it place as Coppola's Dracula rips its way into the Top 15 at #15. The revised list is as follows:

1. Silence of the Lambs (1991) --5 out of 5--
2. Unforgiven (1992) --5 out of 5--
3. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) --5 out of 5--
4. Thelma and Louise (1991) --5 out of 5--
5. Robin Hood: Prince of Theives (1991) --4 out of 5--
6. Chaplin (1992) --4 out of 5--
7. Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) --4 out of 5--
8. The Last of the Mohicans (1992) --4 out of 5--
9. Regarding Henry (1991) --4 out of 5--
10. The Addams Family (1991) --4 out of 5--
11. Flight of the Intruder (1991) --4 out of 5--
12. Patriot Games (1992) --4 out of 5--
13. The Last Boy Scout (1991) --3.5 out of 5--
14. Grand Canyon (1991) --3.5 out of 5--
15. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1991) --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Plays "Pick the 69th Golden Globes" Game

2012-01-15T17:40:00.007-05:00

Here's how it works. You pick a winner and a backup pick for every category. You get 5 points if you pick the winner and 2 points if your backup pick wins and no points if neither wins. I will be competing against Mrs. Block for bragging rights and other prizes that can't be talked about here.

Edit: Terms have been agreed upon with Mrs. Block. If she wins, then I have sole laundry and dish cleaning duties for an entire week. If I win then Mrs. Block has to watch Paranormal Activity with me.

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Winner: The Help
Backup Pick: The Ides of March

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy:

Winner: Bridesmaids
Backup Pick: The Artist

Best Actor - Drama:

Winner: Ryan Gosling for The Ides of March
Backup Pick: George Clooney for the Descendants

Best Actress - Drama

Winner: Viola Davis for The Help
Backup Pick: Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy

Winner: Jean Dujardin for The Artist
Backup Pick: Brendan Gleeson for The Guard

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy

Winner: Kristen Wig for Bridesmaids
Backup Pick: Kate Winslet for Carnage

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Albert Brooks for Drive
Backup Pick: Jonah Hill for Moneyball

Best Supporting Actress:

Winner: Jessica Chastain for The Help
Backup Pick: Octavia Spencer for The Help

Best Director

Winner: Michel Hazanavicius
Backup Pick: Martin Scorsese for Hugo

Best Screenplay:

Winner: Moneyball
Backup Pick: The Descendants

Best Original Song

Winner: Albert Nobbs, "Lay Down Your Head"
Backup Pick: Gnomeo & Juliet, "Hello, Hello"

Best Original Score

Winner: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Reznor & Ross
Backup Pick: War Horse, John Williams

Best Animated Film:

Winner: The Adventures of Tintin
Backup Pick: Rango

Best Foreign Language Film

Winner: A Separation
Backup Pick: The Flowers of War

Best Television Series - Drama

Winner: Boardwalk Empire
Backup Pick: Game of Thrones

Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical

Winner: Modern Family
Backup Pick: New Girl

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for TV

Winner: Mildred Pierce
Backup Pick: The Hour

Best Actor TV Series - Drama

Winner: Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire
Backup Pick: Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad

Best Actress TV Series - Drama

Winner: Claire Danes for Homeland
Backup Pick: Callie Thorne for Necessary Roughness

Best Actor TV Series - Musical or Comedy

Winner: Johnny Galecki for The Big Bang Theory
Backup Pick: Matt LeBlanc for Episodes

Best Actress TV Series - Musical or Comedy

Winner: Laura Linney for The Big C
Backup Pick: Zooey Deschanel for New Girl

Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for TV

Winner: William Hurt for Too Big To Fail
Backup Pick: Dominic West for The Hour

Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for TV

Winner: Kate Winslet for Mildred Pierce
Backup Pick: Emily Watson for Appropriate Adult

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture made for TV

Winner: Peter Dinklage for Game of Thrones
Backup Pick: Erik Stonestreet for Modern Family

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture made for TV

Winner: Evan Rachel Wood for Mildred Pierce
Backup Pick: Maggie Smith for Downtown Abbey

Before you bet any real money on my picks I should disclose that I've yet to see most of the nominated performances and made my picks mostly based on hype and other times based on sheer randomness.

Beauty & The Beast 3D Review, The Phantom Menace 3D Trailer Review, and Other Observations.

2012-01-14T21:08:00.004-05:00

Today, all the denizens of the Cell Block...well, all except the dog, the dog isn't quite ready for public consumption just yet...made our way to the local cinema to see Beauty & The Beast in Disney 3D. I love the way that Disney subtly (or not so subtly sometimes) claims ownership of various technologies that they had absolutely nothing to do with. Anyway, where was I...oh yeah...the review. First off, it was an absolute thrill to be able to take my daughter to see Beauty & The Beast. We've owned it on DVD for years and she's seen it several times already and she loves it and she was excited to see it on the big screen for the first time. That's why you'll never hear me complain when studios re-release a movie. Seeing one of your favorite movies on the silver screen in a movie theater is a very special event, that if you think about it only provides you with a narrow window of opportunity to take advantage. I was very curious to see how the 3D makeover was going to look on a traditionally animated film. I had seen the Toy Story 1 & 2 3D re-releases and they were stunning. Sadly, 3D does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for Beauty & The Beast. In fact it severely takes away from the look of the film. The 3D process brings the different composited animation in such stark relief that hardly ever do the characters look like they're actually in the same scene as the background and foreground. Its hard to explain, but its quite disconcerting. However, the one scene that looked the best was the ballroom scene and if I had to pick only one scene for it to work with, then that was the one. I spent most of that scene alternating looking at the screen and back to my daughter's face as even at such a young age she registers that that scene is one of the best in cinema history. The problem that I have with Beauty & The Beast is that the parts before and after the iconic ballroom scene are a mixed bag. Gaston is a horrible villain who annoys me more than anything else and overall is poorly conceived. On the good side are Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, and Angela Lansbury in their supporting roles as Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts. Chip is more annoying than he is cute. Also to the good is the battle between the townsfolk and the furniture. But it's the ending that keeps Beauty & The Beast from ever being a great film to me. All the mystique and all the romanticism is lost once the Beast becomes human again. For me, it would have been a much stronger and romantic film, as it were, if Belle had professed her love for the Beast (and he lived), but only after the final rose petal had fallen and the curse was never lifted. To love the Beast as the Beast amidst the backdrop of the dreary castle and the tragedy of everyone being stuck in their current state of being, but yet love makes it all alright because after all the whole point of the movie is to find happiness based on who you really are and not what you look like. The film does a very good job of building that up only to ruin it at the end when the Beast is transformed into the handsome young prince and the castle becomes Camelot, all clean and sparkly, and the seeming 300 servants there to wait on Belle's and the Prince's every need. It just kills all the sacrifice. But, you know what? None of that matters because my young daughter and millions of young girls around the world love this film and it makes them happy and at the end of the day that's what it's all about.

I probably should've broken that up into three or more paragraphs....oh well.

For me the personal highlight of this trip to the cinema was that I got to see the trailer for The Phantom Menace re-release in 3D and the trailer was in 3D and it looked absolutely incredible. I am so hyped for this event. Finally I get to see Star Wars digitally projected with surround sound in a theater with stadium seating. But most importantly I get to see do all this with my best bud in the world for the very first time as I get to fulfill a wish that I've always had and that is to see the Star Wars Saga at the theater with my son and words can't express what this opportunity means to me.

Tomorrow night is the Golden Globes so I will be parked in front of my television watching and taking notes...and ignoring the mocking of Mrs. Block...all so that I can blog about it for my 3 - 5 readers.

The boy recently had a birthday and he decided that instead of a party this year he wanted us all to go to Savannah to Toys-r-Us, Target and the malls so that he and the girl could spend their money and they did right down to the last dollar. We all had a blast. They rode a mall train, got in the hurricane booth, lost money to "The Claw", went up and down and up and down and up and down the escalators, the boy found an out of print video game that he had been looking for and the girl finally got to the Build A Bear workshop where she did just that. It was a good day.

Cello Wars: The Phantom Cellist by the Piano Guys. This is worth checking out!

2012-01-12T20:10:00.001-05:00

These guys are so talented.

Click the fullscreen button in the bottom right corner.
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See more of The Piano Guys at their website. Click Here.

Added Bonus:

This Weekend at the Box Office Vol. 1

2012-01-10T14:14:00.008-05:00

The receipts have been collected and counted and here's the financial fallout for the first weekend of the new year.

1. The Devil Inside -- $ 33,732,515
2. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol -- $19,868,059
3. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows -- $13,689,321
4. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo -- $11,364,714
5. Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked -- $9,496,913
6. War Horse -- $8,679,470
7. We Bought A Zoo -- $8,305,797
8. The Adventures of Tintin -- $6,727,740
9. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy -- $5,478,521
10. The Darkest Hour -- $3,124,316

New Releases: The Devil Inside...Proof that if you've got a good marketing department, then who cares how good your flick really is. With a reported budget of only $1 million and a slick marketing campaign, The Devil Inside managed a colossal $33 million opening and a near historic CinemaScore of F. To put in context, the last Twilight movie scored a B+. I've read reports of people booing and throwing popcorn due to the ending, but when you've already brought in 33x your budget what does it matter. The ending of this film is being so lambasted that I've thrown it in my Netflix queue just because I want to be a part of it.

Best Hold: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo...Falling only 23.3% from last weekends total of $14,824,577.

Biggest Drop: Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked...Falling 42% the third Chipmunk movie isn't making anywhere near the cash that its predecessors raked in, but its still making money so don't think this is the end of the franchise, but maybe the totals are low enough to send the fourth entry straight to DVD. Parents everywhere sit with fingers-crossed.

Notables: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy...The Gary Oldman film upped its theater count from 57 to 809 and burst into the Top 10 in its fifth week of release and with the second best average in the Top 10.

Old Man Movie Award: By entering the Top 10 in its fifth week Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy also becomes the longest tenured film in the Top 10 at five weeks.

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2005

2012-01-09T20:21:00.001-05:00

1. Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith --5 out of 5--
2. Sin City --5 out of 5--
3. Crash --5 out of 5--
4. Batman Begins --5 out of 5--
5. Serenity --5 out of 5--
6. Brokeback Mountain --5 out of 5--
7. Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire --5 out of 5--
8. Walk The Line --5 out of 5--
9. King Kong --4 out of 5--
10. The Exorcism of Emily Rose --4 out of 5--
11. Kingdom of Heaven --4 out of 5--
12. Cinderella Man --4 out of 5--
13. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe --4 out of 5--
14. The 40 Year Old Virgin --4 out of 5--
15. Fantastic Four --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2004

2012-01-09T20:15:00.002-05:00

1. Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban --5 out of 5--
2. The Phantom Of The Opera --5 out of 5--
3. Love Actually --5 out of 5--
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind --5 out of 5--
5. Finding Neverland --5 out of 5--
6. The Notebook --5 out of 5--
7. Spider-Man 2 --5 out of 5--
8. House of Flying Daggers --4 out of 5--
9. The Bourne Supremacy --4 out of 5--
10. The Aviator --4 out of 5--
11. The Passion of the Christ --4 out of 5--
12. Man On Fire --4 out of 5--
13. Alien Vs. Predator --4 out of 5--
14. Saw --4 out of 5--
15. The Incredibles --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2003

2012-01-09T20:11:00.002-05:00

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King --5 out of 5--
2. The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl --5 out of 5--
3. X2: X-Men United --5 out of 5--
4. The Matrix Revolutions --5 out of 5--
5. The Matrix Reloaded --5 out of 5--
6. Big Fish --5 out of 5--
7. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines --4 out of 5--
8. The Rundown --4 out of 5--
9. The Last Samurai --4 out of 5--
10. Freddy Vs. Jason --4 out of 5--
11. Underworld --4 out of 5--
12. Open Range --4 out of 5--
13. Cheaper By The Dozen --4 out of 5--
14. American Wedding --4 out of 5--
15. Seabiscuit --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2002

2012-01-09T20:05:00.002-05:00

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers --5 out of 5--
2. Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones --5 out of 5--
3. Gangs of New York --5 out of 5--
4. Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets --5 out of 5--
5. Punch-Drunk Love --5 out of 5--
6. Hero --5 out of 5--
7. The Bourne Identity --5 out of 5--
8. Ice Age --5 out of 5--
9. Scooby-Doo --5 out of 5--
10. Insomnia --4 out of 5--
11. Frailty --4 out of 5--
12. Catch Me If You Can --4 out of 5--
13. Blade 2 --4 out of 5--
14. Dog Soldiers --4 out of 5--
15. Road To Perdition --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2001

2012-01-09T19:22:00.002-05:00

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring --5 out of 5--
2. Moulin Rouge --5 out of 5--
3. Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone --5 out of 5--
4. Serendipity --5 out of 5--
5. Pearl Harbor --5 out of 5--
6. Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back --5 out of 5--
7. The Others --5 out of 5--
8. Donnie Darko --5 out of 5--
9. American Pie 2 --5 out of 5--
10. The Devil's Backbone --4 out of 5--
11. Enemy At The Gates --4 out of 5--
12. Amelie --4 out of 5--
13. Monster's Ball --4 out of 5--
14. Shrek --4 out of 5--
15. Monsters Inc. --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2000

2012-01-09T19:20:00.001-05:00

1. Gladiator --5 out of 5--
2. X-Men --5 out of 5--
3. Memento --5 out of 5--
4. Frequency --5 out of 5--
5. O' Brother Where Art Thou --5 out of 5--
6. Road Trip --5 out of 5--
7. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon --4 out of 5--
8. Unbreakable --4 out of 5--
9. U-571 --4 out of 5--
10. Cast Away --4 out of 5--
11. Shadow of the Vampire --4 out of 5--
12. Remember The Titans --4 out of 5--
13. Thirteen Days --4 out of 5--
14. Quills --4 out of 5--
15. The Replacements --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1999

2012-01-09T19:15:00.001-05:00

1. Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace --5 out of 5--
2. The Matrix --5 out of 5--
3. American Beauty --5 out of 5--
4. Fight Club --5 out of 5--
5. The Thomas Crown Affair --5 out of 5--
6. The Green Mile --5 out of 5--
7. Toy Story 2 --5 out of 5--
8. The Mummy --5 out of 5--
9. Eyes Wide Shut --5 out of 5--
10. The Iron Giant --5 out of 5--
11. Sleepy Hollow --4 out of 5--
12. The Blair Witch Project --4 out of 5--
13. Galaxy Quest --4 out of 5--
14. Dogma --4 out of 5--
15. For Love of the Game --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1998

2012-01-07T21:40:00.002-05:00

1. Saving Private Ryan --5 out of 5--
2. The Legend of 1900 --5 out of 5--
3. Elizabeth --4 out of 5--
4. Rush Hour --4 out of 5--
5. Lethal Weapon 4 --4 out of 5--
6. The Man In The Iron Mask --4 out of 5--
7. The Truman Show --4 out of 5--
8. Patch Adams --4 out of 5--
9. Simon Birch --4 out of 5--
10. Mulan --4 out of 5--
11. Armageddon --4 out of 5--
12. Soldier --4 out of 5--
13. Can't Hardly Wait --4 out of 5--
14. Croupier --3.5 out of 5--
15. Meet Joe Black --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1997

2012-01-07T21:35:00.002-05:00

1. Chasing Amy --5 out of 5--
2. Good Will Hunting --5 out of 5--
3. Fierce Creatures --4 out of 5--
4. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery --4 out of 5--
5. Private Parts --4 out of 5--
6. Tomorrow Never Dies --4 out of 5--
7. The Saint --4 out of 5--
8. Titanic --4 out of 5--
9. The Apostle --4 out of 5--
10. As Good As It Gets --4 out of 5--
11. Alien: Resurrection --4 out of 5--
12. I Know What You Did Last Summer --4 out of 5--
13. Bean --3.5 out of 5--
14. Con Air --3.5 out of 5--
15. Jackie Brown --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1996

2012-01-07T21:32:00.002-05:00

1. Star Trek: First Contact --5 out of 5--
2. Primal Fear --5 out of 5--
3. Tin Cup --4 out of 5--
4. The Last Supper --4 out of 5--
5. Fargo --4 out of 5--
6. Sling Blade --4 out of 5--
7. 2 Days In The Valley --4 out of 5--
8. Jerry Maguire --4 out of 5--
9. The People Vs. Larry Flynt --4 out of 5--
10. The Ghost & The Darkness --4 out of 5--
11. A Time To Kill --4 out of 5--
12. Lone Star --4 out of 5--
13. Independence Day --3.5 out of 5--
14. Broken Arrow --3.5 out of 5--
15. Twister --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1995

2012-01-07T21:27:00.003-05:00

1. Braveheart --5 out of 5--
2. Bridges of Madison County --5 out of 5--
3. Seven --5 out of 5--
4. Heat --5 out of 5--
5. Crimson Tide --5 out of 5--
6. Toy Story --5 out of 5--
7. Leaving Las Vegas --5 out of 5--
8. Apollo 13 --5 out of 5--
9. Goldeneye --5 out of 5--
10. Sense & Sensibility --4 out of 5--
11. Die Hard 3 --4 out of 5--
12. The Usual Suspects --4 out of 5--
13. Batman Forever --4 out of 5--
14. Outbreak --4 out of 5--
15. Powder --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1994

