So long Life on Mars

This is the last week for the U.S. version of Life on Mars. I will miss it, one of my favorite shows this season. I’m glad to see that it had developed a cult following, even an unofficial podcast. It’s a shame this fun show wasn’t given another season or a shot on cable like Mad Men or The Closer.

I have to say that even though I am a fan of the original BBC version, I prefer the U.S. one. Maybe it has to do with me being American and enjoying the show’s American stamp, its gritty ‘70’s Kojak/Serpico/French Connection style of tv cops. Not that the UK show didn’t have that tough guy detective stuff, but this show seem to enjoy pushing it. Imperioli’s whole look is Al Pacino with a porn mustache. Plus Mr. Mean Streets himself, Harvey Keitel.

I also enjoyed the supporting cast more in the U.S. version. The UK ensemble was fine, but Sam and Gene were the only two characters that I was really invested in. In the U.S. one, I’ve come to love the whole team especially Imperioli’s Ray who had the best lines:
“A Brady short of a Bunch.”
“Hey Efraim Zimbalist Junior Mint!”
“Confused as a baby in a topless bar”

Jason O’Mara had some solid ones as well with all his amusing undercover names/aliases:
“Detective Luke Skywalker.”
“ Hi I’m Tom. Tom Cruise.”
“ The name’s Bono”

He was excellent in this role. The whole cast really gelled because I think the NY team seemed more developed and fleshed out, and made me care about them.

Also, since I was familiar with the basic story of this show, the sci-fi elements didn’t bug me. I wasn’t left feeling impatient or short changed when an episode had very little clues like I felt with Lost or X-files [it always comes back to that show]. I just enjoyed the ride and all the great music. Plus their cheesy ‘70’s tough guy detective filler music was a riot and it always got me smiling.

Ah I could go on and on. So I’m just gonna say check this out when it hits dvd.

The King of Wawa

These past few months I have a routine before my work schedule starts. The first thing I do is drop by my local Wawa and get a coffee and a granola bar. The second part of my routine will be another post...

At 3:30 a.m. there's hardly anyone at the Wawa except for two unfortunate people who work that shift and the occasional delivery guy dropping off his goods. I usually don't have a problem with anyone. Most of the staff is nice, except for this one guy who I now called the King of Wawa.

He’s around my age, could be older. Out of shape. Pasty looking, and has a pathetic goatee that’s just not helping.

It all started when I was given a Wawa gift card that had a $5 value and used it for the first time. When I went to pay, I swiped my card and didn’t see any result on my screen. So I swiped again.Wrong. Because the next thing I hear is:
“Stop. STOP.”

Obviously the purchase went through the first time.
But now I’m watching the King of Wawa’s reaction. He’s silently cursing at me while correcting his register. Mouthing something very distasteful. I can’t hear it but I can definitely see it.

So I just stared at him with a “are you for real?” expression, wondering how an error of $2.25 totally f##ks up his day. And it’s not like I’m holding up a line, because there’s no one behind me at 3:30 IN THE FREAKIN’MORNING.

His postal reaction was a bit disturbing to me and I thought it wise to peacefully exit the store in case I have to deal with him the next day. So I headed back to my car thinking he was a complete douche and by the time I pulled out of Wawa I figured there’s a reason why he’s at the night owl/early bird shift because he can’t handle more than one person in that place.

review

Kiefer's looking for a way out of 'Mirrors'.



I ended up watching this because my brother-in-law knows I enjoy scary movies and Kiefer, so he rented this for me. Very nice of him. Kiefer was nice to look at, and that's the best thing I can say about this.
This was a painful movie to watch. Terrible plotting and it dragged because you know what the characters are going to say next. Almost every scene felt like I already saw it a dozen times in other movies. Take for example, a scene of Sutherland driving along the highway, where at this stage of the film he's already spooked and paranoid. Suddenly he sees something scary in his rear view mirror. In a flash the vision is gone BUT the audience can't even catch a breath from that moment because OH NO! another "shocker" moment immediately follows when Kiefer swerves and almost gets hit by a MACK TRUCK in the opposite lane which just happens to appear and is headed straight for him.

