The Netflix Expirement

So for Christmas, my sister-in-law Stephanie got me 3 months of Netflix for free. Having never used the service, I've decided that this would be the best way to catch up on my "To watch" list. So here's a few reviews of movies that I finally got to see (some are old, some new).

The Third Man (1949) starring Orson Welles
Harry Lime isn't too far behind Charles Foster Kane in my book! This movie is extremely close to topping Kane in quality. Set in Vienna post WWII, this thriller/mystery is worth watching. Although Welles doesn't show up until well into the last 1/3rd of the movie, when he's onscreen it's awesome. The rest of the cast are entertaining as well. This is one that definitely stands the test of time. 5 of 5 stars

Blade Runner (1982) Starring Harrison Ford
This one has been on my list for a very long time, so naturally I made it part of my first batch. Sadly I wasn't captivated by it as expected. I liked the storyline, but just something about it didn't just click with me, which makes me sad. However I do believe that part of the reason is that I've seen references in movie magazines and such that make reference to the is "Deckard really an android?" question, and I guess i was expecting a "I am Tyler Durden" moment instead of the subtle moment at the end of the movie. However I do plan to give it another try eventually to see how i ultimately feel about it. 3.5 of 5 stars

Ghost World (2001) Starring Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi
I've seen this one before, but Stacey hasn't and for some reason I brought it up a few days before setting up the Netflix account. It's a pretty fun independent comedy (with Scarlett Johansen before she became a big name) and I didn't know until recently it's based on a graphic novel (probably b/c the ones i read are about superheroes and stuff and not teenage girls facing post-High School Life). 4 of 5 stars

UP (2009)
Freaking Pixar! They know how to make cartoons for all ages, but they also know how to make you sad. The first 10 minutes of this movie were so depressing. But with that said, this is a toss-up with Ratatouille as my favorite Pixar movie. 5 of 5

Extract (2009) Starring Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis
The last good Mike Judge movie made was probably Office Space, so it was nice to see his workplace humor and memorable character form show up in this movie. The whole plot of the movie is about sexual frustration basically and we all know that's freakin hilarious right? What i loved about the movie though is the guy who played Champ on Anchorman plays probably the most annoying neighbor ever , it was one of those characters that you want to stab in the neck with a pencil, but yet probably the best part of movie (just like Milton in Office Space). However long-hair and bearded Ben Affleck and Mila Kunis were pretty annoying so that knocked a few points down. 4 of 5 stars

Day That the Earth Stood Still (1951)
This movie had the Blade Runner effect on me. I expected myself to like it but it just didn't do wonders on me like I was anticipating. For the time it was made, i agree it was pretty good, but it just didn't captivate me like i wanted it to. 3 of 5 stars

RocknRolla (2008) Starring Gerard Butler
This took a bit of time to get into but then it becomes a lot like Snatch. Although not as good as Snatch, it was still pretty cool. Guy Richie once again makes a invincible Russian antagonist which makes me now think Russians just can't get killed no matter how many times shot or ran over. This is supposed to be the first of a trilogy but with Sherlock Holmes doing pretty good, I'm not sure we'll see "The Real Rocknrolla" anytime soon or at all. 4 of 5 stars

Observe & Report (2009) Starring Seth Rogen
A few funny parts, too many parts that aren't and try too hard. 1 of 5 stars

The Wrestler (2009) Starring Mickey Rourke
Bravo! Mr. Rourke. It doesn't take long to see exactly why Mickey Rourke was nominated for an Oscar. Great storytelling. 4.5 of 5

Bottle Rocket (1996) Starring Owen & Luke Wilson
Thanks to this movie we were introduced to Wes Anderson and the Wilson Brothers. Not nearly as good as Rushmore or Life Aquatic, it's still pretty fun to watch. 3 of 5 stars

Miller's Crossing (1990) Starring Ethan Coen
This was one that Stacey and I were split on. She hated it, I very much enjoyed it. I really think i've seen this before, but it's a fun Italian mafia vs Irish mafia flick. Fun as a movie it is, I'm pretty sure when people with machine guns are shot, they probably won't stand around shooting the gun for 30 seconds in every direction....but it's funny. 4 of 5 stars

