TIFF is coming...are you prepared?

Today I came home from a weekend away to find my TIFF ticket package guide waiting in the mailbox for me to peruse and choose. But here's the rub: I went online to find out what was playing and take a look at the reviews so that I can figure out which package will work for me and lo and behold the response was this:



Not Cool. You expect me to pay a whole bunch of money for tickets I'm not even sure I'm going to use? I get that it's a prestige thing and everything but frankly I'm not interested in the showboating...I'm there for the films.

Shame TIFF. Shame!

I'm prejudiced against voice over...

...especially when it's mine. This has been my day, though a little more solitary and with somewhat less half-naked Jack Black. Just thought I would share my frustration.

Enjoy,

Siobhan

Summer offerings a little less than "A"-okay...

I'm usually a big summer moviegoer. Certainly the summer is the time when the most anticipated blockbusters are usually released. But it seems like this year the offers are a little slim.

The Losers, an action comic originally conceived as a parody of the A team, has the unfortunate timing to have come out the same year as the new A team led by Liam Neeson. In addition the A team movie seems (in trailers anyway) to play like a parody of itself, aping the lines made famous by Mr T in the eighties. All the while another "A" team is being introduced in the adjacent movie theatre as Robert Downey Jr. and every famous person they could find to appear romp through Iron Man 2, which ends up amounting to a glorified trailer for the forthcoming Avengers film.

Having said that, I do think it will be a decent summer for documentaries and foreign films and with the general lack of big blockbusters that interest me I may actually manage to get out and see them. The trailer for Waiting for Superman nearly brings me to tears every time I see it and Disney's Oceans is poised be incredible. In addition there are plenty of docs that came out this year I have yet to see as I've been shirking my movie watching responsibilities in favour of television (which has been increasingly compelling of late).

So in the end, it seems, there may be enough alternatives to the summer blockbusters that I will be able to curb my appetite for film. And of course there's always Scot Pilgrim vs. The world ;)

The Glist...

Alright Glee, I have a bone to pick with you...

That's right, after month and months of watching and waiting for the show that knocked my socks off to come back I've suddenly found that (surprise, surprise) it's not all I have wanted it to be. They promised us bigger musical numbers, surprises, more drama, more fleshing out of some of the secondary characters. And while I've seen some of that occurring, I've found that a great deal for what was promised is being isolated to a few key players and we're just ending up dropping a lot of promising storylines.

And so I've come up with a Glist of my own, the top fifteen reasons why I'm still watching, but I'm getting increasingly impatient.

15. Will Shuester has become a simpering, narcisistic ass-hat in the last few episodes. He's consuistently mistreating the women in his life and to be honest, is more and more turning out to not be the best educator. And I know a lot of educators.
14. Terri Shuester was supposed to get more airtime this season. They were going to develop her character. What happened to that?
13. Why is Ken being nice to Will Shuester now? He hasn't shown maturity in the past and Emma broke his heart for Will so when will's treating her badly why isn't Ken trying to smash his face in instead of giving him advice?
12. Molly Shannon.
11. Are Puck and Quinn together? I see them walking together, I could have sworn I saw them holding hands in the background the other day. If they are, why hasn't it been addressed? It certainly would have made Rachel's attempted seduction of Puck a little more sinister in the last episode. And does anyone remember when Quinn said she was going to "do this on my own"? When did that plan go out the window?
10. Why did they drag Kurt back into the "loving Finn" trap when we thought he had moved on from that? If he's decided that he wants him to be his brother that's one thing but the parent relationship storyline almost seems like a throw away reason to have Kurt looking sad and angsty. Love Kurt, don't love that storyline.
9. Tartie needs more airtime. Five seconds of "Yes let's be the minority couple and kiss to seal the deal," isn't enough. They're also both great characters in their own right. I want to know more.
8. Why was the music in the fourth episode SOOOOOOO bad?! I get that the theme was bad music but why couldn't they have chosen bad music that could actually be saved? Wasn't that supposed to be the point? If they thought they saved it, they're sorely mistaken.
7. Santana and Brittany need to be a little less fleshed out. I really want them to stay on the periphery because they're soooo good on the outside. Brittany's one liners are amazing.
6. As much as I love KChen...what was her purpose in that episode? And what fully grown man comes onto a woman by placing the back of his hand on her chest?
5. The fact that Rachel and Finn were "together" when the show came back made no sense whatsoever. Even Rachel isn't that stupid. It's like they're taking her two steps forward and ten steps back.
4. Sue's personality is getting a little spastic. I like that they're giving her layers and a chance to show that while on the outside she's all business, she's really just the dorky teenager who never got past her compatriots teasing her but they need to be careful about it. She can't just turn on a dime, it needs to make sense...even if it's just meant to be funny.
3. Finn actually liking Rachel in a real way also doesn't make sense. She's done nothing to deserve it other than liking him too much. If it's about missing the attention she was giving him I get that but if that's the case they need to make it more clear.
2. Where is Quinn living? And how is she affording to live there cause she's not getting money from Terri anymore...
1. The Glist was a bad reveal...it felt a little like a sad attempt to remind us about Quinn. Hint guys: I never forgot so can you please ANSWER MY PREVIOUS QUESTIONS!?

