Fall TV Preview

You guys know that I follow the network upfronts every year.  And every year, I get excited about some of the new shows each network has to offer.  This year is no different.  These are the shows I’m most looking forward to, with the realization that most of these will either disappoint or bore me within weeks of their premiere dates.

Without further ado!

FOX

1. Us & Them

The show is a remake of the British comedy Gavin & Stacey, and basically had me at “Jason Ritter.”  I will watch that boy in anything, pretty much.  It also looks kind of stupid and cute, and has a lot of other actors I really like.  So, yeah, I’m going to be watching this one, much to J.’s chagrin.

2. Sleepy Hollow

As a fan of the original novel and also of the deeply creepy Tim Burton movie, there was no way I wasn’t going to check this one out.  I worry about long-term sustainability, but that’s my worry with many shows.  This one also appears to have a sense of humor, which makes it a little more fun.

NBC

1. Blacklist

Early buzz on this one is good, so I’ll give it a try.  I mean, I’m probably the least excited about this one on the entire list, but it’s also the only new show on NBC I’m likely to watch.

ABC

1. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

I mean, it’s Joss Whedon.  How could I not?

2. Super Fun Night

Ugh, I don’t know. I love Rebel Wilson and want to support her, but this comedy looks so broad that it’s unappealing.  That’s pretty much the case with all ABC’s new sitcoms, though.  Broad doesn’t equal quality, guys.

3. Mixology

This one is a dating sitcom.  The huge cast hints that there might be a couple of stand-outs.  I guess it could work?  I’m not sure.  There’s some potential here, but not a whole lot.  I’ll tune in and probably immediately tune out.

CBS

1. The Crazy Ones

I’d be lying if I said I was watching this for any other reason than Sarah Michelle Gellar.  I don’t know what it is about that woman, but I can’t seem to quit her.  Except for when she was on that stupid effing show where she played the most unconvincing set of twins I’ve ever seen.  I quit her about halfway through the pilot on that one.

The CW

1. Reign

I’m sorry, but what in the fresh hell IS THIS?  It’s a teen sudser about Mary Queen of Scots, and I will be watching the hell out of it, because HOW IS THIS A THING THAT IS HAPPENING?

What shows are you excited about come this fall?

Movie News and Randomness

Time for another installment of movie news and blather, where I bring you all the movie news that’s fit to print (or at least what I find interesting).  Without further ado or preamble, let’s get right into it!

1. Do you guys cringe every time you see the trailer for The Big Wedding, too?

I just think it looks awful.  I’m embarrassed for it.  I’m embarrassed for me, too, because I’ll probably see it.  Ugh.  Life, you know?

2. Inside Llewyn Davis might be the first Coen brothers movie I actually WANT to see

It boasts a pretty impressive cast and looks like it’s going to be interesting, intriguing, and well done.  I don’t know.  I’m not a Coen brothers fan, but this one looks not awful.

3. Judy Blume’s Tiger Eyes finally has a trailer

You can watch it here.  I can’t wait to see it, but I love Judy Blume and I want to see Willa Holland in something where I don’t want to shake her.  I think it looks pretty great.  I can’t wait for this one in June.

4. The East looks pretty interesting and has my girl Ellen Page in it

It’s getting good buzz, and it’s about someone who goes undercover to investigate a cult and sort of gets sucked into it.  I don’t know.  It’s got Alexander Skarsgaard in it, too, so you know I’m there.

5. Emma Stone is in talks to star in Woody Allen’s next movie

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. (Deadline)

What movies are you excited about this week?

Movie Blather & Randomness

Time for another installment of movie news and blather, where I bring you all the movie news that’s fit to print (or at least what I find interesting).  Without further ado or preamble, let’s get right into it!

1. The Great Gatsby Trailers Get Crazier

I’m not entirely sure what it is about the trailers for Baz Lurman’s The Great Gatsby, but each one makes it look a little crazier.  Last weekend, I saw a trailer in the theater for the movie and couldn’t stop laughing, much to the amusement (and bemusement) of my friends.  I can’t wait to see it, but my expectations are that it’s going to be a complete disasterpiece.  What do you think?

2. Carrie Gets a Trailer

So the first official trailer for the Carrie remake is live, and the result is…not great?  It sort of looks like exactly what you’d expect.  I suppose there’s no need to worry about spoilers (and most trailers these days don’t do that, anyway), but it doesn’t seem as though there’s anything to really look forward to.