2012-01-07T21:23:00.002-05:00

1. Forrest Gump --5 out of 5--
2. The Professional --5 out of 5--
3. Clerks --5 out of 5--
4. Wyatt Earp --5 out of 5--
5. The Shawshank Redemption --5 out of 5--
6. The Crow --5 out of 5--
7. Pulp Fiction --5 out of 5--
8. Immortal Beloved --4 out of 5--
9. Clear and Present Danger --4 out of 5--
10. Speed --4 out of 5--
11. Nell --4 out of 5--
12. Ed Wood --4 out of 5--
13. Quiz Show --4 out of 5--
14. Maverick --4 out of 5--
15. Four Weddings & A Funeral --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1993

2012-01-07T20:54:00.002-05:00

1. Schindler's List --5 out of 5--
2. Tombstone --5 out of 5--
3. Searching For Bobby Fischer --5 out of 5--
4. The Remains of the Day --5 out of 5--
5. A Perfect World --5 out of 5--
6. Jurassic Park --5 out of 5--
7. Groundhog Day --5 out of 5--
8. Sommersby --5 out of 5--
9. The Fugitive --4 out of 5--
10. Shadowlands --4 out of 5--
11. The Firm --4 out of 5--
12. In The Line Of Fire --4 out of 5--
13. Addams Family Values --4 out of 5--
14. Iron Monkey --4 out of 5--
15. Grumpy Old Men --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1991 - 92

2012-01-07T20:41:00.002-05:00

1. Silence of the Lambs (1991) --5 out of 5--
2. Unforgiven (1992) --5 out of 5--
3. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) --5 out of 5--
4. Thelma and Louise (1991) --5 out of 5--
5. Robin Hood: Prince of Theives (1991) --4 out of 5--
6. Chaplin (1992) --4 out of 5--
7. Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) --4 out of 5--
8. The Last of the Mohicans (1992) --4 out of 5--
9. Regarding Henry (1991) --4 out of 5--
10. The Addams Family (1991) --4 out of 5--
11. Flight of the Intruder (1991) --4 out of 5--
12. Patriot Games (1992) --4 out of 5--
13. Beauty & The Beast (1991) --4 out of 5--
14. The Last Boy Scout (1991) --3.5 out of 5--
15. Grand Canyon (1991) --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1990

2011-12-31T17:30:00.002-05:00

1. The Godfather Part III --5 out of 5--
2. Dances With Wolves --5 out of 5--
3. The Hunt For Red October --4 out of 5--
4. Awakenings --4 out of 5--
5. Goodfellas --4 out of 5--
6. Edward Scissorhands --4 out of 5--
7. Predator 2 --4 out of 5--
8. Die Hard 2 --4 out of 5--
9. Total Recall --4 out of 5--
10. Quigley Down Under --3.5 out of 5--
11. Mr. Destiny --3.5 out of 5--
12. Misery --3.5 out of 5--
13. Ghost --3.5 out of 5--
14. Pump Up The Volume --3.5 out of 5--
15. Rocky V --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1989

2011-12-31T17:19:00.002-05:00

1. Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade --5 out of 5--
2. Dead Poets Society --5 out of 5--
3. Field of Dreams --5 out of 5--
4. Lethal Weapon 2 --4 out of 5--
5. Major League --4 out of 5--
6. Steel Magnolias --4 out of 5--
7. K-9 --4 out of 5--
8. Batman --4 out of 5--
9. The Abyss --3.5 out of 5--
10. Road House --3.5 out of 5--
11. Turner & Hooch --3.5 out of 5--
12. Space For Rent
13. To Be Determined
14. For Sale...Cheap
15. Red-Headed Step-Child

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1988

2011-12-31T17:10:00.001-05:00

1. Hellbound: Hellraiser II --5 out of 5--
2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being --5 out of 5--
3. A Fish Called Wanda --4 out of 5--
4. Die Hard --4 out of 5--
5. Crocodile Dundee 2 --4 out of 5--
6. Rain Man --4 out of 5--
7. Big --4 out of 5--
8. The Seventh Sign --4 out of 5--
9. A Tiger's Tale --4 out of 5--
10. Bull Durham --4 out of 5--
11. Cocktail --4 out of 5--
12. Young Guns --4 out of 5--
13. The Accused --4 out of 5--
14. Dangerous Liaisons --4 out of 5--
15. Twins --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1985 - 87

2011-12-31T16:59:00.002-05:00

1. Hoosiers (1986) --5 out of 5--
2. Predator (1987) --5 out of 5--
3. Silverado (1985) --5 out of 5--
4. Robocop (1987) --5 out of 5--
5. The Karate Kid 2 (1986) --5 out of 5--
6. Lethal Weapon (1987) --4 out of 5--
7. Fright Night (1985) --4 out of 5--
8. Rocky IV (1985) --4 out of 5--
9. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (1987) --4 out of 5--
10. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) --4 out of 5--
11. Aliens (1986) --4 out of 5--
12. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) --4 out of 5--
13. Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (1985) --4 out of 5--
14. The Living Daylights (1987) --4 out of 5--
15. Full Metal Jacket (1987) --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1983 - 84

2011-12-31T16:53:00.002-05:00

1. Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) --5 out of 5--
2. Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom (1984) --5 out of 5--
3. Once Upon A Time In America (1984) --5 out of 5--
4. Scarface (1983) --5 out of 5--
5. The Natural (1984) --5 out of 5--
6. Amadeus (1984) --5 out of 5--
7. The Karate Kid (1984) --5 out of 5--
8. Ghostbusters (1984) --4 out of 5--
9. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984) --4 out of 5--
10. The Big Chill (1983) --4 out of 5--
11. Christine (1983) --4 out of 5--
12. Eddie & The Cruisers (1983) --4 out of 5--
13. Bachelor Party (1984) --3.5 out of 5--
14. The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) --3.5 out of 5--
15. The Cannonball Run II (1984) --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1980 - 82

2011-12-31T16:42:00.002-05:00

1. Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) --5 out of 5--
3. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) --5 out of 5--
4. The Elephant Man (1980) --5 out of 5--
5. The Entity (1981) --5 out of 5--
6. Blade Runner (1982) --4 out of 5--
7. Friday The 13th (1980) --4 out of 5--
8. Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981) --4 out of 5--
9. The Shining (1980) --4 out of 5--
10. Smokey & The Bandit 2 (1980) --4 out of 5--
11. The Howling (1981) --3.5 out of 5--
12. Conan The Barbarian (1982) --3.5 out of 5--
13. Cannonball Run (1981) --3.5 out of 5--
14. The Fog (1980) --3.5 out of 5--
15. The Road Warrior (1982) --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- The 70's

2011-12-28T02:16:00.001-05:00

1. Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) --5 out of 5--
2. The Godfather (1972) --5 out of 5--
3. The Godfather Part II (1974) --5 out of 5--
4. Rocky (1976) --5 out of 5--
5. Rocky II (1979) --5 out of 5--
6. Jaws (1975) --5 out of 5--
7. Alien (1979) --5 out of 5--
8. A Clockwork Orange (1971) --4 out of 5--
9. High Plains Drifter (1973) --4 out of 5--
10. Grease (1978) --4 out of 5--
11. Smokey & The Bandit (1977) --4 out of 5--
12. Every Which Way But Loose (1978) --4 out of 5--
13. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) --4 out of 5--
14. Pumping Iron (1977) --4 out of 5--
15. My Name Is Nobody (1973) --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- The 60's

2011-12-28T02:13:00.001-05:00

1. Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) --5 out of 5--
2. Psycho (1960) --5 out of 5--
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) --5 out of 5--
4. The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (1966) --5 out of 5--
5. The Virgin Spring (1960) --5 out of 5--
6. Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (1969) --5 out of 5--
7. The Lion In Winter (1968) --5 out of 5--
8. The Miracle Worker (1962) --5 out of 5--
9. The Haunting (1963) --4 out of 5--
10. For A Few Dollars More (1965) --4 out of 5--
11. Fistful of Dollars (1964) --4 out of 5--
12. My Fair Lady (1964) --4 out of 5--
13. Cool Hand Luke (1967) --4 out of 5--
14. Flight of the Phoenix (1965) --3.5 out of 5--
15. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- The 50's

2011-12-28T02:11:00.000-05:00

1. Dial "M" For Murder (1954) --5 out of 5--
2. Harvey (1950) --5 out of 5--
3. Sabrina (1954) --5 out of 5--
4. On The Waterfront (1954) --5 out of 5--
5. Anatomy of a Murder (1959) --4 out of 5--
6. The Seventh Seal (1957) --4 out of 5--
7. An Affair To Remember (1957) --4 out of 5--
8. Gojira (1954) --4 out of 5--
9. Ben-Hur (1959) --4 out of 5--
10. Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954) --4 out of 5--
11. Operation Petticoat (1959) --4 out of 5--
12. North By Northwest (1959) --3.5 out of 5--
13. Rear Window (1954) --3.5 out of 5--
14. To Catch A Thief (1955) --3.5 out of 5--
15. Sleeping Beauty (1959) --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- The 40's

2011-12-28T02:10:00.001-05:00

1. Casablanca (1942) --5 out of 5--
2. Citizen Kane (1941) --5 out of 5--
3. The Philadelphia Story (1940) --5 out of 5--
4. His Girl Friday (1940) --5 out of 5--
5. Its A Wonderful Life (1946) --5 out of 5--
6. Arsenic & Old Lace (1944) --5 out of 5--
7. The Great Dictator (1940) --5 out of 5--
8. The Wolf Man (1941) --4 out of 5--
9. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home (1948) --4 out of 5--
10. Dumbo (1941) --4 out of 5--
11. The Maltese Falcon (1941) --4 out of 5--
12. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstien (1948) --4 out of 5--
13. I Was A Male War Bride (1949) --4 out of 5--
14. One Body Too Many (1944) --4 out of 5--
15. House of Frankenstein (1944) --3.5 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- The 20's - The 30's

2011-12-28T02:09:00.000-05:00

1. Frankenstein (1931) --5 out of 5--
2. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) --5 out of 5--
3. King Kong (1933) --5 out of 5--
4. The Kid (1921) --5 out of 5--
5. Bringing Up Baby (1938) --5 out of 5--
6. City Lights (1931) --5 out of 5--
7. Gone With The Wind (1939) --4 out of 5--
8. Dracula (1931) --4 out of 5--
9. Modern Times (1936) --4 out of 5--
10. Freaks (1932) --4 out of 5--
11. The Invisible Man (1933) --4 out of 5--
12. The Phantom Of The Opera (1925) --4 out of 5--
13. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) --4 out of 5--
14. Nosferatu (1929) --4 out of 5--
15. Dracula's Daughter (1936) --4 out of 5--

What is a Bagginses, Precious?

2011-12-21T00:30:00.003-05:00

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

If this doesn't make you start counting down the days then you have no hope and should never be allowed to watch movies ever again.

What I Watched in July 2011

2011-08-19T14:16:00.001-04:00

Rabbit Hole (2010) --3.5 out of 5-- Not a bad flick but it tries just a little too hard to make you turn on the tears and while it is a sad story it just never hits the emotional beat it strives to attain.

Black Swan (2010) --5 out of 5-- Without a doubt Darren Aronofsky is one of the most interesting directors working today. I've seen all five of his feature films and while they range from the bad to the great they are all thought provoking and Black Swan is his best yet. While not the mind!@#$ that is The Fountain, Black Swan is an excellent portrayal of a descent into madness and will leave you wondering if you really saw what you thought you saw. Mila Kunis is excellent and Natalie Portman gives the performance of her life.

Legend of the Guardians (2010) --3.5 out of 5-- I'm being a bit generous here but I watched this film with my kids and they really enjoyed it and their enjoyment almost always affects my judgment. Its a visually stunning movie on DVD, I can only imagine how great it looks on blu-ray. The story is by the numbers but its worth a look if you have kids and/or truly appreciate a visual feast.

The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) --5 out of 5-- Saw this on blu-ray for the first time and I have to say I was disappointed in the picture quality. It didn't appear any better than the DVD.

Morning Glory (2010) --1 out of 5-- I managed to last 40 minutes and then I just couldn't take it anymore. Which is a shame because I'm a big fan of all four leads but Roger Michell just couldn't put it all together despite the talent he had at his disposal.

Jackie Brown (1997) --3.5 out of 5-- Not Tarantino's best effort but it did give us Samuel L. Jackson's "AK47" line and for that I will be eternally grateful.

The Town (2010) --3.5 out of 5-- Ben Affleck directs a solid follow-up to Gone Baby Gone, not quite as good but a good flick to watch.

Horrible Bosses (2011) --5 out of 5-- Funniest film I've seen since The Hangover. Mrs. Block and I double-dated with our favorite other couple and we laughed until we hurt. That's the power of movies.

The Two Towers (2002) --5 out of 5-- Whatever it was they did wrong with the Fellowship blu-ray they did right with The Two Towers. Absolutely stunning in hi-def.

Chasing Amy (1997) --5 out of 5-- If you don't like Kevin Smith, but you've never seen Chasing Amy, then I implore you to give it a try as it is truly a great film. As with all Kevin Smith flicks, if you're easily offended then steer clear.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) --2 out of 5-- Watchable, but just barely...and never again.

Red (2010) --2 out of 5-- Disappointing.

Dracula's Daughter (1936) --3.5 out of 5-- Like a lot of the old horror "talkies" its a very slow, simple story but its very well done and definitely worth seeing. Gloria Holden has classic feature and amazing eyes. Also its a bit of a controversial as it had implied lesbian overtones...a no-no for back then.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) --5 out of 5-- It All Ends. From Sorcerer's Stone to Hallows Part 2, the quality of this eight film series is nothing short of astonishing and is a rare gift to be enjoyed until the end of all things.

Saw VI (2009) --4 out of 5-- The penultimate (for now) entry into the Saw franchise is an improvement over the past couple of films.

Chaplin (1992) --4 out of 5-- I wonder sometimes just what Robert Downey Jr.'s CV would be if he didn't have his struggles with drugs. But then again, our faults is part of what makes us who we are. Anyway, Downey Jr. is brilliant as Charlie Chaplin. Check out this movie and then go check out all of Charlie Chaplin's films...you owe it to yourself.

The Pacific Disk 2 --4 out of 5--

Saw VII Saw comes to an end (for now). I know it has its detractors and at times it stretched the limits of plausibility but I just can't hate this series. Its a solid franchise that I've really enjoyed and I look forward to one day owning the complete franchise on blu-ray.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) --5 out of 5-- The pieces are now all in place for The Avengers. If Captain America didn't deliver then it would have been a black eye on Marvel's brilliant build-up to The Avengers. But it does deliver and now its all in the capable hands of Joss Whedon. I'm counting the days.

Star Trek: The Next Generation S2 E17-20 --4 out of 5--

The Return of the King (2003) --5 out of 5-- Visually stunning on blu-ray but I did have sound issues. I'm guessing (hoping) that its due to my lack of surround sound. I shall have to remedy that.

Quills (2000) --4 out of 5-- I can't imagine anyone not agreeing that Geoffrey Rush is brilliant, but just in case they needed another example then I direct them toward Quills.

First Look at the New Superman

2011-08-04T21:31:00.003-04:00

The first promo pic of Henry Cavill as The Man of Steel. Just like Iron Man, Thor, & Captain America, its going to take a while for the changes to the classic suit to grow on me. Still, compared to the rumors I had read about the possible design changes then this is downright conservative. I'm giving it a cautious thumbs-up as of right now. I did notice that this shot doesn't show if he's wearing his red underoos on the outside of his tights.

Cell Block Top 15 Movies of 2001

2011-07-30T23:45:00.002-04:00

You Sunk My Battleship

2011-07-27T22:36:00.008-04:00

'Battleship' is a classic game that everyone should play. You use your mind to reign down death and destruction on your enemy in the form of little red pegs. Nothing better than watching the pain and agony of your opponent as they are forced to admit defeat by uttering those four wonderful words..."You Sunk My Battleship!". Your victory is made all the sweeter as they wallow in the carnage that is their shattered psyche. You are truly the master of the grid, none can challenge you....

...But, Hollywood can make it into a movie....bet you never saw this coming.

(Right click and choose "Toggle Fullscreen")

What I Watched in June 2011

2011-07-21T08:22:00.005-04:00

Bridesmaids (2011) --2 out of 5-- I'm being generous with this ranking. While there's a laugh to be had every so often its not enough to offset the utterly annoying characters, none of whom I had any sympathy for or even liked for that matter. Just throw a virtual rock at the interweb and you'll hit any number of comparisons to The Hangover.....problem being is that The Hangover was actually funny. On the flip side, Mrs. Block really liked it. If a movie ever deserved the designation "Chick Flick" then this would be it.

Tron (1982) --2 out of 5-- I first saw Tron over twenty years ago, give or take, and I remember not being overly impressed. Depsite all that I decided to give it another go so that I would be all caught up before watching Tron: Legacy....I still wasn't impressed. Surely Tron: Legacy would be better....more on that in a bit.

Love & Other Drugs (2010) --3.5 out of 5-- Love & Other Drugs takes direct aim at your emotional jugular but just misses it. Still a watchable flick and the fact that Anne Hathaway spends a good deal of time topless certainly doesn't hurt.

They Call Me Trinity (1971) --3.5 out of 5-- Meet Trinity and Bambino, the Left and Right Hand of the Devil.

Lost Season 2 Disk 1 --5 out of 5--

Tron: Legacy (2010) --2 out of 5-- Surely Tron: Legacy would be better than Tron....nope.

Lost Season 2 Disk 2 --5 out of 5--

Dances With Wolves (1990) --5 out of 5--

The Fighter (2010) --5 out of 5-- The Fighter is a great movie filled with wonderful performances but none better than that given by Christian Bale. He deserved two Oscars for his performance, it is that good.