It just seems to me that the producers and writers are dropping a lot of great storylines in favour of the quick sell. And I'm getting increasingly annoyed with Rachel's lack of capacity to change. C'mon guys! I want my favourite show back!

**Please note: in spite of all this....THE MADONNA EPISODE ROCKED!!!!**

Oh how the mite-ey have fallen...

It's always a real treat when an artist you like offers up a free tidbit for your general consumption, whether it be a free for all or a treat for loyal fans. So I was pretty pumped when I opened my e-mail today and found that I had a message from English indie darling Kate Nash's website. Not only was it welcome news in the form of a new album announcement but Nash was releasing a new song to the public called "I just love you more." Oh la la!

But horror of horrors, after fighting with the file extraction for a minute I realized that it was in a protected .wma format (who does that?!). This of course meant it wouldn't make it to my iPod without a lot more fighting but I pushed the thought aside and sat down to listen....

...and was further horrified.

One of my genuine musical gems of the last couple of years has completely diluted her lyrically honest, musically vivacious pop sound to a familiar, grungy and tired imitation of many of the popular female fronted indie rock offerings. *sigh* Let's take a moment to remember...

The New Year's spinoffs

I've been skimming the papers and it's come to my attention that in their wisdom the studios may already be developing a "sequel" to Valentine's Day (the blatantly financially motivated rom-com from New Line cinema). I know what you're going to say, "Siobhan, not only have you already ranted about this movie, are you not aware of the basic reason for EVERY Rom-com ever made?"

I know, I know.

But the least you can do if you're going to lie to me is pretend to hide it...at the very least. Plus, you know this is going to start a craze. What's next?

LENT: three couples make an abstinence pact over the stressful season of Lent, and come to realize there may be more to their relationships than they every dreamed.

Kill me now.

Oscar noms...

I'm sure lots of you participate in Oscar pools...certainly my friends and I do. But this year I'm going to share my picks with a larger crowd (i.e. I'm going to post them below) because I feel the people in my life deserve to know what I think about my choices, and to find out in controlled little text blocks that don't involve yelling and expletives like "Avatar."

Ooo...sorry.

Let us begin with the final category of the night...Best Picture: and the nominees are: A*****, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up and Up in the Air.

I am happy to report (though I am supremely ashamed to admit one) that I have seen all the Best Picture nominees this year. I firmly believe that although TheFFFurbelow! curator Matt may be correct when he says that, "it is only going to be A[*****] versus The Hurt Locker" when Oscar time comes, that the race should consist of a tie between Precious and The Hurt Locker. While I recognize that some of the included films were unique and eye catching, I think that these two are the only ones that have true achieved something in their storytelling. It has been pointed out to me that the recipient of the Director's Guild Award usually recieves the Best Picture Oscar. We can only hope.

Best Actor nominees include: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, George Clooney for Up in the Air, Colin Firth for A Single Man, Morgan Freeman for Invictus and Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker.

While I love Jeremy Renner (he was in a quickly cancelled cop show called The Unusuals this season) and Morgan Freeman is...well...Morgan Freeman (frankly I think he phoned it in), I do believe this category to be down to Mr. Bridges vs. Mr. Firth. Who will come out on top? I'm not entirely sure however having seen A Single Man and the truly remarkable performance he managed in the film, my vote goes with Mr. Firth. Will he win? Unlikely, but my vote is Mr. Da--er Mr. Firth all the way. In the rain...with....oh dear.