3. Veronica Mars Movie YAYAYAYAYAY

Since it’s been a couple of weeks since I posted about movies, I haven’t been able to talk about the Veronica Mars movie, which is definitely happening and is likely to be super awesome.  The Kickstarter campaign to raise funding ended last night, and it was record-breaking.  I contributed, and I can’t wait to see the movie when it comes out next spring.  In the meantime, I’ll continue re-watching the series with J., hoping he loves it as much as me.

4. The Conjuring Looks Kind of Scary?

The horror movie The Conjuring is brought to us by the creator of the uber-bloody Saw series (and also Insidious).  Another haunted house story, this one has Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston living in a house unsuitable for pretty much everyone.  Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play paranormal investigators (based on real-life paranormal investigators).  The movie comes out in July, which isn’t a great sign for a horror movie, but a strong cast might make it worth seeing.

5. The Purge is More HORROR

In that same vein, check out the trailer for The Purge, starring Ethan Hawke (who seems to have found his calling after last year’s Sinister).  This one is all about what would happen if the government sanctioned a 12-hour window for all crime to be legal each year.  Non-criminal citizens are encouraged to lock themselves up in their homes, but who do you trust?  Eh.  We know I’ll watch this.

What movie news are you excited about this week?

 

 

Movie News and Randomness

Time for another installment of movie news and blather, where I bring you all the movie news that’s fit to print (or at least what I find interesting).  Without further ado or preamble, let’s get right into it!

1. Trailer for Much Ado About Nothing is AWESOME.

The trailer for Joss Whedon’s adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing is full of Whedonverse favorites and looks to be quirky, funny, and totally awesome.  I can’t be the only person who’s really, really excited about this one.  I can’t wait.  CANNOT WAIT.

2. Emma Watson to star in Cinderella adaptation?

Emma Watson is in final talks to star in Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of the classic fairytale Cinderella.  This is actually kind of cool, because I like Branagh as a director and really like Emma Watson, despite her inability to do a decent American accent.  Cate Blanchett is slated to star as her evil stepmother. (Variety)

3. There’s a documentary about the real Amityville Horror

So, that’s happening.  I’d definitely check this one out on DVD.  I’m mildly curious, but I’m not shelling out money to see it.  I don’t know.  I feel mixed about this one.

4. Keri Russell joins Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

In news of the UGH variety, Keri Russell has joined the cast of the next totally boring and disappointing Planet of the Apes movie.  She’ll play the female lead, and I’ll try to pretend to care.  (Comingsoon.net)

5. Trailer for Rapturepalooza is silly, kind of funny

I don’t know about this one, but I’m including it because of my love for all things Anna Kendrick.  The movie’s about the end of the world, rapture-style, and it looks pretty silly.  The trailer’s redband, so be careful about where you watch it, but it’s got some moments that are actually kind of funny.  I don’t know.  I’ll see this one, I’m just not sure when.

 

Movie Blather and Randomness

Time for another installment of movie news and blather, where I bring you all the movie news that’s fit to print (or at least what I find interesting).  Without further ado or preamble, let’s get right into it!

1. Is anyone else embarrassingly excited for Monsters University?

I’m not going to lie: I’m not a big animated film person.  For a lot of reasons.  But I really loved Monsters, Inc., and I’m really excited for the prequel.  This trailer looks cute.  I can’t wait.  What do you think?  How do you feel about a prequel?

2. The Academy Awards are this weekend

And I’m pumped up, as per usual.  It’s a big day in my world.  We do it up right and throw a party with themed food and ballots and a pool of money I’m intent to win (running champion something like 4 years in a row).  I’ve got our ballots all printed, my food all planned out, and have even done a practice ballot.  That’s how much of a dork I am.  I love the Oscars.  Love them.  I doubt that will ever change. (Metacritic)

3. It’s a Disaster Trailer looks funny, dark

I hadn’t even heard of this movie before stumbling across the trailer, but it looks pretty great.  It’s got some of my favorite people, including America Ferrara, Julia Stiles, and David Cross.  It looks funny and weird and dark and full of the kind of awkward humor I really like.  It’s being released on VOD before hitting theaters in April, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to see it soon.