Trinity Is Still My Name (1972) --4 out of 5-- Trinity and Bambino are back at it, but this time with a better, funnier script.

X-Men: First Class (2010) --5 out of 5-- I had reservations when I first heard about X-Men: First Class going into production and I took my seat in the theater with cautious optimism that perhaps it wouldn't be terrible. To Matthew Vaughn I humbly apologize. He knocked it out of the park. He had the unenviable task of having to make an X-Flick that didn't feature everyone's favorite adamantium laced, clawed mutant and while I believe that it affected the box office, it DID NOT affect the quality of the product and I believe that people will discover this on DVD and the sequel will be the box office hit that this one should have been. Rock...Interweb...and you'll find endless debate on whether this is part of the established 4-Film canon or a reboot of the franchise. Let me put the matter to rest and you can argue all you want...you'll still be wrong...this is a REBOOT and an excellent one.

The King's Speech (2010) --4 out of 5-- Excellent movie with excellent performances.

The Screaming Skull (1958) --2.5 out of 5-- A very watchable, low-budget horror flick with a cool looking car and a hot female lead. Cheesy, but in a good way. However, I never want to see it again.

Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) --5 out of 5-- I didn't think it was possible for me to love this movie any more than I already do, but then I watched it on blu-ray. I say this everytime, but if you haven't seen this flick then stop what you're doing and watch it.

Transformers (2007) --4 out of 5-- Big, bright, and dumb, but the robots are so pretty to look at. And stuff blows up...a lot...somtimes for no apparent reason.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) --4 out of 5-- Big, bright, and dumb, but the robots are so pretty to look at. And stuff blows up...a lot...somtimes for no apparent reason. This latest installement is more like the original and less like Revenge of the Fallen...which is a good thing. The plot is thin but it is there and serves nicely for getting from one action piece to another. The Transformers themselves have never looked better and its easier to tell who's doing what to whom during the action scenes. Bay shot this in 3D and it's visually the most stunning movie I've seen since Avatar. 3D has mostly been a dud in the industry but not in this case, you need to see this in 3D as it presents quite the delightful visual spectacle. John Malkovich is in this flick and I'm not exactly sure why.

Silverado (1985) --5 out of 5--

Tombstone (1993) --5 out of 5-- "The strain was more than he could bear."

Cell Block Top 15 Movies of 2002

2011-06-27T23:12:00.002-04:00

For Fairlie

2011-06-23T22:50:00.006-04:00

For Fairlie

The Original: (Right-Click on the Trailer and choose "Toggle Fullscreen")

The Remake:

I couldn't say that the remake will be any better than the original...because I'll never see it...but I can say that it couldn't possibly be any worse. ;-)

Cell Block Top 15 Movies of 2003

2011-06-21T23:45:00.002-04:00

What I Watched in May 2011

2011-06-14T21:04:00.006-04:00

We interrupt this normal posting for an important bulletin: For months, the Cell Block has been all but ignored by the Australians. That was then. According to the stats, the Aussies have gone cuckoo for Cell Block in the past week to the point that Cell Block has had more hits from the Land Down Under than it has had from its home country of the United States. And a special recognition goes out to Fairlie as Cell Block has received more referrals from her blog than from that of Mrs. Block. Way to go Fairlie, I won't even mention your poor taste in movies. ;-)......and Mrs. Block, you really need to pick up the pace.

We now return you to your normal posting:

Castle Season 2 Disk 4 --5 out of 5--

The Big Bang Theory Season 3 Disk 3 --5 out of 5-- I can't begin to describe how disappointed I was with the last half of the recently concluded Season 4. A once smart and witty show has completely lost its identity and its characters have become a parody of themselves. With CBS execs committing to the show through three more seasons I can only hope that the powers that be take note of how far the show has fallen and let the writers right the ship and return to the brilliance of the earlier seasons. If not, then I'm fairly certain that the beginning of the end can be be found in the last few episodes of Season 3 with the breaking up of Leonard and Penny and the introduction of Amy Farrah Fowler. There was no reason for the splitting of Penny and Leonard as they had not even scratched the surface of their "different worlds" relationship. As for Amy Farrah Fowler, its not that I particularly dislike the character its just that they shoe-horned her into the show as a companion for Sheldon and just like the Leonard/Penny break-up it just wasn't necessary. Which exposes another issue, too many characters. For the first two seasons there were only 5 characters (Sheldon, Leonard, Wolowitz, Raj, & Penny). Two seasons later there are now 8 characters, all vying for their share of the twenty minute run-time each week and its all just too much. I could go on but I'm starting to press the keys harder and harder and lest I have to buy a new keyboard tomorrow I think its time to move on.

The Phantom Menace (1999) --5 out of 5-- "I will do what I must." -- Qui-Gon Jinn

Attack of the Clones (2002) --5 out of 5-- "I'm haunted by the kiss you never should have given me...I'm hoping that kiss will not become a scar." -- Anakin Skywalker ....Yeah, not even I can defend that one.

Superman: Doomsday (2007) --3.5 out of 5-- Very different than the comic book storyline but surprisingly entertaining.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: S1 D3 --4 out of 5--

127 Hours (2010) --5 out of 5-- Outstanding performance by James Franco, but even more props have to go to the real Aron Ralston. Few forces in this world are stronger than the will to live.

Castle Season 2 Disk 5 --5 out of 5-- So close, but yet so far.

Thor (2010) --5 out of 5-- I've always been a fan of Thor in the comics, but after seeing early promos for the film I was a bit skeptical, but was blown away by the end product. Kenneth Branagh deserves all the credit in the world for his directing of this flick. This concept could've easily gone horribly wrong on the big screen but Branagh managed to make it thoroughly entertaining. Think about it, he managed to make something called the "Rainbow Bridge" visually stunning. And the Destroyer was altogether awesome. I would love to see the Destroyer show up in The Avengers.

The A-Team (2010) --3.5 out of 5-- When I first saw The A-Team at the theater I gave it a 4 out of 5, but upon my second viewing I've had to drop it down to 3.5. Its an entertaining flick with some good performances but overall its lacking that "IT" factor.

Revenge of the Sith (2005) --5 out of 5-- "Only a Sith deals in absolutes...I will do what I must." -- Obi-Wan Kenobi.....have you been paying attention, do you see the connection???

Legend of the Seeker Season 1 Episode 1 --2 out of 5-- Blah.

A New Hope (1977) --5 out of 5-- "Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?" -- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) --5 out of 5-- Whoa!, what a hidden gem of a movie. Most people dismiss Adam Sandler as just a comedic actor, but when he decides to play it straight he can truly be brilliant. Best case in point, his portrayal of Barry Egan in Punch-Drunk Love. At some point we've probably all felt the frustration that his character feels in the film, I know I have. And we've all wished we could finally deal with it as Barry does. Brilliant film.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: S1 D4 --4 out of 5--

Chuck Season 1 Disk 1 --4 out of 5-- Mrs. Block and I enjoyed it. You always have to be patient when watching an established series from the beginning as its still looking for an identity to establish itself.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) --4 out of 5-- DC puts out solid animated features (most of which are PG-13 for a reason). Anyway, if you've ever watched a comic book animated feature and thought to yourself afterwards, "That was pretty good, but I wish there were more fighting scenes.", then this is the movie for you. Nearly non-stop action wrapped around a very good storyline. "We both stared into the abyss and when the abyss stared back, you blinked." -- Batman to Owlman.

The Virgin Spring (1960) --5 out of 5-- A wonderful movie by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow. Powerful in its heartbreak and its hope.

The Pacific Disk 1 --4 out of 5-- Well done series, but like Band of Brothers, its hard to keep up with who's who.

Return of the Jedi (1983) --5 out of 5-- "There is no conflict." -- Darth Vader

The Shining (1980) --4 out of 5-- Still a creepy film 31 years later. The behind the scenes drama is almost as interesting as Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King apparently really did not like each other. Kubrick criticized King's writing skills and King criticized Kubrick's filmmaking skills....Wow. I think they're both brilliant.

Revision: Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 1980-1982

2011-06-11T08:34:00.003-04:00

Finally caught Stanley Kubrick's The Shining after all these years. While I don't consider it to be the classic that so many do, its still a well-done, creepy film and it breaks into the Top 15 at #10 and in turn sending those crazy drivers from Cannonball Run 2 into the garage.

1. Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 5 out of 5
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 5 out of 5
3. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 5 out of 5
4. The Elephant Man (1980) 5 out of 5
5. The Entity (1981) 5 out of 5
6. Blade Runner (1982) 4 out of 5
7. Friday The 13th (1980) 4 out of 5
8. Conan the Barbarian (1982) 4 out of 5
9. Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981) 4 out of 5
10. The Shining (1980) 4 out of 5
11. Smokey & The Bandit 2 (1980) 4 out of 5
12. The Road Warrior (1982) 3.5 out of 5
13. The Howling (1981) 3.5 out of 5
14. The Thing (1982) 3.5 out of 5
15. The Fog (1980) 3.5 out of 5

Revision: Cell Block Top 25 Movies -- The 60's

2011-06-05T12:55:00.004-04:00

Not long ago I viewed my second movie directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max Von Sydow, 1960's The Virgin Spring. Now if you've seen the highly over-rated Last House on the Left by the highly over-rated Wes Craven you will notice the similarities of the storyline. But while Craven's film is cinematic garbage, Bergman's film is cinematic beauty. It breaks into the Top 15 at the fifth spot and alas we must say good-bye to the Cary Grant "classic", Father Goose.

1. Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) --5 out of 5--
2. Psycho (1960) --5 out of 5--
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) --5 out of 5--
4. The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (1966) --5 out of 5--
5. The Virgin Spring (1960) --5 out of 5--
6. Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (1969) --5 out of 5--
7. The Lion In Winter (1968) --5 out of 5--
8. The Miracle Worker (1962) --5 out of 5--
9. The Haunting (1963) --4 out of 5--
10. For A Few Dollars More (1965) --4 out of 5--
11. Fistful of Dollars (1964) --4 out of 5--
12. My Fair Lady (1964) --4 out of 5--
13. Cool Hand Luke (1967) --4 out of 5--
14. Flight of the Phoenix (1965) --3.5 out of 5--
15. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) --3.5 out of 5--

What I Watched in April 2011

2011-05-15T18:50:00.008-04:00

Due to the release dates of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings on blu-ray, April begins the scrambling of my normal monthly viewing schedule. April is usually Lord of the Rings month but due to the release of LOTR blu-ray in July coupled with the April release of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have swapped months, meaning that last October was the last time I'll ever watch LOTR on DVD....a moment of silence.

Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone (2001) --5 out of 5-- A bit of trivia for you. The Sorcerer's Stone was the highest domestic grossing film of 2001 with $317+ million beating out The Fellowship of the Ring by $4 million. Its also the most financially successful, domestically, of all the Harry Potter films both in total gross and tickets sold.

Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets (2002) --5 out of 5--

Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 Disk 2 --4 out of 5--

Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) --5 out of 5-- Oh, what might've been if Cuaron had directed another installment.

True Blood: Season 2 Disk 5 --4 out of 5--

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire (2005) --5 out of 5--

The Big Bang Theory Season 2 Disk 4 --5 out of 5--

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) --5 out of 5-- Watch this movie and you'll understand the difference between "explicit" drama and "erotic" drama.

The Big Bang Theory Season 3 Disk 1 --5 out of 5--

Your Highness (2011) --2 out of 5-- I had such hopes for this flick and it turned out to be a huge disappointment. To use a McBridian turn of phrase, the filmmakers "shot their load" with the trailer as it contained nearly every punchline. While this made the trailer very funny, in the context of the film itself there was hardly any chuckles to be had.

Let Me In (2010) --3.5 out of 5-- A decent, well-made movie, with yet another great performance by Chloe Moretz. But the bottom line is its a little on the dull side and leaves certain plot points unanswered, which in a film like this really doesn't help.

Megamind (2010) --1 out of 5-- Dreamworks' balance between "lame" and "quality" is quickly becoming one-sided.

Unstoppable (2010) --4 out of 5-- I really had my doubts that a movie about one train chasing down another could hold my attention....but it did....quite well.

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix (2007) --5 out of 5-- "It was foolish of you to come here tonight Tom..."

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince (2009) --5 out of 5--

Star Trek: The Next Generation: S1 D2 --4 out of 5--

Castle Season 2 Disk 3 --5 out of 5--

The Descent Part 2 (2009) --2 out of 5-- As a stand-alone horror flick it makes a decent flick, but as a sequel to The Descent its an absolute failure. The Descent is a gem of a movie, that is both brutal and touching, and ends with a haunting final scene. Part 2 ruins all of that. So, I'm just sticking with the original and ignoring the events of this sequel.

Body of Proof Season 1 Episode 1 --3 out of 5-- Dana Delaney is hot, the show is not.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) --5 out of 5--

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) --4 out of 5-- Not as good as I remember it being and the blu-ray transfer is a big disappointment.

The Cell Block Top 100 Movies of All- Time -- The Final 25

2011-05-10T23:31:00.003-04:00

As before, list is chronological style, not countdown style.

2004 -- Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
2004 -- Love Actually
2005 -- Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
2005 -- Sin City
2005 -- Crash
2005 -- Batman Begins
2005 -- Serenity
2006 -- The Prestige
2006 -- Clerks II
2006 -- Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
2007 -- Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix
2007 -- 300
2007 -- The Orphanage
2007 -- No Country For Old Men
2007 -- There Will Be Blood
2008 -- Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2008 -- The Dark Knight
2008 -- Iron Man
2009 -- The Hangover
2009 -- Watchmen
2009 -- Star Trek
2009 -- Paranormal Activity
2009 -- Inglourious Basterds
2010 -- Toy Story 3
2010 -- Inception

And there it is, the Cell Block Top 100 Movies of All-Time....for the moment.

The Cell Block Top 100 Movies of All Time -- The Third 25

2011-04-30T21:36:00.002-04:00

As before, list is chronological style, not countdown style.

1995 -- Heat
1995 -- Toy Story
1995 -- Leaving Las Vegas
1998 -- Saving Private Ryan
1998 -- The Legend of 1900
1999 -- Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace
1999 -- The Matrix
1999 -- American Beauty
1999 -- Toy Story 2
1999 -- The Iron Giant
2000 -- Gladiator
2000 -- X-Men
2000 -- Memento
2000 -- Frequency
2000 -- O Brother, Where Art Thou
2001 -- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001 -- Moulin Rouge
2002 -- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002 -- Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
2002 -- Gangs of New York
2002 -- Hero
2003 -- The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2003 -- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
2003 -- X2: X-Men United
2003 -- The Matrix Revolutions

The Cell Block Top 100 Movies of All Time -- The Second 25

2011-04-25T20:40:00.002-04:00

List is chronological style, not countdown style.

1984 -- Once Upon A Time In America
1984 -- The Natural
1985 -- Silverado
1986 -- Hoosiers
1989 -- Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade
1989 -- Dead Poet's Society
1990 -- The Godfather Part III
1990 -- Dances With Wolves
1991 -- Silence of the Lambs
1991 -- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1991 -- Thelma & Louise
1992 -- Unforgiven
1993 -- Schindler's List
1993 -- Tombstone
1993 -- Searching For Bobby Fischer
1993 -- The Remains of the Day
1993 -- A Perfect World
1994 -- Forrest Gump
1994 -- Leon
1994 -- Clerks
1994 -- The Shawshank Redemption
1994 -- Pulp Fiction
1995 -- Braveheart
1995 -- Bridges of Madison County
1995 -- Seven

The Cell Block Top 100 Movies of All Time -- The First 25

2011-04-16T00:41:00.006-04:00

With 2010 now in the history books, I decided to do a Top 100 list of my all-time favorite movies through the year 2010. This turned out to be harder than I thought it would. There's probably 10 flicks not on the list that I could switch out with 10 on the list and still feel that I got it right. But these are the 100 that I'm sticking with and we'll see what changes five years may bring. I decided to update this list every 5 years, so the next Top 100 list will be in 2016, once 2015 has ended. Will I be doing this blog then...or will blogging on the internet still exist in five years???...who knows. But I do this blog for my kids so if nothing else I'll keep a record of it on my computer for them to read (or delete) years down the road. One important thing to keep in mind is that this is a list of what I consider to be the best 100 movies of all time, this is NOT a countdown list. Trying to rank these 100 movies would be next to impossible for me as I have enough trouble making my yearly top 15 lists. So this Top 100 movies will be listed by "year released" of each movie. This will be a four part series with 25 movies listed in each part (and they say the education system failed me).

1931 -- City Lights
1931 -- Frankenstein
1933 -- King Kong
1935 -- Bride of Frankenstein
1938 -- Bringing Up Baby
1940 -- His Girl Friday
1940 -- The Philadelphia Story
1941 -- Citizen Kane
1942 -- Casablanca
1950 -- Harvey
1954 -- Dial "M" for Murder
1960 -- Psycho
1962 -- To Kill A Mockingbird
1966 -- The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
1968 -- Once Upon A Time In The West
1972 -- The Godfather
1974 -- The Godfather: Part II
1976 -- Rocky
1977 -- Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope
1980 -- Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
1981 -- Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 -- E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
1983 -- Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
1983 -- Scarface
1984 -- Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom

Cell Block Counterpoints Den of Geek Over Star Wars

2011-04-07T10:18:00.004-04:00

Den of Geek is one of my daily "goto" sites. They have well written articles, great rumor round-ups, great updates, and seem like a good bunch of guys and gals who happen to like a lot of the same stuff that I do. But, like so many they seem to have a mad-on for George Lucas for "raping their childhoods" and seemingly never miss an opportunity to take a shot at the man in flannel. Their latest salvo is the article found here.