Green Street Hooligans (2005) Starring Elijah Wood
Pretty much Fight Club in England. it's a decent film and some good fight scenes show up. Do hooligans really hate journalists though? That's the only thing i sort of scratched my head over. I thought they'd hate people on opposing teams a lot worse. 3 of 5 stars

Ronin (1998) Starring Robert De Niro
I love Robert Di Niro. And he's probably the only thing i liked about this movie. That and the car chase. Could have been cooler but then again I may be expecting too much after seeing Heat.
3 of 5 stars

A Scanner Darkly (2006) Starring Keanu Reeves
This was pretty interesting and it's the second Phillip K. Dick movie I watched this last month. Filmed and then animated over, it was a interesting watch. The movie itself was alright and Robert Downey Jr. was awesome anytime he was onscreen. Although the movie was alright, what's really cool is the story behind the story it's based on. This was Phillip K. Dick's semi-autobiographical story about living in LA during a time he was pretty heavy into drugs. The excerpt at the end of the movie lists people "who were punished entirely too much for what they did" that lists people who died or suffered permanent damage b/c of drugs came right from the book. Pretty cool and makes me want to read it. 4 of 5 stars

Haven (2004) starring Orlando Bloom
The cover of this DVD makes it look like another "Crash" and the film kind of steers that direction, however a lot of sloppy editing kind of ruins it. 3 of 5 stars

Away we Go (2009) Starring Jim from the Office!
Pretty much a grown up version of Juno which substitutes weird made-up slang, hamburger phones and cross country running training for a weird Maggie Gyllenhaal, and a bearded Jim from The Office. 4 of 5 stars

Getting "Lost" again Pt 5 of 5

It has finally come to this, the massive 103 hour project of re-watching Lost seasons 1-5 before the sixth and final season have officially ended for me moments ago with just a week to spare. So here is my last entry with a look back at season 5. Remember to read this blog on http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com so that you can see it in the way I want it to be read (pictures look better, no cut-off sentences by facebook, ect)

Overall, Season 5 was probably my personal favorite season, Season 4 was good and sometimes I feel that season 4 may be the better of the seasons, but with all the sci-fi elements mixed into Season 5, I'm pretty sure it's my favorite most of the time. It begins a little confusing enough with all the time traveling shenanigans but it comes into it's own once the time traveling stops during the time of the Dharma Initiative (aka the group of people living on the island before the crash that Ben Linus & the others wiped out, they also built all the hatches on the island).
So lets kick off with what i consider my favorite episodes of Season 5

"Jughead"- Within a few moments of this episode Daniel Faraday (aka Twitchy) goes from a Swiss cheese-memory addled physicist to a major power player (although his rocket test in season 4 was pretty important). We learn that Charles Widmore was an other, "Jughead" is introduced, and Richard Alpert looks the same in the 50s as he does in 2008 (He's totally going to be revealed as a Highlander.) Present day we learn that Desmond named his son Charlie (aww) and that Oxford pretty much covered up Faraday's time travel experiments after he went from rat testing to human testing. Plus as a bonus, I'm pretty sure one thing i missed the first time around or didn't read into was when the Others first catch Faraday & Co. Ellie asks Faraday "You just couldn't stay away could you". Naturally, I assumed with the jumping back and forth through time they'd encounter the Other's at an earlier time to prompt her saying that, but not the case as they only bump into the Others at a later time period, so I'm thinking crazy ol Faraday has done this dance before, hence why he was crying at the Oceanic 815 crash discovery footage on his TV and not knowing why, or even why he knows so much about the Island.


"LaFleur"- I love everything about this episode. Sawyer finally becomes a leader without Jack or Locke getting in the way. Being the skillful conman he is, Sawyer is able to safely con his way into the Dharma Initiative where he, Juliet, Miles, Jin and Faraday spend 3 years with pot brownies, Geranamo Jackson playing on the airwaves and that paranoid Crazy Bastard Radzinsky. Plus Sawyer gets to shack up with Juliet for 3 years, who's considerably much better than Kate, thus making Sawyer the character who gets laid the most on Lost (Juliet, Kate, Ana Lucia, and pretty much everyone he conned pre-crash, including his baby-momma Cassidy, who is also Kate's friend...i wonder if Kate ever told her?)