The prize for Best Actress though, seems like an exercise in the absurd with a few notable exceptions: Ms. Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (love her, didn't love her in this), Helen Mirren for The Last Station, Carey Mulligan for An Education, Gabourey Sidibe for Precious and finally La Meryl for Julie and Julia.

Side Note: I've just realized that I'm doing pretty well this year, I've seen most of the movies nominated! And now to continue...

This category for me begins and ends with Gabourey Sidibe. She deserves it, she deserves it, she deserves it. Will she get it? It's a tough year...and Sandra Bullock and her camp are campaigning. I suppose anything's possible but the trend follows: Golden Globe = Oscar and Meryl took the GG without so much as flinching. I haven't seen Julie and Julia, or The Last Station but I promise to watch them before the Oscars and have an informed opinion. For now though it's Gabbe all the way and for the record: it's a TOUGH year!

Best Supporting Actor strikes me as a little funny...but perhaps that's because I've not seen most of the performances that were nominated. Matt Damon for Invictus, Woody Harrelson for The Messenger, Christopher Plummer for The Last Station (saw him as Ceasar at Stratford a few years back...brilliant), Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones and Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds.

I have only seen two of the performances listed above however having seen Inglorious Basterds I can tell you...Christoph Waltz scared the living daylights out of me! He's absolutely incredible in this movie. Maybe he's sweeping the awards shows for a reason.

Best Supporting Actress is a category I'm very interested in and it has to do with Mo'Nique. Nominated for Precious she joins Penélope Cruz for Nine, Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air, Maggie Gyllenhall for Crazy Heart and Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air.

I think that Mo'Nique deserves to win and I actually think that she will. It so rarely happens that I almost don't want to jinx it but it's very much the type of race that seems already decided. I understand the nominations for the other women (haven't seen Crazy Heart so I can't comment on Maggie) but I don't actually think that having the hottest body on the planet (honstly, you could bounce quarters off of Vera's ass) or the most convincing irritating crying fit (sorry Anna) is a reason to nominate someone for an Oscar. I'm not even going to justify the "N" word with a blurb. Penélope I'm ashamed of you.

As a long-time fan of Kathryn Bigelow I'm very pleased to see her nominated in the Best Director race for The Hurt Locker. She is up against insufferable blow hard and director of that-which-will-not-be-named Mr. James Cameron along with Lee Daniels for Precious, Jason Reitman for Up in the Air and Quentin Tarantino for Inglorious Basterds.

While I adored Up in the Air and Precious hit all the right notes, I'd really like to see KB win this year. I have been a fan of her work and I think that The Hurt Locker represents her strongest film to date. While I will buy that QT is a strong director (BIG fan of his previous efforts and have an associate who spent a week with him and swears he's just as into films as he seems to be) I just can't get behind Inglorious Basterds as a whole; even if parts of it are incredibly compelling. In the end I'm concerned that James Cameron will prevail and while I have, in the past enjoyed his movies, I think that for this one he should stand a better chance of being taken out back and put out of his misery than win the most celebrated of bald men. Just sayin'...

Best Original Screenplay brings together many of the films mentioned above for yet another category of fun-filled antics. The Hurt Locker, The Messenger, A Serious Man, Up and Inglorious Basterds were named and while I did enjoy a few of the films I think that based upon the fact that many of the scenes in The Messenger were (from what I understand) improvised I would have to say the cleverness of A Serious Man wins out in my brain.

With regards to Best Adapted Screenplay I desperately want to once again weigh in on the Precious side of things, though I quite enjoyed the scripts for Up in the Air and thought that District 9 was remarkably interesting as an item of social commentary. However in the end I think that nominee An Education gets my vote for absolutely superb dialogue and an ending that completed the story without really doing much of anything to change the lead character's path in life. Now as for final nominee In the Loop? I think I'll watch the original BBC series instead.

Though not surprised by the nominees for Best Animated Film I have to say I am surprised that Wes Anderson didn't also get a director's nomination for Fantastic Mr. Fox. His star-studded stop animation adventure is in good company with the likes of Coraline, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells and Up. For this category I cannot claim to be an expert, however I have a sneaking suspicion (even though I've only see two of the film) that it will indeed be Fantastic Mr. Fox though if Up won I would be just a happy; I enjoyed it a lot.