"The 10 Worst Crimes Against The Original Star Wars Trilogy", which is yet another re-hash of complaints about the numerous changes Lucas has made to the Original Trilogy throughout the years via the various re-releases. So, I'm going to offer my opinion on their opinions. I'm not here to bash them or proclaim Lucas untouchable....I agree on some of their points....I just thought it would make a good blog post. So anyway, here we go.

10. Luke's scream in The Empire Strikes Back.

DoG writes, "Though it’s not a bad idea to have Luke screaming (it shows vulnerability, and sort of reflects the fact that his training is incomplete, and that he doesn’t have the grace and confidence of a true Jedi), what is a bad idea is tacking on the Emperor’s death scream from Return Of The Jedi. It’s a lazy edit, and it just doesn’t work, as it isn’t removed from Return Of The Jedi.

I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure that Luke Skywalker, a man in his early twenties, and the Emperor, a centuries old Sith Lord whose body has been ravaged by the Dark Side, wouldn’t sound the same. Even when screaming. It may only be a minor irritant, but it’s still annoying."

I agree, when I first saw the Special Edition this annoyed me as well. I immediately thought that it was lame for Luke to scream as he jumped. Luke was committing an honorable act in this moment. He chose death over the dark side, basically proving that he was truly a Jedi, even if he didn't know it. And Jedi don't scream like little bitches. And I agree, using the Emperor's scream was lazy. The author of this article leaves out one important point in their criticism, Lucas removed the scream for the DVD release...I double-checked last night.

9. Altering the entrance to Mos Eisley.

DoG writes, "Okay, say I’m nitpicking if you will, but this really mars the sequence in my eyes. The CGI stuff in the background doesn’t blend in with the rest of the film, and just draws attention away from the action in the foreground. It’s like an irritating five-year-old onscreen screaming “Look at me look at me”."

And the dinosaur creature walking across the screen is a real pain in the arse, as it obscures the entire frame. It’s just a wall of reptilian flesh that covers the entire picture. Why? It doesn't add anything, and it doesn't really work. Sigh."

I completely disagree, this scene is an improvement over the original as it turns Mos Eisley into a more accurate, sprawling spaceport that is more in line in what we've now been exposed to in the prequels. This scene works and it works well.

8. Putting extra Stormtroopers on the Death Star.

DoG writes, "My gripe with this scene is that it just goes too far. The set-up is basically that Han is chasing a squad of Stormtroopers down a corridor. In the original release, he finds himself at a dead end with several more Stormtroopers. In the remastered version, it’s a hanger with close to a hundred Stormtroopers inside. The consequence of this scene is that Han runs back down the corridor while sporadically firing at the Stormtroopers.

The original scene with just a couple of Stormtroopers worked fine. A couple of fascist soldiers is enough to scare the crap out of someone. Close to a hundred of them is just too much. Also, it’s hard to believe that Han would even bother turning round to shoot at them when there were so many.

This is a case of less is more."

I'm neutral on this one. While it does add some much needed scope to the interior of the Death Star, it does clash with the fact that no more than 10 Stormtroopers are ever chasing our heroes at any one time. But, one of the 10 worst crimes against Star Wars...that's reaching a bit.

7. Altering John Williams' score in The Battle of Yavin sequence.

DoG writes, "It may not be that noticeable, but in any case, this is nothing short of sacrilege. You do not quieten or remove a John Williams score from a film, no matter how tiny the bit you remove is. This is especially shocking as, at some points, the music is purposely drowned out by engine sounds."

Wow, no telling how many times I've watched the Special Editions and I've never noticed this, and for a guy with no discernable musical talent, I'm fairly attuned to musical queues in film scores. THIS is what I would call nitpicking.

6. Reinstating the Jabba the Hutt scene in A New Hope.

DoG writes, "This scene was supposed to be included in the original cut of the film. The scene was shot with Irish actor Declan Mulholland playing Jabba. A stop motion alien was to be put over Mulholland in the edit. But Lucas deemed the effect unsatisfactory, and cut the scene. Then came the 1997 re-release and the scene was reinstated with a CGI Jabba, and (facepalm) Boba Fett in the background for no apparent reason.

It’s not a bad scene in itself, but cutting it was good for the film. Not least because it slows the pace and throws too much focus on Han’s problems, rather than moving the plot forward. Han’s financial situation is perfectly established in the scene with Greedo, and the Jabba scene is just overkill to be honest. Oh, and if you look closely, you’ll see Greedo in the background despite the fact that Han shot him in an earlier scene."

I disagree as I really like this scene and was glad to see it added. Sure, I could get all critical and comment on how the dialogue between Han and Jabba is almost the exact same between Han and Greedo, but why...to what end...to prove that I noticed and therefore George Lucas owes me something. Like Boba Fett being in the scene...why not? He's often in the employ of Jabba, so him being there is no big surprise and definitely isn't a "shoehorn" placement as so many claim. As for Greedo being there, if you look closely there has always been more than one "Greedo" in Mos Eisley even before the Special Editions so I see no issue there. The only cringe-worthy part in this scene is Han stepping on Jabba's tale, which was really bad in the original Special Edition theatrical release, but was improved greatly (along with Jabba himself) in the DVD release.

5. Editing the Jabba's Palace Sequence.

DoG writes, "Who knows what Lucas was thinking when he decided to replace the musical number in Jabba’s palace. The new song’s actually not that bad. It’s not on the same level as Lapti Nek (the original song), but it’s alright. Though some of the lyrics are pretty grating.

What is annoying is the horrendous singing gonk monster and the CGI version of Sy Snootles. The backing dancers are fine. Mainly because they’re real and blend into the scene practically seamlessly.

The CG Sy Snootles, and that furry singing monster, just don’t. It detracts from the grit of the scene that’s created, in part by the aliens in the background, that in this case are actually portrayed by actors or puppeteers.

Despite this, I must say it’s impressive that Femi Taylor (the Twi’lek dancer) was able to do new close-up shots thirteen years after Return Of The Jedi was filmed, without there being an obvious difference.

Also, the extra Rancor pit scene is another case of less is more. It’s brilliantly creepy and foreboding with just the pit closing and the sound of a scream. The extra scenes in the pit are just unnecessary, and as a result, we don’t share in Luke’s fear when he first enters the pit, as we have already been there and don’t see it as a completely alien environment in the way that he does."

I couldn't agree more with every point made in this entry.

4. Putting the Gungans in Return of the Jedi.

DoG writes, "No! No, no, no! Not content with having the Gungans in episodes one, two, and three, Lucas decides to pollute Return Of The Jedi with the floppy-eared wastes of space.

The Ewoks weren’t too bad. They’re annoying but they’re sweet and cuddly, and actually show some competence in helping to defeating the Empire. The Gungans are merely comedy idiots and cannon fodder, and shoving them in Return Of The Jedi is just beyond the pale. Nothing takes the shine off the second Death Star being blown up more than a Gungan yelling out “We's-a free”.

And don’t say I’m overreacting and that they’re in there for less than five seconds, because that’s not the point. The point is they’re in there at all. Even if there was one milling about in Jabba’s throne room, it would lower the tone."

I completely disagree. First off, this scene is putting Naboo into the end sequence and not specifically the Gungans. I don't have the problem with Jar Jar and the Gungans that most on the internet seem to have. To me they're the Ewoks of the Prequels and just as I have no great love, nor hate for the Ewoks, my feelings are the same about the Gungans. I do like this scene as it relates back to the Prequel Trilogy and to Naboo, which is one of the key planets in the entire Saga.

3. Greedo Shoots First.

DoG writes, "The most infamous alteration to any of the Star Wars films. The reason that Star Wars devotees are so outraged at this scene is because it not only alters a classic scene, but it ruins the scene’s establishing of Han’s character. Here we see what a skilled gunslinger and crafty bastard Han can be. He takes advantage of Greedo’s monologuing by shooting him, while Greedo bangs on about how he’s going to kill him.

Having Greedo shoot first undermines all of that. Lucas says that he altered the scene to make Han seem less unscrupulous and more like the hero he would eventually become. The point of character development is that the character changes, though. Han is supposed to amoral to begin with and becomes more heroic as time goes by.

Why not just edit all of Luke’s scenes so he is a master swordsman and an expert Force user to make him seem less neophyte and more reminiscent of his character in Return Of The Jedi?"

I wholeheartedly agree with this one as well. Greedo shooting first does take away from Han's character. But at the end of the day it is Lucas' decision and while I don't like it I still don't consider my childhood "raped", although I do hold out hope that Lucas will come to his senses and restore the scene in the blu-ray release, but I doubt it. The rant by the writer in the last section is a bit of a childish tantrum as I've heard similar themed arguments from my 10 year old.

2. Redoing the Emperor scene in The Empire Strikes Back.

DoG writes, "Though replacing the image of the old woman with chimpanzee eyes and the voice of Clive Revill with Ian McDiarmid is a sizeable annoyance, the most horrendous thing about this change is altering Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan’s dialogue. I wonder what possessed Uncle George to bastardise the script of what is widely regarded as the saga’s best film.

There was nothing wrong with the scene as originally written, and this just seems to be change for the sake of change. It’s an even bigger disgrace, as this was Leigh Brackett’s final work before she died.

Even when she was suffering from cancer and nearing the end of her life, she still managed to pull it together and co-write an amazing script. 20 years later? George Lucas went tinkering, and not to the benefit of the end result."

They're just wrong about this one. The original rendition of the Emperor in this scene was just atrocious and jarring once you saw Return of the Jedi as the two were clearly not the same person. This addition fixes continuity issues and ties back to the Prequel Trilogy and is a vast improvement over the original scene.

1. Replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen.

DoG writes, "So here’s number one on the list. Replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen as the ghost of Anakin Skywalker. Why not just smear shit over the screen and be done with it? Replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen ruins the image of a trio of venerable old Jedi masters.

Rather than the Anakin Skywalker we saw before his death, restored to how he would look if he were healthy, we’re given another image of Hayden Christensen, grinning smugly. Lucas didn’t even bother to get new footage of Christensen. He just took the head from an early costume test video and superimposed it over Sebastian Shaw.

It also dilutes the concept of Anakin’s redemption, as the edited scene implies that only his younger self was considered to be a true Jedi. Plus, I was always under the impression that only Luke could see the ghosts, and that their appearance was based on how he had seen Anakin, Obi Wan, and Yoda. Clearly I was wrong. How else is Lucas going to ruin this scene? Ewan McGregor replacing Alec Guinness? A CGI Yoda? (Actually, that might happen.)

Or why doesn’t he just go the whole hog and stick Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, Ki Adi Mundi, and every other minor Jedi in there? A rally of Jedi spectres. just to mangle the ending even more."

I agree with this sentiment. I've heard Lucas' reasons for this change, but by the rules he's established in the Star Wars universe, he's wrong. First off, when Vader turned on the Emperor and killed him he was no longer Sith and was once again Anakin, and a Jedi, so it should have been Sebastian Shaw in the scene. But let's give voice to the argument that not even killing the Emperor (and the Sith) and restoring balance to the Force was not enough to redeem Vader and he did not die a Jedi therefore giving creedence that it should be young Anakin in the scene. The scene is still inaccurate as it portrays Episode III Anakin. By Lucas' own statement, Anakin stopped being a true Jedi when he massacred the Tusken Raiders (including the women and children (and infants)) so for the scene then to be accurate it would have to be "before the slaughter" Jedi Padawan Anakin. Where I do disagree with the writer is that I would love to see Qui-Gon, Mace, and all the other Jedi appear in the background behind Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Anakin.

Surprisingly, there was no mention of the two changes that I consider to be "true crimes".

The first issue is with the lightsaber effects. This should have been a slam-dunk to fix all of the lightsabers and make it all uniform with the prequels and each other but while they're better but not perfect in the first two films, they've actually regressed in Return of the Jedi. Please fix this for the blu-ray release.

The second issue is my biggest gripe with all of the changes. In the original theatrical release of The Empire Strikes Back after Luke has escaped, Vader is walking down a corridor and he tells a subordinate, "Bring my shuttle.". In those three words James Earl Jones is able to convey all of Vader's anger and frustration to the point that you feel that Vader is about to explode and crush the said subordinates skull through the wall. This is replaced with a ho-hum "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival" and then a momentum killing extraneous shot of Vader landing on his Star Destroyer. Its my hope against hope that this would be restored in the blu-ray but I know its not going to happen. But you know what...I still love Star Wars....not as much as my family....but more than my dog.

I've enjoyed this little back and forth with Den of Geek...even though they didn't know they were involved. Den of Geek is a great site and I highly recommend that you check it out if you haven't already.

What I Watched In March 2011

2011-04-04T09:47:00.007-04:00

I've got a shiny new logo thanks to my friend Chris and I've got a new blog entry for all my reader(s). Never one for small talk, on with the post...

The Big Bang Theory Season 1 Disk 1 --5 out of 5-- Did you know that in the first half of the first season Sheldon did not (knockknockknock, Penny, knockknockknock, Penny, knockknockknock, Penny). Amaze your family after dinner.

X-Men --5 out of 5--

Gone Baby Gone (2007) --4 out of 5-- Excellent film, but hard to watch due to the subject matter. Makes you face the reality of doing what's legal versus doing what's right.

The Crow: City of Angels (1996) --1 out of 5-- As un-awesome as the first movie was awesome.

Julie & Julia (2009) --3.5 out of 5-- I must admit I liked it better than I thought I would. Meryl Streep proves again why she is the greatest actress of our age. I do believe that there is more to the story than the movie portrayed and that Julie may not be the "sweet little angel" she was made out to be. But then when you write the book you can be whatever you want.

True Blood Season 2 Disk 4 --4 out of 5--

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) --5 out of 5-- Wicked good fun and the tie-in to the original movie was clever. Watch late at night.

Rango (2011) --2.5 out of 5-- It has its moments but overall its a very dull, lifeless film full of unlikeable characters.

The Big Bang Theory Season 1 Disk 2 --5 out of 5--

Band of Brothers Disk 5 --5 out of 5-- Amazing series, you need to check it out if you haven't already.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Disk 7 --3 out of 5-- FINALLY, I've made it through Season 1. Its been like swimming in molasses. I do admit the return of the Romulans was handled in a cool geek-out moment.

X2: X-Men United (2003) --5 out of 5--

Dexter Season 4 Disk 3 --5 out of 5--

The Big Bang Theory Season 1 Disk 3 --5 out of 5--

The Big Bang Theory Season 2 Disk 1 --5 out of 5--

The Big Bang Theory Season 2 Disk 2 --5 out of 5-- "I can grow my own Leonard Nimoy!"

The Magnificent Seven (1960) --3.5 out of 5-- A good flick, but I was a bit disappointed as I was hoping for a lot more.

Machete (2010) --4 out of 5-- Oh, how I enjoyed this movie. A true popcorn flick with the most imaginative use of intestines ever committed to film.

The Social Network (2010) --4 out of 5-- Another movie that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. David Fincher does indeed deserve props for turning a two-paragraph Wikipedia entry into a gripping film. However, I still have no desire to use Facebook anymore than the minimal time I already put into it.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) --4 out of 5--

Fat Head (2009) --4 out of 5-- Very informative and well-done for its budget and best of all it exposes Spurlock's Super Size Me doc. Fast food is NOT good for you, but Spurlock just outright lied about his findings, as Tom Naughton proved by losing eight pounds doing the same thing Spurlock did.

The Big Bang Theory Season 2 Disk 3 --5 out of 5--

Dexter Season 4 Disk 4 --5 out of 5-- ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** Despite the tour de force performance by John Lithgow this is the weakest of the four seasons...its still great just not quite as great as its predecessors. The reason being is that Dexter has become almost super-human and the series has defied its own rules for the universe its created. Dexter leaves work constantly, stays out to all hours of the night despite having a wife and three children (one a newborn), and manages to single-handedly out-detective the leading FBI profiler and the entire Miami PD. In the past seasons Dexter had to work around his responsibilities in order to carryout his dark needs but in this season he's given carte blanche to do whatever, whenever with only the flimsiest of reasons, and sometimes none whatsoever, as to why. But Lithgow's performance as the Trinity killer and the surprise retaliation killing of Rita (that took balls by the creators) still made this season great. Here's to hoping Season Five corrects the course.

The Ugly Truth (2009) --3 out of 5-- This flick is almost amateurish in its production complete with the most cliched storyline ever for a rom-com. But still, I watched it all the way through and enjoyed it. I never want to see it again, but I don't regret watching it.

Castle Season 2 Disk 2 --5 out of 5-- First five minutes of episode 6...nuff said.

The Duchess (2008) --4 out of 5-- Yet another flick that I didn't expect to like and yet was really good. This is why I don't limit myself to any particular genre. A great performance by Ralph Fiennes.

Superman Returns (2006) --2 out of 5-- I originally rented this from Netflix when it first debuted on DVD and Mrs. Block and I watched it and we both fell asleep...true story. A couple of years later I was walking by the clearance rack at Wal-Mart and I saw the Superman Returns DVD for only $2. So, I picked it up figuring that perhaps I misjudged it the first time and it really wasn't that bad...and it was only $2, if nothing else I could give it to someone I didn't like as a present. Fast forward another 2 years and I finally popped it back into the blu-ray player ready to give it a fair shake in this second viewing. It's still bad...boring would be the more apt description. Bryan Singer was fresh off making (at the time) the best super-hero movie of all time and then he turned coat and took the money to direct Superman Returns and abandoned the third X-Men flick. In a nice little twist, Singer made a tepid, poorly cast, unoriginal, and BOOORRRRIIINNNGGG movie. Not only that but it cost northward of $200 million to produce and the effects were subpar...Epic Fail! On the other hand, Brett Ratner came in to a bad situation with X3 and managed a fun flick that had a better return on the investment. So, if you get the Superman Returns DVD from me as a present, well......