"The Variable"- After being gone for a good portion of the season Faraday returns to the Island on a mission beginning with wanting to know how in the Hell the Oceanic Six were able to return to the Island in the same time period they are living in. Faraday then goes off the rails and decides that whole business of "whatever happened, happened" is a crock and decides that he can prevent Oceanic Flight 815 from ever crashing by detonating "Jughead" (whom he instructed the Others to bury), which would create a chain of events that will domino effect to the point where 815 never crashes, so the frieghter never comes, the smoke monster never gets explained still, and everything is cool and people won't have to die (which sucks b/c that means Artz, Nikki, Paulo, Boone, and Frogurt will get to live on to annoy the piss out of everyone.). Daniel's plan was great and everything except for the part where he goes into the Other's camp to get killed by his own beastwhore mother. We also learn Widmore is Faraday's dad. Worst.Parents.Ever.


Season 5 VIP
This is probably the easiest choice in this series of blogs, hands down Sawyer owned season 5. We saw him go from a scavenger, conning, sort of a jerk survivor to a much more mature character. His years as "Jim LaFleur", Dharma's chief of Security were probably his best. Secondly, he beats the bloody hell out of Jack in a fight I've waited 5 seasons for. Don't get me wrong I like Jack, but he has moments where he needs a beating and Sawyer was there at the right place at the right time to deliver. No other character except Faraday came close to shining as bright as Sawyer this season.

Re-evaluated Characters
Ok it's painful to admit, but I didn't find Kate annoying this season. It took me 5 long seasons to admit that. I really can't find a reason to not like her this season (and trust me I tried). Other seasons she would get caught by the Others, having her longtime boyfriend killed in police shootouts, and she poisons Captain Mal from Firefly (who's a cop she married while on the run, which makes her a helluva master of disguise or makes Nathan Fillion's cop a idiot). Anyway she turned out to be a decent person after leaving the island and taking care of Turnip-head (aka Aaron) as her own child since Claire's MIA, she also takes care of Sawyer's daughter, and even makes Jack happy...but then also helps create my favorite lost character "bearded pill-popping depressed Jack" when their engagement is called off.

Also I found Crazy Bastard Radzinsky to be worse than that weasel Phil (I purposely capitalized "crazy" and "bastard" as this is a more fitting first name than "Stu"). Initially Phil annoyed me but second time around Crazy Bastard Radzinsky was a lot worse. As weasel Phil is just annoying and an inconvenience mostly, Crazy Bastard Radzinsky is crazy, stubborn, and mean. I think I liked him more when he was just a blood splatter on the ceiling of the hatch. I did however cheer when Phil got skewered in the season finale.


And Now For Something Completely Different.....
That's it for this blog series looking back at Lost. The season begins next Tuesday and so far from promotional pictures this final season should be fun and we'll see a few old friends along the way. Plus I'm glad it's starting now with the whole Conan vs. NBC/Leno mess, it'll be good to see quality TV that won't get pulled off the air by airheaded executives....even though they may have Lost: The Next Generation when they start to miss the ratings in a few years, but as far as the castaways we know and love now, it's better to end now than to be a watered down show after a few seasons and for that I'm happy. With a week to spare, there's a ton of special features on the DVDs that I've been wanting to get to so now I'll have time to watch bloopers, deleted scenes and the "Mysteries of the Universe- Dharma Initiative" sounds particularly interesting.
Anyway below is how I think this is the best way to end this blog series.
Remember to drink when you see a "Jackface"!

Getting "Lost" again Pt 4 of 5

In my continuation of my look back at "Lost" I have now finished Season 4 of Lost (didn't take nearly as long and still one of the better of the seasons). Again, I must remind you that if seeing on Facebook please go to my blog's homepage at http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com/, the reason being that all the cool pictures I pick and so on, show up much, much better on the actual site.

So looking back at Season 4 the gameplan changes for our Lost castaways as "Rescue" comes. From Hurley being arrested in present day LA saying he's "One of the Oceanic 6" to Locke moving the Island, this season was pretty consistant in quality, there were no B-squad special episodes like Nikki and Paulo's episode featuring Artz, Shannon & Boone, nor were there any episodes dedicated to Jack's Tattoos, everything was straight-forward. Now that Darleton had a end date, they could move foward and not have to stall anymore and the result was a great season.