AAARGH.

That really made me want to beat the person who decided to put that 'shocker' into the film. I mean really. How many mil did that person get for that little creative nugget?

I laughed a few times at parts where it wasn't intended for laughs. Usually I laughed whenever Kiefer said 'Shit!' or 'Goddamit!', because I kept adding my own lines of-- "Goddammit... I can't believe I signed to do this movie!"

The only other time I laughed was when he did a 'Jack Bauer' and pulled a gun on a nun. Yep, I said nun.
The story was all around lame.They tried to go for some intense creepiness during the parts where they focused on the history of the cursed mirrors and the person responsible for it by going all Sam Raimi/Evil Dead.

Nope. Sorry. It wasn't working on me, in fact I was saying " I'll swallow your soul!!" instead of getting the chills.
Oh, and why is it that whenever a city character visits someone from the backwoods, the backwoods character always looks like he's an inbred and his clothes haven't been washed since 1938?

Again with the AAAARGGGHHH.

comedy classic bit



That's a fact Jack!

review

Henry Poole is Here



..and buying some booze.


I have to admit, the reason I rented this flick was because I thought Luke Wilson looked cute on the cover. Ah Luke. My favorite role of his is his X-file role where he played two versions of a small county sheriff. Scully's dream man version, and Mulder's buck toothed country hick version: "Y'all the govermen' people?" Classic. He needs to get more goofy roles like that. He's usually cast as the nice guy/straight man.

Anyway...is this movie recommended, excluding the eye candy factor? Yes, it's worth checking out. However, it isn't a clever indie film but it was pleasant enough. And there's a good dose of Frank Capra feel-good cornball.
But the strong cast,headed by Wilson, do a great job of handling that corn.

Wilson plays the title character, a man who's got a limited time on earth due to an unexplained illness. He buys a house in his hometown that's somewhere in the San Fernando Valley to wait out his days and drown himself in booze.
[I knew it was the Valley without being told, yay me]
His plans for solitude are disrupted when his deeply religious neighbor spots a stain on the outside of his wall that resembles an image of Christ. Soon Henry is bombarded by neighborhood worshippers in his backyard.

I think Wilson did a fine job in this role. His low key sullen and sarcastic style works. I kept thinking that other actors would lap this role up and overact Henry's angst. Everyone around him is spouting about hope and miracles and Wilson's quietly simmering with anger and pain.

The biggest flaw is the cliche story. You can see what's coming and there's a certain plot point that was from another movie and I can't remember what it was. Again, very Capra-ish. It's gonna bug me now.
Also Radha Mitchell is in this. She was Kiefer Sutherland's wife in the awesome cult fave of mine, "Dead Heat."
Another little flaw, was the use of music soundtracks. There was a lot and it felt like 1/3 of the movie is a music video.

But my favorite parts were of miserable Henry dealing with the perky and sweet shopgirl when he went to buy his liquor. [pic above]. That actress was great.
So again, I say it's worth renting to see some fine dramatic work from actor who's been stuck in light comedies for so long.

review

[Gilliam's design work of the Woodsman, from his Dreams website]

Got around to seeing the Brothers Grimm from beginning to end. I'll always think Gilliam is cool no matter what and he's a big influence to me. But he has a habit of repeating himself. Frenzied comic energy is not always the best way. He likes the crazies. Let's see, there's Robin Williams in the Fisher King, Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys, a bunch of people in Baron Munchausen. The pattern's starting to bug me. Maybe I'm getting old and having a hard time following overlapping dialogue from buffoonish characters. Terry, you need to review Time Bandits again. Some of those bandits were rock dumb and didn't say anything and everyone of them was perfect.

I still enjoyed parts of this movie. Heath Ledger was great, the man had oodles of talent. Matt Damon [MATT DAMON!] was decent too, and there are scenes that are downright creepy and look awesome but Gilliam kept going off on comedic bits that didn't really work and seem to bury the heart of the story. But when it did focus on the main stuff, it was pretty neat.

Deathtongue!

Rock on Boingers!