I Spit On Your Grave (2010) --3 out of 5-- I liked it better than the original.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 Disk 1 --4 out of 5-- A good start to the season except for 'The Outrageous Okona' which was creepy, what with Wesley making goo-goo eyes at Okona the whole episode.

Californication Season 3 Disk 2 --3 out of 5-- ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** You ever meet someone new and they tell a joke and its really funny and you become friends. Later on, your new friend tells the same joke and its still kind of funny because there are new people around, so you laugh along. Further down the road, your friend is still telling the same joke and its just no longer funny...in fact its becoming irritating...but your friend is oblivious to this and just keeps on telling it and you're wondering if you still want to be friends. That is Californication. The characters have all become unlikeable to the point that I'm beginning to bore with their antics. The first two seasons have the same basic plot: Hank screws around, ticks off Karen and Becca, Karen swears they are through for good, and in the season finale Becca has forgiven him and Karen has taken him back. Season three mixes it up by Hank being forced to reveal to Karen that he had sex with Mia and Karen breaks down...which makes no sense. Karen has had no problems with all of Hank's affairs up to this point. When Hank got it on with Mia, he did not know who she was or how old she was, and he never touched her again. He continued to look out for her, even after she stole his new book, and was really more of a father to her than Bill. So, Karen's reaction in the season finale is just really out of nowhere and just doesn't fit in the established.

Sucker Punch (2011) --4 out of 5-- The much criticized Sucker Punch is director's Zack Snyder's first all original production (I think). I really enjoyed the movie as it makes literal the phrase, "Your Mind Will Set You Free". The central theme is very cool, but Snyder doesn't do a very good job at explaining all of this and I would imagine it left many scratching their heads. You have to pay attention because it is really easy to get confused by the different levels of reality. Snyder is one of the elite visual directors working today and is great at adapting other's work (300, Watchmen) but when it comes to his own work, Snyder is not Nolan, and Sucker Punch is not Inception, but its still a fun ride.

3:10 To Yuma (2007) --4 out of 5-- When people associate video quality with blu-ray, they usually think; Star Trek, Watchmen, and other CG heavy flicks. But some of the most visually stunning movies I've seen in high-def have been westerns and 3:10 to Yuma is just that, visually stunning on blu-ray, plus its just a solid, really good flick all the way around.

Batman Begins (2005) --5 out of 5-- "Criminals thrive on society's indulgence and understanding." Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard

The Dark Knight (2008) --5 out of 5-- In Gotham, banks are either very poorly made or buses are made out of adamantium.

One of the Best Movie One-Sheets Ever!!!

2011-03-31T08:39:00.003-04:00

Cell Block Top 15 Movies - 2004

2011-03-26T09:41:00.003-04:00

1. Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban --5 out of 5--
2. The Phantom Of The Opera --5 out of 5--
3. Love Actually --5 out of 5--
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind --5 out of 5--
5. Finding Neverland --5 out of 5--
6. The Notebook --5 out of 5--
7. House of Flying Daggers --4 out of 5--
8. Spider-Man 2 --4 out of 5--
9. The Bourne Supremacy --4 out of 5--
10. The Aviator --4 out of 5--
11. The Passion of the Christ --4 out of 5--
12. Man On Fire --4 out of 5--
13. Alien Vs. Predator --4 out of 5--
14. Saw --4 out of 5--
15. The Incredibles --4 out of 5--

Pay Attention, This Is More Important Than Whatever You're Doing - The Lord of the Rings Edition

2011-03-22T22:01:00.003-04:00

What a year this has turned out to be for me and my hobbies. First there was the news that the Star Wars Saga is coming on blu-ray in September. Then George RR Martin finally announced a release date for A Dance With Dragons, the fifth installment in his epic series, A Song of Ice & Fire. Although I will admit I have some doubt as he still hasn't finished the book at the time of this posting, but I'm ever the optimist...just ask anyone. Now, onto the current news which is a two-parter and has to do with JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (which you would know if you took the time to read the entire blog title). The first bit of new is that filming on The Hobbit began last week with the first of the two films scheduled for late 2012 release (I'm guessing in December, just like the LOTR Trilogy) with the second to follow a year later. The second BIG BIG news can be found HERE !!!!!!!

Yes, The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions are coming to blu-ray and just look at that set, beyond awesome. Its good to be a geek and to be a geek is all good.

Thanks to THEONERING.NET for the article, the only place to get all your Lord of the Rings information.

What I Watched in February, 2011

2011-03-17T19:14:00.006-04:00

Year One (2009) --1 out of 5-- If you've seen The Holiday and/or Peter Jackson's King Kong then you know that Jack Black is more than a one-trick pony. While there may never be an Oscar in his future, he can act and has charisma that's off the charts. Yet he continues to play the bumbling, yet lovable, buffoon...over and over and over...and based on the diminishing returns of his flicks, the people are tired of it. What worked for School of Rock, has now become boring and somewhat nauseating. He's got talent, but at age 41, the slacker bit is done for him. Here's hoping that he makes some better decisions in the future and expands his CV.

In Bruges (2008) --5 out of 5-- The powers that be decided to market In Bruges as a buddy comedy. It. Is. Not. Its nowhere near being a comedy. While there are some humorous moments, it is a result of the eccentricity of the characters and not played for straight laughs. What In Bruges IS, is a great film with outstanding performances by its two leads; Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, and a great supporting turn by the imcomparable Ralph Fiennes. In Bruges is a well done drama that is at times funny, sad, and brutal.

Dexter Season 4 Disk 1 -- 5 out of 5-- My favorite serial killer is back.

Kevin Smith: Too Fat for 40 --4 out of 5-- A solid 4th entry in Smith's Q & A series.

Catch & Release (2006) --2.5 out of 5-- And speaking of the great Kevin Smith, he is the best, and only entertaining, thing about this sappy romcom. A good cast and a good story can't overcome the sloppy directing.

30 Rock Season 4 Disk 3 --4 out of 5--

Moulin Rouge (2001) --5 out of 5-- I love this flick.

Californication Season 3 Disk 1 --5 out of 5-- My 2nd favorite TV author is back.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1 Disk 6 --3 out of 5-- The dreariness continues.

The Notebook (2004) --5 out of 5-- Make fun of me if you want, but this is a great movie.

Notting Hill (1999) --4 out of 5-- A movie that succeeds in spite of Julia Roberts.

Sabrina (1995) --4 out of 5-- Mrs. Block and I went to see this at the theater way back when...we were the youngest ones there...When the movie started this older couple got up and walked out and never returned. I still wonder exactly why. My best guess is that they thought it was the 1954 Bogart/Hepburn original and were offended that it wasn't. If so, they should have stayed, while the remake isn't as good as the original it was still well done and showed no disrespect to the tone or the source material.

Young Guns (1988) --4 out of 5-- Is Young Guns deserving of this rating...probably not...but teenage nostalgia bumps it up there for me. When I was 14, all of my age group crowded into the local cinema to the point that we were sitting in the aisles...not only were we too young to see the movie but we also violated several fire safety codes....good times.

Ghostbusters (1984) --4 out of 5--

Serendipity (2001) --5 out of 5-- And so began my eternal crush on Kate Beckinsale and I owe it all to Mrs. Block who first introduced us.

Darkness Falls (2003) --1 out of 5-- A horror movie about the tooth fairy. Proof that if Netflix puts it on Watch Instantly I'll probably watch it...or in this case, the first 20 minutes.

Bloodsport (1988) --3 out of 5-- The best way to watch Bloodsport is with a group of friends with all of you being somewhere between buzzed and drunk....maybe one girl being completely drunk.

The Godfather (1972) --5 out of 5-- Mrs. Block had never seen The Godfather....I know, I couldn't believe it either. About halfway through it, I looked over only to find her playing Word Mole on my Blackberry...I am so ashamed, but then I should have expected as much from the woman who skimmed 'The Stand'. Atrocious.

Hard Candy (2005) --3.5 out of 5-- Don't mess with Ellen Page.

The African Queen (1951) --3.5 out of 5-- I said it before; Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Sabrina, Casablanca and Bogart wins his ONLY Oscar for The African Queen. Make-up call by the Academy.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Season 1 Disk 1 --4 out of 5--

The Elephant Man (1980) --5 out of 5-- John Hurt is amazing, you really need to see his performance.

Aeon Flux (2005) --1 out of 5-- I've always disliked movies about problematic eutopian future societies...I still do. If Charlize Theron was looking for a palate cleanser after her amazing performance in Monster, she found it. Another 20 minute and done flick.

Dexter Season 4 Disk 2 --5 out of 5-- John Lithgow is amazing.

On The Waterfront (1954) --5 out of 5-- Yes, its as good as you've heard and so is Brando.

Revisison -- Cell Block Top 15 Movies of 2007

2011-03-12T10:57:00.002-05:00

I recently watched the Ben Affleck directed, Gone Baby Gone. It's a solid whodunit with great performances, especially from Casey Affleck. So Gone Baby Gone jumps into the top 15 at #10. But with every flick new to the Top 15, someone has to say good-bye and this go round, Knocked Up is knocked out.

1. Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix --5 out of 5--
2. 300 --5 out of 5--
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End --5out of 5--
4. The Orphanage --5 out of 5--
5. Black Snake Moan --5 out of 5--
6. No Country For Old Men --5 out of 5--
7. There Will Be Blood --5 out of 5--
8. Zodiac --4 out of 5--
9. Halloween --4 out of 5--
10. Gone Baby Gone --4 out of 5--
11. Juno --4 out of 5--
12. 3:10 To Yuma --4 out of 5--
13. The Bourne Ultimatum --4 out of 5--
14. Transformers --4 out of 5--
15. Waitress --4 out of 5--

The Phantom Menace in 3-D and A Dance with Dragons

2011-03-05T09:54:00.005-05:00

Two huge announcements in as many days, guaranteed to make the inhabitant of Cell Block grin from ear to ear. Starting with the last one first....On February 10th, 2012 George Lucas is re-releasing Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace in theaters in 3-D. Then every February for the following 5 years will see the re-release of the entire Saga. You can't begin to fathom how excited I am by this because there is no movie-going experience like seeing ANY Star Wars film on the silver screen. And while my 3-D movie-going experience has been hit and miss (mostly miss) when done right it truly enhances my movie-going experience. When 3-D is applied over a 2-D film it all depends on the knowledge and experience of the people performing the transfer and how much time and care they take. This is George Lucas we're talking about and I guarantee that HIS Saga will receive the best 3-D treatment of any movie before it and any movie for years to come. It is going to look amazing. From the crowded streets of Mos Espa, the pod race, to the majesty of Coruscant and the final Duel of the Fates on Naboo its going to be like seeing if for the first time. But the absolute greatest thing about The Phantom Menace and the rest of the Saga being re-released is that I get to watch Star Wars at the theater with my son (and possibly my daughter, if I can convince her that Justin Bieber is in the movie). Being able to do this means the world to me. He is a big Star Wars fan like his Dad...well maybe not quite like his Dad...and the only Star Wars flicks we've seen at the theater together was Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars. To know that he and I will be able to see all six movies on a 150 foot screen, sitting in a cushy theater seat with our feet stuck to the floor, eating over-priced popcorn and drinking over-priced coke is one of the best gifts I've received and for that I extend my sincerest thanks to Mr. Lucas.

Now for the other big news. If you've been paying attention then you know that I'm a huge fan of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire epic series...and I do mean epic...it makes Tolkien's Lord of the Rings feel like a short story (only in length and scope, Tolkien is still King). It all started with A Game of Thrones released in 1996 followed by A Clash of Kings in 1998 and then A Storm of Swords (the only book I've literally thrown at the wall in anger) in 2000. Things were coming along nicely, a new book every two years. Then the first snag, a five year wait for A Feast for Crows. (There are a whole lot of details I'm leaving out, but that's for another time). Noting this as just an aberration, it was known (inside joke) that the next volume would be out in a couple of years, three at most. As it turned out it was a couple of three year combinations. Six years and finally on July 12th of this year I will finally be able to bring book five, A Dance With Dragons, home to the Cell Block. Many are furious with Martin for taking so long. I don't get it, I do make jokes sometime about I'll be over 50 once the series is finally done, but that's all it is, just jokes. I have no doubts that Martin will finish A Song of Ice and Fire and no doubts that it will be amazing. Unlike many of his critics, I have plenty of things to do between books while he works through the arduous task of quality writing and storyweaving in order to deliver the best reading experience possible. Now if you'll excuse me I have to start re-reading nearly 4,000 pages of literary greatness in preparation...after all, I'm under a deadline.

Castle -- Season 2: Episode 6

2011-03-01T23:10:00.005-05:00

To quote Turkey Creek Jack Johnson from Tombstone, "I ain't got the words". That's all I can say to my complete geekout to the first five minutes of Castle -- Season 2: Episode 6 which Mrs. Block and I just finished watching. If you've paid any attention at all to this blog over the past few months and you've seen this particular episode of Castle then you don't have to be Nikki Heat to figure it out.

I know my next blog was supposed to be the Cell Block recap of the Oscars (and it is coming) but I've been busy and the recap will be lengthy and I just haven't been able to carve out a block of time (get it..."block" of time) to get it done. When I saw this episode of Castle for the first time tonight I just had to preserve my joy in the foreverness of the interweb via my own dedicated sourcebox. I thought about Facebook, but I don't really like Facebook and this was too cool to be wasted on the "what've you've done lately" ADD poster child of websites. For something as cool as this it had to go on the Cell Block. Oscar update will be here in the next day or so....give or take.

Cell Block Predicts the Oscars....or at least the one's he's interested in.

2011-02-26T14:39:00.008-05:00

Tomorrow is the 83rd Annual Academy Awards where as the media loves to say repeatedly, "Hollywood celebrates itself", which is a really dumb thing to say in my opinion. Who should celebrate movies, the NFL perhaps...or NASCAR...or the teacher's union...maybe the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers should put on the Oscars...or as an emergency backup my daughter's elementary school class could be on standby. Anyway, I'm going to throw out my 2nd Annual predictions. Last year I did every category, but this year I'm just doing the categories that I halfway know something about...I really do not care who wins 'Best Foreign Language Short Film filmed in english, converted to latverian, and then dubbed back into english with french subtitles'. So I'm going to throw out who I think SHOULD win and then who I think WILL win. So here we go....

Note: Movies I've seen will be highlighted & italicized.

Best Animated Short Film:

Nominees:
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar: A Journey Diary

Who I Think Should Win: Day & Night
Who I Think Will Win: Day & Night

Best Visual Effects: Always near and dear to a geek's heart and year after year the one category where I've seen nearly all of the nominees.

Nominees:
Alice In Wonderland
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Who I Think Should Win: Inception
Who I Think Will Win: Inception

Best Sound Editing:

Nominees:
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Who I Think Should Win: Inception
Who I Think Will Win: Inception

Best Sound Mixing:

Nominees:
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Who I Think Should Win: Inception
Who I Think Will Win: Inception

Best Original Score:

Nominees:
127 Hours -- A.R. Rahman
How To Train Your Dragon -- John Powell
Inception -- Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech -- Alexandre Desplat
The Social Network -- Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Who I Think Should Win: Inception -- Hans Zimmer
Who I Think Will Win: The Social Network -- Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Best Makeup:

Nominees:
Barney's Version -- Adrian Morot
The Way Back -- Edouard F. Henriques & two other people
The Wolf Man -- Rick Baker, Dave Elsey

Who I Think Should Win: The Wolf Man -- Rick Baker, Dave Elsey
Who I Think Will Win: Barney's Version -- Adrian Morot

Best Costume Design:

Nominees:
Alice In Wonderland -- Colleen Atwood
I Am Love -- Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech -- Jenny Beaven
The Tempest -- Sandy Powell
True Grit -- Mary Zophres

Who I Think Should Win: Alice In Wonderland -- Colleen Atwood
Who I Think Will Win: The King's Speech -- Jenny Beaven

Best Art Direction:

Nominees:
Alice In Wonderland
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

Who I Think Should Win: Alice In Wonderland -- Robert Stromberg, Karen O'Hara
Who I Think Will Win: Alice In Wonderland -- Robert Stromberg, Karen O'Hara

Best Editing: How in the nine rings of Hollywood hell was Inception not included in this category?

Nominees:
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Who I Would Like To See Win: Black Swan -- Andrew Weisblum
Who I Think Will Win: The Social Network -- Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

Best Cinematography:

Nominees:
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Who I Think Should Win: True Grit -- Roger Deakins
Who I Think Will Win: True Grit -- Roger Deakins

Best Animated Feature Film:

Nominees:
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Who I Think Should Win: Toy Story 3
Who I Think Will Win: Toy Story 3

Best Director: How in the nine rings of Hollywood hell was Christopher Nolan not nominated in this category.