Looking back at Season 4, here is my top 3 picks for the best episodes of Season 4:

"The Constant"- Without a shadow of doubt, this is probably the best episode of Lost to date and resides at my personal favorite episode. Centered on Desmond, this episode followed our favorite Scott as he becomes unstuck in time transferring between the present 2004 and 1996. Very reminiscent of "All Good Things...." (aka last Star Trek: The Next Generation episode) this one is a classic and also mullet Faraday is a classic too. Plus crazy confused Desmond is awesome!


"The Shape of Things to Come"- Everyone's favorite lying salamander-esque villain Benjamin Linus is in full geared bad-ass mode in this episode. Was it just me or did this feel like a Indiana Jones feeling episode with the globe-treking that Ben does and the Smoke Monster filling in as the God Storm at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arc. Plus we get to see Ben and Sayid team up and that was pretty awesome. But what really should be worth noting is that Ben does have a heart when his "Daughter" Alex gets a metal slug in the brain from Keamy.

"Cabin Fever" - Locke, Ben and Hurley go searching for Jacob's cabin, but to be honest everything in this episode doesn't hold a candle to the flashback meeting between child Locke and Richard Alpert in what should be a recruiting attempt. I firmly believe that this moment will play out really big in season 6. Richard shows John a set of items including a compass, a vial of sand, a baseball glove, a book of laws, a comic book and a knife apparently belonging to Locke in a past life. It would seem Locke chose the sand (from the island?) and the compass correctly, but instead of choosing the book of laws as the scene (and most likely Richard) suggests should be the right option, little Locke picks the knife causing a hasty exit from Richard. Also worth noting is that Christian Shepard appears in this episode for the first time not in a suit suggesting that "Cabin Christian" may not be Christian at all (my guess is that it's the "Man in Black", who appears to be Jacob's enemy).

*Bonus* "Ji Yeon"- Lost knows exactly how to pull a sucker punch. This entire episode made us believe that Jin & Sun made it off the Island together since it showed Sun about to give birth and Jin making a mad dash to get a present before going to the Hospital. But it turns out that the Sun story was a flash-foward while Jin's was a flashback with the episode ending with Sun and Hurley "visiting" Jin.....AT HIS FREAKING TOMBSTONE!!!


Season 4 VIP(s):
To be perfectly Honest I could see a few people at this spot. But the two that stood out most this season was Ben and Sayid.
For Sayid, he secures his place as the man to go to when you absolutely, positively have to kill some bad guys. His flashfowards are intriguing as he starts killing off possible Charles Widmore associates at the order of Ben. Later we see him busting Hurley out of the mental institution. On the Island, Sayid teams up with the Others to rescue Ben and to take out Keamy and his men.

Ben on the other hand is hard to turn down and deny the honor of being a standout this season. But after seeing he somehow can summon the smoke monster, that makes him awesome. Also he shoots Charlotte (who's a bitch pretty much) and that was awesome, but she had a bulletproof vest. Also we learn that in the grand scheme of things everyone is Ben's bitch even when he's handcuffed and getting the crap knocked out of him. Finally you know you have a good character when his "I wasn't telling the full truth" moment never ever gets old and anyone that can take out armed guys with a collapsible baton is awesome.

PS: I wish they had more drug-riddled Jack, I think that's when I best enjoy the character. The first disk menu on the DVD for this season has him soaking in all his craziness with maps of islands and such...it's glorious.



That does it for my look back at Season 4. Just one more season to finish before the final season begins!

Getting "Lost" again Pt 3 of 5

In my continuing blog series, I am taking a retroactive look back at the show Lost in celebration of it's last season (until Disney/ABC decides to make Lost: The Next Generation). I'm mostly doing this for myself and my fellow Losties who routinely get into Lost conversations. If you are just now getting into the series and stumbled across this keep in mind this is very spoiler filled. Also, as before please see http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com/ for the real post, formatted in the way i intend it to be...facebook always screws these up.