4. Lauren Graham and Joel McHale will star in a movie together

It’s called A Friggin’ Christmas Miracle, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.  The film centers around the duo who are a married couple going to visit McHale’s grandfather.  The grandfather is played by Robin Williams, which basically means the movie is doomed.  (THR)

5. Room 237 has a trailer now

I wrote about this documentary a few weeks back, and I’m happy to say there’s a trailer now.  Check it out for yourselves at the playlist.

Movie Review: Hello I Must Be Going (2012)

Amy Minsky (Melanie Lysnkey) is in her thirties and fresh out of a marriage she didn’t want out of.  She’s back home with her image-conscious parents in their Connecticut home, and she’s a total mess.  When she meets Jeremy (Christopher Abbott), the 19-year-old son of one of her dad’s prospective clients, the two begin a steamy, secret affair and end up discovering themselves in the process.

This quiet, contemplative indie debuted at Sundance last year, and yet it manages to circumvent a lot of the quirky indie tropes that plague so many movies similar to this one.  Through it’s stellar cast performances and quiet, wry script, the movie ends up being a surprising little gem that you’ve never heard of.  This is definitely a title to seek out–it’s well worth your time.

For once, Melanie Lynskey gets to break out of her traditionally character-bit-part roles and shine as the film’s star.  She’s luminous onscreen, and watching her slowly peel away the layers of her depression and start to realize her own worth is amazing.  It’s impossible to take your eyes off her when she’s onscreen.  You can’t help but root for her, and hope that she’ll find her way–and herself–eventually.

She’s matched in talent and intensity by Abbott, who manages to create a 19-year-old boy who is searching for something just as much as Lynskey’s character.  Instead of going full-on brooding, though, Abbott creates a quiet intensity in his character that makes him all the more sympathetic.  It doesn’t hurt that the two of them have excellent chemistry, either.

The supporting cast is good and the movie doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel.  Viewers should pretty  much know what they’re in for once the movie starts, but that doesn’t make it a less enjoyable experience.  Lynskey and Abbott are so good, and the movie’s rising action so satisfying, that this is one it would be hard not to enjoy.

Recommended.

 

On Re-Reading a Series: Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

In lieu of a review today, I thought I’d talk a little bit about what it’s like to re-read a series.  I think I’ve talked about re-reading before, and how your relationship to a book can change over time, but I’m speaking very specifically about a particular series right now: The Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris.

With the start of the new year came a fresh reading rut for me, and it’s one that I’m still struggling to crawl out of.  I’ve had a great deal of changes in my personal and professional life over the past several months, and reading has taken a backseat to the demands of my life (see: graduating from a master’s program, applying for jobs, moving in with boyfriend).  It doesn’t help that I’ve felt listless whenever I’ve picked up a book.

Which is why I’ve started re-reading books in search of comfort and something that holds my attention.  I’m still reading new stuff when I’m on  the treadmill, and I’m enjoying a lot of it, but there’s nothing like something you know you like to bring you that cozy feeling.

Re-reading Charlaine Harris’s Sookie series is interesting, because I’ve grown as a reader since I started reading it.  I first read Dead Until Dark years ago, way before TrueBlood became a TV show and before the vampire craze went nutso.  I liked it, but it was definitely out of my wheelhouse.  Here was a mystery featuring a plucky heroine who spends much of her narrative in the minutiae of her life.  There is so much detail about how Sookie spends her time in really unremarkable ways that it’s astounding.

That being said, there’s something comforting about reading about Sookie’s small-town life as a telepathic barmaid who sometimes has really great sex with supernatural creatures.  I’m finding that I’m enjoying the series in a different way: it’s not particularly well-written or well-paced, but there’s enough detail about small-town life and Sookie is a nice enough narrator (for a while, at least) that it’s kind of fun.

Plus, I’m determined to finish the series.  I haven’t read the last few books because they’re so bogged down in the story’s mythology that it’s kind of like drowning.  But I have to finish the series and see if I’m right.

The bonus? Sookie’s clothes, especially in the early books, are HILARIOUSLY bad.  Seriously, why hasn’t someone started a Sookie clothing blog yet?  COMEDY GOLD.

Have you ever read these books?  What do you think?  How do you feel about re-reading series from start to finish?

Viewed this Week (39)

Inspired by Ticket to Anywhere’s What I Watched, I post on Sundays about what movies and/or TV shows I watched the week before.  Some weeks will be epic, and some weeks…won’t be.  Let’s get to it!