Nominees:
Darren Aronofsky -- Black Swan
The Coen Brothers -- True Grit
David Fincher -- The Social Network
Tom Hooper -- The King's Speech
David O. Russell -- The Fighter

Who I Would Like To See Win: Darren Aronofsky -- Black Swan
Who I Think Will Win: David Fincher -- The Social Network

Best Supporting Actress:

Nominees:
Amy Adams -- The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter -- The King's Speech
Melissa Leo -- The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld -- True Grit
Jacki Weaver -- Animal Kingdom

Who I Think Should Win: Hailee Steinfeld -- True Grit
Who I Think Will Win: Hailee Steinfeld -- True Grit

Best Supporting Actor:

Nominees:
Christian Bale -- The Fighter
John Hawke's -- Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner -- The Town
Mark Ruffalo -- The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush -- The King's Speech

Who I Would Like To See Win: Geoffrey Rush -- The King's Speech
Who I Think Will Win: Geoffrey Rush -- The King's Speech

Best Actress:

Nominees:
Annette Bening -- The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman -- Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence -- Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman -- Black Swan
Michelle Williams -- Blue Valentine

Who I Would Like To See Win: Natalie Portman -- Black Swan
Who I Think Will Win: Natalie Portman -- Black Swan

Best Actor:

Nominees:
Javier Bardem -- Biutiful
Jeff Bridges -- True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg -- The Social Network
Colin Firth -- The King's Speech
James Franco -- 127 Hours

Who I Would Like To See Win: Colin Firth -- The King's Speech
Who I Think Will Win: Colin Firth -- The King's Speech

Best Picture: I still think expanding the nominees from five to ten is dumb and pointless.

Nominees:
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Who I Think Should Win: Inception
Who I Think Will Win: The King's Speech

Upset Alert of the Night: Natalie Portman not winning Best Actress for Black Swan.

So there you have it, the Cell Block predictions for (most of) the Oscars. Enjoy and be on the lookout for results and reactions to the 83rd Academy Awards...sometime next week.

Revision: Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2009

2011-02-20T01:18:00.003-05:00

I'm less than ten minutes removed from finishing watching Angels & Demons and I must say that I really liked it. The score was outstanding and I will own it by the end of the week and at some point the movie as well, but the soundtrack first. Below is the revised list showing Angels & Demons at #12 and also showing that My Bloody Valentine 3-D has been axed...or pick-axed as it were.

1. Watchmen --5 out of 5--
2. Star Trek --5 out of 5--
3. Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince --5 out of 5--
4. The Hangover --5 out of 5--
5. Paranormal Activity --5 out of 5--
6. Avatar --5 out of 5--
7. Inglourious Basterds --5 out of 5--
8. Sherlock Holmes --4 out of 5--
9. Up --4 out of 5--
10. Halloween II --4 out of 5--
11. Up In The Air --4 out of 5--
12. Angels & Demons --4 out of 5--
13. Crazy Heart --4 out of 5--
14. Taken --4 out of 5--
15. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2005

2011-02-15T23:05:00.003-05:00

1. Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith --5 out of 5--
2. Sin City --5 out of 5--
3. Serenity --5 out of 5--
4. Crash --5 out of 5--
5. Batman Begins --5 out of 5--
6. Brokeback Mountain --5 out of 5--
7. Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire --5 out of 5--
8. Walk The Line --5 out of 5--
9. King Kong -- 4 out of 5--
10. The Exorcism of Emily Rose --4 out of 5--
11. Kingdom of Heaven --4 out of 5--
12. Cinderella Man --4 out of 5--
13. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe --4 out of 5--
14. The 40-Year Old Virgin --4 out of 5--
15. Fantastic Four --4 out of 5--

What I Watched in January (2011)

2011-02-11T23:58:00.004-05:00

Firefly Disk 1 --5 out of 5-- I want to go to there.

Tin Man Mini-Series --1 out of 5-- I lasted nearly an hour but the absurdity of it all was just too much. After not being impressed by her performance in 500 Days of Summer, I can only call "over-rated" when it comes to Zooey Deschanel.

Love Actually (2004) --5 out of 5-- A carry-over from December, which is when I usually watch this wonderful ensemble....actually.

Ice Age (2002) --5 out of 5-- The original has an emotional core that the tepid sequels are sadly lacking.

Firefly Disk 2 --5 out of 5-- I want to go to there...did I mention that?

Firefly Disk 3 --5 out of 5-- I want to...you know.

Horror of Dracula (1958) --3 out of 5-- Watchable, but bland. I've now seen several Hammer films and I must say they have all been overrated.

Firefly Disk 4 --5 out of 5-- Fox sucks.

Ghost Ship (2002) --4 out of 5-- A surprisingly well done and enjoyable ghost/horror film. Worth a look if you've never seen it and like that sort of thing.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) --3 out of 5-- Even the talents of John Cusack and Craig Robinson couldn't raise this flick above mediocre status. 3 out of 5 is generous and the ranking probably reflects the occasion that accompanied this viewing.

Band of Brother Disk 5 --4 out of 5-- Another solid entry, it just doesn't have that "something" that would put it over the top. The interviews with the actual surviving members of Easy Company will definitely leave a lump in your throat.

30 Rock Season 4 Disk 2 --4 out of 5-- (still).

Serenity (2005) --5 out of 5-- "We have done the impossible and that makes us mighty."

Garth Brooks: All Access --3 out of 5-- A fluff promotional piece that came with a CD or something I bought once upon a time.

Despicable Me (2010) --3.5 out of 5-- Funny, but not that funny...charming, but not that charming,...emotional, but not really.

Race To Witch Mountain (2009) --2 out of 5-- Has a moment here and there, but ultimately is forgettable.

Knight & Day (2010) --3 out of 5-- A movie suffering from an identity crisis. One moment its trying to be a quirky, action-comedy, the next its trying to be a serious action drama. If it had solely been one or the other then, either way, it could've been a really good flick.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010) --3 out of 5-- Hands down, the winner for "Most Disappointing" flick I watched this month. A uniquely edited film to be sure, but overall it was kind of boring. There never was any sense of tension. Not during any of the fights did I feel like Scott was ever in any trouble. It was very much like a Saturday morning cartoon, where there is conflict but never any doubt that its all going to be alright.

Revision, Cell Block Top 15 Movies -- 2008

2011-02-04T22:18:00.002-05:00

Last night I watched a brilliant little film called In Bruges. I highly recommend this flick to any and all. It breaks into the Cell Block Top 15 of 2008 at number six and as a result, Vicky Cristina Barcelona has to exit stage left out of the countdown. So without further adieu, here is the revised list.

1. The Dark Knight --5 out of 5--
2. Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull --5 out of 5--
3. Iron Man --f out of 5--
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button --5 out of 5--
5. The Incredible Hulk --5 out of 5--
6. In Bruges --5 out of 5--
7. Star Wars: The Clone Wars --5 out of 5--
8. Gran Torino --4 out of 5--
9. Zack & Miri Make A Porno --4 out of 5--
10. The Wrestler --4 out of 5--
11. Wall-E --4 out of 5--
12. The Strangers --4 out of 5--
13. Revolutionary Road --4 out of 5--
14. Role Models --4 out of 5--
15. Leatherheads --4 out of 5--

Cell Block Top 15 Movies of 2006

2011-01-31T21:51:00.002-05:00

Cell Block Top 15 Movies of 2007

2011-01-25T21:57:00.002-05:00

1. Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix --5 out of 5--
2. 300 --5 out of 5--
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End --5 out of 5--
4. The Orphanage --5 out of 5--
5. Black Snake Moan -- 5 out of 5--
6. No Country For Old Men --5 out of 5--
7. There Will Be Blood --5 out of 5--
8. Zodiac --4 out of 5--
9. Halloween --4 out of 5--
10. Juno --4 out of 5--
11. 3:10 To Yuma --4 out of 5--
12. The Bourne Ultimatum --4 out of 5--
13. Transformers --4 out of 5--
14. Waitress --4 out of 5--
15. Knocked Up --4 out of 5--

You know nothing Jon Snow...Winter Is Coming

2011-01-21T16:30:00.005-05:00

The Game Begins

Cell Block Reacts to the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards

2011-01-17T21:41:00.004-05:00

Last night I sat down and took notes (a fact that Mrs. Block took great joy in making fun of me about) while watching the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards. I always enjoy the Golden Globes. While they will ALWAYS be second to the Oscars in prestige there is a sense of fun associated with them that the Academy Awards just doesn't have. The Academy Awards is that 5-Star restaurant that everyone wants to get invited to and of which they treat with the greatest of respect and are on their best behavior. The Golden Globes is that 4-Star bar & grill where you can eat, drink, and be merry. Anyway, this is not a "play-by-play" recap of the events last night, but rather just my thoughts on the different aspects that interested me. So, on with the show.

Ricky Gervais was the host yet again and unfortunately set the tone early with a mean-spirited jab at Charlie Sheen. While I'm no Charlie Sheen advocate by any shot of the imagination I just don't have the patience for unwarranted meanness in people. I realize the Gervais is just reading what is written for him (or maybe he did write it, truthfully I haven't checked) but regardless, its just lazy writing and utterly pointless. And as the night progressed, low-brow meanness was the soup of the day whenever Gervais stepped up to the podium...to the point that some of the presenters fired their own shots back at him and if you watched the telecast I think you would agree that it wasn't "all in good fun".

First up, Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama)for his role in The Fighter, beating out the brilliant Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech). I was glad to see Bale win as I've been a fan of his ever since I first saw him in American Psycho. Mrs. Block was shocked when she heard his acceptance speech and realized that he was British. Understandable as I'm not sure if I've ever seen him in a flick where he used his native accent. Bale dropped something like 60 pounds from his role in The Dark Knight to his role in The Fighter. But that's nothing compared to dropping his weight to 120 lbs for The Machinist (2004) and then packing on 85 lbs for Batman Begins (2005). Check out these pics.

I was pleased to see Katy Segal take home a Globe for her role on Sons of Anarchy, I've always been a fan of hers. Also pleased to see the brilliant Steve Buscemi get the nod for Boardwalk Empire even if he had to beat out my favorite serial killer with a heart of gold, Michael C. Hall. Best Score went to The Social Network over my personal choice, Inception (Hans Zimmer is one of the best). I've not seen The Social Network but what little they played of the score did sound pretty cool to give them their props. As if there was any doubt, Toy Story 3 took home Best Animated honors.

I was stoked to see Robert Downey, Jr. take to the podium to hand out the Best Actress (Comedy or Musical) award. His presentation with Tina Fey at the Oscars last year (at least I think it was at the Oscars, I can't find it on YouTube...but it did happen) was golden. He started out strong but when you end with the statement that you would have sex with all five of the nominees on stage, in front of his wife and everybody it gets a tad awkward and as the uncomfortable laughter attested to. Still, something about it being Robert Downey, Jr. seems to make it alright. Annette Bening won.

In perhaps Gervais' funniest bit of the night he took a shot at Steve Carell and his exiting stage left of The Office this year. Carell's response was masterfully done. YouTube it and see how funny is done right. Thor and Captain America presented next and was admittedly a geek-out moment for me.....surprised.....no, I didn't think so. They presented the Best Supporting Actress TV Series (Comedy or Musical) the brilliant and under-rated Jane Lynch who in turn gave one of the best and funniest acceptance speeches of the night. This was followed by another of my favorite actresses, Laura Linney, snagging a Globe for Best Actress TV Series (Comedy or Musical).

Low point of the evening was next as they carted out the utterly worthless human being and outright bitch, Jane Fonda. (This is not mean-spirited, it is the truth). I DO NOT LIKE THIS WOMAN!!!

Things got back on track as Penny (Kelly Cuoco) got to award Sheldon (Jim Parsons) the Globe for Best Actor TV Series (Comedy or Musical). This was surprising as Parsons beat out Alec Baldwin and Steve Carrel for the honor. Impressive...most impressive. Melissa Leo (The Fighter) took Best Supporting Actress Motion Picture (Drama) over Mila Kunis (Black Swan). While I've yet to see either of these films (the small town I live in isn't big on booking the more artistic fare) I was pulling for Kunis as she has proven to be quite the actress in her second career after That 70's Show. Leo gave one of the better acceptance speeches of the night to her credit.

Next up was Matt Damon doing a fine job of presenting the Cecil B, Demille Lifetime Achievement Award to Robert DeNiro. I do wonder why they chose Damon and not Pacino or Scorsese? At least they didn't choose Ben Stiller. DeNiro's speech was very awkward and downright odd at times. He really didn't seem that impressed with one of the highest awards a filmmaker can receive. To me he somewhat disrespected the honor and himself.

David Fincher took home Best Director for The Social Network. Glee beat out my favorite, The Big Bang Theory, for Best Comedy. Paul Giamatti and Natalie Portman walked away with Best Acting Awards for Barney's Version and Black Swan respectively. I was disappointed with both of their acceptance speeches. Very pleased to see the great Colin Firth take Acting honors for The King's Speech and the night ended with no surprise as The Social Network took home Best Picture (Drama).

Whenever I watch an awards show, be it the Oscars, BAFTAs, SGA, or the GGs I always have my interest piqued over certain titles that I previously dismissed. This year the Golden Globes added eight to my "investigate further" list...they are:

The Pillars of the Earth
Boardwalk Empire
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Good Shepherd
This Boy's Life
Barney's Version
The Social Network

The Social Network should be a no-brainer for me as I'm a big David Fincher fan and a growing Jesse Eisenberg fan. Up to this point I've dismissed The Social Network for two reasons, both of which are topics that I don't much care for. The first is that it deals with the creation of Facebook (I have tried Facebook but all it did was re-affirm that I'm just as much of an outcast in cyberspace as I am in the real world...or the Matrix as it were) and secondly it deals with the life of a billionaire who is younger than me. But seeing as it is the front-runner to clean up at the Oscars this year I think my curiosity is overpowering my bitterness over the subject matter and I'm off to throw it into my Netflix Queue.

To my #1 Fan, Mrs. Block....I Love You, Always and All Ways. (Good way to see if she reads the entire post or not.) ;-)

Note: The "V" key has been sticking on my keyboard so if there are resultant typos just do a mental "Annie Wilkes" and make it alright. My thanks.

Cell Block Top 15 Movies 2009

2011-01-08T20:04:00.004-05:00

1. Watchmen --5 out of 5--
2. Star Trek --5 out of 5--
3. Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince --5 out of 5--
4. The Hangover --5 out of 5--
5. Paranormal Activity --5 out of 5--
6. Avatar --5 out of 5--
7. Inglourious Basterds --5 out of 5--
8. Sherlock Holmes --4 out of 5--
9. Up --4 out of 5--
10. Halloween II --4 out of 5--
11. Up In The Air --4 out of 5--
12. Crazy Heart --4 out of 5--
13. Taken --4 out of 5--
14. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans --4 out of 5--
15. My Bloody Valentine 3-D --4 out of 5--

Pay Attention, This Is More Important Than Whatever You're Currently Doing

2011-01-06T21:43:00.002-05:00

September 2011!

The Complete Star Wars Saga on Blu-Ray!

6 Movies!

9 Disks!

30+ Hours of Bonus Features!

1 Happy Geek!!!

I've waited for this news for a long time...a long time. To steal a line from my wife (who stole the line from a certain Australian sheila), this is a bit of "happy" for my cup. I know Lucas and this will be the finest video and audio transfer humanly possible. I am stoked. I know the basement-dwelling haters have already began their incessant, pathetic, whine-a-thon concerning all things Lucas and all things Prequels but screw 'em. If they don't like it then they don't have to buy it, but to moan and complain about it ad nauseam is just idiotic and childish. Anyway, that's my mini-rant against the ranters.

"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him."

I bought my Sony Bravia HDTV and Samsung Blu-Ray player several months ago and I have enjoyed it immensely with the titles I've bought up to this point. But, Star Wars is THE REASON I bought it, because I knew that one day this news would arrive and I had to be prepared. So, I've added a new budget entry into my financial spreadsheet and knowing how many months are left between now and then I know exactly how much I need to set aside per month so that when the magical date is finalized I will have the money in hand and can make the purchase guilt-free and my Star Wars video collection will be complete...at least until Lucas re-releases the Saga yet again...3D anyone. And you know what, I'll be there...same as always and the haters can just keep on hatin'.

A Cinematic Geek-Out Moment with Hitchcock

2011-01-03T21:55:00.002-05:00

This made my day.

Telescope: A Talk With Hitchcock Part 1

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant!!!

"Drama is just life with the dull parts cut out."

Seeing this makes me painfully aware of how lacking my movie collection is with the genius of Alfred Hitchcock.

Time to go watch Psycho again.

What I Watched in December 2010

2011-01-01T21:13:00.004-05:00

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 D5 --3 out of 5-- I'm still trudging through the dreary first season, patiently waiting for the characters to develop the traits that made them shine in later seasons. Why couldn't there be an alternate timeline where Wesley Crusher and Tasha Yar don't exist?

Californication Season 2 Disk 2 --5 out of 5-- I'm officially converted. I love this show.

True Blood Season 2 Disk 3 --4 out of 5--

The Expendables (2010) --2 out of 5-- The most disappointing flick of the year for me. I was really looking forward to it. Great concept + poor execution = FAIL. Stallone seems obsessed with the cringe-worthy one-liner and in this flick you will cringe A LOT. No doubt that the assembled cast is an action-lovers dream team but the majority were so poorly used that you're left shaking your head at what could've been. Take the Arnold classic, Predator. In that flick you believe that not only is Arnold and his team a collection of bad-asses but that they've been a team for a long time. In The Expendables you have no such feeling about Sly's team. The chemistry is that bad. And the cameo scene bringing together the "Big Three" is a bit of a let-down. Willis does a good job but Arnold looks really bad, as in unhealthy bad, apparently being boss of California has taken its toll. I could go on but I'll just leave it. Given the box-office smack it brought in, a second helping is all but assured so maybe they'll get it right the second time.

The Fly (1986) --3.5 out of 5-- A good flick for those who aren't squeamish. Always fun to see advanced technology as portrayed in the 70's and 80's.

The Girl Next Door (2007) --1 out of 5-- I did not finish the movie once I figured the direction it was heading. I can watch most anything, but I have no tolerance for the subject matter covered in this movie.