I'll shy away from the other categories (like Best Foreign Film) because I haven't seen any of them. I suppose there's still time. Time to watch all the films I haven't yet enjoyed from this year. Ah the list grows long, and I grow weary by steady beats. Alas. Alack. I am to slumber.

Think about your own choices and let me know!

And in this week's edition of "Deja Vu"...

...Mel Gibson acts like a terrific idiot.



Congratulations Mel, you've still got it.

Is it wrong for kids to swear?

It always surprises me when I realize that I really am a lot more of a prude than I think I am. There's something both hilarious and unsettling about young children using swear words and this video made me cringe for exactly that reason. Though very funny, it begs the question of what type of influence these kids' parents are having on them.

Alternately am I putting too much importance on words? We're constantly trying to reclaim words which have been deemed offensive as they encompass negative emotion towards women, homosexuals, or a specific race or belief system. Am I falling into the same trap by caring whether these girls swear or not?

Little asian PC girl vs. MAC parody - watch more funny videos

It's Spooky...

It happens to me every year. I forget about it and then it just creeps round again. Usually I notice a few weeks after it has begun, so I'm able to do it every night for awhile cause I have to catch up. Last series ended with them putting Harry Pierce in the trunk of a car.

You don't put Harry Pierce in the back of a car.

And now it's back and better than ever, starring many of Britain's top acting talents and certainly a few of the BBC's most marketable stars. The ever-charming and very scrumptious Richard Armitage (of North and South and the BBC's Robin Hood reboot), Hermione Norris (most notably of the 90's series Cold Feet) and the only surviving member of the original series' cast Mr. Peter Firth (playing the recently knighted head of MI: 5 Sir Harry Pearce).

Those who have been reading for some time will already know about my love affair with BBC's Spooks (the ongoing show about British Secret Service Agents working in London to foil the world's terror plots against Her Majesty's kingdom) but just for the record: it's back and it's STILL worth checking out.

Cheers.
Sio

Enough already!

In yet another of my random rants regarding marketing on public domains please see the attached ad which popped up while I was shamefully perusing one of my social networking accounts. I really can't stand this obsession with Vampires.

This is not to say that I am against the genre, I think that like anything else it can be a great metaphor for deeper and darker desires and be used to work out those demons in a socially acceptable (and lets face it, sometimes sexy way). For instance, I'm a fan of True Blood. But between the terrible adaptations of horrible paperback novels (yes I'm talking to you Stephanie Meyer) and the penchant of the powers that be to ride something until you've put it in the ground (please excuse the turn of phrase) it really is enough already.

But seriously...Vampire Romance Novels with your name in it? Guess what guys?! There's also a service where you can Photoshop your kid's head into an Alphabet book to get them interested in reading.

Vomit.

You're an adult, read a real book and stop lusting after teenaged boys. And if you're a teenager yourself I hope that there's an adult around to set you straight.

Could VS have saved Megan Fox's ass?

So I'm not even going to try and make a case for underwear ads that don't objectify women because frankly I'm not entirely sure that it's possible (please prove me wrong). Here's the thing, do you remember how people were all up in arms about Megan Fox's part in Transformers being even more blatantly about her looks (is that possible) than the first edition? There was one scene in particular which caught the eye and it involved her fixing a motorcycle with her ass in the air...c'mon you know the shot. Slow push from behind into Megan on the motorcycle "fixing it", it's even overlaid with Shia LaBeouf's voice saying he got her a webcam "for her." Sure thing Shia, and you're dating her cause she's smart.

Perhaps (and this is just a suggestion) they should have made Michael Bay exorcise his pervie daemons with this commercial BEFORE he made Transformers 2...it could easily have helped the film (notice the use of "helped" as I'm not entirely sure anything could have "saved" that film). For your viewing pleasure...proof that advertising truly has reverted to sex + danger = sell sell sell.

Can we please stop talking about their personal lives?!

I mean honestly, I realize that to a certain extent the star machine runs on the voyeuristic urges of pre-pubescent (and embarrassingly enough, post-pubescent) masses but c'mon people, are we SERIOUS?! I don't want to know what Brangelina had for breakfast or that ScarJo and RyRy are fighting. I don't want to hear about Tiger's supposed affair or the messages that Mariah left on Eminem's voicemail.