Overall season 3 was a mix for me. Usually Season 2 gets a bad rap as being the worst season, but as mentioned in my last installment, I really don't think it had as many black marks against it as Season 3 does. Look at it this way, Season 2 gave us Desmond & Benjamin Linus as well as the tail section survivors. Season 3 did give us Juliet, Richard Alpert, and the unkillable cycloptic Russian Other Mikhail. But at the same time they solved the baffling mystery of what Jack's tattoos mean (I'm being sarcastic), and who could forget Nicki and Paulo (actually now that i think of it, pretty much everyone can). However this season had some amazing moments which came after ABC gave the go-ahead to set an end date.

As before I'll break down my top 3 episodes of the season, reveal my pick for that season's VIP, and finally re-evaluated characters.

First of all let's take a look at what I consider the best of Season 3.

"The Man Behind the Curtain"- Definitely in my top 5 lost episodes, this episode shows the previously unknown history of Benjamin Linus as well as the Dharma folks. I personally think this episode will be essential in Season 6 one way or another. So much mythology in Lost was dropped here. In the Ben flashback we meet Annie, Ben's childhood girlfriend, who has yet to pop back up. Personally I think Charles Whidmore killed her or she died in childbirth causing Ben to be the person he is today & it could explain his hellbent quest to find out why women die during childbirth on the island. Secondly, We find out that Richard Alpert is ageless!!! Interestingly though, this is the first time we see him not clean cut and wearing all black (could this be an alt-universe Richard since he was clean cut when Sayid shoots Harry Potter...er...a Ben?). Finally worth noting is that in Ben's classroom the children are learning of Volcanoes (which maybe why the statue is only a foot now, and may caused the Adam & Eve skeletons in the caves found in S1). The present day storyline also "shows" us Jacob for the first time. (but is it really Jacob?).

"The Cost of Living"- This is the Swan Song for Mr. Eko. It's such a shame that the actor wanted to leave Hawaii because all 3 Mr. Eko centered stories are some of the best and strongest stories ever to show on Lost. It seems that Ol Smokey wasn't too happy about losing his staredown with Mr Eko last season. Even with the cheeseball line at the end, this episode was pretty much a fitting farewell to one of Lost's better characters.

"Flashes Before Your Eyes"- Oh those kooky Desmond-centered episodes. Apparently when he turned the key at the Swan Station, Desmond seemingly traveled back in time with a sense of Deja Vu of his time on the island. Here we meet Mrs. Hawking, who seems like a interesting Character until the beastwhore killed Faraday down the line. None-the-less, this was an important episode, especially right before seeing the 5th season.


Season 3 VIP:

This was a little bit of a challenge but I think we have yet another tie on our hands. Charlie was fun and all in the past but desperately needed a "Even though you're on the B-squad, you're the B-squad Leader" talk. However in his last moments he made a selfless sacrifice to save everyone...or did he doom most of them? Anyway aside from the fact that he could have easily escaped out of the underwater hatch and had a bottle of MacClucheon whiskey on the beach with Desmond, but that didn't happen. Either way, good job Charlie, you're dead but you're not worthless anymore.

Ben on the other hand, while creepy as "Henry Gale" in season 2, was at his best this season. From conning Sawyer to putting a bullet into Locke, Ben was probably the most fun character to watch this season. And as stated in the top episodes portion, Wizard behind the Curtain, is probably going to be essential to the final season. Also Ben single handily takes out all the Dharma Hippies as well as his daddy in one afternoon.


Finally
Fun Fact: Did you know that Rob McElhenny (aka Mac from It's Always Sunny) was one of the others? Here's the link . In past seasons I would indulge in the occasional set report, but I've mostly avoided it this season. However it's nearly impossible to not hear a few whispers of the upcoming season, including that many past characters will be returning. So hopefully we'll see Aldo show back up even though he's not an important character, but it'll still be funny to see him pop up again.

Fun Fact: When "A Tale of 2 Cities " came out, not only did it kick off season 3, but it kicked off the birth of "Jackface". The popular meme involves all the crazy faces Jack makes while acting like a 2 year old in the empty shark tank he's being held captive in. This is also a fun drinking game as well where you drink every time a "Jackface" shows up. more info here