TV:
Switched at Birth 2×5 – “The Acquired Inability to Escape”
Bunheads 1×15 – “Take the Vicuna”

Movies:
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Warm Bodies
Side Effects

Thoughts on What I Watched:
Guys, I don’t know how else to explain my love for Switched at Birth.  The show is continually entertaining, surprising, and thoughtful.  It is the show I look forward to most, and the one I enjoy the entire way through every single week.  It is also a show I watch alone, and I actually relish this time by myself.  This week was another great episode, with some interesting moments between Daphne and Travis.  I love it!

Bunheads seems to be altering its tone ever so slightly, and it’s working well, for the most part.  I’m not entirely sure that I buy the whole Sasha-gets-an-apartment thing, but the rest of it is entertaining enough.  I don’t necessarily think this one sticks in my brain for very long after I watch it, but I definitely enjoy it while I’m watching it.

Watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was a way to help distract me from some household chores, but it’s still a fun movie after all these years.  Matthew Broderick is so cute and charming, and the movie is smart and funny.  It’s also iconic–you’d be amazed at how many movies since pay homage to the film.

J. and I went and saw Warm Bodies and liked it, for the most part.  It’s a good retelling of the Romeo & Juliet story with a Beauty and the Beast twist to it.  It was funny and smart and well-cast, for the most part.  It wasn’t, you know, totally memorable, but it was a nice way to spend a snowy evening.

Side Effects was, for the most part, entertaining.  I really liked the set up of the movie but was put off by the twist about halfway through.  It’s still an entertaining, twisty movie, and the performances are largely great, but it was sort of disappointing in that it was all so obvious to me.  Even so, not a bad two hours.

What did you watch this week?

Movie News and Blather

Time for another installment of movie news and blather, where I bring you all the movie news that’s fit to print (or at least what I find interesting).  Without further ado or preamble, let’s get right into it!

1. Nick Offerman stars in Somebody Up There Likes Me

The trailer for Nick Offerman’s indie movie Somebody Up There Likes Me is live.  The movie is being released in limited theaters soon and will be available On Demand shortly after that.  The film also stars Jess Weixler and Offerman’s real-life wife, Megan Mullally.

2. Jessica Alba to star in Weightless

The film is about astronaut Maysie Overall, a woman who always dreamed of becoming an astronaut and visiting space.  Alba is in final negotiations to star in the film.  I don’t know why this is news, because odds are the movie won’t be well-received and Alba will give a lackluster performance, but she’s just so pretty and she tries so hard.  I can’t help but like her.  (Comingsoon.net)

3. Leviathan trailer looks incredible

This is all about fishing and whaling, and it looks to be totally mesmerizing.  The documentary also looks to be really upsetting.  I have really complicated feelings about what’s happening in the oceans, and this documentary looks like it’s going to only add to my conflicted feelings.

4. There’s going to be a documentary about the conspiracy theories surrounding Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, and I’m excited.

The film is entitled Room 237, and it will be released March 29th.  I didn’t even know this was a thing, but now I can’t wait. (Metacritic)

5. The Fault in Our Stars movie should begin filming this summer.

Did you know it was being made into a movie?  Have I posted about this before?  I can’t remember any more, so forgettable and obvious is this news.  Anyway, it’s got a very commercial production team and is guaranteed to make some good money at the box office, whoever they get to star in it.  I don’t know.  I’ll see this, because I’m a sucker and because I can’t help but be manipulated, but at least I know I’m being manipulated…right? (MTV’s Hollywood Crush)

What movie news did you hear about this week?

January Recap

Books:

Total Books: 10  | YA/MG: 7 | Adult: 3| Fiction: 9  | Non-fiction: 1 | Re-reads: 2
Hardcover: 2 | Paperback:  5 | Kindle:  3 | Computer: 0
Pages Read: 3,195 | Pages Per Day: 103

Best Book(s) Read: Golden by Jessi Kirby
Most Disappointing Book(s) Read: How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

Movies:
Total Movies:  14 | Comedy:  4 | Drama: 3 | Horror:  6
New:  7 | Re-watch:  7  | Theater: 1

Best Movie(s) Watched: 10 Years
Worst Movie(s) Watched: Mama, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Goals for Next Month:

• Read at least 10 books
• Review at least 10 books (this has been harder lately)
• Post at least 20 days out of the month
• Watch at least 10 new movies–including as many of the Oscar nominees as possible

Happy reading and watching, y’all.