Avatar Extended Edition (2009) --5 out of 5--

Star Trek (2009) --5 out of 5-- "Thrusters on full."....gives me chills every time.

Predators (2010) --2 out of 5-- Ugh. People can trash Alien Vs. Predator all they want but its much better than this film. Now, for those who want to trash AVP: Requiem, I'm right there with you.

Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) --2.5 out of 5-- Despite the title and the awful rubber suited "Giant Leeches" this flick is (somewhat) watchable...including a gratuitous wet t-shirt scene (scandalous at the time, now you see worse in TV commercials on kid shows). What really surprised me about this flick was how seriously everyone involved seemed to take it. They're not playing it as camp and their effort raises it a notch above the usual Corman flick.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Cartoon)(1966) --5 out of 5-- Keep your Miracle on 34th Street, this is the true Christmas classic.

Predator (1987) --5 out of 5-- After viewing the dismal Predators I had to go back and view the original un-matched classic so that I could really hate the last two flicks to feature my favorite extra-terrestrial, dread-locked hunters.

The Matrix (1999) --5 out of 5--

The Matrix Reloaded (2003) --5 out of 5--

The Matrix Revolutions (2003) --5 out of 5-- Screw the haters, Revolutions is an epic third act that never fails to entertain.

True Grit (2010) --4 out of 5-- The Coen Brothers do it again. Bridges, Damon, and Hailee Steinfeld shine. This film will always have special significance for me as it marked the first time in 26 years that just me and my Dad have gone to the movies together. The last time was The Karate Kid in 1984.

Clash of the Titans (1981) --3.5 out of 5-- I love the old stop-animation effects and no one did them better than Harryhausen. While nowhere near a great film its still 1000 times better than the recent re-make plus the most T&A you'll find in a PG-rated film. Let your young teen boy watch it and see the smile on his face.

Tangled (2010) --3 out of 5-- Thank goodness for a horse named Maximus. Still, my daughter liked it and it made my wife cry (but then she cries at most anything).

To James Cameron, I Apologize....or....Hypocrite, Thy Name is Cell Block...and Kevin Smith's Red State

2010-12-27T22:42:00.006-05:00

My very first post on this current incarnation of Cell Block 327 was a review of James Cameron's Avatar. Click here and you'll see that I was none to kind after viewing it at my local theater. If you'll take extra notice to the very last sentence as quoted directly here..."So despite all the "pretty" Avatar brings to the table I don't forsee it having a spot in my DVD collection unless it finds its way to the $5 bargain bin one day." Yeah...about that...I kind of shelled out $35 for the super-duper Extended Collector's Edition on blu-ray. And you know what, I'm glad I did. Avatar was "pretty" at the theater but its absolutely, drop-dead, stunningly gorgeous via blu-ray on my Sony Bravia. I'm talking "my wife" kind of gorgeous (for those of you who know Cell Block's secret identity, you know that I married way above myself). If you haven't seen Avatar on blu-ray then you don't know what you're missing. If only I had the sound setup to complement the picture....one day.

Avatar looking all sexy on my TV wasn't that big of a surprise (although it did look better than I ever thought it would), what really surprised me was how much better I enjoyed the story the second time around. Granted I watched the Extended Edition which had something like 11 minutes added in and maybe that had something to do with it. This go round all the emotional beats found their footing with me instead of falling flat as they did at the cinema. Sometimes when I watch a flick for the first time I find myself writing the review in my head as I watch it and when this happens I tend to be on the "defensive", looking for something to complain about and that was the case with Avatar. While Avatar still has its issues with a somewhat generic storyline it still works and works in a big way.

So, while I considered it "ho-hum" the first go round I now find myself loving it and have bumped it up from a 3 out of 5 to a 5 out of 5. Mr. Cameron, I was wrong and I apologize.

On a side note I want all of you to see the teaser for Kevin Smith's latest flick, Red State. I like it and as I'm an unabashed Kevin Smith fan I'm stoked. The teaser isn't really office appropriate just so you've been warned. Thanks to movie-list.com for the embedding.

Cell Block Top 15 Movies - 2008

2010-12-18T22:47:00.003-05:00

1. The Dark Knight -- 5 out of 5 --
2. Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- 5 out of 5 --
3. Iron Man -- 5 out of 5 --
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button -- 5 out of 5 --
5. The Incredible Hulk -- 5 out of 5 --
6. Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- 5 out of 5 --
7. Gran Torino -- 4 out of 5 --
8. Zack & Miri Make A Porno -- 4 out of 5 --
9. The Wrestler -- 4 out of 5 --
10. Wall-E -- 4 out of 5 --
11. The Strangers -- 4 out of 5 --
12. Revolutionary Road -- 4 out of 5 --
13. Role Models -- 4 out of 5 --
14. Leatherheads -- 4 out of 5 --
15. Vicky Cristina Barcelona -- 4 out of 5 --

Coming Attractions

2010-12-11T21:04:00.012-05:00

You know when you go to the movies and you have to sit through TV commercials and you complain about it? I'm right there with you, hate it. You know how after you sit through 10 minutes of commercials you then have to sit through another 15 minutes of movie trailers (or as they were called in a more elegant age..."Coming Attractions") and you complain about it? You're completely on your own. I LOVE movie trailers, can't get enough of them (well, actually I can) but still.

Putting a great movie trailer together has become an art-form (don't believe me go check out movie trailers from the 70s and 80s) and often the trailer turns out to be far more invigorating than the actual flick itself. The purpose of a trailer is to show you just enough to get your money out of your wallet (or pocketbook as the case may be) and your butt in the seat (and if you happen to spend $50 on coke and popcorn, good for them). Used to be, not so long ago, that a movie had two trailers released before its debut. A teaser and a "full" trailer. Nowadays you have to be careful as the big tentpole pics can have as many as four trailers and several more "featurettes" and numerous TV spots, the danger being that it can give away most of the plot along with all the coolest lines. Case in point the trailers for Toy Story 3 gave away nearly all of the laugh-out-loud moments in the first act of the film. It wasn't as funny because you already knew the punchline because you'd been inundated with it via the trailers and TV spots. Luckily, Toy Story 3 was strong enough to overcome this issue. So even though I really like trailers I'm careful only to watch the initial trailer on those flicks that I'm really looking forward to because its the prestige that I'm ever seeking when I make the trek to my local cinema.

Anyhoo, here are some recent Coming Attractions that have caught my attention. Will the flicks pan out.....who knows, but the trailers have done their job of making me want to find out.

First up, Real Steel. If you're my age and you've ever played 'Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots' then this trailer HAS to give you a thrill.

Second, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. I really liked the first Autobot flick. The second one was a mess on a lot of levels, but it was very shiny and a lot of stuff went BOOOOOM!!!...even if you could hardly tell who or what. If they gave out a doctorate in making stuff blow-up real good then Michael Bay would be head of the class. (For the record, I'm not a Bay-Hater as I've enjoyed many of his films). My son watched the trailer and he had a one-word response at the end....."Unicron". Perhaps.

Finally, Thor. After seeing the stills floating around the net of Thor I was more than a little worried but after seeing this trailer I'm stoked and had a geekgasm when I saw the Destroyer.

Special thanks to http://www.movie-list.com , THE source for Coming Attractions on the interweb.

Revision -- Cell Block Top 15 Movies: The 70's

2010-12-06T22:29:00.002-05:00

This past month I watched Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange again and I must commit sacrilege and demote it from the coveted Cell Block rating of '5 out of 5' to '4 out of 5'. This demotion drops the Malcolm McDowell showcase from 5th to 8th.

1. Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) 5 out of 5
2. The Godfather (1972) 5 out of 5
3. The Godfather Part II (1974) 5 out of 5
4. Rocky (1976) 5 out of 5
5. Rocky II (1979) 5 out of 5
6. Jaws (1975) 5 out of 5
7. Alien (1979) 5 out of 5
8. A Clockwork Orange (1971) 4 out of 5
9. High Plains Drifter (1973) 4 out of 5
10. Grease (1978) 4 out of 5
11. Smokey & The Bandit (1977) 4 out of 5
12. Every Which Way But Loose (1978) 4 out of 5
13. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) 4 out of 5
14. Pumping Iron (1977) 4 out of 5
15. My Name Is Nobody (1973) 4 out of 5

'Your Highness' Movie Trailer

2010-11-20T02:42:00.000-05:00

I had not even heard of this movie until today, had it not been for crazy Brits at Den of Geek I would still be ignorant of this brilliant trailer.

***ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN....OR PRUDISH ADULTS WHO OFFEND EASILY....YOU PROBABLY DON'T WANT TO WATCH IT AT WORK EITHER***

Enjoy!!!

In With A Bang, Out With A Whimper???

2010-11-12T21:00:00.005-05:00

***Spoilers Ahead for The Big Bang Theory Season 3***

I still remember the first time I came across The Big Bang Theory on the tube, Season 2 Episode 11, The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis. I was flipping channels and I came across these four guys sitting at a table discussing whether or not a man-made washing machine could clean the sweat stains out of Superman's costume. In my life I've been privy to these type of conversations on more than one occasion. I kept on watching and by the time the episode was over I was laughing so hard that I wasn't making any noise. (As it turns out this was the most famous of all Big Bang episodes..."I can grow my own Leonard Nimoy).

I immediately threw Season 1 into my Netflix queue and after watching the first two disks I immediately threw Season 1 & 2 into my Amazon cart. This little show has brought me an immense degree of entertainment in the past three years. For Seasons 1, 2, and most of 3 I've laughed at the exploits of Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, and Penny. Sure the series is uneven at times and they are loose with their continuity but it never fails to entertain.

Big Bang is one of those shows where all the elements just came together to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. The chemistry between the five leads is astounding, the writing is intelligent and funny, and if you're like me you see a lot of yourself in them (minus the being a genius and such). And Jim Parsons has created a television icon with his portrayal of Sheldon Lee Cooper and finally won an Emmy this past year for his efforts. Another thing that Big Bang did that I thought was brilliant was to take the tv cliche' of the unrequited romance (in this case, Leonard and Penny) and after two seasons of "will they, won't they" they actually put them together and it worked brilliantly. The show lost nothing as the two of them being "the odd couple" provided just as much comedy as before.

As I stated earlier, I've considered seasons 1,2, and most of 3 to be brilliant. But in Episode 19 of Season 3, The Wheaton Recurrence, the writers very abruptly and very clumsily break Leonard and Penny up. Not only is it not handled well its taking the series into an emotionally "deep" sub-context that its just not made for. They added to their troubles by creating a "love-interest" for Sheldon that just isn't working and it just doesn't fit Sheldon's character.

So with the last five episodes of Season 3 being a mixed bag I had my fingers crossed that it was just an aberration and not the beginning of the inevitable downward spiral that all television shows must eventually face. It was my hope that Season 4 would right the ship but so far it has only confirmed my fears. Season 4 has just not been that funny. There is a moment here and there but its terribly uneven and there has been a tonal shift in each of the characters persona. With fifteen episodes left this season there is still time that it could all turn around but I fear that the magic of the first 58 episodes will never be obtained again and this brilliant little show has passed "the beginning of the end".

Smile...Because Sometimes You Just Should.

2010-11-05T08:10:00.005-04:00

And this is coming from someone who takes great personal pride in being notoriously cranky. But, every now and then.....

Nat King Cole and The Li'l Tramp....Smile!

What I Watched in July 2010

2010-11-01T21:31:00.004-04:00

Been a while since I've updated my monthly watch list...good thing I keep a monthly watch list....what....you mean you don't?

Campfire Tales (1997) -- 3.5 out of 5 -- A straight to DVD release, Campfire Tales came out a year or so before the theatrical release of Urban Legend. Campfire Tales is the superior flick as it stays true to the heart of the premise and has a better twist at the end.

Band of Brothers Disk 2 -- 4 out of 5 --

Eclipse -- 2 out of 5 -- I've freely admitted, and its recorded for all to see, that I actually liked the first two entries in the Twilight series (all sparklies considered). And when I heard that this film was critiqued as the best of the lot, I put my balls in my wife's pocketbook and took her to the theater to see it. This was the first Twilight flick that I was prepared to like and after viewing it I have to say that its the worst of the lot and actually made me like the previous two less. "Let's face it, I'm hotter than you."....Ugh!

30 Rock Season 3 Disk 1 -- 4 out of 5 -- Despite threats from the wife I'm still not bestowing the coveted Cell Block 5 out of 5.

Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone (2001) -- 5 out of 5 --

Shutter Island (2010) -- 4 out of 5 -- I'm an up and down Scorsese fan, place Shutter Island in the up category. I had a ball trying to piece together the clues while I watched it in an partially successful effort to predict the twist.

Californication Season 1 Disk 2 -- 4 out of 5 --

The Da Vinci Code (2006) -- 4 out of 5 -- Solid thriller.

Lars & the Real Girl (2007) -- 3 out of 5 -- Tries way to hard to pull at the heart strings. Heavy-handed and slightly boring.

Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets (2002) -- 5 out of 5 --

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 D2 -- 3 out of 5 --

Desperate Housewives Season 3 Disk 3 -- 2.5 out of 5 -- Quickly getting my fill of the wives of Wisteria Lane.

Inception (2010) -- 5 out of 5 -- Oh, Christopher Nolan...I'm at your feet, simply at your feet.

Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) -- 5 out of 5 -- If only it had worked out (or the studio had been more accommodating) that Cuaron could've directed another entry.

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire (2005) -- 5 out of 5 --

The Wolfman (2010) -- 2 out of 5 -- The filmmakers "screwed the pooch" with this one...pun intended.

Paranormal Activity (2009) -- 5 out of 5 -- Nicely done. If you haven't seen this flick yet then may I suggest you watch it midnight or later, lights out, and all alone.

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix (2007) -- 5 out of 5 -- "You should not have come back Tom." Dumbledore Vs. Voldemort ... nuff said.

The Shield Season 6 Disk 1 -- 5 out of 5 --

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince (2009) -- 5 out of 5 -- Still disappointed that Snape's "It's over" line from the trailer didn't make the cut.

Well, that's it for July. Time now to go see if Peyton can finish off the Texans and if the Giants can put the Rangers out of their misery.

31 Movies to Watch For Halloween -- Part 6 of 6

2010-10-28T09:27:00.002-04:00

Some of these movies aren't so much scary as they are true classics of cinema. Some are scary and gory while others are just gory to the point that you just have to applaud the final result. A few define "suspense" and a few are downright creepy and frightening. And then there are some that I just like because I'm me and not you.

***Note that this list is sorted by year and is not a "countdown" list.***

So we come to it at last, The Final Six. As stated above this is not a countdown list and I'm not saying that these are the best or even my favorite 31 horror movies of all-time (some are, some aren't). What I am saying is that if you wanted to have a month long horror movie festival in your home, you couldn't go wrong with these pics.

I've really enjoyed doing this series and I think next year I will see if I can come up with an additional 31 movies, just for fun.

The Sixth Five...plus one: The one I'm going to take grief over, the purist movie about Halloween ever made, a tragically beautiful movie, because you were home, the one I'm going to take even more grief over, and the scariest movie I've seen in a very long time.

Halloween (2007): In the opening statement of this blog I stated that there were a couple of movies that I like because I'm me and not you, well here it is. If this little blog of mine was actually read by any other film buffs (or anyone for that matter) then this would be where they would start ripping into me after reading this statement:

***Rob Zombie's Halloween is vastly superior to John Carpenter's Halloween!***

That being said, I do like Carpenter's Halloween but its just not the great flick that everyone makes it out to be. Zombie's film has much better characterization and I found it to be much more entertaining than the original. Having more of Michael's backstory added much needed pathos to his actions later on in the film. Tyler Mane is imposing and vicious as Michael Myers and Michael McDowell is very good as Dr. Samuel Loomis. I will give the nod to the original in the category of female lead, Scout Taylor-Compton gives an enthusiastic performance as Laurie Strode but she's no Jamie Lee Curtis. I realize that I'm in the minority but I stand by my decision. If you can, watch both the original and the re-make. If you're only going to watch one then make it this one.

Trick-r-Treat (2007): Its disgraceful that Trick-r-Treat never got a theatrical release. This flick is heads and tails above the majority of the trite that gets released in cinemas as "horror". Trick-r-Treat is well written, well acted, and well made. It uses misdirection to great advantage and keeps you guessing as to what really happens. Trick-r-Treat is divided into story segments, but they all inter-lock together very well. Pay attention as the main character in one story will be in the background of the next and in the end this all has real relevance. Watch this movie, its great and trust me you'll never forget little Sam.

The Orphanage (2007): The Orphanage is a Spanish film and really its more of a ghost story than a horror film. But its very atmospheric and will make you jump in places, which is to be expected. But what wasn't expected is how utterly tragic this tale is and how amazingly beautiful and heartfelt the ending turned out to be. If you get emotional then have your tissues ready because you'll need them.

The Strangers (2008): The Strangers is another one of those disturbing movies because its premise is entirely possible. While doubtful, this could happen to you and bad things similar to whats portrayed in this film has happened to people over the years. The disturbance factor is amplified by all the terrible things done to the lovely, sweet Liv Tyler who gives a standout performance and really carries the movie.

Halloween II (2009): I can see the rolling eyes and hear the gnashing of teeth as I type this. Halloween II is not a remake of the original Halloween II but is a direct sequel to Rob Zombie's Halloween...which was a remake of the original Halloween. Confused yet...then pay more attention. Zombie infuses supernatural undertones to this flick and seeing as Michael Myers' has returned from the dead, it works quite well. In Halloween II, Tyler Mane portrays Michael with an anger and sheer ferocity that I've never witnessed in any other slasher flick. Its impressive. Rob Zombie's two Halloween movies tell a logical (all things considered), cohesive story that I really enjoyed and recommend highly.