Can we please just get back to the music/movies/humanitarian work/sport etc. that these people are known for and get the heck out of their personal lives? Rock Hudson was a leading man for many years and no one had to know that he was gay. Why do we feel the need to bust open the images that they work so hard to show us? I'm really okay with Vanessa Hudgens' kiddie image...I didn't need to know about the naked pictures she sent her boyfriend.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION people. Enough is enough. Let's draw the line; shall we?

Goes without saying...

Top 20 Unfortunate Lessons Learned from Twilight

Proof that I am a petty child...

That is all.

Et tu Variety? Et tu?

Question: when did journalism suddenly turn into the ability to summarize factual information?

I was cruising Variety.com for new entertainment info and clicked a link to examine this article about Fox's new mid-season lineup. Unfortunately what I discovered was essentially a spoken word schedule chalk full of information I already know. Here's the thing, most of the blogs have at least a couple of these types of lists floating around and if I really wanted to read the Fox schedule, I would go to FOX. What I'm looking for from one of the foremost entertainment magazines is just that: ENTERTAINMENT! Or at least an article that doesn't look like a carbon copy of somebody's press release.

Dead man decals

Okay I know that I'm just perpetuating things by talking about it but I can't figure out which member of the cast and/or crew sold their soul for this damned Twilight thing to take off. It's insane! Speaking of insane I was looking at some interior decorating stuff and came across this:


Edward Cullen silhouette decals for your wall. In the tradition of the shower curtains, pillows, sheets, underwear and countless other things that have been released in tandem with the franchise this disturbs me greatly. Who wants to wake up in the middle of the night to a person in their room? Don't kids spend years GETTING OVER the idea that someone's going to sneak into their room at night.

*shudder*

Why?!

Betty for Humpday!

I've been saying this for years but Ugly Betty is a highly underrated show. Are there more finely crafter shows on television? Maybe, but the key with Ugly Betty has always been the heart, something that many other programs either over or undersell consistently. The show's audience understands that on occasion dramatic instances need to be humorous and are comfortable with the silly tactics sometimes employed by the writers to undercut any seriousness inherent in dramatic plots. Recently I haven't been overjoyed with the series (read: last week's episode is still in my queue) but I'm still not ready to jump off the band waggon just yet...even if ABC has recently made some decisions which could easily have doomed the series for good.

That said, E Online has stated that "According to sources, ABC higher-ups are considering moving Ugly Betty to Wednesdays at 10 in January as part of a flashy relaunch of the show in an effort to save it. The thinking is that Betty would complement new hits Modern Family and Cougar Town nicely, and make ABC a solid destination for comedy on Wednesday night" (Ugly Betty May Steal Eastwick Slot From Lost, E! Online). This is welcome news to me as I'm hoping it will give the Ugly Betty writers the kick in the pants they need to bring the series back to where it found its niche.

Oh goodness me...

So I've just been informed that not one but two twitter account holders have landed major development deals based solely upon their ability to produce one liners that many will ascribe to. Really? Are you kidding me? Some of the stuff that comes out of my mouth is f***ing gold (yes, mostly because it's profane) but honestly, I could get a development deal just by having thoughts and sharing them?

That's it. It's a new campaign....TCMC is going global my friends. It's on!

(in case you're interested the feeds are Shit my dad says and Texts from last night).

Siobhan is concernicus...

What is it about being between thirteen and sixteen/seventeen that makes your blood run hot at the sight of the latest popular movie stud? I imagine the hormones are part of it but that can't be the reason that perfectly normal thirty to fifty year olds are also gaga over this boy. I don't remember every being that overwhelmed by any celebrities, let alone one who appears to be little more than a mouth-breathing over-actor. It does, however, seem to be the year (maybe two or three) of the effeminate boy-child star...

What's up with that?

The pictures from Robert Pattinson's participation in this upcoming month's issue of Vanity Fair have surfaced and they've got me once again questioning why anyone thinks this kid is attractive. He looks like his legs and torso are too short for his body and his head's going to topple over any second. One thing I can say for R.Pat (as I'm told the masses have nicknamed him) is that he seems to be fairly self aware: he's even trying to punch himself in the face for being annoying.

Why can't we celebrate some men of substance? Plenty of the cute ones have more to offer than looks...Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt anyone?

Just sayin'...