Paranormal Activity (2009): No picture here because it would never upload properly....hmmmm. Remember as a kid, it would be late at night, walking through your dark house and knowing without a doubt that a friend or sibling is somewhere hiding and waiting to jump out and scare you. You know its going to happen, you just don't know when. That's the emotion that Paranormal Activity elicits from you for the majority of the film. What the director is able to do that impressed me so is to continually ratchet up the tension until the incredible explosive ending that is oh so satisfyingly creepy. Paranormal Activity is a fun film in that it gets to the core of why we watch horror films...to be scared, to jump out of our skin, and later laugh because we did.

31 Movies to Watch For Halloween -- Part 5 of 6

2010-10-26T22:51:00.009-04:00

Some of these movies aren't so much scary as they are true classics of cinema. Some are scary and gory while others are just gory to the point that you just have to applaud the final result. A few define "suspense" and a few are downright creepy and frightening. And then there are some that I just like because I'm me and not you.

***Note that this list is sorted by year and is not a "countdown" list.***

The 5th 5: A twisty flick, He just wants to play a game, THE Exorcism movie, THE reason I'll never visit the Outback, & Terror down under...of a different sort.

The Others (2001): I'd never doubted Nicole Kidman as an actress, in fact I've always considered her one of the best. However, I never really pictured her as particularly suited for a horror film. I humbly admit my mistake. The Others lives or dies (no pun intended) solely based on her performance and I'm glad to say she knocks it out of the park as Grace Stewart, a mother of two children with a rare skin disorder who must stay out of sunlight at all costs. Set during WWII, Grace must hold things together as she fights to protect hearth and home while her husband is on the front lines. To help her out she hires three new servants who aren't quite what they seem. The Others came along a couple of years after The Sixth Sense started the "twist ending" craze that still pervades Hollywood to this day. Knowing that The Others had some sort of twist I watched very carefully for any and all clues so that I could brag that "I figured it out before the reveal"....and I did....at least the first twist.

Saw (2004): Like the Friday the 13th franchise, the Saw franchise has become the punchline to its own joke. Its a shame really because overall, as horror franchises go, Saw has maintained a fairly high quality across the board. Not one single entry has been a bad movie and if you blur your brain slightly the ongoing storyline kind of makes sense...sort of. But I'm not here to promote the franchise, I'm here because the original Saw is one of the finest, most clever horror movies made in the past 10 years with a villain that its very hard not to agree with on some level. If you have no interest in the Saw franchise then forget the (now) six sequels and just watch the original which, while it left itself wiggle room for a sequel, can be viewed as a satisfying self-contained story. Note, you do have to have a strong stomach to watch Saw (or any of the sequels)....seriously.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005): Forget The Exorcist (highly over-rated), if you're in the market to watch a possession flick then go for The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Featuring two of my favorites, Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson as well as an amazing physical performance by Jennifer Carpenter as Emily. Creepy, scary, and heart-breaking.

Wolf Creek (2005): Wolf Creek was an "under the radar" flick that came out in 2005. I really hadn't heard much about it before it came out and probably never would've seen it if it hadn't been for a very positive review given by one of my favorite sites coupled with the fact that there was nothing else playing that I hadn't already seen or didn't want to see. Now, because I was going to see the film I didn't read the entire review so as not to spoil anything which led me mistakenly going into this movie thinking it had to do with werewolves in Australia. No werewolves ever showed up, but Mick Taylor did, much to the dismay of the three young leads who went to explore a crater in the Outback. A brutal film made even more disturbing because its entirely plausible. Its even "based on true events", which usually means "a guy named Joe was killed in real life and our movie has a guy named Joe". Still, I'm not going to the Outback, just in case.

The Descent (2005): Is that not just one of the coolest movie posters in film history?.....of course it is. The Descent is a movie all about our primal fears and the film-makers play it up to claustrophobic perfection and top it off with a classic "does she/doesn't she" ending. Definitely check it out.

31 Movies to Watch for Halloween -- Part 4 of 6

2010-10-25T08:53:00.009-04:00

31 Movies to Watch for Halloween -- Part 3 of 6

2010-10-22T08:27:00.008-04:00

Well, given that its already the 22nd you may want to save this list for next year.

Some of these movies aren't so much scary as they are true classics of cinema. Some are scary and gory while others are just gory to the point that you just have to applaud the final result. A few define "suspense" and a few are downright creepy and frightening. And then there are some that I just like because I'm me and not you.

***Note that this list is sorted by year and is not a "countdown" list.***

The Third Five: The 80's Reign with a doting son, wolves, a jealous car, a vampire, and the most aptly named horror villain of all-time.

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981): Friday the 13th Part 2 is that rarest of horror phenomenon....a natural sequel that not only makes sense but is logical. No retcon or implausible resurrection needed. Part 2 is the natural (in horror terms I remind you) progression of the story started in the original. With his mother dead, Jason has come into his own complete with fitted pillow-case to cover his head (the iconic hockey mask didn't make its appearance until part 3). This is the most un-zombie-like of all his incarnations and it makes sense as he has only been dead once at this point in time. He is fleet of foot and brutal as he wrecks havoc on the current batch of stupid, horny teenagers. However, the heroine of this entry is my favorite out of all the lone survivors because of how she confronts Jason in the films climactic moments. Seriously, check out the first two entries of this series and I think you'll be surprised at the quality they show before the franchise fell into a cookie-cutter template.

The Howling (1981): You can have the vastly over-rated An American Werewolf in London, its The Howling that is THE werewolf movie champion of 1981. Check it out.

Christine (1983): When you're able to get John Carpenter to adapt the work of Stephen King then the results most likely are going to be good and in the case of Christine its very good indeed. Christine is vicious as she dispatches the teen thugs who bullied Arnie and put the beat-down on her. If you've ever been bullied, then you'll probably find yourself rooting for Christine early on before her bloodlust turns toward the innocent. The scene where Christine repairs herself is not to be missed and the final shot is very well done. A shame there never was a sequel.

Fright Night (1985): Fright Night is one of my favorite vampire movies. It is fully entrenched in the 80's and proud of it. Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall give great and enthusiastic performances as the vampire Jerry Dandridge and the cowardly Peter Vincent respectively. Its fast-paced, with good effects and make-up and some great one-liners. A fun movie for all.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1985): In my opening statement of this blog entry I state that there is a move that is just so gory that you have to applaud the effort. Hellbound: Hellraiser II is that movie. There has been perhaps no more unique horror creation than the cenobites and their leader, Pinhead. If you think you can stomach it then check it out.

31 Movies To Watch For Halloween -- Part 2 of 6

2010-10-19T23:08:00.010-04:00

Well, given that its already the 20th you may want to save this list for next year.

Some of these movies aren't so much scary as they are true classics of cinema. Some are scary and gory while others are just gory to the point that you just have to applaud the final result. A few define "suspense" and a few are downright creepy and frightening. And then there are some that I just like because I'm me and not you.

***Note that this list is sorted by year and is not a "countdown" list.***

The Second Five: A wolf, a haunted house, a really big bug, and not one, but two maniac mothers.

The Wolf Man (1941): "Even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright." The third part of the Universal Classic Horror (Un)Holy Trinity is The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr. Chaney Jr. gives a solid sympathetic performance as Larry Talbot. A good man who comes to the aid of his fellow man (actually it was a woman) and ends up saddled with a curse that tranforms him into a wolf-man every full moon. Unable to stop this change or control his actions once the transformation is complete Larry is guilt-ridden because...to paraphrase Anthony Hopkins from the terrible recent re-make..."You've done terrible things Lawrence, terrible things." While often considered the "red-headed step-child" of the big three, it is nonetheless filled with really good performances by the leads. Chaney Jr. is especially on his game portraying the emotion of a good man dealing with becoming a creature that does "terrible things". The ever entertaining Claude Rains is solid as Larry's father and Maria Ouspenskaya is a scene-stealer as the gypsy woman, Maleva.

Psycho (1960): Psycho is such a classic movie and so in-grained in the public consciousness that many people think they have seen it when they really haven't. People recognize the iconic house, know the shower scene (with its jarring music), and know all about the truly disturbing cross-dressing. But ask them to describe the scene with the lake and the car, the amazing technical shot with the stairs, or just what Marion was doing at the hotel in the first place and often they don't know or don't remember. Hitchcock is the master at building suspense and tension in his movies and the above-mentioned lake/car scene is a tremendous example of his skill. If you've never seen Psycho, or its been years since you've seen it then definitely see it again. Watch it late at night, with no distractions, and if you're brave enough...watch it alone.

The Haunting (1963):
Switching from monsters and psychos to a haunted house we have The Haunting. A very well done suspense flick that defines ominous. A very subtle movie with a great performance by its female lead, Julie Harris. Like Psycho, watch it late at night, with the lights off and try to figure out when the one scene guaranteed to make you jump is coming.

Alien (1979): I know what you're thinking, "Alien is science fiction, not horror.". Let me explain....you're wrong. Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, and the two AVP movies are science fiction. Alien is a horror movie that happens to be set in the future and in space. Watch it again and see if you don't experience all the nervous tension associated with watching a quality horror flick...because you are.

Friday the 13th (1980):
Friday the 13th has become something of a cinematic punchline due to the endless sequels. But looking over the series as a whole (and I've seen them all, and own all but one (Jason Goes To Hell)) there is more good than bad. People forget that the first two entries were deliciously suspenseful as well as gory. Especially the original, which sported a twist ending twenty years before twist endings became all the rage. Give Friday the 13th a chance again, the gore is relatively tame compared to what's put on-screen today and I think you'll be surprised by the high level of suspense the film-makers manage to pull off.

31 Movies To Watch For Halloween -- Part 1 of 6

2010-10-19T10:29:00.011-04:00

Well, given that its already the 19th you may want to save this list for next year.

Some of these movies aren't so much scary as they are true classics of cinema. Some are scary and gory while others are just gory to the point that you just have to applaud the final result. A few define "suspense" and a few are downright creepy and frightening. And then there are some that I just like because I'm me and not you.

***Note that this list is sorted by year and is not a "countdown" list.***

The First Five: The Old Classics!

Nosferatu (1922): 1933's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi is the most well known rendition of Bram Stoker's novel (and rightfully so) but its Nosferatu starring Max Schreck as Count Orlock that is the better movie. Not to mention that Schreck is a much creepier vampire as Orlock than Lugosi's iconic turn as Dracula. Nosferatu is basically the same story as Dracula but because the filmmakers didn't want to pay the copyright fees we have the (now) infamous Count Orlock....and we are thankful.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925): There are two reasons to watch this flick. First, its a classic and second, just to marvel at the genius that was Lon Chaney, Sr. The man put himself through sheer physical agony all for the performance and to entertain the mob.

Dracula (1931): While I clearly consider Nosferatu to be the superior film there is still no doubt that Dracula is indeed a classic and definitely should be included in your film library. Lugosi's Dracula is iconic and is rightfully the first image conjured when the name "Dracula" is spoken.....at least to anyone over the age of 30. Sadly the vampire of recall for today's misguided youth is probably Robert Pattinson's Edward Cullen. So sad. Back to Dracula....happy again. Dracula won't scare you and you will see nary a fang, but you will get strikingly macabre imagery and one of the legendary performances in movie history. Plus if you can watch it with the updated Philip Glass score then you will indeed be in for a treat.

Frankenstein (1931): This is the king of all the classic Universal horror films and just plain outright one of the best movies ever made in any genre. Frankenstein is at its core a morality tale. Its not the monster who is the horror of this film, but rather its those around him...the "good" people who turn him out, who hunt him down, who never see past his horrific visage. Yes, the monster does indeed do terrible things at the end. But it was society who pushed him to that point. The monster is a simple creature who left to his own devices would have lived peacefully and never would have hurt anyone. The powerful scene with the little girl at the lakeside shows this in the monster's sincere anguish over what he mistakenly does. He did not ask to be here and once he was here he was cast out by his creator and shunned by the rest of the world and in the end he traded violence with violence. If you can watch Frankenstein and not see the monster as a tragic figure then you're really missing the point.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935): I'm not sure if Bride of Frankenstein was the first sequel of a major motion picture or not but it certainly the earliest example that I know of that blows holes in the theory that sequels never stand up to the original. Bride of Frankenstein is a great movie and a great sequel to Frankenstein. Turns out that the monster survived the first film (eat your heart out Jason....no not really....put the heart down) and happens upon a blind hermit living in the woods. The hermit being unable to see the monster's appearance accepts him and they become friends. The hermit teaches him to talk and introduces him to drink and smoke leading to the now famous lines, "Drink..Good. Fire..Bad." The monster's time with the hermit shows that his natural tendency is not to be violent and when treated with kindness is willing to live in peace with others. Sadly, the monster's found happiness is to be short-lived as people and fate conspire against him and he is forced to lash out once again.

What I Watched in June 2010

2010-07-24T20:22:00.004-04:00

Boot Hill (1969) --1 out of 5-- Years ago I bought a 3-Pack of Westerns from the bargain bin because it consisted of They Call Me Trinity and Trinity Is Still My Name. I really like those two flicks and the price was right. The third DVD was Boot Hill which also starred Terence Hill (but not as Trinity). Since June is "Western" month and I had yet to watch Boot Hill I popped it into the Blu-Ray player and twenty minutes later popped it back out. The movie itself might have been somewhat watchable but the deal-breaker was the video. Boot Hill is the worst transfer I've ever personally viewed. It looked as if the entire movie had been shot by moonlight. A dud.

High Plains Drifter (1973) --4 out of 5-- Released in the year of my birth, High Plains Drifter is a Clint Eastwood classic. A Western with a supernatural twist as you wonder at the end if he was a ghost or not. For my money I say he was.

Batman Begins (Blu-Ray) (2005) --5 out of 5-- Batman Begins looks amazing on Blu-Ray. If only I had surround sound to go along with the amazing picture.

Once Upon A Time In the West (1968) --5 out of 5-- The. Best. Western. Ever. Made. and one of the best movies ever made for that matter. If you haven't seen it (even if you don't like Westerns) you really need to see this amazing film directed by the incomparable Sergio Leone.

Open Range (2003) --4 out of 5-- Kevin Costner is at his best when making Westerns and Sports flicks.

30 Rock Season 2 Disk 1 --4 out of 5--

The A-Team (2010) --4 out of 5-- This was a fun Summer popcorn flick. Over the top but not dumb and they fly a tank. You have to see it to believe it.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) --4 out of 5-- I've yet to see (and probably never will) the recent Jonah Hex flick. But after watching The Outlaw Josey Wales it occurred to me that it is closer to the spirit of Jonah Hex than the actual Hex flick turned out to be.

The Karate Kid (2010) --4 out of 5-- My Dad took me to one movie when I was a kid and it was the original Daniel-San flick. So it was kind of cool that I was able to take my boy to see the remake. Only the basic theme is carried over from the original and the remake is shockingly brutal. It's a tad disconcerting seeing pre-teens beat the living daylights out of each other. Jaden Smith is his father's son and should have a successful film career ahead of him. The standout in this flick however is Jackie Chan who plays it straight for one of the few times in his career. He has several emotional scenes which he pulls off better than I ever thought he could.

Shanghai Noon (2000) --4 out of 5-- Speaking of Jackie Chan, Shanghai Noon is one of my guilty pleasure movies. Chan and Wilson have good chemistry and everything comes together for a fun flick.

The Lovely Bones (2009) --3.5 out of 5-- Ever since Peter Jackson pulled off perhaps the most amazing cinematic feat of all time in adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' he has had no one to tell him "NO, you can't do that." King Kong was a really good movie but with the excising of about 30 minutes could've been a great film. The Lovely Bones was a film that was going for your heartstrings constantly but, even despite its tragic subject matter, just never succeeded and for me had a terribly unsatisfying ending.

Ghost Rider (2007) --3.5 out of 5-- Ghost Rider is a decent movie that could've been really good had the villains not been so unintentionally campy. The sequel has a good chance of succeeding providing they can actually be objective about what didn't work with the first one.

Crazy Heart (2009) --4 out of 5-- Jeff Bridges deserved his Oscar.

The Road (2009) --4 out of 5-- This is not the typical three act type of flick. Its more of a "moment in time" flick. Plus its utterly depressing, but Viggo is amazing as always.

Toy Story 3 (2010) --5 out of 5--

Castle Season 1 Disk 3 --5 out of 5--

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 D1 --3 out of 5-- As I've said before I'm a casual Star Trek fan. I've seen the movies but not all of the episodes of the various series. Of all the series I've seen more of TNG than any of the others and many of those episodes have been great. But I always caught it in syndication and never in any particular order. So through the power of Netflix I begin my quest to watch every single episode of all TV shows with the name Star Trek attached. Disk 1 of TNG has the first four episodes of the long-running series and they are surprisingly bad. None of the main players are the characters that we've come to know later on in the series. I don't think any other non-Star Trek show could've made it past mid-season with its first four episodes being as bad as these are. Still its kind of fascinating to watch because I know how much better it gets and to see how badly it started makes me appreciate how they adapted.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) --3.5 out of 5-- I'm nowhere near the demographic of this flick but it was still an enjoyable watch.

Californication Season 1 Disk 1 --4 out of 5-- There's a lot more to this series than the title would leave you to believe.

30 Rock Season 2 Disk 2 --4 out of 5

Desperate Housewives Season 3 Disk 2 --3.5 out of 5--